Louis’ POV

            “But the issue is that I can’t take you out of the room without them knowing,” Lydia was pacing back and forth in the slide room. Neither of us had thought far enough to getting me out of the Zoo without both of us getting yelled at, and it was moments like this where I wished I could just leave at a whim and not be attacked.

            “You go, and I’ll wait here.” I repeated for the hundredth time in the past five minutes. Of course I didn’t want her to go by herself, but I also didn’t want her getting in trouble.

            “I think I’ll be in more trouble if I leave you alone. Fuck!” She shouted, slamming her hands on the table.

            Lydia’s eyes were bright and burning with a shade of green I didn’t think was possible. She had been this way since realizing that her necklace was gone, and it was kind of hot. She was frantic, her movements losing their gracefulness and becoming short and choppy.

            I had no idea what sort of importance it held to her, but obviously it was a fair sight higher than I’d once believed. Which lead me to wondering what else I didn’t know about her.

            “Lydia?” I broke out of my thoughts to her sudden movement. She had jolted upright, sprinting towards one of the many doors.

            She wasn’t answering me, her eyes fixed on a small black box as a series of numbers were typed into it. It was much to far for me to see. Nearly at the opposite side of the room, as suddenly a buzzing sound lit up like a torch and ignited the entire room.

            “What the fuck is that noise?” I winced, covering my hands over my ears as she did the same.

            “We’re leaving out the medical exit. I’ll probably get a phone call about it later, but it’s the one entrance no one can get to without clearance.” She was shouting over the noise, motioning with her head to one of the farthest doors as we took off towards it.

            It wasn’t long until we were out in the open, the Seattle fall hitting us with a soft warm glow and a slight breeze. The first of the colorful leaves scattering across the ground, making music with the wind as they floated across the concrete.

            I tucked a hand into my pocket, and without much of a care in the world, I let my other arm fall around Lydia’s back. Pulling her against my side in a happy sense of serenity.

            There was nothing. No sound of people shouting my name, or the blinding flashes of several dozen cameras.

            “You look like you just saw the second coming of Jesus.” Lydia was looking up at me, her eyes quickly flashing away from my face as I caught her looking.

            “I don’t think I’ve been outside during the day in years without some form of security.” I was still looking around, in awe at the silence that the outdoors presented.

            I had almost forgotten that it could be this peaceful in daylight. The grass was still the healthy shade of green that reflected itself in Lydia’s eyes, a few stray clouds proving opposite to the usually rainy Seattle skyline.

            “I could take you outside sometime?” She offered, resting her head against my shoulder as she continued to lead me away from the beautiful space, and to her car.

            “I don’t know how long it will be until I can do that, but I’ll take you up on it.” My entire body was filled with a liberating sense of happiness. Her soft voice beautifully combining with the fresh air. It was only then that I realized we were to her car in the Employees only area.

            It was gated off to the public and there was no way anyone would be here to take a picture, but getting out was a different story. Once the thick black gates opened, it was just Lydia and I making our way through the mess that seemed to follow me everywhere.

            “Why do you look worried?” She had unlocked the doors to her car at the same time that I realized it was a black Audi.

            “They’re all waiting for me outside.” I even sounded agitated. Brushing her expensive car off to the back of my brain, as I hesitantly let go of her and slid into the passenger’s side.

            “No one goes to the employee exit, it’s the farthest from the Zoo and you’ve never been seen coming out of it.” As usual Lydia was the sensible one, sliding into the drivers side and starting the soft purr of the expensive engine.

            Her tiny hands grasped the stick, and she slid out of the parking space much better than I would have. Pulling us through the rows of fancy cars until we reached the exit.

            Like she said, there was no one waiting for us, and we exited into traffic easily. Reminding me of a life I used to have.

            “It’s really hot that you drive stick.” I chuckled, watching her cheeks lift up into a smile as she fumbled around with the radio.

            “Can you not?” She questioned me, finally turning her speakers on to a very Lydia song. It was alternative, it was rap, it was pop. Pick any genre, and somehow it would be perfect fit to describe the song she had chosen.

            “I have a stick shift car back at the flat. I’ll take you around in it when we go to London?” I reminded her, licking my lips at the image of my beautiful sports car that was sitting alone in a parking garage.

            “You will?” Lydia squealed, bouncing up and down on her seat like a little girl. Her smile was only growing bigger, and I couldn’t help but smile at how uncanny it was to find a woman like herself. She knew I would take her anywhere, as long as it meant I could keep her around.

            “Yeah, of course? What did you do to the slide room?”

            “It’s not the slide room Louis! For the last time it’s the-“

            “I can’t pronounce it. I’m not going to try. It’s the slide room.” I chuckled, shutting her down before she could go off on an intelligent rant about all the things I wasn’t, and would never be.

            “I put it on manual lockdown, so it thinks we’re there. The camera’s will show that we aren’t, but Cindy will be alerted of the change and she might check it out.” Lydia’s chirpy voice hardened over Cindy’s name, and I dropped it before the moment was ruined. “I’m technically not supposed to know it, but my parents let me know these things ahead of time. So I can cheat the system.”

            Lydia explained it like it was an everyday thing, tripping me up on the mention of her parents. I had never heard her say a word about them before, and I had assumed that like many children she just didn’t care for them. However, the way she said my parents made me rethink that. There was a lot of love hidden behind their names, and I was lost in thought, hoping that one day my name would sound like that coming off of her lips.

            The beautiful car was moving into a parking garage, having only been inside of it for maybe five minutes before we were to her apartment. She parked it after a few loops around, climbing out as the frantic way about her was pushed back into play. For just a few minutes it was on pause, her smile brightening as she hummed to the lyrics of the track, and stayed in steady conversation with me.

            She walked fast, taking strides that shouldn’t have been possible with her small body. I was now the one trailing behind, waiting for her to pick one of the numerous doors.

            Finally we stopped at the end of the hall, and I wished I could remember where I’d been just a few days ago because nothing about the door or the hallway looked familiar. Even as Lydia unlocked the door and lead me inside her cramped apartment, I was trying to make sense of it.

            The walls seemed closer together. The couches had less space between them, and the lights were dim. It looked like nighttime in her home, none of the drapes opened, just a dull glow from the strange looking light bulbs.

            “Oi, great lights!” I snorted, nearly tripping over a pile of assorted shoes that lay in the way of the door.

            “Fuckin’ mood lighting Cassandra put in.” Lydia mumbled, moving around the space quickly and efficiently.

            Her curls bobbed up and down on her head, creating the vast span of blonde. Her hair had its own personality, and not unlike her own; moving free of its own accord, and straining to break the rules of not only gravity, but the rest of life.

            “Mood lighting? Tell her to wear sunglasses indoors, same effect.” I rolled my eyes and kicked the shoes to the side, nearly bursting into laughter at the rainbow assortment of converse and vans.

            “Sorry about my shoes, couldn’t find them today!” Lydia turned around, meeting my eyes with a small laugh. She seemed much more at ease in her own home than she had at mine, but of course that was an obvious statement. It was just nice to see her somewhere that you could tell she belonged. Everything about this place was Lydia, from the tiny spaces, to the eccentric decoration. Sculptures of Zoo animals lined every surface, many of them looking hand crafted.

            “You have a shit ton of shoes.” I nearly passed out the second she said all of those were hers, taking it all in and then looking around to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken.

            There had to be at least ten pairs of shoes, all of them looking unworn, while the ones on her feet were so battered and used that you would have advised her to get a new pair years ago.

            “Yeah, well you have a lot of jeans and I only see you wear one pair too.” Lydia read my mind, her raised eyebrows peeking out from behind the kitchen island.

            “Hey! These are my best pair, and I bought three of them.” I defended myself, finally stepping into the room and realizing I was now halfway through it- it was that small.

            “You look great in that lighter pair you wore two days ago.” Lydia offhanded the remark, standing up and looking around as though her words hadn’t just caused my heart to jump in my chest.

            She was talking about the jeans I’d worn when we were arguing – I refused to say I was fighting with her- and I’d only put those on because I literally had no clean clothes.

            “Well I’ll take that into consideration next time.”

            “Good, I’ll make sure to walk behind you that day.”

            “There’s a reason I’m staying behind you today.”

            “I’ll remember that next time you’re in trouble.” Lydia was bantering back and forth with me, her smile deepening a little farther every time one of us came back with a ridiculous comment.

            I did have to admit though; she was a great ego booster.

            “Where the hell did you go?” I was far too engrossed in the picture of her and Josh next to Nora to even realize that she had left. Instead resorting to walking around the living room like she’d suddenly jump out from a secret door.

            “I found it!” A faint chant called back to me, and I turned to look down the hall. There was a grand total of three doors, one of which was open and leading to a very messy bedroom.

            I followed the sound of her voice inside the room and laughed when I finally caught sight of Lydia, her hands held up in a triumphant grin as the metal chain dangled from her fist.

            She had somehow waded through the mess of her room and into her bathroom. A feat that was not going unnoticed as I struggled to make sense of the mess of books, papers, shirts and various snacks.

            “Do you clean?” I chuckled, pulling my foot out from a laundry basket.

            “You have no room to speak Louis Tomlinson, I have seen more boxers on your floor than any other guy I’ve ever met.” Lydia replied cheerfully, already stringing the gold chain around her neck with a big smile.

            “Whatever,” I rolled my eyes and took a step towards her bookshelf. The top three rows were lined with more pictures than it could hold, and it was the one in the middle that sparked my interest.

            I didn’t hear Lydia shuffling through the mess to get to me, and I was completely unaware to her calm green eyes watching me carefully, waiting for my reaction.

            In all of the pictures she was undeniably happy, an assortment of people crowding all of the tiny spaces. I saw Cassandra in one, her arm slung around Lydia in a dark room. Both of them were decked out in skimpy outfits with large solo cups balanced in their hands. Josh was in a few more, making silly faces with Lydia in all of them. She even had him on her back in another, the great landscape of an ancient city looming behind them.

            “We went to Greece before I started grad school. He’s known me since the first day of college.” Lydia explained without me even uttering the question, lapsing back into silence as she allowed me to continue looking through her life.

            Many of them had Nora and Lydia, mostly all of them being candid’s. From Lydia crouched down to speak to the big animal, to both of them basking in the sun and each other’s presence. I think those were my favorites though, and to narrow it down from there, I was completely enchanted with the one far to the left. It was definitely taken right before sundown, the hues in the sky illuminating the soft smile on Lydia’s lips. She was asleep on Nora, her curls wildly sprawled about as the big cat stared at her with what I could only define as love. That animal knew who Lydia was, and loved her just as much as the girl did. I had never seen anything like it.

            “Those are my parents.” Lydia pulled me away from the picture and pointed a little farther up to the one in the middle, her finger hardly reaching the worn frame.

            “They look like the type of people to raise a daughter like you,” I grinned, unable to hold myself back as Lydia rested her head on my shoulder.

            They looked like her, or rather she like them. Her dad wasn’t a tall lad, but you could see the creases of laugh lines and the shading of many years of good humor on his tanned skin. He had her smile and big green eyes, but his hair was a light brown, not a curl in sight. Her mum was the same, deep laugh lines and a bright smile. That was where Lydia inherited her erratic hair from, both women looking like the hues of the sun were trapped amongst their bottle curls. Her arm was around the younger Lydia, all of them dressed in what looked like white linen.

            “We went to Jerusalem on a spiritual trip.” She was fingering the cool gold of her smiley necklace, the ghost of a memory passing through her eyes.

            “They gave you that?” I was trying to put the pieces together, already having a million questions to ask her about the parents I’ve never heard about.

            “The necklace?” She asked me absentmindedly, her eyes straying past the other pictures I had yet to look at.

            I only nodded in answering, waiting for her to pull herself back and giving her all the time in the world to do so.

            “Yes, my mom and dad had it made when I was old enough to understand it. They were always very spiritual people, not religious at all-“ Lydia was struggling to explain herself, the indents in the middle of her forehead deepening.

            “I’m not religious either, I don’t believe in a god unfortunately, but it’s never stopped me from trying to understand.” I offered her something else. Knowing that if I could ever understand her beautiful mind, I had to first help her decode it.

            “My family doesn’t either, my dad always told me that the only person I ever had to please was myself. They see things in the life around them, but never in the mysteries of the sky. It was too complex for either of them to fathom, and mom always tells me that my life here was as important as any discovery.” Lydia was far gone now. Her eyes glassing over and I allowed myself to move my arm around her small waist and pull her closer.

            “Vincent and Cara.” She said their names with such wonder, like they were the only people who would ever matter in her life.

            I had long since figured out that she had no siblings, it was a sort of feeling you just got without asking. Any only child would be able to pick out the kids who had siblings and vice versa. I’m not sure why, but it just was like that.

            “They are clearly wonderful people, they raised you.” I chuckled, watching her lift her head up to smile like I had given her the most sacred compliment.

            She kept her eyes on me as I continued through the last row of pictures, smiling when I recognized Cindy smiling goofily with Lydia. I knew the younger was still furious, but she couldn’t deny that Cindy loved her with all her heart.

            There were a few pictures with random people and places that I couldn’t put a name to, but the one that made me stop and just stare in a sort of aggravated curiosity. It was a very old picture with a much younger Lydia. Her hair was only reaching her shoulders in this one, and you could tell that she had just gotten past the awkward growing years. Her body shaping into the curves that it had now.

            She was laughing onto someone’s chest, his smile matching the intensity of hers. Neither of them were looking at the camera, but instead her eyes were tightly shut with the force of the laughter, and his were trained on her with enough love to be conveyed through just a photograph.

            He wasn’t bad looking, his dark hair styled over his head in that frat boy way. He clearly knew how to dress himself -despite the awkward phase- and his arm was loosely hanging from her side, like he was claiming her but he knew that everyone already knew it.

            “I was waiting for you to see that one.” Lydia was still watching me, and I looked down to see a much different expression on her face. It was full of sadness and a bit of relief, her small fingers coming up to trace the line of my jaw. I hadn’t noticed I was tense until she relaxed me, but I still couldn’t bring myself to say a word. “Sam, his name is Sam. He transferred to my high school my freshman year, he’s a California boy so naturally everyone liked him. He was a bit of a troublemaker, but my parents said he was misguided and enjoyed his company. He was brilliant, smart, funny, hot,” she again trailed off the last words, her hand slowly making its way to wrap around my neck and lightly move the tension from me.

            “He was that guy.” It wasn’t a question, you could just tell from looking at both of them that they had been those kids at school. Not in a bad way though, because I had been that kid too.

            “We never dated officially, but he was never with anyone but me.” She was lost again, her eyes telling me a different story.

            “How old were you?” It was very much an invasive question, but I had to know. I had to know every part of every story about why she was who she was.

            “Sixteen.”

            Holy shit.

            “We were always best friends, and when we went to college he was back in California and I was here. We just stopped talking after a few months time, we grew apart. It wasn’t anything major, and we don’t hate each other but we don’t love each other either. He moved on and I had a new life.” She explained a story with a much different outcome than I had expected, no sudden heartbreak or crazy trauma, just two kids in love who had different paths to walk down. “My parents knew, and I think that was the most embarrassing part. I was sixteen and I had to ask my mom for birth control in front of my dad. It was probably the hardest thing I’d ever had to do up until that point I my life, but they just gave me a weird smile and nodded. There were no questions, there wasn’t even an argument. They just sort of accepted it like they knew it had happened.” She was smiling to herself, shaking her head as she let out a soft chuckle.

            “My mum knew when it was me.  I think they have something that just tells them it has happened.” Lydia had turned around now, both of her arms around my neck so she was looking up at me while I told her another part of my story.

            “Did they freak out?” She looked genuinely interested, and I felt bad when the sad smile overcame me.

            “It was just her, my dad has never been around. Not since I was born, and my stepdad was out of the picture long before it happened.” I shook my head before Lydia could apologize, she couldn’t have known. “It was just a girl I had only been ‘dating’ for no more than three months, and I was sort of that kid in school.”

            “Wow, never would have guessed.” Lydia teased me, the tips of her fingers slipping underneath the collar of my shirt.

            “Shuttup.” I rolled my eyes, but pulled her even closer to me just the same. “I had a lot of girlfriends in secondary school, if you could even call them that. All of my friends were talking about it, and she didn’t mind so one night we just sort of did the deed? I don’t really consider it sleeping together because I had no idea what was going on, and it was terrible. I was seventeen and I still don’t regret it because it taught me a lot about actually being in love.”

            “How long were you with her?” The farther my story progressed, the larger her big eyes became.

            “Maybe four months? It was one of those things that we did over and over again just because it was cool.” I finished to Lydia giving me a perplexed look.

            “What about now?”

            “Now I do things like that to feel something, it’s sort of like love but in such a twisted way that you can only be lead to believe it’s lust.” I shrugged, not liking the turn of the topic.

            She didn’t answer me, training her gaze back on the photos while I took a look around her room. It was very Lydia esque, a lot of bright shades of cheerful colors lead to around to tie together the random pieces of her life. There were stuffed animals on her bed, and an oddly shaped pillow that looked like it had long since been worn out. It wasn’t a big room, but it wasn’t small either.

            Her drawers were slightly open, and I bit back a laugh, an idea popping into my head.

I was always looking for ways to relieve the tension.

 Gently prying myself out of her grip, and slowly walking like I wasn’t up to anything bad as I cracked an even bigger grin.

            I knew she was watching me, and it didn’t take her much longer to understand what I was doing as I gave her a sly smirk. Reaching my hand into her drawer and picking up the purple thong, not even caring about the murderous expression on her lips as I launched it at her.

            “Louis!” Her expression was priceless as the underwear bounced off her arm. She wasn’t mad, or even blushing, she was cracking up instead. Shooting me the finger as I went through her drawer and launched the assortment of colored underwear at her until the wind was knocked out of my chest.

            “Shit!” I yelled through laughter, holding my arms out to break her fall as she tackled me.

            “What the hell!” Lydia was cracking up, her eyes bright with laughter as she pushed me farther into the bed. Her hands were holding me down by my chest, and I was catching some serious cleavage.

            “If you wanted to get on top of me you could’ve just asked?” I offered, not understanding how she had caught me so off guard, but as usual, she had.

            “You’re so nosey!”

            “You left your bras all over the floor? Don’t pretend I haven’t seen what either of them look like!”

            “Louis!” Lydia shouted my name again, her curls close enough to brush past my nose.

            “Hmm?” I grunted, positioning myself farther onto the bed so my legs weren’t dangling off. Lydia moved herself with me, still hovering over me in a hesitant tackle.

            Her laughter settled down to a light smile that only illuminated the very corners of her lips, eyes locked onto mine in varying shades of stunning green. She was paused, thinking about something far away before she finally opened her mouth to bring us out of the bubble.

            “Remember when you asked my favorite color?”

            “Yes?” I responded almost immediately, not sure where the question had come from.

            “I changed my mind.”

            “Oh did you? No arguments about shades and spectrums?” I teased, tapping the top of her nose when she scrunched her face up.

            “No arguments.” Lydia shook her head, an adorably embarrassed smile coming over her elven features.

            “Well what is it?”

            “It’s blue.”

A/N

Oh hi :) You only got 130 votes.... WHAT THE HECK HOW! you guys are crazy awesome .... seriously

ANYWAYS :) Here's your chapter update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you like it, a lot of things were revealed in it and it'll hopefully prepare you for the next one.... if you can even be prepared for the next one :P

SO! The dedication goes to a wonderful lady who leaves the sweetest comments :) 

Jessica11247! :) You're a total sweetheart!

Anyways, this week is Veishea at my college, which is the biggest annual college party in the country. HOLLA :) So................ I have a lot of exams and a busy week, so unfortunately this is going to be a hard one... but I promise if you get it it'll be worth it! And even if you don't :) It'll still be worth it!

150 votes to an early update (I'm sorry!)

Next update; Monday, April 14th.... (don't kill me, I have three exams and a mass of homework next week and I PROMISE :) If you guys can do it you'll get the early update! I love you!)

-Hannah