Never Had ~ A Louis Tomlinson Love Story

Chapter 23: Safe and Sound

"It's almost three in the morning! Where the hell is Louis?" Liam shouts and everyone gets a little scared, not only because Louis is missing but also because of Liam's harsh tone. "We don't know. I tried to get him to the car, but he ran off and we lost him. I'm sure he was just looking for Emma or something." Marlee said from the couch next to me. We were all gathered in Harry's hotel room, as he was the one to call the meeting after Marlee and Niall had returned without our drunken friend. That was almost six hours ago.

"Try calling him again." Zayn says to me and I pick up my phone, dialing Louis' number and setting it against my cheek. Just as I'm about to end the call, I hear someone breathing on the other end along with muffled background noise. "Louis, where are you?" I ask. "Oh.. Emma. I fell asleep.. in the park? I'm coming back now. But I don't really know where I am." he says, obviously sobering up. The hangover is noticeable and I feel slightly bad, especially knowing he didn't remember the later events of the date. "Hold on, we'll track your phone and pick you up." I look to Liam and he catches on, opening his phone next to me and clicking on the "Find my iPhone" app. It doesn't take long to find Louis, who is only ten minutes away, so Liam and I go to pick him up while everyone else goes to bed.

When we get to the park, we see Louis walking around a small, empty football field. He seems to be quite out of it. I shout his name and he slowly turns around, trying to smile at us as he comes in our direction. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" Liam asks when we can see him up close, noticing the bruise forming on the left side of his jawline. It's small, but still noticeable.

"Uh, nothing. Just got hit in football a few days ago, no big deal." he lies, but Liam seems to buy it. "Let's just go. We have a show tomorrow and no doubt you'll have a bad headache when you wake up." he says and we walk back to the car. Louis and I sit in the back while Liam and the driver sit in the front, carrying on a conversation about cars that they were having earlier.

"So are you going to tell me who really gave you that bruise?" I whisper to Louis. He sighs and rubs it softly. "Later, come to my hotel room once everyone is asleep." I nod and look outside my window at sleeping Berlin. The hotel comes into view and the car drops us off out in front. Of course there are people with cameras yelling our names, and the voices only get louder as Louis and I emerge holding hands. At least the adults can keep their rude thoughts to themselves. So this run-in isn't as bad as ones with some fans. I simply keep my head down and go straight to the elevators. Up on our floor, everyone is waiting in Harry's doorway. They all let out a sigh of relief when they see him, and decide it's time to go to bed. I follow Louis' plan and go to my own room with Marlee.

"Going to bed?" she asks as she slips under the covers of her own bed. Oh great, now I have to try lying.. we all know how that'll turn out. "Um.. soon. But I'm not really all that tired." I lie through my teeth and pray to the Lord that Marlee doesn't notice. She smirks and sits up, arms holding her up on her mattress. "No you're not. You're such a bad liar. You're totally going to go see Louis." she smirks and I laugh, but that just makes things worse. "I don't really care what you do. But keep it down. I don't want to hear you screaming all night long." I roll my eyes at that and head towards the door. Before I leave, I turn back to Marlee. "And just FYI, I'm not a screamer. But Niall is, isn't he?" I smirk and leave, hearing her laughing behind me.

Seconds later, I'm outside Louis' room. I lightly knock on the door and he opens it right after, smiling softly at me and letting me inside. Luckily, Louis got the single room while in Germany so we didn't have to worry about another boy trying to sleep while we talked. I sat down on his bed and he sat with me. "So um.. I guess I'll start with when I left." he says and I nod for him to continue. He scratches the stubble on his chin and speaks again. "I decided to go looking for you, because you left, as I'm sure you know. And I went to the park you found me in. That's where I found Connor. The second I saw him, I just knew he was the one that tried to hurt us in Spain the other day. So I just kinda went up to him.. and punched him. I got a few good ones in, but he did nail me pretty nicely in the jaw, as you can see. Not long after that he gave up. But when he was leaving, he told me to take good care of you. Weird, huh? The guy who hurts you wants me to protect you. Seems ironic. But yeah, that's what happened." he finishes and I'm shocked, once again.