Delia’s P.O.V.

The weeks passed by in a blur, with Ashton and I in an awkward phase of hooking up randomly, without ever defining what we were. I had tried to drop hints about how serious I really was about him but he seemed to either be ignoring it or be completely oblivious.

Rachel had seemed to forgiven us to a certain extent. Her and Ashton occasionally hung out, catching up every now and again. We hadn’t really gotten back to where we were, but sometimes we hung out with Louis at the same time, as he was close with both of us.

Harry and I were in a better place, now. Though he was still a bit wary of getting too close to me. It was clear he didn’t want to hurt Rachel by being my friend, which made sense, he was her big brother. What’s weirder is that I had become friends with Skylar, Rachel’s best friend. Something that I hadn’t anticipated happening. We had got talking on a night out and since then had become friends. It was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn’t as involved in the whole Rachel, Ashton saga. Her and Rachel might be best friends but her and Ashton were very close too, so she was less inclined to take sides. Although I had Louis, he was very biased, given that Ashton had fucked over the girl he was in love with. Overall the weeks leading up to Christmas had gone relatively well, I was mending fences left and right.

There was only two weeks left until we got out Christmas break. But on the last night before break, the college was hosting a huge masked ball, I was really excited for it, having never been to one before.

“Do you think I should ask Ashton to be my date?” I questioned Louis, my arm looped in his as we walked back towards his apartment at night. I had called him to go for an evening stroll, to discuss the ball.

“I don’t know, Deils, I think you really need to either make it official with Ashton, or move on from him. It’s messing with your head,” he replied, concern evident in his voice.

“He’s just so confusing, one minute he’s so into it, into me. Then he just acts like were friends, I don’t know what to do, honestly,” I admitted, resting my head on his shoulder.

“You need to ask him upfront how he feels about you. Tell him you want more than what he’s giving you right now, and if he doesn’t want the same, you need to walk away,” he told me, after a minute of silence.

I rolled my eyes at his comment, despite knowing he was probably right. I had been crazy about Ashton for a while now, and I was hoping eventually he would feel the same, get serious about me, about us. However, I seemed to be stuck in an endless cycle of confusion with him.

“What if I don’t want to walk away?” I groaned.

“Then I’m afraid you’re screwed, darling,” he replied, his tone amused.

I snorted.

“So what about you, Romeo? You going to ask Rachel to the ball?” I prodded, nudging him a little as I did.

Louis and Rachel had been getting closer over the past few weeks too. Even Harry was starting to see how absolutely right they were for each other. I had noticed him trying to push them together, inviting Rachel around a lot more often, and then ‘casually’ taking off after a few minutes to leave them alone together. Louis was constantly moaning about how awkward it was, he felt like Harry was a looming parent trying to set them up.

“Definitely not. Rach and I, we’re in a really good place, I’m not going to make it awkward just because I like her more than she likes me,” he replied immediately.

“You really are dense, aren’t you, Louis?” I snorted, lifting my head to look at him. “Rachel obviously likes you too.”

He chose not to answer. I had been trying to get Louis to make a move on Rachel, since that night they had nearly kissed, but he refused to believe she liked him as anything more than a friend.

“Whatever, maybe she’ll ask you,” I told him nonchalantly. Again, he chose not to say anything, but his cheeks tinted pink.

I rambled on a bit more about Ashton, about how asking him to the ball might turn out, and Louis simply listened. He was always amazing at that – listening and offering advice. I honestly don’t know how I would have gotten through all this drama without him. It was then that the idea hit me.

“Hey, I have an idea,” I announced, suddenly. “Why don’t we go together?”

Louis raised an eyebrow at me.

“So, what, now I’m some ploy to make Ashton jealous?” he asked, though he sounded more amused than anything else.

“No, no! Of course not! I just think it’d be really fun if we went together. We could go shopping together for my dress, and we can match! It’ll be so sweet, imagine how cute we’d be,” I giggled, leaning closer to him again.

He chuckled in response, “Sure, that actually sounds kind of fun,” he agreed. “Let’s do it,”

My smile widened, and immediately ideas of what we could wear were filling my head. Before long we arrived back at the door of Louis apartment.

Louis pushed the door open, as I kept thinking of colour schemes. “You know, Louis, if you’re going to be my date, we should really go shopping asap,” I told him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you-“ He cut off abruptly when we stepped inside fully.

Harry, Skylar and Rachel were sitting on the couch, a mug in each of their hands. Their eyes were on us and it was clear they had heard what I had just said. Rachel’s mouth had opened slightly in surprise, and her cheeks reddened a little as she glanced at Louis, something similar to embarrassment on her face.

It was Harry who spoke first.

“You two are going to that ball together? Like together-together?” His brow was furrowed in confusion as he gave Louis a rather pointed look.

“Well, yeah, I guess, kind of- but it’s not like we’re –“ Louis once again cut off, but this time because Rachel interrupted him.

“That’s great, you two will look.. will look great together,” she gushed out quickly, beaming widely. However, her response was too quick and too enthusiastic to be genuine.

“I’ve never been to a masquerade ball, its going to be so much fun. Luke and I have already gotten our outfits,” Skylar added, after raising her eyebrows at Rachels outburst.

Harry was too busy looking between Rachel and Louis suspiciously to take note of what Skylar said. It was probably better, as he was clearly still in love with her.

“Yeah, well, I’m gonna go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Louis,” I said after a minute of the awkward silence continued.

Before I turned to leave, however, an idea popped into my head. Jealously was often a good motivator, and Rachel could really use a good push into admitting how she felt about Louis.

And so, I leaned up to press a kiss to Louis cheek, and whispered “I’ll call you,” to him. I turned and left the apartment before I had a chance to see the reactions in the room.

Notes