Never Had ~ A Louis Tomlinson Love Story

Chapter 31: Story of My Life



"What were you two talking about?" he tried to hide his anger the best he could, which really wasn't that great. "Nothing." I spoke, looking up at him. I knew it wasn't what he wanted to hear, and honestly I didn't want to hear it either. But in reality, I could barely even process the conversation.


"Are you fucking kidding me, Emma? I thought you said you were done with this!" he yelled, not angry but frustrated. I stood there, at a loss of words, and did my best to think back to what had just happened. I started at the car and made my way to just when I saw Louis. The fact that I had to think about it seemed to be making him more frustrated, though, so I finished up and went with the few pieces I remembered.


"No, I mean, it was really nothing. I saw him and I approached him. I just wanted to know if he was following me and if so, why. But he wouldn't give me a clear answer, so I kept following. Eventually he told me the usual ex-boyfriend shit about you not being able to care for me and blah. Then he just left, as you saw." I told him calmly. I figured it'd be best to leave out the almost getting killed by an SUV part. The last thing I needed was a seriously worried Louis, at least now he's calmed down a bit.


Louis sighed and ran his hand through his already messy hair. He didn't seem to be completely satisfied with my answer, but he dealt with it and let it go. "So, where are you taking me?" I changed the subject and smiled up at him. He looked down at the ground and the ends of his mouth twitched up into a small grin as he kicked a pebble with his left foot. "I told you, it's a surprise." he focused on the sidewalk whilst smirking, knowing that it was now my turn to be frustrated with him. I let out a long dramatic sigh and he laughed as he grabbed my hand and starting walking down the street, dragging me behind as I gave him my best death glare.


I hoped it wouldn't be a long walk given that the rare warm weather had already disappeared and I was short a jacket. But of course with Louis, it was. By the time we reached the small, somewhat disappointing coffee shop I was freezing my arse off and was really just wanting a cuppa to warm my hands. Louis seemed excited going inside the small, pretty much empty place and I really couldn't see what he was seeing. There was nothing special about the place: a few tables and chairs, classic coffee house music playing in the background, and a single worker sweeping the old wooden floors. When we entered the man, who looked to be about seventy, looked up from his work and smiled at us. He slowly made his way over to the front counter and waited for us to approach him.


"Hi, could we get two hot chocolates?" Louis asked the man and he nodded, getting to work on the machine next to him. In less than two minutes the drinks were ready; and when Louis pulled out his wallet, the man shook his head and assured him that it was no problem. We thanked him and sat at a small table while he got back to working.


"This was my wife's shop. She ran it for forty years." the man spoke as he sweeped again, earning both Louis' and my attention. I smiled at him warmly and he continued to speak. "I came in hear about thirty years ago and well, I never left. Every day I'd come back just to see her. Once I finally got the courage to talk to her, I asked her to go out for coffee with me. Silly, right? I thought so, but I guess she enjoyed it." I couldn't really figure out why he was telling us this, but I was enjoying the story and had no idea in my mind of stopping him if he was willing to speak.


"I hope you don't mind me telling you this. I don't get very many customers and it's been a bit lonely lately." the man spoke as his tone dropped when he spoke of being lonely. I didn't know what had happened to his wife but I was not the person to butt into other people's businesses. "It's alright. A very nice story, like from a book. It's hard to find things like that in the real world." I spoke, all too seriously. "Yes, very true. You sure do remind me of her." I smiled as the old man chuckled softly. "I'm assuming she's the wit and you're the charm." he turned to Louis and all three of us laughed, making the small place seem a little bigger.


The shop slowly became silent again and eventually Louis and I both finished our drinks. We thanked the man for the time he spent with us and he spoke of the same as we left. Thinking we were done, I started walking back to the hotel. But Louis had to have something else in mind as he grabbed my arm and whisked me away in the opposite direction. "There's more?" I asked. "Oh yeah, I just figured you were cold and wanted something warm. I had no idea we'd even find that place, let alone talk to that man." I laughed and Louis did the same as we rounded a corner and headed further into the heart of London.


The small, old coffeshops like the one we were just in began to disappear and larger Starbucks were showing up on every block. The simplicity of the world was fading away right before us and it made me sad knowing that a nice man like the one we had met tonight may end up loosing his last connection with his wife thanks to the business world. Call me sappy, whatever.


"I'm actually glad we met that guy, he told a great story and that ties in with the actual date for tonight." Louis smiled and I looked down the street, trying to guess what he could possibly be talking about. Finally I saw something that fit the picture, but I just couldn't find any emotion in me to express to him. A few blocks away was the large British library. I had never been, but I had heard many things about it. It's one of the two biggest libraries in the world and houses many of the first and most known books ever.


"I know you love books. I was thinking maybe you could show me some. Who knows? Maybe we could even get ourselves kicked out!" he seemed a bit too excited about that, which made me laugh. But the fact that he remembered something as small as my love for classic literature was big; especially when I knew how much it made his brain melt. We reached the library and learned we only had one hour to rummage through the thousands of books. So of course, Louis went running in, earning us our first strike from the security guards.


I will not go to jail. I will run and leave Louis behind. I will not go to jail.


We started at the not so tiny fiction section. Of course the oldest and most treasured books were at the front in a glass case, guarded by two man. And of course, Louis had to go right to them, just so he could get into more trouble. "You read any of these, Em?" Louis asked and gestured to the large glass case in front of us holding about ten books.


"A few, I guess." I shrugged. "Well which are your favorites?" he asked excitedly. "Well Emma is good, so is Pride and Prejudice, oh and Romeo and Juliet, can't ever go wrong with that one." I spoke, eying each of the books. They were all very old and bounded with leather. But the strange thing was not that the copy of Don Quixote was soiled and barely readable, but the fact that the copy of Emma was the same exact one as the one I had recieved in Paris months ago from the old woman running the small bookstore.


Now no, I'm not going to surprise you and come up with this amazing idea that she is the man from the coffee shop's wife, because she most likely isn't. Sorry guys but his story can't be that good. But seeing a book I possessed in such great security worried me that I had something worth much more than I thought it was.


"Can I help either of you?" I turned and saw a short, middle aged man coming our way. He wore glasses and a bow tie, the perfect image of someone who worked in a library. I glanced at Louis and he stepped forward, scaring me a bit as I worried for what he would do next. That was the one problem I had with Louis: he was way too unpredictable.


"I'm looking for a copy of Romeo and Juliet." Louis spoke and I raised my eyebrows, surprised at the fact that he was actually willing to look at something written by Shakespeare. The Louis I had known in high school probably would've scoffed at me saying I enjoyed the book and dragged me over to the comic book section of the small Barns & Noble. But I guess that Louis wasn't here today; he was really making an effort, and that was very wonderful of him.


The man quietly moved to one of the tall bookshelves lining the glass case and pulled out a somewhat newer version of Romeo and Juliet. Louis smiled as it was handed to him and the second the man was gone, Louis rushed over to the shelf from which the book came from and leaned up against it as he quickly filed through the pages.


"Let's act it out, ready? Oh Romeo, Romeo!-" he shouted loudly and I had to clamp my hand over his mouth to get him to shut up. When I gave him a death glare, he only started to giggle uncontrollably and from that I just gave up on shutting him up.


Remember Emma, run and leave him behind. You will not go to jail.


"Fine, just read me a piece then." he handed me the book and I sighed, leaning against the bookcase with my shoulder gently brushing his. "Well what part do you want to hear?" I asked just a moment after I started flipping through the pages. "That part I just did, yeah, find that."


I was never the best at reading old English, but I was sure Louis was much worse. The voice started out weak but grew stronger as Romeo spoke. I watched as Louis' eyes furrowed together. "He jests at scars that never felt a wound. But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks: Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!"


"Romeo's sounding a little desperate right now." Louis joked and I nodded slowly, reading over the lines again. He poked my side and gestured for me to keep going, so I cleared my throat dramatically and read again.


"'Ay me!' says Juliet. She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air.


"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet. 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,


Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself


"I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; Henceforth I never will be Romeo." I slowly came to a stop and closed the book. There was still much more of the scene, but I couldn't go on. This was too much. Too much, especially with Louis here. However, when I looked over at him, he didn't even seem to notice that I hadn't even reached the end.


"So, what does all of that mean?" he asked, still looking a bit confused. "Um, well, like you said, Romeo is desperate. Juliet is talking about how a name doesn't define anything and that everyone has a choice to be what they want to be, name or not. Yeah, that's really it. You know how the rest of the story goes. They die, the end." I stood up straight and put the book back in the empty shelf spot where it appeared to be from.


"Hey, hey, hey. What's going on? Looks like Romeo and Juliet aren't the only ones who died. Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost, love." he spoke a bit worried. I nodded my head and gulped, hoping he wasn't catching on. Thing was, Louis was very smart when it came to human emotions. He could tell what a person was thinking in a second, and sadly for me, he was probably doing that right now.


"Emma, it's a book. Stop freaking out about it. You can't just shut down when you see the word 'love' or hear it for God sakes. It's a part of live and you've got to live with it. You said it yourself that you would try harder, so finish up the scene for me. I want to hear what Romeo has to say, you know, see if he can get any more desperate." Louis smiled and I shrugged.


I turned around to face the bookshelf again and as I reached back up for the book I had placed there about a minute ago, I realized it was missing. The spot was once again empty and neither Louis nor I could seem to process it. Yeah, I know, it's just a book. But the fact that someone came by in the last forty seconds and took it seemed strange to me. I looked around for a person on the other side who could've possibly taken it, but there was no one there. In fact, there was no one else on this floor except for two security guards. I checked the clock on the wall and saw that we only had about five minutes until closing time. Louis and I both locked gazes and agreed it was time to go. I promised him we could read it another time, but he didn't seem to be all that interested. Hey, at least he tried.


We got home quickly and I was very, very glad to be out of the cold. But the second we opened Louis' front door, a different wave of cold hit me. Things were tossed all around the apartment. A picture fram was broken on the floor, glass pieces everywhere. "Someone's broken in." Louis spoke quietly. I made my way around the cluttered entry way and headed back into my room to see if they had gotten that far. They did and just like the front room, my bedroom was a disaster. The odd thing was, nothing seemed to be missing. But then I realized what was and my breathing hitched. "Anything missing? It seems like they didn't take anything." Louis spoke, making me jump. I turned and saw him standing in the doorway, eyeing the mess of my room. "Just one thing. My book, Louis. Someone took Emma."


(A/N: yay, got this done (finally). I'm also on my phone right now and well, I definitely prefer writing on the computer. But with soccer this weekend, I didn't have a choice. Hopefully you found this interesting, even with the Shakespeare. Don't hate me but I really enjoy Shakespeare. But anyways, shout out to my awesome cousin and also a character in my story... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLEE HORAN! Haha love ya cuz. Anyways, please comment and vote on this chapter! Love you guys!! -Katie)