( ⁱⁿ ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ )

ⁱⁿ ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

STELLA'S smile can be seen from miles away.

she's on her way back to the apartment after finding this old edition of little women in the back of a small bookstore she's been visiting for ages. a while back, she and louis watched the greta gerwig adaptation of the book and louis admitted that he had read the book before and that it was one of his favorites.

stella had stopped by the little shop after finishing up an interview. tucked in the deepest corner shelf of the store was this super old edition of the novel. the cover was decorated in such a beautiful way that she just had to get it. a belated birthday gift for louis, even though his birthday was over two months ago.

she crosses the street and sees the the apartment building in the distance. with a grin on her face, she all but skips over. her eyes wander around the building in giddy excitement.

until they land on something that makes her freeze.

in the front of the building, stands louis. smiling. staring. at a girl.

the girl from the article. the girl stella is ashamed to admit she's been stalking since the article came out.

stella's heart tears itself into pieces that scatter a path to where he's laughing at something the girl said. she is rooted into the same spot, vines reaching out and tying down her limbs so that it is impossible to move.

she wants to scream.

she wants to cry.

she wants to run.

she wants to go to him and finally let it all out. tell him everything. tell him he's the one she thinks about before she falls asleep and the first thing on her mind when she wakes up. tell him he's the only person in the world she has ever fallen this hard for. tell him he's her muse, the reason she has written ninety percent of her songs.

but she's a coward. so she doesn't do any of that.

instead, as she listens to louis's echoing laugh from where she's standing a few feet away, she turns and leaves before he has the chance to see her.

꘏

FUCK.

that's the only thing stella can think as she stumbles through a dark street after a night of drinking by herself. she wasn't going to do this again. she really wasn't. but the image of louis smiling over something another girl said is engraved in her mind. she needed a way to forget it, even just for a night.

but all drinking has done is make her even sadder than before. she is heartbroken.

in a way she never truly has been before. she's been cheated on and verbally abused and treated like shit, but none of those things will ever compare to the way she felt when she saw louis partridge with someone who's not her.

her vision blurs and her head spins.

"fuck," she mutters under her breath.

unable to stand up straight, she takes a seat on a bench near a park. she knows she isn't going to be able to get home by herself. she isn't sure she even wants to go home. but she has to, she has enough sense to know she can't stay here by herself.

she needs to call louis.

her finger hovers over the call button. what will he say? will he lecture her like before? will he pity her? will he be disgusted by her actions?

stella doesn't want to know. she wishes she could go back in time. back to before she saw louis with her. before that article came out.

before she met him.

maybe things would be different if william had never brought him home. maybe she wouldn't be this heartbroken right now.

but she wouldn't have one of her best friends if that were the case.

her finger presses the button, and the line rings in her ear just as her heartbeat drums against her chest.

he picks up on the first ring.

"stella, are you okay?" a concerned voice says on the other end.

"'m fine," she slurs.

a pause. and then, "are you drunk?"

"little bit," she says, eyes drooping. "little."

a deep sigh comes from him. "send me your location. don't go anywhere else. don't talk to anyone. i'll be there in five."

"think 'm further than five minutes away."

"doesn't matter. i will be there in five. send me your location."

she's silent. why does he have to do this? every fucking time she thinks she can get over him, he pulls shit like this that confuses her all over again.

"stella."

"okay."

she hangs up, sending him her location. she looks at where she is and realizes she's about a ten minute drive away from the apartment. she sighs and leans back against the bench, her eyes closing.

she doesn't even get a chance to fall asleep because, true to his words, louis is there in five minutes. six tops. and with la traffic, he must have been really speeding.

"stella."

she looks up. louis stands over her with a worried expression. he kneels in front of her, his hands on the sides of her knees.

"you doing okay?" he asks patiently.

stella just stares down at him. at his chestnut hair. at his deep brown eyes. at the lines of his dimples creasing his face even as he's frowning. at the curve of his cheeks and the sharp line of his jaw and the slope of his nose and just everything about him.

she never stood a chance, did she?

and because she's drunk and sad—the worst combination—a burst of courage prompts her to say what she says next.

"are you dating her?"

louis furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "who?"

stella just stares at him, unable to answer, unable to say her name. she shakes her head sadly, looking down at her lap.

"stels, what's wrong? you're—"

"i can't."

he frowns. "you can't what?"

she lets out a shaky breath, looking up to the sky and then back at him. the alcohol in her system giving her the final push.

"i can't do this anymore. i'm tired. so tired of it all."

louis can't respond. he doesn't know what she's talking about, but she looks so sad that he just wants to wrap her in his arms and shelter her from everything bad in the world.

"stels—"

she leans forward suddenly. she doesn't know what prompted her to do it. she knows she will regret it in the morning.

and still, she finds herself moving toward him. her lips so close to his, his warmth surrounding every inch of her body. her lips land on the corner of his mouth, her drunken senses miscalculating the distance.

louis doesn't move. he holds still. he has no idea what's going on and why is his heart beating so fast?

she draws back from his face, a sudden lump in her throat as tears spill down her cheeks.

"why won't you like me back?" she breathes, a crack in her voice.

louis's eyes widen at her words. his breath hitches. his hands fall from where they were holding her knees.

"what?" his voice is barely above a whisper.

stella doesn't hear it. she just closes her eyes and leans her head on his shoulder. louis shoves aside her words, shoves aside the feeling in his chest, and gently picks her up. he carries her to his car and carefully places her inside, putting on her seatbelt.

the ride home is quiet. he is completely alone with his thoughts. he cannot even process nor fathom what just happened.

when they get home, stella is dead asleep. he carries her to the elevator and up to the apartment. he tries not to notice how perfectly her body fits against his, how warm he feels with her face nuzzled against his neck and her lips touching his jaw.

he lays her down on her bed in her room and takes off her shoes. he places the blanket over her and shuts off the lights.

right before he leaves her room, he stares down at her beautiful face, a single tear remaining on her cheek. without thinking, his knuckle swipes across her cheek to wipe it away. she stirs but doesn't wake up.

louis holds his breath. he gets up and races out of her room, closing her door. on the other side, he rests his head against it.

his hand lifts and his fingers touch the corner of his mouth where her lips had been.

what the fuck just happened?

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

we have finally reached the plot so yayyyy

happy halloween yall <33

drop your costumes for this year!!! i dressed up as jenna ortega and my best friend was sabrina carpenter from the taste music vid it was so fun.