(Unedited)

I wake up to small hands playing with my fingers. I sigh tiredly and smile to myself, watching as Thomas plays with my pointer and middle finger.

When I pick my head up, a pain instantly shoots through my neck, making me hiss and wince. Thomas looks up at me with a playful smile and hops off my lap quickly to sit on the floor and begin to play with his toys that litter the carpet in the living room.

I stand up and stretch my muscles, yawning.

I bend down to get out a toothbrush and some toothpaste I had brought before walking to the bathroom and brushing my teeth quickly. I wash my face off with water before getting out of the bathroom and back into living room to see Louis on the floor beside Thomas still on his pajamas.

"What?" I whisper.

He looks at me, taking in my confused expression.

"Come with me in the kitchen." He says, nodding his head towards the kitchen as he stands up before walking to it.

I reluctantly follow him.

He turns to me. "I'm still here because I got fired." He says.

My eyes widen suddenly, completely surprised from his words.

"So yes, I'm not making any money right now." He says,frowning. "But, I applied for another job." He grins slightly.

I don't respond, wanting him to speak.

"It's at another mega corporation that is specifically against my father's." He tells me. "It's called Megan Bane Co." He says. I blink, feeling my heart drop. "Ever heard of it?"

I don't respond right away, sighing heavily before groaning out loud and slamming my fist on the marble counter top. "You- no- what the fuck Louis?"

"Problem?" He says calmly, quirking up a brow.

"Problem." I nod. "Huge fucking problem."

"Which is?"

"I applied to work there yesterday."

He blinks, flickering his gaze down to the floor. But then he looks back up at me. "What position?"

I bite on my bottom lip. "Who cares?"

"It's a shitty one, isn't it?" He chuckles mockingly.

I glare at him, wishing looks could kill. "You know I've never worked in the corporate world before. Don't be a damn dickhead about it."

"Just tell me , Rauline. I'm going to find out sooner or later."

I tap my fingernails against the counter top angrily. "Mail girl." I mumble.

Louis snorts instantly at my words.

"Fuck you." I sigh, turning around.

"Wait." He says, wrapping his hand around my wrist, making me stiffen before snatching my hand away angrily as I turn around.

"What?" I snap.

He looks taken aback for a second, features going soft for a second before hardening again. "Thank you for coming over." He says. "Do you want to stay for breakfast?"

"Absolutely not." I snap, turning around again.

"Rauline, can you stop fucking trying to leave. I want to fucking talk to you and have a normal conversation for a few minutes." He seethes, gritting his teeth.

I turn to look at him again, sighing heavily as I raise my eyebrows in annoyance.

"Can you please?" He asks, sighing heavily. "Stay for breakfast."

"I don't want to Louis." I say, anger growing by the second. "Your not going to make me wa-"

"I miss you Rauline." Louis says quickly, me almost not catching the words that come off his lips as my talking ceases at the same time.

My face drops instantly as he stares into my eyes before closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose with furrowed eyebrows. "Just stay for breakfast , for Thomas." He says. "Please."

I don't respond but end up staying, sitting in the living room with Thomas as I hear Louis in the kitchen, clanking the pots and pans together. He was never actually a good cook, so I don't know how this breakfast is going to turn out, but it can't get any more awkward than I'm expecting it to be.

As I sit in the living room, he walks in.

"Everything's ready when you are." He says.

I stand up and follow him to into the dining room, Thomas skipping along my side.

Three plates are set, me on the opposite side of where Thomas' seat is with a blue bumper seat. And Louis sits at the head of the table, between the two of us. Which is unusual.

Usually we both sat on opposite ends of the table and Thomas is beside me or him, depending on the assigned days if we ever actually had a chance to appropriately all eat together like on holidays.

As expected, breakfast is silent. Thomas quietly eating his food, making small sounds here and there mindlessly, oblivious of the tension between me and the man who sits next to me, a little too closely. We almost brushed elbows about five times, but I skillfully avoided each touch.

When we are done, I stand up first to collect the dishes and Louis gets Thomas out of his seat and places him on the floor.

"Can I talk to you in the kitchen." I demand more than ask Louis. He looks at me blankly before following me into the kitchen once again.

I place the dishes into the sink silently, having my back turned to him.

"Is every-"

"What are you trying to do?" I snap, turning to look at him angrily, tightening my fists.

His face suddenly turns confused and he takes a step back. "What are you talking about, Rauline?"

I suck in a sharp breath before letting out a breathy, bitter laugh. "You actually think I'm going to believe you when you say you miss me? Stop being such an asshole, Louis! You know I loved you, and your taking advantage of that. But I don't feel that way about you anymore so it's not going to work. So stop trying."

His cheeks suddenly flush a light pink and his eyes darken slowly. "Then why the hell are you so angry?" He spits.

"Because of your useless attempt to take advantage of my feelings!" I exclaim. "So if your going to try and pull that kind of shit again, don't expect me to come back and save the day to help with our damn child."

The man seems at a loss for words, his fists tight, and his expression stone hard. He let's out a shaky breath before grabbing a plate and throwing it against the floor, making it smash to pieces and fly across the room before turning around and leaving the room.

Tears spring to my eyes. I sigh shakily and step carefully out of the kitchen, barefoot, to grab a broom. I walk into the living room and he already has the broom in his hand.

"I got it, just go home." He says. I flicker my gaze to Thomas on the floor then back at him.

"This is mommy's home." Thomas says suddenly, making my heart leap instantly. My eyes widen. "Right, mommy?" He asks, smiling innocently.

Louis walks past me, running a hand through his hair silently. I bend to Thomas.

"I'm staying at another home for a little now, okay?" I ask him, forcing a smile to my lips.

Thomas frowns slowly and he nods. "Are you going to come back again?" He asks quietly.

"Of course, baby." I say, ruffling his hair slightly. He giggles and grabs my hand in his two, making me smile wider involuntarily at the cuteness.

"But mommy." Thomas says.

"Yes." I say, putting my hand back to my side.

"Daddy isn't happy and I don't know why. I want him to be happy."

I grab the little boy's hand. "Daddy's made some mistakes that he's going through right now. He will get happy. You make him happy."

Thomas smiles widely. "Really?"

"Of course, little one." I say quietly.

"So do you."

"Me? No I don't." I chuckle softly. Thomas giggles and nods his head.

"Yes you do."

"How?"

"Daddy likes to watch videos of me when I was a baby and he always smiles when you show up. And so do I, mommy."

I part my lips, a soft, shaky breath emitting from them.

"Your still here?" Louis says suddenly, making me jump. I look back at him, emotions mixed and frazzled.

I swallow thickly and stand up. "I was just about to leave." I say quickly.

I pick up Thomas in my arms and kiss his cheek on both sides multiple times, making him laugh and kick in the air before I put him down again and grab my shoes that sit by my traveling bag and put them on before grabbing my bag with a heavy sigh.

I turn back to see Louis putting the broom against the wall before he looks at me again.

I don't understand him and I don't think I ever will.

LATER

I stare up at the cieling silently, headphones stuck in my ears to block out the loud air conditioning sounds that fill the house when it is turned on. I drum my fingers against the sheets, closing my eyes to let the sounds fill my senses.

FOUR YEARS EARLIER

I looked up quietly at my friend beside me, nodding my head at the cute boy who had walked into the room, his hair short and wavy, set into a quiff as he wears a black shirt, black skinny jeans, and black boots. I wouldn't deny I found him extremely attractive but my friend is the one who has been dying to talk to him forever so they could go out. Like her, I'm a painfully shy person when it comes to people I see more than friends.

"Harry!" A voice exclaimed from behind us, making the mysterious student, that the both of us had been staring at,suddenly whip his head up in our direction. I turn around to look a messy-haired blue eyed man. He looked at me and smiled slightly. I smiled back but quickly turned back around to pay attention to the professor.

"Do you think I should talk to him today?" Lucia asked, looking at me with wide eyes as the professor proceeds with his lecture.

"I think you should talk to him any time you can, Lucia, and stop being so damn shy."

She narrows her eyes at me. "Speak for yourself, Rauli." She snapped before turning around quickly then looking back at me to sigh shakily. "Fuck. He's so damn hot." She whispered, shaking her head.

I chuckled softly, nodding my head to agree.

"Just do it, Lucia. I'm rooting for you. And if anything goes wrong, just remember, we're still friends."

She nods her head,staring at her hands with bewildered eyes. "Okay, I'm going to do it." She says.

"Yes." I whisper excitedly.

She smiles before turning around quickly, leaning against her seat to get closer to the man behind us.

And a few seconds later she turned back around, her face red like a tomato and a wide smile on her lips. We leaned close to each other to not be heard or seen talking.

"So?" I whisper.

"He fucking said yes." She said excitedly, closing her eyes before opening them again. "Calm me down,Rauline, I'm about to collapse from excitement." She whispered, beginning to fan herself with her hands and I helped her out quickly, laughing quietly.

"Girls" the professor snapped, making us freeze and look at him. "Is there something you would like to tell the class about the book."

I swallowed thickly and sit up in my seat, leaning away from Lucia now. "It was very interesting read last night." I said, voice scratchy. I cleared it quickly and smiled nervously.

"Anything else?"

"Not really." I said.

"Okay, then be quiet please."

I nodded and side eyed Lucia to see her making a gun with her hand and pointing it at the professor. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

When class is over I sighed in relief, ready to go back to my dorm with Lucia and watch a marathon of old ninety's cartoons while also binging on potato chips to procrastinate on homework.

"Lucia, hey." A deep voice said, making us both turn around at the sound of her name.

Harry smirked at the brunette and walked up to her, his emerald eyes lightening up in their sockets. I looked at Lucia, smirking subtly.

"Where do you want to go later?" He asked.

"Anywhere." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me." She smiled.

"Maybe that new restuarant that opened in campus?"

"Okay, I'll be there!" She said, nodding her head quickly.

"Alright, well here." He winked, giving her a piece of paper before walking away.

I looked at the girl to see her open the paper slowly, her eyes slowly widening as she read it. "What? What's on it?" I asked eagerly.

"He gave his number." She whispered, disbelief on her face. I gasped and we jumped up in excitement like two girls in highschool still and not a freshman in college before noticing we should get out of the classroom before we embarrassed ourselves further.

Later that same day, at six o' clock, when the two of us usually are together, Lucia goes on her date.

I decided to go out to the campus book store and begin my homework instead of sulking around the silent dorm room all evening.

I sighed frustratedly at the book in front of me. I never liked the Romeo and Juliet story, it's always been idiotic to me. I didn't understand how someone could look at a person and say they are in love and a few days later they declared they are going to get married. Stupid, that's what it was.

And if anyone actually did fall in love just because of how attractive someone is, I couldn't count on that kind of bullshit happening to me. I couldn't even count on someone falling in love with me in a whole due to how awkward or shy I was.

"What's in a name?" A voice said suddenly, close by me, making me snap my head up to make eye contact with a smirking man. I raised my eyebrows. "That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." He repeated lines from the book I am holding. I smile sheepishly and feel my cheeks heat up. "That's the only lines I remember from that damn book." He chuckles breathily.

"And it works out because you have a British accent." I say, scolding myself for being so stupid inside of my head.

But to my surprise, he just laughed and sat down. "What's your name?" He asked.

I recognized him as the man who had called Harry's name in class earlier. "Rauline. You?"

"Louis. And you have a nice name." He said quietly, nodding. "Rauline." He repeated.

"You too, Louis. Is it French?"

"Not sure." He shrugged.

I chuckled.

"Do you work here...or something?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm the cashier but I'm on my one hour lunch break." He told me.

"Well where's your lunch?"

"I usually go to that sandwich place across from here. Ever heard of it?"

"Yeah. Subway." I said.

His cheeks heated up as he raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, of course." He chuckled. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering if he was nervous around me. What kind of boy was ever nervous around me.

"Want to join me?" He asked. "I'm not forcing you or anything. I see you have homework, so, you don't need to if you don't-"

"No, no, sure." I smiled, noticing a few seconds later I had cut him off. "Let's go." I said, standing up as I grabbed my books and my bag, my heart racing at an unusual pace.

"Great." He chuckled.

"So, what are you studying?" He asked after a few minutes of us walking in silence.

"Psycology. You?"

"Business management."

"Do you like it?" I asked, grinning.

"No. Not really." He smiled back at me. "I like singing."

"Why do you not study the arts then?"

"It's hard to get famous when you want to be a singer and, I'm not that good." He said, shrugging.

"Oh I bet your great, you just don't have enough confidence. When your ready, I would like if you could sing something to me."

"Really?" He chuckled.

I nodded.

"You should come to a performance Harry and I put on at this cafe." He said, smiling widely. "I'll text you the address. Can I have your number?" He asked, cheeks flushing again. I smiled at his pink cheeks and nodded my head quickly.

I took is phone and added my number.

The rest of the walk to the sandwich place we have a conversation about how much we both don't like the story of Romeo and Juliet, awkwardly looking each other in eyes at times, making me notice how much we are the same, but as the night went on, I also realized how much we don't have in common.

Despite our differences that outweighed our commons, we somehow eventually clicked even if it did take a few months for the both us to not be so sheepish around each other, knowing each other's intentions since we both liked each other.

But something happened that I liked.

And I wanted it to last forever even if there were bumps along the way.