~A/N~

I've nothing to really say here, buuuut go check out @_let_us_LWWY_, she's a really good writer and doesn't a lot of people reading her work c:
Annnnnddd now you can enjoy chapter 25! :D

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Louis' POV

I turned off the engine and swiftly stepped out of the car, holding the plastic bag, and Lorena followed me a second later. My hands were shoved into my pockets as we walked side by side, a mere meter separating us though.

"Louis, I-" Lorena started, though I cut her off.

"Don't," I said in a low voice. "I understand."

I could see from the corner of my eye that she was looking at me, a not so happy look on her face. I couldn't really care less though; if it wasn't her, I'd probably be trying to think of a way to break the person as well.

I soon felt her hand on my forearm, and for the first time I looked at her; she pulled it toward her, and as soon as my hand was out of my pocket, she entwined our fingers.

"I'm sorry." Lorena said quietly. Despite the event that had taken place in my car a few minutes ago, I couldn't help but bite back a smile. That was like her own, indirect way of letting me know that there was hope.

"'S okay," I said, just as quietly. But it wasn't; it wasn't okay. In fact, saying that it wasn't okay was an understatement.

"Well..." She started again, just as we'd made it to the building where her dorm was. "I'll see you tomorrow, right?" She asked, seeming almost afraid that I might not want to see her again. Which was pretty much true.

"Of course. In Drama class." I smiled, not putting a lot of effort into convincing her that it was genuine. Mostly because neither of us wanted to smile in that very moment.

"In Drama class," Lorena repeated, and gave me a small, sad smile. Nearly as if she felt sorry for me. I wouldn't blame her though; even I was feeling sorry for myself.

"Um, Louis?" She called as I started walking away, not telling her goodbye or anything. I turned around, my eyebrows raised in response. What else could she possibly want from me?

Lorena slowly, almost hesitantly started walking toward me. When she was right in front of me, she quickly tiptoed and kissed me tenderly, her hand barely touching my cheek. Other times I would have bent down and picked her up, her legs on both sides of my waist, and pinned her against the nearest wall, like I always did. But this time, this time I almost wanted to push her away from me. To hurt her as much as she hurt me, and if possible, make her cry.

But I couldn't. It was Lorena, and I could never do such a thing to that girl. With any other girl, well, it wouldn't have been easy, but it wouldn't have been impossible. But this one? She could set me on fire and I still wouldn't want to get my revenge.

Lorena pulled away when she didn't really get a reaction from me, and I noticed her eyes were a little shiny as she opened them. My reaction to that, was also different from other times. Usually my mind would go "No, no, no, no!" and I'd do everything to try and stop her from crying, but now I just stood there and watched her. The sight was almost making me feel good.

"I'm sorry," She told me again, her facial expression reassuring me that she would start crying any moment now.

I just shook my head and pulled her in for a hug, mainly because I didn't want to make a scene and have people think I'd made her cry. I needed her to think that I wasn't angry. Actually, I wasn't angry. I was just... Disappointed, I guess.

Lorena quickly wrapped her arms around my waist, and nuzzled her head into my chest. I just stood still, not tightening my grip around her shoulders or anything, and waited for her to pull away first. Hm, this might take some time.

"Bye, Lori," I said, barely over a whisper, as soon as she pulled away from me. I didn't look back at her at all as I started walking away. I just needed to be by myself, and not face anyone. Not even Zach, because that motherfucker never failed to make me laugh, and that's what I least wanted to do in that very moment.

Before I knew it, I was rummaging through my pockets, searching for my key as I stood in front of the door of my dorm. As soon as I got in, I threw Charlotte's present on the nearest table, headed straight for my bed and collapsed on it, trying to fall asleep. And if possible, sleep until the end of the school year.

But that obviously wasn't going to happen, as I heard the door open and a few loud people come in. I couldn't quite tell who had entered the room, but I was already planning their slow, painful deaths.

"Hey Lou, guess what man! We made it to the finals!" Even though I wanted to be left alone and depressed, I couldn't help but snap my eyes open and I swiftly turn around to face the guys that were near my bed.

"Seriously?" I asked, my voice full of hope.

"Yeah! We're playing against UCL, how cool is that?" Rhys said through a grin, and I couldn't help but smile as well. It was exactly what I needed to be told; that we were playing football against the royal bitches, as they liked to think of themselves. In the finals as well!

"Well," I started as I stood up. "That calls for a celebration, doesn't it?"

"Of course!" Zach said loudly. "We already invited the other guys, Ollie and I'll go buy beers and-"

"I was thinking," I cut him off. "Maybe we could go to a club?"

The guys all stared at me, like I'd just told them I was pregnant.

"What? This isn't small, it requires a proper party." I explained. They all just looked among each other, and slowly, one by one started nodding.

"You're right," Oliver said. "When should we do this?"

"How about tomorrow?" I suggested, as if it was the most normal thing on Earth. The guys stopped nodding and all raised their eyebrows at me. Here we go again.

"T-Tomorrow? But we have to study fo-"

"Ah, come on, we'd been studying for the past month! It doesn't matter that it's Tuesday, a night out is actually what we need!" I grinned and so did the others, even though it took them another few seconds.

"Yeah, and besides, we don't have class until 11 on Wednesday..."

It was settled.

"Alright then... Club it is!"

*******

"I'm gonna get myself another beer, alright guys?" I stood up without waiting for anyone's reply, and pushed through the crowd of people on my way to the bar. Ugh, why was it so crowded on a Tuesday night?

Ah, of course... It was mid June, which always meant that high school ended. Never have I wanted to go back to high school as much as in that very moment.

I sat at the bar, surrounded by people at least three years younger than me, some even five, maybe even six. Some of the boys at the bar were looking at me as if they were jealous I could have a beer. Two girls at the other side of the bar started giggling when they noticed me looking at them. Well. Isn't this just perfect, I thought to myself.

I couldn't go back to the guys. I wanted to, but they were so loud and cheerful and I felt like I'd ruin the party for them, even though it was my idea. So I decided to stay at the bar, and drown myself in alcohol because of her. Very Ed Sheeran-like.

"Hey!" I heard a chirpy voice on my left. While I was expecting to see a girl with barely two pieces of clothing on and enough make-up to increase her body weight, I set my eyes on a blonde girl with a bright smile, and a surprisingly small amount of make-up on.

"Hi." I smiled back at her and scanned her from head to toe as I took a sip of my beer. She was cute, there was no denying that. I was only hoping that she was legal as well.

"I'm Moni," She said and my eyes shot up to hers. Moni. Well; does that bring memories back or what.

"I'm Louis, what did you say your name is again?" I asked quickly, just to make sure.

The girl giggled and took a step closer. "Monica," She beamed at me. Ah. Close enough, I guess.

Monica took another step forward and sat up on the bar stool, not struggling at all. She was quite tall. About an inch or two shorter than me, I'd say.

"How old are you?" I asked as soon as she turned to face me. I needed to know before I do something stupid.

"Um, I just got out of high school. I'm 17," She said with a smile and I choked a little on my beer; she was a fucking minor. A year older than my sister. What the hell was I doing?

"What about you?" Monica asked, never losing her goddamn smile.

"Twenty one," I said, without any hesitation, thinking that would make her walk away from me. But it didn't; her smile only got bigger. Dammit.

"Ooh, you can legally drink in America. How does that feel?" She grinned at me as I laughed at the random information. It was kind of lame, but she was clearly trying to talk to me.

"It feels great. I'm sure it would feel even better in America," I commented and heard her giggle as I sipped my beer again.

"What do you do for a living?" She asked as she leaned closer to me, and I leaned to my right a little, trying to put as much space between us as possible. I couldn't just tell her to piss off, I was sure she'd realize she had to do that sooner or later.

"Um, I'm a student. At university," I pointed out, but Monica wasn't reacting. She almost looked fascinated. God dammit. Should I lie? Tell her I'm an ex-con or something?

"What is your major?" She asked, looking at me dreamily. I never really thought about using the fact that I go to uni as a pick-up line. I might start doing that, if I want to pull a girl in Sixth Form.

Alright, that was one dumb thought.

"Theatre and Performance." I nodded, and so did Monica, her eyes still slightly widened. It was quite a creepy sight, to be honest.

"At UCL?" She asked, the look in her eyes almost hopeful. Maybe she wanted to go to UCL? I almost wanted that to be true.

"No, Goldsmiths." I smiled a little at the mention of my school; I'd really started thinking of it as my second home. Now I understood how Harry Potter felt.

"Oh," Monica said and looked away, nearly as if she was disappointed?

"I plan to apply to UCL," She said, smiling at me. Ah, that explains it, and makes me feel a tad bit better. I almost wanted to tell her she should go to Sixth Form, but I didn't feel like giving advice in a club on a Tuesday night.

"Good for you." I gave her a forced smile and she smiled back. Did that mean she wasn't going to leave?

"Too bad, I won't know anyone who can legally drink beer in the States." She giggled and I forced a grin in her direction. Monica asked for a bottle of coke, and I watched her as she waited for it.

She was all sunshine and daisies apparently, with her wavy hair and pink dress, and the giggles of course. It was obviously easy to make her laugh, and she truly looked like she didn't care about anything.

Monica was nothing like Lorena. Lorena could definitely be in a jumpy mood, but that just wouldn't be her then. She never giggled, never wore dresses or anything girly unless Caitlyn made her, and was a sarcastic little fucker 90% of the time. I never thought, for a second, that she might not be perfect for me.

"So," Monica started as she took a sip of her drink, kind of scaring me. "Are you here with your girlfriend or something?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "I don't have a girlfriend," I said quietly, loud enough for her to hear. To my surprise, the fact didn't really affect me as I said it.

She grinned and hopped off of the stool. "Well," She said, turning to me. "You wouldn't mind dancing with me in than case, would you?"

"Um..." I gulped, remembering the fact that she was only 17. "Look, love... You're a minor, I shouldn't-"

Monica huffed, which made me shut up and look at her.

"So I'm a few years younger than you, doesn't that make everything even more fun?" She smirked at me and pulled me off of my stool. She walked backwards toward the dance floor so she could face me, and while she was grinning in success, I was basically sweating. I had to find a way to get this girl away from me before she makes me do something stupid.

Monica stopped after a minute, when we were surrounded by quite a few people, and pushed her body against mine. I suddenly wasn't very fond of her height; all she had to do was lean forward, and I'd be all set to go to jail.

"You can relax, you know," She said with a smile. I don't quite remember if there was a point where she wasn't smiling.

"I can't really." I nervously laughed and shook my head, and tried to look everywhere but at her. When she noticed that, I felt her squeeze my hand.

"You can! I turn 18 in less than eight months, you don't have to worry." How could she be so careless about all of this? Did she not know that I could literally go to prison if she does something?

"Don't you have like a curfew or something?" My nervous smile made another appearance, but disappeared when Monica shook her head. Why do you hate me, God?!

"I said I'm staying at a friend's house. And she's right over there." She pointed to her friend behind me, but I couldn't look away; I was panicking. Was this how girls felt when I was being persistent? I made a mental note never to force anyone into doing something they don't want to again. Which reminded me; Lorena. The previous day, I basically forced her into being my girlfriend, when she didn't want to. She said she wasn't ready. Why couldn't I understand that? Why couldn't I respect her decision?

"Hey?" Monica waved her hand in front of my eyes, and I blinked before looking at her again. The smile on her face was small, I could barely tell it was even there. And you know those moments in romantic movies when the girl looks at the guy's lips, bites hers and quickly pulls him toward her so she could kiss him?

... That's exactly what Monica did.

"Mm, hey, hey," I mumbled into the kiss, but she didn't pull away. I leaned backwards so I could try and disconnect our lips somehow, but Monica's hand flew to the back of my neck and pulled me firmly against her. I gulped and put my hands on her waist, and firmly pulled her away from me.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, her face still close to mine. I gulped again before nodding.

"This is against the law, I'm sorry." I now shook my head and tried pushing her out of my arms, but she wasn't bugging. It was getting harder and harder by the second, and the fact that she was a 9 out of 10, wasn't helping at all.

"Louis," She said quietly and stepped forward. "I know you don't really care about the law. Besides, who doesn't love to do something illegal?" She smirked and when I didn't move at all, slightly shocked by the way she said 'do', she kissed me again. I couldn't move at all; I didn't kiss her back, nor did I push away. I was having a battle in my mind; my brain was telling me to pull away and get out of there, while my buddy felt different. I mean, of course he did.

"Louis," Monica said again, against my lips. "Relax. Forget about it. Let go."

And so I did.

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~A/N~

Ok that's a really bad cliffhanger, I'll admit..
What did you think about this chapter? Please vote and comment, and I'll update as soon as I can! Love you :) xx