143

Ch22

There was only a month left of school. Granted, we'd have a couple of weeks of exams to struggle through after the classes ended, but it was still coming to an end very quickly. I could hardly believe that I'd been living in London for almost seven months now. Classes ended in the first week of April, and it was closing in on the end of February now.

"So, you always knew you'd study business then?" I asked Louis as he lay outstretched on his bed, and I milled around his room. He didn't seem to care that I was snooping through his things. I suppose I already knew everything materialistic about him. I bet he wouldn't even be embarrassed if I found his condom stash.

Not that he would have one.

"Pretty much. What about you, Addie? Did you always want to study business?" he drawled with a yawn escaping between his lips.

I looked back at him over my shoulder as I opened a drawer on his dresser, "Not necessarily. It fit the bill, and I suppose I can make some sort of career out of it."

He sat up a bit so he was leaning on his elbows, "But will it be a career you'll actually enjoy?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't gotten the job yet," I winked at him, "how about you?"

He shrugged, too, "It fits the bill, I suppose. I've got a job waiting for me because of my dad and uncle."

I closed the drawer and walked over to stand above him on the bed, "But will you enjoy it? Or would you rather make a career with your football?"

He chuckled, "I'm good, Addie, but I'm not that good."

I smirked, "I'm not trying to be nice, or anything, dufus, but you are that good."

He grinned, "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to hear you say it."

I rolled my eyes at him, and yelped when he grabbed me around my middle and brought me down with him onto his bed.

"One four three," I groaned. I hated the fact that he could so easily bring me to a fit of giggles by feathering kisses along my neck, which is exactly what he did.

Things had changed just a bit since I'd first watched him play football for the varsity team. I was angry with him for causing a scene that day in front of all of our mates, but now he definitely seemed even less inclined to hide "us" from the public.

I hated it.

He'd kiss me goodbye after class together, he'd grip my hand as tight as he could while we walked together on campus so that I couldn't pull it away, and he'd even kiss me in front of our mates. It was something that I wasn't sure I'd ever be comfortable with, but he continued to do them. Probably because he knew how much it annoyed me. Then again, it only annoyed me because all of those things caused me to blush. Other than that, I was surprising myself by my body's reaction to him.

I liked it.

It was getting harder and harder to pretend that I hated him as much as I used to. I always knew that I hated him – there was honesty in that, for sure – but I suppose it wasn't the kind of hate I thought it was at the time. Back in Rossington, I thought that the hatred I had for him was completely unbreakable. There was nothing that could have happened between us that would change my mind. That first day, seven months ago, I was so angry when I'd spotted Louis amongst the other first year students.

Then there was that moment of stupidity when I believed Perrie and Louis had something between them. That lasted all of two seconds, though. And then came the moment when I told him – for the first time – that I hated him. He hadn't seemed surprised; he knew it all along, but he didn't understand it.