The whole day, Charlie and Jaime spent baking not only cupcakes, but cookies as well. Russian tea cakes, chocolate chip cookies, and more were made. The entire apartment smelled of baked goods and sweets. It reminded Jaime of what a home is supposed to smell like.

By the time the kitchen was cleaned and the dishes were washed, Jaime felt exhausted. She only collapsed onto the couch when she had the kettle boiling for tea. A sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled deeper into the couch and closed her eyes. Silence... she heard nothing but silence and it was welcome to her ears.

Jaime's eyelids became heavier and heavier, her head lolling to the side, and her mind became fuzzy all before Jaime had passed out on the couch. The tea kettle on the stove was completely forgotten about... until Louis had walked into the apartment to see Jaime passed out and the kettle screaming.

It was the sound of boots sounding against the tiled floor that woke Jaime up. With a jolt, she shot straight to her feet, the boiling water coming to mind. However she barely took a step forward when Louis appeared from the kitchen with two mugs in his hands and a smile on his face.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, taking the mug of tea from Louis as she sat down. "I didn't mean to fall asleep like that. It's been a long day of baking and I'm spent."

He reassured her with a smile as he took a seat in the armchair. "Don't worry about it, Jaime. It happens. Oh, and it's green tea by the way. One scoop of sugar."

Neither of them spoke for a while. They relaxed with a hot mug of tea in between their hands and their legs curled up on the couch. Nothing needed to be said, not for a while anyway.

Jaime's mug was half-empty when Louis spoke.

"So, you know I travel a lot with my bandmates, yeah?" Jaime nodded her head. "Well, tomorrow I'm flying to America for a few days. An interview and just a show, nothing big. I'll be back by Friday, but you and Charlie have the place to yourselves until then."

Uncertainty filled her mind. Being in Louis' home – just her and Charlie – for a few days... while he was in America? Her stomach flipped and Jaime frowned at this news. This was going to be a first, staying in Louis' home while he was across the globe on an entirely different continent.

"Okay," she said slowly. "When will I expect you back?"

"Late evening, I'm sure, on Thursday or Friday. Depends on how long we want to stay in America," he said. "But I have a birthday party of a friend of mine on Saturday. And—you can decline this if you want, you don't have to say yes – I need a date to the party. My friend is practically demanding I bring a girl with me, and if I don't he will throw one at me. You're the only one I thought of and I'd really like it if you went. As friends of course."

Jaime felt her heart lurch forward, beating crazily in her chest. Words of approval were right on her tongue when a thought occurred to her. Her suitcase contained nothing that would be worthy of a party. Disappointment seeped in and her face fell.

"I-I'd love to, b-but I can't. I don't have anything to wear." Jaime struggled to get her words out. Her throat thickened and a lump grew in her throat as she declined the offer she desperately wanted to accept.

Louis still looked hopeful though, despite her answer.

"I have a friend you can borrow some clothes from. You are right around her size, I believe. Or I can buy you an outfit-"

The words were out of Jaime's mouth before he could finish his sentence. "I can borrow your friend's clothes, it's not a problem for me."

"Are you sure? I can afford clothes for you, Jaime."

"I'm sure," she reassured him.

"Okay," Louis smiled gratefully in her direction before grabbed his mug of tea. "Are you done drinking your tea?"

Jaime held it out to him, staying silent. He took it, bringing both mugs to the kitchen. While he was gone, Jaime retrieved the blankets and pillow from the corner of the living room where it was mostly kept when no one was sleeping on the couch. She made her bed quickly before sitting down again, just as Louis came back in with a cupcake in hand. Half of it was bitten into.

Nodding to the cupcake, Jaime asked, "Is that good?"

He nodded his head enthusiastically as he finished chewing and swallowing. "Yes! You and Charlie did such a good on these. I think I'm taking some with me on my trip."

Pride swelled within her chest. To hide her smile, Jaime bit down on her bottom lip.

"I'll let Charlie know you like them," Jaime said.

It wasn't long before Louis said goodnight and disappeared into the room. Then, Jaime turned off all the lights, locked the door and shut everything down before climbing onto the couch and pulling the covers up to her chin. One whole weekend with Charlie without Louis around.

She wasn't sure how she'd feel about Louis being half a world away.

-

When the next day came around, Louis was already gone by the time Jaime rose from the couch. However, Charlie was wide awake and already cooking breakfast in the kitchen. So, while he was busy cooking, she took the time to get dressed for the day. Sifting through her suitcase, she found a pair of bootcut jeans and a black and white plaid shirt to go on top of a tank top. Jaime thread her fingers through her hair before pushing it up into a messy bun.

Then, she walked out of the room to greet Charlie with a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning, Charlie," she grinned at him.

"Hi, Jaime. I made banana-nut waffles and smoothies for breakfast!" Charlie chirped, smiling wide.

He looked so proud of himself that he made such a delicious breakfast, proud that he did it on his own and without anyone's help. His cheeks were tinted red, and his hair disheveled and pushed back. Though he was a little bit sweaty, he looked good.

"It does look good," Jaime complimented him lightly, stepping forward to grab a plate of food. Her stomach was rumbling and she was hungry. She piled two waffles onto her plate and grabbed a glass containing an orange smoothie. Charlie had his own plate fixed and together, they walked to the dining room table.

The first bite she took was an explosion of sweetness. A moan escape her mouth as she swallowed the food. Sure, she's made and eaten waffles of different flavors, but there was something so amazingly sweet and scrumptious about the waffles Charlie made.

"Charlie," she said, her eyes falling onto his, "that is one of the best waffles or any food I've ever eaten. That was absolutely delicious. You did a wonderful job."

Charlie beamed at Jaime's compliment. His face became brighter and his eyes seemed to sparkle – like Louis' eyes when he smiled a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

The two of them finished eating their meal in silence, focusing on the food in front of them. Jaime relished in the deliciousness of the waffles, knowing very well she'd probably never taste anything so tasty again for a while.

After breakfast, Jaime rinsed the dishes and made her way to the living room to fold up the blankets and pillow and set them in the corner of the room. Only when she was done, she found Charlie in the kitchen, putting the uneaten food into containers.

"So, what do you want to do today?" she asked, leaning against the wall.

"Can you teach me about music?" Charlie inquired, glancing up from a container half-filled with waffles.

A couple times, Jaime had sat Charlie down to explain a few things to him since he didn't know much about this world. One of the first things she taught him was the circulation of money and government – though Charlie didn't question her on when she forged papers for Charlie so they both could fly to England. Then, it was movies. Charlie loved watching different genres of movies, though his least favorite were horror movies. He only watched one before he told Jaime, "No more horror movies! Please!"

Although she'd mentioned music a few times, Jaime had yet to explain to him about music and why Louis was so popular and why it was such a bad idea for Charlie to be seen in public.

"Yeah, of course," she replied and went out to the living room to wait for him.

It was a couple minutes before Charlie appeared by Jaime's side. In the time he was gone, she'd brought out her phone and pulled up a song by Louis' band. Having Charlie physically hear the song would help her explain things better, she was sure.

"All right," she said, holding the phone up. "This is a song that Louis and his friends sing. They're all in a band – a group of people who like to play music."

Charlie nodded his head and that's when Jaime pressed the 'play' button. "Story of my Life" started to play from the little phone, soft music emitting from the speakers. A single voice started singing and was soon switched to a different voice. Still, the music and voices singing were soft. There was a third voice singing, which didn't surprise her. There were five of them total in the band (a little piece of information Jaime remembered from Macy). Then, it switched the first person who started the song off before multiple voices started singing; all five of them, Jaime guessed.

All in all, the song was wonderful. It was her first time listening to it, and she understood why her best friend went berserk about them. The band surely was talented, she couldn't deny that.

"So, that's what a song usually sounds like," Jaime told Charlie, who enjoyed the song as well. "Songs are normally a couple minutes long. They vary in what they sound like. There's different genres like pop, country, and rap."

This continued for a while, Jaime explaining the aspects of the songs, looking up different ones to show Charlie that songs sound different. Then, there was the whole copyright issue of plagiarizing someone else's work. He understood that part quickly, thankfully.

"A lot of people like the music that Louis' band makes. Millions, Charlie. And that's why you cannot go outside or be seen out there. Millions of people will recognize you as him and if you're both outside, then... things will get crazy. We'll no longer be able to live freely like this. People will take us into questioning and..."

Jaime broke herself off. Images played through her mind like a slide show, and the ones she saw weren't exactly pretty. People in lab coats poking and prodding at Charlie and Louis. Jaime sitting in a four-walled room with a mirror – the kind you saw in crime shows, where people are watching from the other side of the mirror – with a gray table and metal chair while being questioned constantly.

The most disturbing of those images was seeing Charlie and Louis being poked and prodded with needles and being experimented on. It made her heart clench tightly while fear snaked itself around her heart. It was a painful image, one she hoped would never come true.

"I-I don't want that to happen," Jaime spoke, her voice shaking and hands trembling. "I don't want you or Louis to be taken away. You are too important to me to let that happen. So please understand Charlie that you cannot be seen outside as long as Louis is away."

She glanced up to look at Charlie's blue eyes. Though he might not have been human and understood very little of this world, this particular thing he seemed to understand. He understood the pain in her eyes when she spoke and how terrified she seemed to be at that moment.

"I understand, Jaime," he said truthfully. "I won't go outside."

my computer is being slow and beyond stupid so I've been using my dad's computer to write and stuff. btw thank you guys for getting this book to 10K reads, it's just wow. still wondering why so many people love this book lol