( ⁱⁿ ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ )

ⁱⁿ ʳᵉᵃˡ ˡⁱᶠᵉ !

"HOW does it feel to be named after one of taylor swift's muses?"

drew chuckles, the sound deep and soft at the same time. his forearm flexes on the steering wheel as he steals a quick glance at stella in the passenger seat.

"it would be cool if i wasn't born two years before she released that song."

"your mother predicted 'teardrops on my guitar' then."

he laughs again and stella smiles to herself. ever since she went down to meet him in the garage, she's felt relaxed around him. he's easygoing, sweet, and attractive in a way that makes him look just as much untouchable as approachable. contradictory, but that's what stella feels. chris was right. he is exactly her type.

but stella can't help but notice that his hair is a touch too light, his eyes a touch too green, his smile a touch too curved.

she immediately hates herself for thinking it. you're here to get over him, she reminds herself for the millionth time.

they talk the entire way to the restaurant he's taking her to and he's sweet. funny. makes her laugh more than once. she never has to fake it. he opens the car door for her when they arrive and then his hand lightly ghosts her lower back as he leads them to their table in the cute outdoor cafe.

and just once, stella allows herself to stop thinking about the brown-eyed boy of her childhood and instead the green-eyed boy sitting before her.

꘏

LOUIS is sitting in his car, biting his lip as he searches the outdoor tables at the cafe across the street for a certain girl. his eyes stray to her immediately, like she is the moonlight cascading down on a cloudy night. she is laughing. her grin makes her light dimples appear in a way that makes louis think michelangelo came back to life just to carve them into her cheeks.

"fuck," he mutters, lowering his head down on the steering wheel and closing his eyes.

what the hell is he doing? he's pathetic, sitting here and watching the girl he's crazy for laughing at another guy's stupid jokes. that should be him. it needs to be him. because if he sits there for one more second and sees someone else making a move on stella, he's going to go fucking insane.

he gets out of the car and walks toward the cafe with purpose in his steps, only one goal in his mind, that being to get stella as far away from this guy as he possibly can. he hasn't quite figured out what happens after that, but that's a minor detail he'll worry about later.

his walk borders a run as he approaches the cafe, but then he pauses on the side of the entrance, hidden from stella though he can still see her. 

what is he doing? louis is not that guy. he can't be the guy who ruins someone else's date even if it destroys him inside. that's not him.

he groans to himself. his face falls into his hands and he spares himself the pain of glancing at stella one more time. he tries to leave, but his feet won't move. they are stuck in place, and he can't go to her or back to his car or anywhere.

"louis?"

his head turns at the unfamiliar voice and he sees the guy who was just with stella. subconsciously, louis's jaw flexes and his fists clench.

the guy notices but doesn't comment on it. instead, he just shoots louis an easy smile. "i'm drew."

"cool."

louis tries very hard to stay polite, but he just wants to leave. he has no interest in talking to stella's date.

"chris told me you might come."

at this, louis's head shoots toward him, but drew doesn't even blink. "what?"

the younger boy smiles and places his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "you know, i thought it was weird when chris hit me up and asked if i wanted to go out with stella because from what i've seen, i always thought she liked you. but i said yes because who says no to stella franklyn-miller?"

at this, louis narrows his eyes at him.

drew holds up his hands and continues, "chris texted me after i picked up stella and said you might show up to crash our date. look man, stella's cool. i'm not getting in the way of you two, so if you wanna go take my place right now, go ahead."

louis blinks. "are you serious?"

drew nods. "yup. i barely even know her. i'd be an asshole if i got in your way. though i will say that she's having a hard time getting over you, assuming that's what she's doing here with me. i can tell she's been thinking about something else since i picked her up."

the dark-haired boy purses his lips. "really?"

drew lets out a chuckle, patting louis's shoulder. "tell her i didn't bail out on her."

and with that, he gives louis one more smile and then turns to walk away. louis stands there, not knowing what to do now.

from a few tables away, stella frowns in confusion when she spots louis and drew talking and then drew walking away. she can't quite see his face, but she can see louis's confused expression clearly. what the hell is going on?

she gets up and goes to him without thinking.

"what are you doing here?"

louis turns to look at her, his mouth agape as he stares at her. he starts to say something, but whatever he is about to say slips from his mind at the adorable frown on her face.

"where's drew?"

her words snap louis out of his trance. "he's gone."

her frown deepens. "what do you mean he's gone?" she pauses for a second and then sends him an accusing look. "what did you say to him?"

it's louis's turn to frown. "i didn't say anything to him."

"so he just left? just like that, without saying anything? that doesn't seem like him at all."

louis scoffs. "you just met him. how would you know what he's like?"

stella glares at him. "what are you doing, louis? i seriously don't understand what's going on in your head."

he falters. "i—"

"you what?"

when he doesn't say anything, she suddenly gets frustrated. she's tired of this. she needs to stop loving him and he's making it impossible. she knows it's not his fault, but she can't help but get a little mad.

"why can't you just stop messing with my head?" she snaps. "i try to take a step back and then you pull me in again and again. it's exhausting and i just want to get over you and you won't fucking let me—"

"fuck," he mutters to himself.

stella is too mad to recognize the look on his face. "what—"

he cuts her off. he leans forward, grabs her face, and crashes his lips against hers. stella is frozen for a hot second. and then, realizing what's happening, she grabs the collar of his shirt and goes on her tiptoes to kiss him back. he sighs into her mouth and her fingers slide up his neck and into his hair.

she stumbles back, but his arms circle her waist and her back presses against the wall covering them from the cafe and other onlookers. his lips are soft and warm and better than she could have ever imagined. he tastes like rainy autumn days in england and sunflower fields in summer at the same time. louis smiles against her lips and she smiles back and then they're both smiling too much to keep their lips locked.

he leans back and presses his forehead against hers. she bites her lips, opening her eyes to meet his warm gaze. he stares at her for a long moment.

"holy shit," he whispers.

she watches him wide-eyed as if she can't quite believe that just happened.

"stella," he breathes, and she can feel it against her lips.

"louis," she breathes back, and he can taste his name on her lips.

the pad of his thumb caresses her cheekbone. "i like you."

stella's eyes widen even more, if it's even possible. "what?"

the corners of his mouth hitch up as he leans forward to press his lips to her nose lightly.

"god, you're so fucking adorable," he says. she blinks at him and his smile widens. "i don't know how or when it happened, but at some point, you became the person my eyes looked for every time i walked into a room. at some point, you became the person i wanted to share everything with. at some point, my heart wouldn't stop racing whenever i saw you. at some point, i started hating every single person you went out with. at some point, i realized that i'm falling for my best friend's sister, and at some point, i realized that she's my best friend."

they are the words she has yearned to hear for years, and now they're finally being said and stella has no idea what to say now. so instead, she hits him.

"ow!" he yelps. "what was that for?!"

"you didn't have to ruin my date," she says.

he scowls. "i didn't ruin your date! he told me he didn't want to get in between us."

she narrows her eyes. "that doesn't explain what you were doing here in the first place."

"well, you didn't expect me to wait at home until he made a move on you, did you?"

"louis."

"stella."

she tries to glare at him but her smile breaks through. he grins at her and tightens his hold around her, leaning down to peck her lips.

"i'm sorry," he says.

she knits her brows together. "for what?"

"for being such a dense idiot. for not realizing how i felt about you and hurting you."

stella sends him a soft smile, swiping her thumb across his jaw and kissing the corner of his lip.

"it's okay, lou."

"it's not," he insists. he pauses, and then says, "have you really liked me all these years?"

her eyes widen. "who told you? it was cora, wasn't it? god, i'm going to kill her—"

louis laughs and kisses her to stop her from speaking.

she lets out a content sigh when he pulls away. "i could get used to that."

"me too." louis brushes away a strand of her hair. "so seven years, huh?"

stella groans, hiding her face in his chest. louis laughs and just wraps his arms around her. "you weren't supposed to know that," she says.

"why not?"

"because it's embarrassing."

"no, what's embarrassing is the fact that i was so incredibly stupid that i didn't even realize it."

stella peeks up at him. "you really had no idea?"

he shakes his head. "i wish i did. maybe then i would have realized sooner how i felt about you. but you always seemed off limits. i didn't think i was allowed to think of you as anything more than a friend."

she blinks up at him, and louis has to stop himself from kissing her again. "so what changed?" she asks.

he stares at her. "nothing. everything. you. me."

she smiles. "that's not really an answer."

he beams at her, giving in and kissing her again. "well, you can get an answer if you agree to a date."

her expression looks so surprised that louis has to resist the urge to laugh. "a date?"

"yes, a date. are you really that surprised?"

"kind of."

"is that a yes, or...?"

she grins. "it's a yes."

he captures her lips in his again and everything feels so perfectly right in that moment, like the stars aligned in the perfect way just to lead them to this moment.

"good."

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !

jesus finally 🙄 after a fucking year and a half oh my god how has it been that long since i started this book 😭

might be too much to ask for to finish this book before 2025 but there's 7 chapters left and 7 days left so????? possibly?????

anyway a tangled retelling in the percy jackson universe daughter of apollo x son of hermes is in the works along with a gilmore girls seasons 1-5 fic following the life of rory's twin sister with multiple ocs plus tristan wink wink smirk smirk

i also have an academic rivals to lovers enemies with benefits angsty spicy marauders era oc x oc fic in the drafts sooo.... 🤷‍♀️

will 2025 finally be my finishing books year?? who knows