The next morning I was woken up by the sound of the iPhone vibrating. I opened my eyes and shivered despite the Greek summer heat. Reluctantly I looked under the blanket. I stood up carefully and it had turned out as I had thought it would. My clothes were scattered all over the floor. And Louis'. The situation was probably clear. I had slept with Eleanor's boyfriend. I had slept with Louis Tomlinson.

Before I went to collect the clothes, I looked at the mobile phone display to find out who woke me up and saw Gemma's number. I hung up and really didn't feel like talking right now.

After I had changed and was about to make the bed, I stepped on something. Something rough. "Ouch", I swore and bent down to see what the thing was and what it was.... A carrot? What was it doing there? Questioningly, I picked it up with my fingertips and put it in the bin. Right onto an empty coke bottle and then it all came back to me.

When Louis woke me up, we kissed and the rest. These thoughts made my mouth water. Well, it was too late now. But how should I act towards Louis now? Like I always do? I had no idea, but once I went to make myself a cup of coffee. While I was sitting on the counter and lolling around, my eyes fell back on the iPhone. Out of curiosity, I jumped up to get it, " What made you call," I wrote Gemma on WhatsApp. I was sipping on the cup when I suddenly heard a bubbling sound. I quickly unlocked the iPhone. "Is it important, can I call you later?" I read in a whisper. And in reply I simply called her myself and went out onto the balcony so as not to wake Louis who was still asleep.

"Eleanor?", I heard the questioning voice from the receiver. "Hey, what's up?" "Has Grace already left?" I held my breath for a brief moment. So she didn't know yet that Eleanor had taken off again and I was taking her part again? "Um... I know it sounds incredibly stupid and you won't believe me, but you're talking to Grace right now. I'm still here." "Now stop messing with me El, this is clearly not the time." "I'm serious. I'm Grace, Eleanor just left. She's on her way to the airport again, she's just..." "Grace? It's really you? Why did she leave?", I heard Gemma's surprised voice. "Well, she said she never really gets to live her life and that she' is never on her own and that seems to be really getting on her nerves," I explained in summary. "El really only has herself on her mind.... How's Perrie?" I assumed she already knew the whole thing from Harry and said "Better. Zayn and her are getting along again somewhat. After all, she's pregnant as well" " She' s pregnant? I didn't even know that yet! But I can imagine that this is what will bring them closer together again." "Why did you call me anyway? Or is that only Eleanor's business?", I changed the subject. "Whatever Eleanor's business is, it's yours too," Gemma said. "Okay, so what's up?", I urged. "So, do you have a dress for the wedding yet?" I shook my head, "No," I then admitted meekly.

"Then buy one as soon as you can. From what I know, Greek dresses are beautiful and elegant." "We're in a tourist town in Crete, there's nothing around here," I doubted Gemma's statement. "Oh God, you're just thinking about all the shopping malls, aren't you? There are small shops here, they are inconspicuous but of high quality." "Hmm...Oh well, I'll ask Perrie to go shopping with me...." "Well, that sounds great. Then you can go straight together to see which dress would go with hers too." "Yeah, totally...", I replied and then broke off. Eleanor would show up before the wedding and relieve me again. And Louis wouldn't know about any of this because he thought Grace had been back in England since yesterday and Eleanor had ended up in bed with him. "What did you just say?" "I was just thinking out loud. About, what's going to be after, when El gets back." "Oh, I can't help you with that, I suppose." "Is she coming before or after the wedding?" "Before, I suppose. Buy yourself a dress anyway, in case she comes after the wedding." "Hmm...okay, can you call her and ask exactly when she would be coming?", I asked Gemma. "Yeah, how was I supposed to do that when you have El's phone?" came Gemma's laughing counter question and I blushed red with embarrassment. "Do you have any of her Californian girlfriends' numbers?" "Nah, but I know the name of one of those girls. Maybe I can find her on Facebook or something, then I'll write to her and see if she'd let me write with Eleanor for a minute or something." "Okay, thank you. I really appreciate it." "It goes without saying. If anything comes up or you need someone to talk to, just give me a call, okay?" "I will," I said goodbye too and hung up. Just in time.

Because the next moment Louis trotted past me and finally stopped. "Oh, there you are," he murmured sleepily. "Yeah, where else should I be?" "I don't know, you definitely weren't next to me anymore." I had to grin. That had sounded really cute just now. "Do you really think I would leave you here alone?", I countered him in a question. "Who knows what you' re capable of," was all Louis said, and I realised how dependent he was on Eleanor. And at the same moment my heart heaved twice its weight. He trusted Eleanor. He trusted me. All the while, I was just lying to him. And Eleanor, too... A little bit.... Yeah. Yeah. He didn't deserve to be messed with like that.

I sat down opposite him as he was chewing on one of his carrots. " Taste good?", I asked him curiously, because he looked like a rabbit to me. I mean at that sight; nibbling on the carrot. In slow motion.

"I'm just thinking about yesterday. Well, about last night," I got the surprising answer, which actually had nothing to do with my question. "Oh... yeah, are you?", I stammered nervously, guessing which section of yesterday was meant. "Mhm." "Well, I'm thinking more about what we're going to get up to this afternoon," I talked myself out of the awkward topic. "Oh El, always, just not in the afternoon," came from Louis with a dirty grin on his face. "You're a total weirdo," I mumbled. "What else do you mean?" "I might have a shopping date with Perrie there." "Great." "I haven't got a dress for the wedding yet" " A-ha." I looked at him a little bitterly, "Don't be such a crybaby. You made me a solemn promise yesterday that you'd leave this behind you." "That's not what's bothering me. And it's even sadder that the thing with Perrie is the first thing on your mind right now." "Then what is it?" "Seriously, El? Yesterday you let me close to you for the first time in weeks - and not just physically. I really thought we could have what we once had again, and besides, I was really looking forward to spending the day together with you." "Oh, yeah, right. I'm so sorry, Lou," I apologised, my heart gaining weight again. "Tomorrow, right? I still owe Perrie a clarifying talk," I assured him. "I hope so." "Then we have a date tomorrow?", I asked him with a wink. "Yes. Tomorrow afternoon on the beach. Just you and me and no one else" "That sounds nice, I'm excited," I said, giving him a high-five. Now I would get to go on my first date tomorrow too!

"Perrie, would you like to go shopping with me?", I asked Zayn's fiancée as we walked out of the dining room after breakfast. It was only 10am but the shopping would definitely carry over into the afternoon. "I'd love to, what do you have in mind?" she inquired. "A dress for your wedding." "Oh, right." "Unless you don't want to go. I totally respect that, of course, and we can do something else another time instead," I suggested. I didn't want to force her into it. "No, I'd really like to come with you," Perrie replied. "So I don't have to listen to more of Harry's gossip," she added, whispering in my ear. I just sighed, shaking my head. "It's time he moves on from that." "Yeah, that's what the others say. But him, he just wants to make me feel worse than I already do." "God, is he going to regret his childish behaviour one day," I muttered and Perrie just nodded. "Anyway ... when are we going to meet up later?" "I don't know, we might as well go now if you want." "Great, sure", I agreed.

We were just turning to go downtown when an empathetic voice held us back. "Where are you going?" I tried to figure out who the voice belonged to. Louis was out of the question, because he knew about my plans with Perrie. And it wasn't Harry, as there was no anger in the voice. Liam and Zayn were also to be ruled out as one of them each had walked next to me or Perrie. So it was Niall. "Not to Nando's," I joked. "That rules out so many options." "Haha, kidder. We're just going shopping, you know, girly stuff sort of thing." "Can I maybe come with you?" "What - you want to go shopping? Who are you and what have you done with our Nialler?" asked Perrie in amazement and I frowned in wonder. What boy voluntarily accompanies a girl shopping? Okay, it was clear with Louis and me - Louis and Eleanor - just as it was with Perrie and Zayn. But Niall hardly ever integrated himself. At least not with Perrie and me. At least he used to talk to us sometimes. But since the incident, he always kept quiet in front of us. Well, it was better than insulting Perrie all the time. "I don't know, I've got nothing better to do this morning." "Yeah, sure, come with us then" came from Perrie and me at the same time.

At the same moment I got a sad and somewhat jealous but also regretful look from Louis. Since I couldn't help it, I walked straight towards him. "I'm really sorry, believe me" I whispered softly. "I know that," he whispered back to me and his worries vanished again. At least on the outside. Then he kissed me quickly. "Have a great day, yeah?" he called after me. "I will", I thanked him and then walked towards the centre of town with Niall and Perrie.