Second Chance - Chapter 8

KISS AND MAKE UP

ZAYN...

           Louis may be one of my best mates but I could cheerfully kill him. Just minutes before the night show going to kick off, I saw Vicky walked in through the back entrance. Oh, no! Not good. I had just left Louis and Holly in the dressing room. I was hoping they would kiss and make up. Well, not literally kiss, but... you know what I meant, forgive and be friends again.

          I have nothing against Vicky, but there is something off about her. I could feel that there was something but I just could not put my finger on exactly what it was. Louis started dating her a few months ago. I didn’t think he was really serious but Vicky considered herself Louis’ exclusive girlfriend. Well, let Louis sort it out himself. I was not going to interfere in anyone’s love life. Well, except Holly’s and my sisters’.

          One thing funny about Louis was he got all grumpy and serious around Holly.  His moodiness was even worse than mine on my bad day. Probably moodiness was contagious because Harry has also been bad tempered lately. He did not talk much or play pranks on people. You do not want to be around him when he was being grouchy. A bad tempered Harry Styles was really very scary.

Jenna, one of Harry’s close friends, arrived a few days ago with her new boyfriend. It seemed that Harry did not like the chap, and told Jenna about his acute dislike of him. They had an argument, a loud one, about the boyfriend. Not that I could blame Harry. The guy was obnoxious. I could not understand how Jenna could date him.

After the incident at the club, I tried to talk to Holly but when I came back she was already fast asleep. She was sleeping on her right side with her right hand tucked under the pillow. Both her small feet were peeping from underneath the thick white duvet. She hated covering her feet with anything when she slept, even when it got really cold. I used to wake up in the middle of the night to pull the duvet over her feet, when she spent the night at my house which was quite often.

Her parents used to fight quite a lot and she got caught up in the middle. She used to have nightmares and suicidal thoughts when I met her. I tried to help her anyway I can. I invited her to my house so that she could feel how a real family should be like. Bit by bit, her suicidal thoughts became less frequent and I am glad for her. Holly deserved better.

She was sleeping so peacefully. I smiled recalling the good times we used to have when we were kids. I bent over, kissed her temple and pulled the duvet over her cold feet. She stirred but did not wake up.

I sat on the other bed watching her sleep. I had to find out what had happened to her and Louis. And how far had their relationship gone. I could hazard a guess by now that they had feelings for each other... were they really in love or was it just a fling? And had Louis.... you know, had sex with her? If he had slept with her, well, I still had not decided how I felt about that. All I know was Holly was like a sister to me and... no one mess with my sister. No one. Not even my best mates. Especially not my best mates!

Tonight Louis made her cry. When I walk in on them, Louis had his arms around her. Did they kiss? Probably. The sexual tension between them was tangible. You could cut it with a knife. Hearing Vicky’s voice must have surprised Louis because he let go of Holly. Unfortunately, Holly was not standing upright and in her position the only way to go when Louis let go of her was... down! She landed right down on her backside.

I was quite funny, actually. If I was not appalled at the same time, I would have laughed my head off. She sat there motionless, even when Vicky started kissing Louis. Louis wasn’t even participating in the kiss. He had his eyes trained on Holly the whole time. The superficial Vicky did not even acknowledge the existence of the girl at Louis’ feet.

          I frowned and stepped forward to pick Holly up from the floor. I bent down and whispered in her ears, “Are you all right, princess?”

She stood up, turned to towards me and buried her face in my chest. When I felt the wetness on my shirt, I knew she was crying. 

She whispered, “Get me out of here, please.” And I did. I glared at Louis over her head before walking out of the dressing room.

I took her to the toilet so she could wash her face and fixed her makeup. When she came out, she was looking much better.

“Are you okay?” I was worried about her and I would have to go on stage soon.

“I’m okay. Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t hurt. Well, the only thing that got hurt was my dignity.” She smiled to assure me. Somebody was calling me to get ready to be on stage. “You go ahead, sunshine. I’ll be fine. We’ll talk after the show, okay?”

I stared at her. “Okay. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She hugged me. “Don’t be angry at Louis. It’s not his fault.”

I did not say anything. I just raised my eyebrows at her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

During the show I tried so very hard not to punch Louis in the face. I restrained myself, however, when he sent an apologetic look my way and said, “Talk to you later, bro.”

I pushed the incident away from my mind. I needed to concentrate on giving my 100% for the fans who had come to watch us. It still amazed me after all this time, how dedicated and passionate our fans were. They had been so good to us and to appreciate that I needed to give them the best. Without their continuous support, we would not be where we are now.

I went in search for Holly after the show ended. I found her talking to Louis, shaking hands and laughing. What’s going on? She was in tears only hours ago and now she was laughing with the person who made her cry. Weird. Girls were just plain weird. It was really difficult to understand them.

“So, you two kissed and made up?” Both of them turned my way and Holly turned red in the face.

“Um... yeah.” Holly nodded. Her face was still beet red. I wonder why? And Louis could not meet my eyes. He was looking everywhere except at me and Holly. He scratched the back of his neck.

“You going back to the hotel?” Louis directed the question at me but he was looking at his feet.

“Nah, me and Holly are going to have something to eat first.” I needed to talk to Holly. This time I would not let her dodged my question. I would get to the bottom of this. I needed to know what happened.

Holly stared at me. The plan was news to her. Louis was still fidgeting.

“Okay. So, see you guys later, then.” Louis was still avoiding my eyes. I would need to talk to him later, to clear the air, so to speak.

After Louis left, I pulled Holly into my arms and kissed the top of her head. Her hair smelt nice; fruity and sweet. I would need to ask her what shampoo she’s using.

“You okay?” She nodded and we went outside hand in hand, found a taxi and headed for the nearest place where we can have some food, drink and privacy. We ordered some chicken sandwiches, fizzy pop for me and orange juice for her.

“Okay, spill it, princess.” She was going to tell me what was going on between her and Louis before the night is out.

“Spill what?” Dodging. Sidestepping.  Hedging. Eluding. Avoiding answering the question. She could write an entire book on the topic.

“Don’t give me that. C’mon, talk to me.” I insisted.

She gave a mighty sigh. “You are annoyingly persistent.” She made a face at me.

“And you are annoyingly evading the question again.” I gave her an exasperated look. I reached out to cup her cheek and my thumb caressed her cheek affectionately. My annoyance turned into concern. “Was it so bad that you could not talk about it?”

She chewed on her lower lips. “No, it’s not that.”

“Then, talk to me, princess.”

She shrugged. “Louis and I were in love back then.”