February, 2016.

"Are you in London?"

Louis's face keeps freezing on my screen and I curse at the reception as I make my way through the airport.

"I've just landed. Can I call you back later? You're cutting off."

I don't even wait for his reply since all can see is his face scrunched up in a weird expression, and I just tap on the red button.

The place is packed with people coming and going, as usual, but other than that it turns out pretty easy to go about without being noticed; except for a few girls who, for some reason, won't dare to approach me.

Probably I look as tired and grumpy as I feel.

The flight was a nightmare and I have been inside the same clothes for over fourteen hours, so all I really want is to get settled and go to bed.

I am standing outside the arrivals gate searching for the car that's supposed to pick me up, but my attention gets caught by a blond girl with a smile that sends me back to much simpler times.

And all the discomfort fades away almost instantly. So I smile back and walk over to her.

"What are you doing here?" I ask against her ear as we hug so tightly, it actually hurts. "I thought we were gonna meet later tonight."

She lets go of me, and keeping me at arms length she observes me with a funny look.

"You look like rubbish." She states, ever so candidly and she gestures me towards her car.

"It is so nice to see you too, sis." I retort with sarcasm as I follow her and jump on the passenger seat, swinging my only bag in the back. "Didn't you have that work thing today?"

"I've managed to move it to tomorrow. I wanted to catch up with you."

She shoots me a crooked smile and a wink, and then we are joining the traffic on our way to her flat.

We barely speak during the ride, mostly because I am truly exhausted but also because she's is such a reckless driver, I always fear talking to her and distract her while she's behind the wheel. But as soon as we are soundly settled in her house and she fixed me a cup of tea, the questions begin.

"I would ask you how've you been but I already read all about that on Twitter." She starts, playing all coy and casual. "Candice, uh?"

There is this almost disapproving tone in her voice, and her eyes narrow in my direction.

"Is nothing like that." I hurry to say. "She's been... helping me. She has a boyfriend, now."

She doesn't seem to believe me at all, but I decide not to even try changing her mind. She is far too familiar with my history with Candice to be easily convinced of the fact we are nothing but friends now.

Time will prove me right, eventually. Whenever she finally decides to make it official with Michael, which judging by how smitten she seems to be, it won't take much longer.

"Okay, then." She says, leaning back on the couch. "How are you?"

"I thought you didn't need to ask me that." I tease her as I hide behind the brim of my steaming cup.

"I'm serious now. How've you been? You barely spoke about her and I've never pushed because you were always so far away. But now that you're here, I really think you should talk about it."

My phone starts ringing inside my pocket but I ignore it, silencing it without even taking it out.

"There's nothing to talk about. It's over and I'm starting to live with it." I say with the biggest sense of conviction I can gather, but she looks at me with an annoyingly raised brow. "Fake it till you make it, right."

I let out the most piteous of all chuckles and she shrugs.

"Soothe yourself. But know that you don't have to fake it." She places a hand on my knee, giving it a sweet squeeze of reassurance. "Not here, and not with me."

I nod my head with a smile, covering her hand with mine, silently acknowledging and thanking her always unyielding support, and the fact that she respects my silences and my times.

But the moment is ruined by another ringing of my phone.

"Oh, shoot! I totally forgot." Gemma exclaims breaking the contact of our hands. "Louis called me when I was waiting for you. He said you hung up on him..."

This time I take out the phone from my pocket and I see that's it's him calling me.

"Yeah, the reception was really bad." I say as I'm about to ignore the call once again.

Is not that I'm avoiding him personally, it's just that I wanted some time alone to adjust before I jump back into my London social life.

"Well, he said he needed to talk to you. Something about her sister and whatnot. He said it was urgent."

I frown, suddenly concerned, and I quickly slide my thumb across the screen.

*****

"Trust me... You're going to want to see this."

Louis is practically pushing me into this little theater where a lot of people are rushing to find their seats, and I just keep asking myself why on earth did I let him drag me here.

He has been nagging me since I've got to the city about this, and although I just couldn't understand why he was so adamant about me coming to see his little sister performing, I eventually realized he wasn't going to take no for answer.

After all, is not like I had a better plan for a Wednesday night.

"Lou, what..." I'm about to ask him for a millionth time, when his mother comes up to me with a surprised look on her face. "Hi, Johannah. How are you?" I greet her with a hug.

"I'm good. Surprised to see you here, honestly." She laughs and I just shrug. "Come on. It's about to start."

The lights start to fade out as soon as she completes the sentence and we finish settling in our seats by the time a reflector hits the stage and a woman with a black ballerina outfit walks out.

"At first I couldn't believe it... I mean, what are the odds, right?" Louis whispers way too close to my ear for my liking. I pull away to give him a glare. "And Doris kept going on and on about her classes and her teacher..."

"What are you talking about? What's going on?"

I don't know why but my heart starts thumping against my ribcage like a bass drum. And this strange feeling of uneasiness and anticipation sends a shiver crawling up and down my spine.

The woman starts to talk. Something about thanking everyone for being here to support the children and how excited she is for the show we're about to see; but is like I'm suddenly out of my own body and everything seems to be in a haze.

"Louis..." My voice is weak and trembling, I notice. "Why did you bring me here?"

Someone behind us shushes me and I just sink in my seat, slightly embarrassed.

In that moment, the woman says something that I don't get to listen and welcomes two younger girls into the stage.

And my heart, which hasn't stopped raging until now, suddenly comes to a halt before it plunges to my stomach.

"I would call dips on the brunette..." Louis says with a playful tone, nudging me with his elbow. "But something tells me it won't be necessary."

~~~~~

Song: Perfect by One Direction.

A/N:

Oooookaaaay!!!! So, I am going on vacations for an entire month next Thursday!

So, since I don't know when am I going to be able to update once I'm abroad, I will release the next chapter this Wednesday and then I'll take a hiatus until my dreaded return.

Don't worry, the chapters are all written (the next five or six, at least), so this doesn't mean the story will be forgotten!

So please, do not forget about it, either. Or me.

I love you! Let me know what you think so far and I see you when I get back.

Love, Lucy.

P.S: my internet keeps acting out so I couldn't upload the chapter from my laptop, which I means I couldn't use one of the gifs I wanted so I put a baby Harry pic instead. And I couldn't make my usual Word editing, so if you see a misspelled word or a grammar mistake, let me know.

Byeeee!