My Lucky Strike (Louis Tomlinson)

Chapter 2

Cooing innocently down at the pushchair at her side, Navishaa allowed her hands to curl around her first cup of coffee in nearly a year. “You need to tell him Navishaa” the girl across from her noted softly, her brown eyes soft as she admired her friend. Navishaa merely shook her head, adjusting the blankets that were layered in the pram. “No” she insisted softly “Oscar doesn’t need the hassle and neither do I. Louis made his choice” she noted, flinching somewhat as she vocalized the name of her former lover. Although almost a whole year had past, the name was still hard for her say, it was even hard for her to think. Her friend shook her head placing her hands against Navishaa’s. “You never gave him a choice Navi” she insisted.

She knew that her friend had never told her former boyfriend about their child, never giving him the chance to make a choice between the two. “He made up his mind” she retorted simply “He wanted United and he got it. I’m happy for him” she pushed out forcibly before shaking her head. “Oscar needs his nap” she added before standing up, deserting the small out of town café.

One year, well eleven months to be precise, that was the amount of time that had elapsed since Louis Tomlinson had signed for Manchester United. Eleven months of endless goals and celebrations. Eleven months of plaudits and praise. Eleven months of torture for the girl he’d left in his wake. Pregnant and alone, it’d been nothing short of hellish for Navishaa. She’d struggled through a pregnancy she’d had to keep under wraps, giving birth to her pride and joy. She’d lost job after job, alienated friend after friend, but still she refused to cave from the pressure. People had told her, friends and family alike, that she should have contacted the footballer. His number was still the same so it would have been easy, but the brunette had always stubbornly refused, insisting that she didn’t need Louis and that her little boy was better off without his father. It wasn’t true, Oscar needed his father around more than anything, but Navishaa refused to take the advice thrown at her, not want to allow the man who’d waltzed out of her life to merely waltz back in once more.

Sighing softly, the brunette moved through the streets towards her home, clutching her light jacket to her figure as the late afternoon sky darkened. Leaning slightly, she smiled slightly at the sight of her little boy’s bright blue eyes, the little blue eyes that left her speechless every time she saw them. Oscar couldn’t have looked more like his father, with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair, the little boy was a carbon copy of his father, but Navishaa had learnt to ignore it. If she hadn’t, she knew she would have merely caved. Of course it was wrong of her to hide Oscar from Louis, no matter what happened, the former Doncaster player would always be the man who’d fathered the greatest thing in her life, but she couldn’t just give in, she couldn’t deal with seeing him again.

It was all to obvious why she didn’t want him around, she was still in love with Louis and knew she would merely give into him when the time called for it. She’d always had a weakness for him, it’d been a miracle she’d been able to hide for almost a year.

Lumbering up towards her apartment, she sighed as she admired the dingy corridor’s of her apartment building. It wasn’t what she was used to, when she’d lived at home they’d lived in a more rural area of the country and when she’d lived with Louis they’d lived in a high class suburb, but the small two bed room apartment was the best she could manage. All the money she earned from menial jobs went on Oscar, new clothes, diapers, milk, all of it added up and she only just made rent, but she knew she would do it all over again if the time called for it. Oscar was her little boy and all she wanted to do was provide for him, even if it wasn’t what he could have received from his father, she wanted to prove that she wasn’t incapable of raising the little boy she loved.

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“All packed up I see Lewis” Wayne Rooney teased lightly as he noted the suitcase at the side of his friend’s feet. The season was due to reach its conclusion in a matter of days when United travelled to Wembley to take on City in the FA Cup final. It was a big deal for the team, but more so for it’s number 20, a man who’s last memory of a final was over eight years previous. “We’re only going for the weekend” Zayn Malik noted. Louis smiled slightly before bowing his head. “I planned on staying for a while. Catch up with those who’ll still talk to me and what not” he explained. He’d not been back to London since his departure, even when the league fixture had come around he’d opted not to go, but now that the summer was upon them, Louis wanted to rekindle a few relationships with friends he’d left in his wake. People had refused to speak with him, his younger team mates mostly, and he wanted to apologise to them in person.

“Is that the wisest plan?” Wayne added as he wandered over to the younger men. The team were preparing to leave and were packing their bags onto the coach. Louis looked at him questioningly.

Of course it was a good idea, there was nothing he wanted more than to patch up old friendships, as happy as he’d become at United, he still missed his old friends and wanted them to accept him once more. “They’re my friends” he said with a shrug making the others nod.

That wasn’t the only reason though that Louis wanted to stay in London. He wanted to see Navishaa again and talk some sense into her. He’d been miserable without her, as little as he showed it, he missed having her slight frame beside his at night and wanted the chance to convince her to come back with him. In his mind, they were meant to be.

“You coming Lewis?” Wayne teased once more as he noted the far off look in his friend’s eyes. Louis nodded his head softly and followed the Englishman onto the coach, smiling at the mere thought of seeing Navishaa again. He wondered if she’d changed at all, eleven months was a long time to go without seeing someone and he wondered if he would even recognise her.

Sighing, he merely allowed his mind to flood with positive memories for their relationship, revelling in past happiness.