Written All Over Your Face {l.t.}

chapter 8

Across the next two weeks, I watched headline after headline speculate a split between Louis and me, some even going as far to make up reasons and causes for the split. Supposedly, I had caused the airport fight for attention and then slept with Oli when Louis didn't coddle me enough after the injuries. When Louis found out, obviously he wasn't happy, but he'd sided with Oli instead of me, so I'd gone home from the tour.

Insane, right?

Louis and I both thought so, and we were having a great laugh about the whole thing every time a new conspiracy about Oli and me popped up. Really, we were just keeping ourselves entertained with all the ideas. Neither of us responded to comments or messages. I had even received phone calls from two different "news" companies about the situation. The amount of people who cared about something that hadn't even happened was almost maddening.

By February 6th, I was ready to explode with happiness. Louis would be in Los Angeles in just two more days, with his LA shows being on the 10th and 12th. I was so excited to get to see him again! He was even staying at my house in Torrance during the shows. His home was closer, but I had let him choose.

It felt nice to be his first choice.

I had taken off work the 7th-13th, with the plan being to completely take off for the rest of Louis' tour. He was about to be in different countries and jumping back and forth from home to Louis wasn't going to be as easy as it had been thus far. I had work squared away while I was gone and enough money to take care of my bills until I got back. I'd spent all my side time handling all of that this past week. Part of me wanted to surprise Louis with the fact that I could be a full-time roadie, but judging off how the last surprise went, I decided to tell him as soon as I had all my loose ends tied up.

"Oi, no fooking way, love, really?" I was immediately happy I'd decided to FaceTime him to pass on the good news because watching the way his smile crinkled his eyes was way better that just imagining it in my head. "Elaina, it's going to be so incredible to not have to tell you goodbye anymore."

"I'm so ready for you to be home," I gushed, poking out my bottom lip in a pout. "All this time without you is weird and empty."

"Very, very soon, darling."

Getting off that call should have left me sad to be without Louis for another night, but I was just beyond happy to know that he was almost back home to me. My work day was over, so just tomorrow left before it was Louis Day again! To celebrate, I decided to treat myself in a way I had yet to do in a bit: shopping.

I was still a week out from my follow up appointment on my ankle, so even though week's had passed, every outing kept the airport incident in the forefront of my mind. I felt like it would stay that way until I at least got the boot off. I felt like I had a million and one eyes on me. Never mind that I also felt like an easy target for the more vicious fans of Louis to strike again while I was out. But I was excited to see Louis again, and I wanted to go out and get some shopping done. It just made me feel good. 

All four of my security team would go with me. Lately, they'd just been working in shift groups of two to get me to and from the office and my sessions. This is something that I had requested, since I would be outside much more than I have been. I didn't have much of a plan besides waking up and shopping until lunch time. I just wanted to go out and shop and refresh like I used to do on my days off.

What a horrible idea to believe a morning out shopping these days would be anything like it used to be. 

Don't get me wrong; it wasn't all that horrendous or anything. It just was a lot different to constantly hear cameras clicking around you and watching random girls snapping quick pictures of you as you passed them in the shore aisles. I was surprised that everyone mostly left me alone. No one invaded my space or tried to cross any boundaries. I was grateful. I was just weirded out, all the same.