16 - Orange Ya in Love?

#TFIOSinspiration

all i'm sayin😳

Moments

"Seriously, though. Orange? Couldn't have picked a harder color to work with could you?" I grumble, mainly to myself, as I make the finishing touches on all of the boy's orange outfits.

Seriously, I get it's Amsterdam and everything, but orange is the most temperamental color to work with. Plus, the fact that Caroline and I had to make them each orange tuxedos, because no one makes orange tuxedos! I mean, come on! They decided before consulting the people who would actually have to put it all together for them, that the concert in Amsterdam would be ALL ORANGE!

So here I am, five minutes till the show, putting together the boy's ridiculous orange suits.

"Done!" I exclaim as I cut the thread of Zayn's jacket. "Now, go get on stage before I stab you all with my sewing needles for making me do that."

The boys all scurry out quickly to that, excluding only Louis, who stays back behind the boys a few seconds to be the last one through the door so he can give me a quick kiss before leaving to go on stage.

"Have fun!" I call after him as he walks through the door.

He spins on his heel and turns back quickly to smile at me. When I think he would turn around again to leave, he stays put, staring at me, seemingly having some sort of internal debate with himself about something. Soon, however, he makes a move, only he doesn't walk away. He quickly looks up and down the hallway before walking determinedly over to me once again.

"One more thing," he says quietly.

His hands go to cup my cheeks as he bring his smile to my lips for a kiss. It's no peck; our lips moving in sync together. Before it gets too heated, though, we both pull away, knowing Louis actually has to go, and he turns to go once again with a smile plastered on his face.

I smile and shake my head at the butterflies that boy gave me. Before I get lost in my daydream, I force myself back to reality, and grab my leather jacket, slipping my arms through the sleeves, and sling my worn-leather bag that carries my life over my shoulder. I slip on my orange Toms--compliments of the boys--which I wasn't aware existed. The color is the same as the orange top I have on. Yes, I too am forced to go 'all orange'.

Once I have picked up everything from the dressing room, I leave to meet up with Hailee backstage. She is amazingly excited that she gets to sit backstage at a One Direction concert. I swear she's about to pass out just at the thought of it. I somewhat hope that she will be able to ease into all of this with the boys, because--although I love her, fangirl and all--she has her moments when I am worried she will seriously scare the boys.

Well, I guess I knew she was insane from the minute I met her. I loved her insanity then, and I love it now.

☆☆☆☆☆

"Are you serious?!" I squeal.

"Yes! Now would you stop asking me that and go change! The reservation's in an hour!" Louis chuckles.

"Okay, okay! You're the best!" I giggle again before turning to run to the tour bus to grab a change of clothes.

I run through the door to find Hailee already in there with her bag on the couch open wide. She looks like she is getting ready for bed. Haha, not yet she can't.

"Hailee! Louis just told me he booked a gondola ride through the city for you, me, him, and Harry!" I squeal, still excited.

"What?! That's amazing!" she says, joining in my squealing. "Wow! I can't believe I get a One Direction concert and a ride through Amsterdam in one night!"

"I know! Now we have to hurry and get changed. Louis made the reservation for eleven, so we have a little over an hour to get there." It is only ten right now. The boys' concert had luckily started and ended earlier than usual so that we can have time to explore the city afterwards.

"Wait, why aren't any of the other boys coming?" she questions.

"Um, I think they made other plans. Plus, I'm pretty sure the boats can only carry a certain number of people," I lie. I have no idea if the other boys have plans, although the limited passengers makes enough reasonable sense. I guess it does look a bit sketchy that we are the only ones going. It looks like a double date, even though I suppose it is. Although half of the party aren't quite aware of that fact.

"Oh, okay," she replies, accepting my excuse, luckily.

"Yep! Now get dressed in something warm and let's go!" I yell.

This is going to be a fun night.

☆☆☆☆☆

"Don't tell me what to do!" Hailee scolds Harry.

We are sat inside the gondola; Louis and I sitting beside each other in the back with Hailee and Harry in front of us. They have been arguing since we got here.

"I was only telling you to sit still so we wouldn't tip the boat over!" Harry defends.

"Dude, it takes more than that to tip a boat over!"

"Whatever! I just thought I should try to keep us all above water tonight."

They are seriously starting to give me a headache. I rub my temples and close my eyes, trying to block out their bickering.

"Hey, babe, you okay?" Louis asks quietly beside me.

"Yeah, those two are just giving me a headache, that's all."

"Yeah, they are really going at it aren't they? What's their problem anyways?"

"I don't really get it. They just got off to a rough start and can't move past it, for some reason," I groan.

"Okay, that's it," Louis says, exasperatedly. "Would you mind pulling over at the next dock?" he yells up to the man paddling the boat.

"Of course," he responds, his thick accent quite noticeable.

"What are you doing?" I question Louis.

He ignores my question and wait as we pull off to the side of the narrow river. Before I know what he is thinking, he stands up and reaches his hand out for mine. I take it without question, trusting he has a plan somewhere in that wacked up mind of his.

"What's going on?" Harry asks as he moved to get up as well.

Louis stops him before he can, though. "No. Stay. Avery and I just thought we would like a little more peace and quiet from your bickering, so we are going to go take a walk around the city. I recommend you two take this opportunity to settle whatever differences you two seem to have with each other. This man will drop you off where we got on in front of the hotel in two hours. Make the best of your time," Louis says surprisingly sternly, but finishes with a smug little smirk.

And with that, we both step off the boat, ignoring their protesting, and begin walking along the paths of Amsterdam, hand in hand.

After a few minutes of walking, and once the boat containing our two insufferable companions is out of sight, Louis turns to me with a smile. "So, what shall we do now?"

"Wanna get some coffee and just walk along the river? It's a gorgeous night," I say happily.

"Sounds wonderful."

I follow Louis into a coffee shop we find about a block down the road. It is small and cozy and has an authentic European feel to it. We approach the front, and the woman behind the counter is smiling big. She obviously recognized Louis. Great.

"Hi, aren't you Louis Tomlinson?" she asks excitedly.

He smiles reluctantly, obviously just trying to be polite. "Yes. Nice to meet you."

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! I was wanting to go to your concert but couldn't get tickets. This is amazing! I am a big fan!"

"Thank you," he says politely. I know he loves his fans and appreciates them, but I can also tell that times like this, they get on his nerves.

"Would you mind if I got your autograph?" the girl asks coyly. I want to scoff at her. It's like she doesn't even see me there. Maybe she thinks I was just another customer or his friend? The fans don't know he even has a girlfriend so she wouldn't have just assumed. Plus, I guess she can't see our entwined hands behind the counter.

"Of course not."

She hands him a piece of paper and a pen. He lets go of my hand to take it, and I immediately miss the warmth of his skin.

"What's your name, love?" he asks, and I want to slap him for using 'love' to address her. I know he is just being friendly, but the girl doesn't need any encouragement.

Nevertheless, she too takes notice; a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Eliza," she says with a flirty smirk.

He ignores her advance, much to my satisfaction, and writes a little message to her before signing his name at the bottom of the page.

"Here you are," he says, handing it back to her.

She smiles widely before speaking up once again, "Oh, wait before you go, would you mind signing a picture for our wall? We like to take note of celebrities that have come in here and hang their signed picture up on the walls for others to come in and see."

I look around shop, just noticing the framed pictures covering most of the surface area of the walls. I guess this has been a popular spot for celebrities over the years. Who knew?

"Of course, but I don't have a picture on me," he chuckles. Of course he didn't have a picture on him. Why would he? That'd be kinda weird, if you ask me.

"Oh, one second," she says as she reaches underneath the counter for something. She comes back up with some teen magazine of One Direction on the cover in her hands. She flips through until she finds profile shots of each of the boys. When she finds the page that is occupied by Louis' face, she lifts it up to place in front of him for him to sign. He smiles, obviously slightly uncomfortable with the fact that she happened to have a picture of him on hand, magazine or not. Still, he signs the picture before handing it all back to her behind the counter.

"Thank you so much! Now what can I get you?" she asks, somewhat overly friendly, but seeming to finally realize we actually came here for something other than to help her fangirl dream to come true.

"I'll just have a double shot of espresso," Louis orders. She types the order into the register before she looks back up at him.

"That'll be €2.50."

"Uh, also, I'll have a mocha. Thank you," I say, getting her attention for seemingly the first time since we arrived. Once she acknowledges my presence with Louis, her mood immediately shifts, and she scowls at me as her shoulders slump noticeably.

"Of course," she says condescendingly before repeating the process on the register. "Together, that will be €6.00."

Louis hands her the money and she just huffs before walking over to make our orders.

"Well, she's a delight," I comment as we walk to sit down at on one of the couches they have in the café.

"Don't worry. She's got nothing on you." He smiles, instantly warming my mood. I smile back at him as he wraps his arm around me while we sit on the sofa. I cuddle into him a little bit and rest my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes for just a second.

"Tired?" Louis asks as he begins to play with my hair.

"No. Just relaxed," I respond, keeping my eyes closed. I feel as if I can just fall asleep right here in his arms, even though I'm honestly not in the least bit tired.

He bends down to kiss the top of my head, and I can feel the smile on his lips.

"How was meeting Oliver, though?" he asks.

I immediately sit up. "It was incredible!" I squeal. "I even got his number! He's adorable and all quiet and shy but spirited and real."

"That's fun. So... you got his number, huh?" he asks and I can see the struggle he is having to keep his smile big.

I furrow my eyebrows at him. "Well, yeah."

"Okay. I don't know, just seems a little weird. You all excited about getting some guy's number," he mumbles.

"So you're jealous?" I smirk.

"I mean, I wouldn't say jealous. Just hesitant, I suppose."

"You're jealous. But don't worry. He has a girlfriend and they are adorable!"

"So if a couple is adorable they must be happy together?" he pokes.

"Well we're adorable, aren't we?" I smirk and run my hand down his chest. Finally I see a smile twitch at his lips. He leans in to kiss me but thinks better of it. With little miss nosey over there, and all.

Suddenly, the lady calls out that our order is ready, and we go up to take them and walk outside after Louis thanks the woman again, much to her pleasure. When the cool night air engulfs us, I wrap my hands around my hot cup of coffee. It isn't too cold, just a bit chilly, and the warm surface feels good against my bare hands.

We both hold our cups in one hand and entwine our fingers in the other.

Remaining like that--hand in hand--we walk along the river of Amsterdam under the infinite starry Netherlands summer sky.

Everything feels so surreal. I feel like I can breathe a full breath of air and feel it relax through my body for the first time in what seems like forever. Things like this seem to only happen since I met Louis. As cliché as it may be, I feel like he really may be the one to save me--make me me again.

I see a star flicker across the sky.

"Make a wish," Louis whispers in my ear.

I wish to be happy.

Those words float around in my head, trying to bring meaning to them. A way of making it come true. The only way I can see it happening is Louis. And as scary as having my happiness so seemingly dependent on another person should be, I'm not scared.

That's when I decided I am falling in love with Louis Tomlinson.