Under The Willow Tree • Louis Tomlinson

x.

x. start it all over again

— • —

Heat woke me out of my peaceful dream. I didn't want to leave it, I was at a Katy Perry concert and Tamra had spotted me before the show and gave me the opportunity to dance with Katy on stage, along with other people and meet her afterwards. In my dream I had just gotten on stage when the heat of my small stuffy apartment pulled me awake.

"Call me weird but I'm a Katycat." I mumbled before slowly opening my eyes to reveal the real world. My bedroom had taken on a yellow tinge as the sunlight filtered through the heavy yellow material I had hung up as curtains. It looked early to me. The Friday crowds could wait an hour or two before I opened up shop. I rolled over onto the other side of the bed opening my eyes fully to look at the alarm clock.

"SHIT!" I jumped out of bed and raced to the bathroom. It wasn't morning like I thought. Instead, it was One Twenty-Five in the afternoon. I quickly freshened myself up, chucking on the nearest cotton dress. I completely ignored my kitchen as I raced down the stairs to my shop. I had lost a lot of business today. I didn't want to get in the habit of waking up late.

I rushed to the door and flipped the sign on the closest window to open. I also opened to door wide open to let passers-by know that I was actually awake. As I latched the door so it wouldn't sway, I noticed a person leaning against a familiar car only a few feet from me. "You took your time." Louis chuckled, waving at me.

"What do you want Lou?" I asked with a yawn, sleep still hadn't fully left my body.

"I brought breakfast! It's pancakes, your favourite." Louis shook a paper bag and grinned. I smiled and beckoned him to come inside.

"How long were you waiting?" I asked him, another yawn escaped my mouth.

"Not long. Ten minutes max. I thought you would like some pancakes."

I smiled and grabbed the bag off Louis. "Thanks Lou. I see you still remember that I have a soft spot for pancakes."

Louis rolled his eyes, "Just because I don't see you in a while doesn't mean I forgot everything about you."

"Why are you really here?" I asked him as I sat in one of the chairs at the front of the shop. I placed the bag on the coffee table, eager to eat its contents.

"To talk." Louis said simply as he sat down in the chair opposite me.  "Seeing that you still seem to hate phone calls I decided to talk to you in person."

I shrugged, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well what have you done since we last saw each other?"

"Met Ed, talked to Harry, dreamed about Katy and woke up."

Louis raised an eyebrow and I poked my tongue out at him. "I meant in the year or so since I last properly talked to you."

"Oh." I paused for a few moments as I tried to remember what had actually happened. "Well I got a full time job in Gabriel's shop until about six months ago when I moved here to open up Petals in the Wind. I still keep in touch with him. Gabriel actually gives me some good advice about keeping my shop stable. As you can see, I also left Mum alone. It was hard but if I have a spare day or so, I go up to Doncaster to visit her. Oh! I also didn't give up my music! I plan to stick with it unless I hit big time with my designing career. What about you?" Louis' smile turned to a grin when I mentioned my violin. I rolled my eyes and removed the pancakes and plastic cutlery from the bag. "It smells delicious."

"That's good to know Rose. Well I guess you know most of what I did with the band. Harry told me you don't mind our music."

I raised an eyebrow at him as I stuffed the delicious pancakes into my mouth. I hadn't realised how hungry I was until the first morsel of fluffy deliciousness hit my stomach. I tried to remember the last time I had a proper meal. I couldn't remember.

"What about your personal life?" I asked Louis when my mouth was empty.

Louis bit his lip for a few seconds before replying, "Being on tour is hard. You miss home."

I half smiled before I stuffed some more pancake's into me. "I feel as if you came here to tell me something else." I said with my mouth full.

"Sometimes I wish you weren't so intuitive." Louis chuckled before becoming serious. "You know why I'm here."

"What happened after I left?" I asked, placing my fork and remaining pancakes on the coffee table between us.

"Well Rose... it didn't go like I expected it to go." He sighed, "She got really pissed at me, insulted me a few times, and told me the reasons why she actually didn't love me."

"Then?"

"She stormed off towards the back exit. She probably went home or crashed at a friend's house."

"And you're not worried about her?" I frowned.

"Jenna said some pretty harsh things to me last night. It showed me that she was never following her heart when she met me. I guess she wanted the fame that came with me."

"So.... Louis, what is the relationship status between you and Jenna?"

"Am I allowed to say 'It's complicated' or is that too cliché?" He chuckled.

"You're treading on rough water Lou." I sighed, "But I guess she is still your girlfriend unless she says otherwise."

Louis reached for my hand and squeezed it, "Thank you Rose."

"For what?"

"For showing me that I was wrong and like usual you were right." I smiled at him and he smiled back. It felt like old times again. I liked the old times.

I gently shook my hand away from Louis' and stood up, grabbing my uneaten pancakes. I wanted to put them in the fridge so I could have them for dinner.

"Am I forgiven?" Louis asked, following me like a lost puppy.

"Almost." I bounded up the stairs two steps at a time and Louis quickly followed suit.

"Awww C'mon Rose. What can I do to be fully forgiven?" He followed me into my apartment.

"Well I could punch you again." I said, placing my pancakes in the fridge.

"Anything besides that!" Louis exclaimed looking alarmed.

I bit my lip as I thought of another thing that Louis could do. Something that would help me rebuild our lost year and a bit.

"I have the perfect idea!" I exclaimed, stepping over to Louis and grabbing his hand.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked nervously

"My bedroom"

"Rose, you're great and all but I'm still taken."

I laughed sarcastically and tugged on Louis' hand again. "Not for that Lou! Remember how you and mum were the only people who believed that I could live two dreams?"

"Yeah..." Louis replied slowly, "What about it?"

"Well I'm about to show you that I didn't give up on dream number two."

"Yippee!" Louis shouted. "Does that mean you are going to give me a concert?"

"Yes Lou. But that the catch is that to be forgiven you must not laugh."

"Not even at your song choices?" Louis asked, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"No Louis. Not even the song choices."

"Bugger." Louis muttered, earning him a slap on the arm.

"You're going to love the first song. Trust me." I winked as I grabbed my violin case.

"What is it?" Louis asked slyly

"Moments."

Louis groaned and fell into the lounge chair in the corner of my bedroom. If he could survive my small concert, I would forgive him for leaving me without notice. If he could keep his humour in his mouth until my bow left the strings then maybe, just maybe I could start all over again with Louis Tomlinson.