Another Moment Passing by...

Chapter 4: Guess That's Why They Call It Window Pain

Chapter 4: Guess That's Why They Call It Window Pain

*Julia’s P.O.V.*

My eyes kept flickering to my phone as everyone chatted around the table eating pizza. It was currently 7:20, and my plan was to excuse myself at 7:30. Or 19:30 or whatever. Ugh, that was just another problem to worry about: converting the time. I was all caught up in my thoughts about Todd and what to wear and such when Michelle pulled me back to reality. “So Julia,” she began, catching my attention. I whipped my head towards her, signaling that I was listening. “Has Todd texted you yet?” she teased playfully. I blushed a bit, my heart tightening at the mention of him. I saw Louis tense through my peripheral vision, and I have to admit, it made me kind of happy that the thought of Todd texting me bothered him. I decided to bother him even more. I mean he kind of deserved it for all the confusion he was putting me through with all of his mixed signals and such.

“Well, yeah,” I replied casually, taking another bite of pizza.

“What did he say?” Louis and Megan interrogated in unison, though with much different tones. Meggy sounded excited and intrigued, but Louis sounded angry, annoyed, worried, and maybe even a bit jealous, unless that was my heart getting the best of me. But wait, Louis didn’t have my heart anymore; I was moving on to Todd now.

“Oh ya know, just stuff,” I answered, laughing in my head as I gave no details away. Besides, Louis couldn’t know that I was going out to see him because then he’d just try to stop me, or maybe even come with me. Ya never know with Louis.

“What kind of ‘stuff’?” Louis questioned further. I had been avoiding eye contact, but then I stared right into his pale turquoise eyes, breaking my own heart as I did so.

“Stuff.” He just looked at me, glaring a bit. But his eyes looked more sad than angry. A slight awkwardness hung around in the air, and I’m pretty sure everyone could feel the uncomfortable tension between Lou and I. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m not feeling very well,” I lied lamely. I walked from the dining room into the kitchen, putting my dishes in the sink before heading upstairs. Sydney and Niall had managed to spark up a conversation again, but I could feel Louis’ speculative eyes on me as I passed. I shrugged it off, reminding myself that I had a date with Todd.

I reached my room and had to stop myself from slamming the door shut out of frustration. I crossed the room to my closet (which I had already sorted into rainbow order to calm myself) and tried to focus on picking out an outfit. But I couldn’t get Louis’ eyes out of my mind. His beautiful, ocean colored eyes that lured me in, the whirling mixture desperation, anger, pain, longing, and all these other unidentifiable emotions that haunted me. I forced myself to focus on my outfit, picking out a navy tank top with ruffles and bright pink shorts. Once I had them on and had tried on every  single one of my belts at least twice, deciding on the first one I had chosen, I went to the bathroom and brushed out my straight shoulder-length brown hair obsessively. I swear I put on mascara, took it off, and then put it back on again about three times before I was satisfied. I jumped as my phone vibrated quite obnoxiously on the bathroom counter. I picked it up and smiled wobbly as I read the name on the screen: Todd.

Todd: I’m here(:

Me: Coming(:

I made my way downstairs carefully, pleased to see that Louis and Haley were both out of sight. I tried to tip toe out, but it was impossible to leave without being seen by Liam, Sydney, Harry, Megan, and Niall, who were lounging around in the living room. “Where are you going?” Liam questioned, using his Daddy voice. I froze a bit before turning around.

“I’mgoingtoseeTodddon’ttellLouisbye!” I whisper shouted in a rushed jumble before spinning around and bolting, not even caring about their reactions. I closed the door softly, quite aware the Louis’ bedroom was right above me. I tip toed over to the lake where I saw Todd’s boat waiting for me, praying Haley was doing her job and Louis couldn’t see me from his window.