When I'm In His Arms

Chapter 12 :)

This time, Louis broke away first, but only to reel me in closer and wrap his arms tightly around my torso. He kissed the top of my head with gentle lips, then rocked me back and forth and whispered, "You have no idea what you're capable of."

Although my mind screamed its protests, I stood up on my toes and kissed his cheek. He gently brushed his nose across mine and peered into my eyes. "You know how I feel about you?" Louis asked.

He caressed my head against his warm chest. I loved the sound of his beating heart. "I'm not sure exactly, but... it can't be anywhere close to the way I feel about you." I laughed. "It all seems so crazy to me."

"Well then that makes two of us."

"I'm sorry I was so bitter at first. I've never felt this way before, and I was scared."

"Are you still?"

I hesitated. "A little."

His lips grazed my ear as he whispered, "don't be."

For that exact moment, it was just the two of us. In a world of over seven-billion people, we were alone. I wish I could've just freezed that moment forever, and lived with my body flush against his. I craved more of his sweet kisses the longer we stood there at the edge of the parking lot with the bike rack beside us. The moon cast shadows over his perfectly chiseled cheekbones. Stars shone in his eyes whenever I looked up, a whole galaxy in his ocean blue iris'. He was flawless in my eyes, and I wondered how he saw me.

"Would you like to walk?" I asked. "I don't feel like biking anymore."

He nodded and unlocked the bikes. We started pushing them alongside the road. "Alright. Walk and talk."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"You."

"Me?" I still didn't see how he could like someone like me. I was depressed, bitter, unattractive, and many other unappealing things. "Louis, why am I so different to you?"

He suddenly laced his fingers through mine, and this time I didn't protest. It caused another eruption of fireworks in my chest. I felt so infinite that I wondered if I was glowing from the kiss. "You don't know you're beautiful."

I laughed. "That's your hit song, isn't it? 'What makes you beautiful?'"

"Yes. And it's girls like you who are our inspiration."

I looked at him, still with a glint of disbelief in my hazel eyes. "You're a lot different from other guys. You actually see past the things I've done. The scars, the unpopularity, the depression... you don't just see with your eyes."

"I don't have to if you're here. When you're near me, every time you touch me, it's like I'm soaring above everything. I feel significant and loved. Tell me you feel the same."

I continued to push my bike alongside the road. Should I tell him? Would he even believe me if I did? Or maybe he's been lying this whole time, just to make me slip...

I must've zoned out because one second Louis had spoken to me, and the next I saw the headlights of a car and heard the honking of it's horn. I looked up, startled, with my eyes the size of plums. I jumped ten feet in the air and wrapped my arms around Louis' torso, holding him so tight that I was bound to cut off his circulation. My pulse had quickened so fast that I could feel it thrumming in my wrist. Although the car had made a point to go around me, and I had only just walked over the shoulder, adrenalin coursed through my body like a wildfire.

I buried my head in his chest. He rubbed my back with his hand and tilted my head up. "You should be more careful," he scolded lightly.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his soft cheeks one after the other. "That," I said. "Is how crazy I am about you."