Louis

"Oh, here's the lover boy."

I snapped my head sidewards to see all four of the lads looking at me with smirks on their faces and suspicious glint in their eyes as soon as I entered the studio for voice rehearsals. My brows creased. Lover boy?

"Piss off, Zayn," I snickered but played innocent as I asked, "What are you on about, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing we were just wondering what your ugly as*--" Liam began to say.

"First off, Liam, my as* is anything but ugly and second, I wasn't talking to you so shut your face, boy." I told him and he pouted.

"Rude." He muttered.

"So?" I faced Zayn, "You guys gonna tell me what you're talking about sometime soon?"

"Just see for yourself." He told me before extending his hand holding his phone. I looked down on the phone screen and saw myself and Eleanor squinting through the blinding flashes but trying to smile at the cameras at the same time. We looked uncomfortable and it was rather funny. I smiled fondly.

Niall snorted.

My smile turned into a glare in a span of a second, "What?" I asked.

"Nothing," He smiled innocently before turning to Liam and whispering too low for me to hear, "He's one whipped of an as*hole."

"So were whispering now, yeah? So mature." I again turned to Zayn and rolled my eyes before giving him his phone back, "This picture is ages ago. I brought Eleanor with me to the charity ball, and? Your point?" I looked at them one by one to see if any of them would finally tell me what they were getting at but I saw Harry smiling knowingly but quietly keeping to himself.

Why did it always seem like he knows something we didn't?

Zayn chuckled and didn't take his phone back, "Swipe left, mate."

I did.

Then again. And again. And again.

There, saved in Zayn's phone, and probably released all over the internet, were atleast five photos of me in different angles and times during the ball. But there was one thing they had in common: I was staring at Eleanor in all of it.

I looked up and saw all four of of them still looking at me with the same smirks on their faces from when I entered the studio a while ago.

I gulped, "I'm looking at her in the pictures, okay so? Something wrong about that?" I shot back but inside, I was hoping those pictures were scattered inbetween other photos and not compiled together so no issue would come up.

"I don't know about you, Tommo but that's how Zayn drools at Perrie even before they were dating." Niall shrugged.

"Hey! I'm right here." Zayn responded.

"Even before they were dating, Niall you said so yourself. Then it's completely normal." I tried reasoning.

"Ah Louis, you aren't paying attention. I said that's how Zayn looks at Perrie even before they were dating--"

"That's what I've just said--" I tried cutting in but Niall continued talking.

"--but what are they now?" he dramatically turned to Liam and asked, "Care to tell us, Liam?"

"Dating?" Liam hesitantly answered and I glared at him for just answering.

"That, and happily inlove." Niall added grinning victoriously.

I've established that to myself the same time those pictures were taken, thank you very much, I wanted to say. But instead I elegantly told them to, "F*ck off."

They all laughed.

**

I drove to Eleanor's house after rehearsals, a thing I noticed I'd been doing lately, and went straight in.

"Eleanor?" I called out.

"In the kitchen!" She yelled.

I walked through the house and into the kitchen and saw her washing her face on the sink and leaning on it after. Then I think I heard her sniffle.

"You could've walked in on me parading around the house naked, you know." she told me, her voice sounding like she had been crying.

"Eleanor," I walked closer to her and tilted her chin towards me, her eyes were closed and she refused to open them. "Are you crying?"

"No." she said, opposing the tears that were falling out of her eyes.

"Then open your eyes, love, let me see those beautiful eyes." I coaxed.

"They hurt." she whined.

"What?"

"My eyes hurt." she said, keeping her them tighly shut.

"Why?" I worriedly asked. "What happened?"

She flushed and clutched her arms together in a shy way, "I tried cooking for dinner." she confessed.

I looked at the kitchen table and there I saw the mess of chopped vegetables.

"Chopping has hurt your eyes?"

"Onions have." she simply said making me laugh as I get it.

"How did you ever survive without knowing how to chop onions without bawling your eyes out?" I asked teasingly.

She shrugged, "Take outs. Deliveries." Then she slowly opened her eyelids, revealing her brown eyes. "Ow! It burns!" she was about to rub her eyes with her hands but I stopped her.

"No. Don't rub your eyes, it'd hurt more." I warned. "Now get your as* upstairs and change, let's avoid more crying over onions and eat dinner out."

She tilted her head and squinted her eyes at me, "Is that a proper way to ask a girl out?"

I stiffened. Did she just?

I finally opened my mouth supposedly to utter a yes, but all too soon, her serious face dropped as she laughed, "I was just kidding, Louis. I'll be quick to change."

**

After eating, Eleanor insisted we go to Starbucks because she just cannot live without caffeine in her system. But as soon as we parked outside, pain was flashed on her features and I immediately know why.

"We can go to another coffee shop?" I suggested.

"No," she shook her head, "No, life is too short to drink crappy coffee. And I wouldn't let heartbreak get in the way of another thing I love."

We walked inside and went to the counter to order. We waited for it by the side and as soon as it was served, I picked the tray up and walked slowly towards the booths. Midway through though, Eleanor stopped and stared at nothing in particular but I could almost see the flashback that was happening inside her mind through her eyes.

My heart broke for her so I put the tray down and picked both of our drinks, gave her hers, and took her hand before pulling her away.

"Where are we going?"

"Oh, just out for a walk." I casually said.

So with a cup of coffee in one of our hands, we slipped out into the night and walked on the streets, me helping her escape her past.

**

I had to distract her to forget about those thoughts; that was my goal that night.

So as I saw a car with blinking light inside while walking, an idea immediately popped inside my mind. I knew that the blinking light was the indicator that the car had an alarm that goes off if so as touched in the very least. I looked at Eleanor with a glint of mischief in my eyes. "Eleanor, if I say run, we run."

"What?! Don't you dare do something stupid, Tomlins--"

I kicked the car. The annoying sound of the alarm went off.

El turned to me, looking like she was still processing what happened and asked, "You did not just--"

"Run!" I yelled.

I took her hand in mine once again and took off running the same time someone yelled a, "Hey! Come back here you f*ckers!"

I ran and ran, tugging Eleanor with me. And when I felt like we had run away enough distance from that place, I stopped to give us both times to catch our breaths.

"I told you not to do something stupid!" She scolded. But finally laughed, opposing what she just said.

"But it was fun, right?" I said in between breaths and breathy laughs.

She was still laughing while also catching her breath. "You're a child!"

I shrugged.

With the help of the night, I was glad we weren't being swarmed by fans without having to conceal my identity. We peacefully walked on the streets while drinking the coffee we bought.

I didn't know it'd be our thing.

"It's a starry night," she said while looking up the sky, and air was almost knocked out of my lungs because of how beautiful she looked at that moment that I had to breathe in sharply. "It's beautiful."

"Yes." I responded breathleslly, whispering the last part, "Yes, you are."

I thought I was helping her escape her past, that night. But no, we were actually living in the present, replacing the ugly memories she had in the past.

She turned to me and I was almost certain she heard me but she said nothing about it, just smiled sweetly, took my hand and said, "Let's start walking back."

A/N: IT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN!! I SWEAR IT'S NEAR!! I'm sorry the "real thing" is taking too long, but I want to build their bond first. So what do you think?

I will keep the cover as it is, majority picked the current one. Don't forget to vote and comment! Love y'all and thanks for sticking with me :) x