with these thoughts, louis!

[ruth]

ruthie nodded when louis spoke, kind of surprised he agreed with her. many people wouldn't ... they'd find an excuse or something. a way to disagree. or they'd just leave. many times ruthie had used this approach on troubled kids when they found refuge in this same room, and by the time she made a comment like that, they had left. perhaps it was her 'test.' her way of seeing just how much they were willing to put up with her. sometimes, if she sensed the person was not one she ever wanted to associate with, she'd stay silent, mute, and not speak a word to them. they'd leave then too. it's not that she was driving them away because ... well. she didn't know why she drove them away. she just did. ruthie blinked, gazing at louis. he didn't leave.

his words were an admittance ruthie knew he didn't often make. she smiled. call her girlish, but she liked the fact he was confiding in her. for all her social knowledge and brainy actions, and silence, ruthie was still a teenage girl. she was boy-crazy sometimes, when she had a crush. she liked to shop. she did have friends, though few. she lived how she wanted to, different enough to stand out, but not enough to be labeled as a freak. although, a few closed-minded students may call her a freak anyway. she pretended to ignore it. she tried not to let it get to her. louis continued to speak, finishing his sentences quietly, and ruthie rubbed the tip of her nose lightly, nibbling on her lower lip.

he'd struck a nerve. she nodded, a half-smile, half-frown stretching on her face. her brown eyes glimmered with an unspoken message, and she saw flashes of her summer. she pushed them back. "yeah." she stopped, and if it were anyone else in this room, she would've left it at that. something stirring inside ruthie kept her talking though. she was slightly surprised, and slightly angry with herself. she had kept silent so long, and now she was dropping those big hints to a boy she barely knew? she huffed inwardly, and mentally berated herself, finding herself speaking again. "i don't wish to change myself, just change what happened." she replied, shrugging. she hoped she looked nonchalant, and wondered why she was trying to keep a bright face for him. she didn't for others.

[/size]

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

Louis buried his face in his hands for a moment, rubbing his eyes as if to scrub what he was seeing inside his head. God, he was turning into one of those tragic teenage drama scenes, talking everyone to sleep with his angst and horror stories, so wrapped up in himself and his belief that his brand of suffering was worse than anyone else's. Sometimes he was annoyed with is own levels of selfishness. Sometimes.

Right now, he didn't feel selfish so much as part of a new method of communication. He was so used to talking and blabbering and showing off all the time, that to just stop for a moment was like breathing new air. Louis peeked from between his fingers as Ruth seemed to mull something over, her eyes blinking curiously at him like she was reading something in his aura. She dissected him, it seemed to Louis, and he couldn't be sure but he though he felt her warming up to him, too. He hadn't planned on admitting something of that magnitude to a complete stranger so freely, but was it weird that he felt like he could trust her? That's stupid - if he needed someone he could trust, he could talk to a cousin, or write to his sister. He knew one hundred percent that he could trust them, but Ruth was a gamble. Though he really was trying to keep all this a secret from his family anyway, so those thoughts weren't helping.

She spoke again in her quiet, soft way, making Louis lean forward in order to make sure he heard her properly. Change what happened? Louis thought, frowning. Does she know something? Or did something happen to her, too? Wouldn't it perfect us spilling our guts to strangers. This isn't odd at all, is it?

His scathing mind defended his opinions but his heart knew better. He needed this. Seven years was a long time to keep a secret, a long time to keep that box locked and shut away. And now, here she was, giving him the opportunity to let a little light in. Sometimes telling a stranger makes things easier, but would she care?

"Did... something happen to you?" Louis finally asked, wondering if the two of them were just a couple of normal kids whose pasts had screwed them royally. His had changed him he knew for certain, but what had happened to Ruth? immediately Louie suspected the worst and would have probably gotten keyed up to avenge his new confidant - had he had the guts to do so, of course. "What skeletons have you got in your closet, Ruth?"

[ruth]

ruthie blinked, and looked at louis. like, really looked. he was good looking, very handsome. but then, now knowing who he was, she couldn't see why he wouldn't. being part veela and all. but she looked past that- behind his pretty eyes were a myriad of thoughts that were left unspoken. she could see by his changing expressions that he was debating inwardly how to go about replying. louis seemed to be an open book ... well, in one way. in the other, ruthie found herself unable to figure him out like the others. he wasn't all surface. what you saw wasn't what you got. she had the fortune to see him at his worst, a nearly-crying boy scared to death. he was getting better, and she stifled a laugh as he leaned forward to hear her. okay, there was one fault of hers right there. she was dreadfully quiet, even when she spoke.

ruthie leaned back at the question, and blinked slowly at louis. she lifted a thumb to her lips, and nibbled on the tip of the unmanicured nail. part of her wanted to say no, nothing happened. but the hint was dropped, and she didn't want to break this trust thing that was going on. she liked it, for whatever reason. she nibbled a bit more, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly in thought. her mind was screaming for her to shut up now, go mute. close off. but her heart told her she had to say something. her grandmother ... her 'grandfather' were both still out there. she didn't like to admit it, but she was scared. she wasn't a gryffindor gifted with bravery. she wasn't even mentally mature. she was a teenage girl like everyone else.

"yes." she said simply, not bothering to nod along with the small word, or really do much else. she let her hand drop, and her eyes widened a little bit at his next question. what skeletons have you got in your closet, ruth? she stiffened, her mind flashing to and fro, from summer to now, staring at louis. she saw him looking at her, and then her grandmother's fist coming down, louis waiting patiently, her 'grandfather bursting through the door, drunk and throwing things, and the seventh year boy sitting in silence. she was sure something flickered across her face, but ruthie just smoothed her shirt and looked down. "mad ones." she replied, only daring to look up after a moment. "what are yours?"

[/size]

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

Louis waited, his eyes locked on Ruth while she toyed a bit, playing for time. She leaned back, chewed her nails, looked around. Once or twice she blinked back something in her memory that Louis was now aching to find out about. Had he said the wrong thing? She was the one who had brought it up in the first place, though if he were to really get technical, it was his fault for interrupting her in the first place. He was the one who had exploded through the door, slammed it loudly and nearly broke down right there on the floor. He was the one who had had the audacity to treat those massive Slytherin blokes like they were inferior to him, going about listening to the professors orders to assist them with their potions drought. Louis damned himself for finishing before anyone else that day, flaunting his accomplishments with a smug smirk and a cross of the arms. Sure, his Ravenclaw friends may have been impressed, but the Slytherins were more than willing to knock his ego down a peg or four.

If he were to really look at it, it was his fault he was making Ruth uncomfortable. One thing leading to another had Louis running for all he was worth away from some green-clad goons who had no real intention of doing anything to him anyway. It was his fault, Louis finally decided, his normally sharp wit catching up with him as he began to calm down. Suddenly plagued with guilt Louis frowned deeper, turning away from Ruth to stand up, pacing back a forth a little. She was still silent, thinking, Louis suspected, and he took the time to compose himself. Mentally he buried the incident with his back turned to Ruth, so he didn't catch her looking at him. He straightened his shoulders and took a breath, and by the time he turned around he was that person he'd always wanted to be: caring, genuine, a gentlemen. He smiled kindly at her while she dropped her hands to her lap, and Louis was about to apologize again for the whole ordeal, to make plain that he hadn't meant to pry into her personal affairs, when she talked.

"Yes," she said simply, and the smile dropped from Louis's lips and crashed to the ground. So something had happened to her... Louis thought dismally, taking his seat again. He eased himself into his chair slowly, eyes on Ruth the entire time, tactlessly and inappropriately eager to hear her story. But after all, it was a strange way to meet someone and normal social etiquette seemed not to apply in the outrageous circumstance. There wasn't a way to really start again in the usual fashion, with smiling introductions and chatty small talk or flirting. The atmosphere of Ruth and Louis's meeting was a bit deeper than the average teenager's idle communication, and honestly, Louis preferred it. He was being real with someone for a change, and he liked it. There was an incredible weight lifted from his shoulders; a bind taken from his chest so that Louis could actually breathe. If this conversation was going where Louis thought it might, he could end up finally letting someone in.

He shivered at the same time some dark thought seemed to mar Ruth's gentle eyes. There was a hardness to them for a moment, the warm brown replaced with an iron gaze that Louis only caught because he was looking so intently at her. He opened his mouth to say something, and he could feel the muscles in his arm tightening to reach out to her. Arm extended, Louis stopped short when Ruth's mind seemed to clear and she admitting to having a mad past. Louis's outstretched fingers curled instantly, and for an awkward moment he sat frozen in the act of a reassuring touch of the arm. But the moment had passed and Louis dropped his arm to his side again, gripping his seat instead of her wrist.

Louis laughed bitterly at her counter-question and he looked up, smiling. "Mine are broken," he said quietly, still gazing towards the ceiling but seeing something very different. There were those five boys again, surrounding Louis with their hands joined together like they were about to play ring-around-the-rosie. Louis remembered smiling at the idea, only to cry out in pain an instant later, dropping to the ground with a blow to his abdomen. He had crumpled, and the stronger boys interpreted this as a sign of weakness, the green light to go ahead with their "initiation." Back in Hogwarts, the older Louis grimaced at the memory of the younger one; it was like he could feel his ribs cracking as the memory-boys kicked him with their steel-toed boots.

Louis dropped his head to look at Ruth again, his eyes kinder, but perhaps a little distant. His smile was one of a mutual understanding, one that clearly read 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours.' There were no visible scars on Louis from that day, but a look at his psyche would reveal a mind riddled with history. Was it him, or was there an intangible connection established, a sort of secret between the two that even they hadn't spoken about? With their cryptic phrases and stolen glances, Louis's heart raced at the prospect of even a minute into their future. She would understand him, he realized, even if she hadn't told him her story, she would understand him.

And that was an incredibly freeing realization.

"My entire family is one giant savior complex," Louis started, head tilted as if he was thinking. "They're heroes, the lot of them. But you don't need me to tell you I'm not quite the same, though I can't deny I wouldn't mind it. I'd fit in for once without having to lie, without it being some sort of patchy facade." Louis swallowed. Should he keep going? He wanted to badly to confide in her, he couldn't stop now. He wanted her to know there was more to him that whatever reputation he had made for himself, and he wanted to know her, too. So he kept going.

"I had... There was an... incident," Louis paused, his voice unaccustomed to working so freely. "When I was ten. I wanted so badly to prove to myself and everyone else that I was as tough as any of them, and I suppose I just fell into the wrong crowd... I don't know." He clutched one of his wrists under the table, the one that had been broken all those years ago. "But they wanted proof, you know, of my toughness. Something they could count on, I guess. Those boys I thought were the answers to all my insecurities about bravery ended up making sure I'd be a coward forever." Another pause, and Louis looked at Ruth again. "I never wanted to be like this," he admitted, releasing his wrist and bringing his hands up onto the table. "And maybe it's just a typical sob story, but I can't keep it to myself forever. Ruth, I don't know why, but I want you to know."

He shook his head. "Those boys beat me bloody, and they didn't let up. I... They just... they wouldn't stop," Louis swallowed back his choking voice, lost in his memory and probably scaring the girl next to him. "I was unconscious for days afterward, and my dad told that when he found me, alone, I was barely breathing. It scared me, Ruth. They scared me. They still do. And maybe I shouldn't be telling you this - You must think I'm a complete ass," he laughed nervously, a funny sort of smile on his face. "I wouldn't blame you for getting up and leaving right now," he added quietly, wiping at stinging eyes though no tears came.

Louis continued. "I guess, to wrap things up, I couldn't deal with confrontation anymore. I hate violence, and daring do's, and chivalry and bravery and pretty much everything my family stands for. Everything my family was made of. I don't see how I've a chance to fit in." He finished lamely, shoulders rounded in on himself as he slouched, sorry for himself.

But he'd done it. He'd told someone, and there was a noticeable difference in his countenance now. But would Ruth feel the same way, or would she get scarred and bolt? Louis hoped she'd feel strongly enough to show him the mad skeletons in her closet, so that maybe they'd both heal a little. Stangers can be wonderful for that sort of thing.

And maybe after this, he'd find a friend in silent Ruth Burrow, and not one of those friends that only knew Louis for his guise. Maybe there's be something deeper.

[ruth]

ruthie listened in her comfortable silence, her ears open as she heard louis's story. so he had told no one, he was just like her. she couldn't help an inward smile, not knowing why he chose to share this with her- but glad he did. it made her heart swell a little bit, and she welcomed the feeling. it was a good feeling, she agreed in her head. a definitely good feeling. but as louis's story continued on, she felt the small inward smile misshapen itself into a frown. the story sounded painful to remember, and it was obviously hard on louis, ruth wasn't blind. she could see him wiping invisible tears away, and hear the choking of his voice. when he mentioned her thinking he was an ass, she was shocked. no, she could relate. flashes of memory passed through her own mind.

she let him finish his story, and shook her head a little. "sorry that happened to you." she uttered the small phrase, hoping to put all of her empathetic feelings into those five words. she looked down at her feet, scuffling the ground. she wanted to tell him her story. she wasn't sure she could. but he told her his. it was fair, and ruth was tired of being silent. "my story was similar to yours. in a way. i was sent to my grandmother's for the summer. she had recently remarried." she swallowed hard, and twidled her thumbs. "i found out the husband was a drunk. he liked to throw things around when he was angry, and he'd hit my grandmother sometimes." she paused, letting out a breath. she had no tears, though she was sure she felt herself holding them back. she didn't know her eyes were visibly glistening.

"he didn't hit me, not really. i kinda hid, i became fast. but my grandmother had lost it too. she likes to become who she marries. she came after me a lot, chasing me around. she'd beat me. it hurt ... i was glad when that week was over. they've threatened for me to keep silent. mom and dad aren't ever home anyway, who was i going to tell?" she felt her breath hitch, and she didn't look up. well, not at first. after a minute or so, she did, and knew she'd finally found a person who'd understand. "i didn't really trust myself to keep it all silent. i might blurt it out. so i stopped talking." she shrugged, an effort to look nonchalant, though a single tear escaped. "mom and dad haven't noticed."

[/size]

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

Louis stiffened, balling his hands into fists as he stared resolutely at the table, his breathing a bit heavier than he would have liked. But he was past embarrassment now and into the realm of full trust, though he couldn't be certain Ruth felt the same way. So he waited for her next move with tingling apprehension. The ball was in her court, now.

He half expected her to make a polite excuse and leave, though by all accounts he didn't see why he should. Ruth had been open enough with him already and there was definitely something that kept him there. He could have left ages ago but he didn't, and he suspected it had something to do with Ruth's soothing effect on him. She could have left, too, he considered, letting his taught shoulders relax a little at the realization. But she was still here. Louis bit the tip of his tongue and hoped.

Sorry that happened to you. Came her quiet, sincere voice, and Louis turned quickly to face her, his eyes searching hers. Okay, and? He thought desperately in his head, his fingers splayed on the table as he waited for her to continue. A long silence lay heavy over them while Ruth looked down at her feet, and Louis frowned. This was it, wasn't it? What he'd always feared? He was being judged and was found wanting; she was having none of him and his drama. Louie let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, preparing for the let down, when, again, she surprised him.

For her, it was her grandparents. The bottom line was the same, they'd both faced traumatic physical and emotional damage, but her, it was different. For Ruth, it wasn't a group of grammar school-age boys she was trying to impress, it wasn't her own fault for mixing with the wrong people in the first place. For Ruth, her experience was closer to home, it was personal. It was her grandmother. If that didn't leave scars, nothing could; family was supposed to protect you, and Louis had a hard time imagining her pain.

"Ruth," he breathed, looking at her and immediately feeling a shift in his chest. No longer was she the perfect distraction as he originally planned her to be. No, now she was something dearer to him, even if he's known her for less than an hour. And he couldn't help it, being the screwed up teenage boy that he was, but he was glad she was there, talking to him, paying him this kind of attention. Maybe it started for the wrong reasons and maybe it was starting too fast, but Louis couldn't help that his heart was pumping faster when he looked at her.

"Please don't cry," he said softly, sitting on the edge of his seat so that he was closer to her. He reached up on instinct and cupped her jaw in his hand, wiping away the stray tear with his thumb. How could her parents not notice they were losing their beautiful daughter? Louis had chosen not to tell anyone but still keep up appearances, while Ruth had gone and shrunk into herself. And suddenly Ruth's problem was bigger than her just her grandparents; it was home, too. Louis suddenly felt selfish.

His hand was still on her face, he realized after a moment, and looking down he almost reluctantly dropped it to the table again. "I want you to be... stronger than that," Louis said as he moved his feet distractedly. "Help me be stronger, too, okay? And I promise I'll be there for you, too."

[ruth]

ruthie remembered it all. as if it were just yesterday, the entire ordeal was clear in her mind. it was like watching a movie that played itself too many times. over and over and over. she almost incaved on herself again, like she often did when the overwhelming thoughts became too much. her dorm room was silent with the slumber of her mates, and she'd slip out- sneaking down to the common room where she was sure no one could hear her. she'd let it out, and even then she kept her cries silent. she muffled them somehow, with a pillow. obviously she'd remove the pillow to breathe. silence was her best friend and worst enemy. it left her alone with her thoughts, but it made them hers only at the end of the day.

he breathed her name, and her brown eyes widened slightly, her gaze looking up. she had looked down in the past moment, thinking hard. but now she stared at louis and recognized all the thoughts they shared flitting through his eyes, hers surely mirroring his. please don't cry, he said. she blinked, was she crying? at once, she was aware of the tear falling down her cheek. she silently rebuked herself. it wasn't like she was embarrassed, she just promised herself she wouldn't cry in public. it was something she liked to do in the dead of night. alone. she didn't like to show that sort of weakness. she could only blame it on her grandmother. she became too stoic, too silent, too bubbled off. she didn't mind. but ... she was the inner ruthie now, letting loose a little of what she used to be. she wondered how louis did that to her.

he touched her, grazing away the fallen tear. ruthie believed she'd stiffen at the contact, seeing him approach. she was worried she'd flinch, thinking of her grandmother's fist bearing down on her. neither happened. his hand met her face and she didn't move, in fact, she may have felt her shoulders droop in relaxation. she was surprised with the intensity louis's gaze was as he stared at her. she found herself staring back, wide eyed and her heart pumping fast within her chest. she was sure it's beat's were visible, and she was glad she was wearing a baggy shirt. he wouldn't see. at his words, she tore herself from thinking, and blinked. Help me be stronger, too, okay? And I promise I'll be there for you, too. it was a promise no one had ever made. her mother had never even offered similar words. her father, forget it. her grandmother's were sickly sweet, dripping with threats in company. and then, ruthie found herself saying something she never thought she'd say in a situation like this. she never imagined she'd tell anyone ... how could she predict her reply?

"it's a deal."

[/size]

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

"It's a deal."

Louis looked up again, his heart giving a powerful lurch that left him smiling despite their open wounds. But maybe, with their scars bared and secrets banished, there was a chance to heal. A chance to build something real that Louis had never truly experienced before, and the prospect made him breathe easier.

She hadn't moved at his touch, and maybe he imagined in a fit of wishful thinking, but Ruth seemed to have relaxed into him a little. The smoothness of her skin on his hand left his fingertips tingling, and curiously Louis flexed his fingers at the feeling. That hadn't happened before, he noticed, glancing at his hand with the curiosity of someone who had come to expect the same thing in all situations and was recently proven wrong. He had learned to predict the way he reacted to certain girls as he was generally the type to drown his sorrows in the greatest distractions he could find. He wasn't going to lie, girls to him were a knut a dozen, and he had pick of nearly any girl in the fan club he'd come to acquire. Ruth, however, was obviously different to him, and sex was the farthest thing from his thoughts at the moment. Here he'd made a solid connection with a girl he could easily talk to, someone Louis wanted more out of than her body. She was a person of substance that Louis felt no one else had bothered to find out about. In the little that he knew about her, Ruth wasn't a fantastically open person. Yet here they were, incredibly together in something that made Louis feel real.

It's a deal, she had said with certainty and a commitment to her voice that was new to both of them. Louis smiled and let out a happy laugh, his eyes softening as he continued to look at her. He couldn't look away, and he didn't want to. He suddenly found himself replaying those few words again and again in his mind, and before he knew it he had inched himself closer to her unconsciously.

Louis's eyes widened for a second, coming to the conclusion that maybe he wouldn't mind having her as more than a confidant, too. Emotionally bonded now, sure, but there was already a physical attraction forming in the little time they'd talked that Louis couldn't deny. He was leaning across the gap between the two benches, when he suddenly sat back up, stood and quickly hopped to sit on the desk above her chair. His heart played against his chest and the blood in his veins pumped with a tempo that demanded he take immediate action. He was nervous; he didn't want to ruin anything but he didn't know how else to express himself. His gratitude, his already budding affection. "It's a deal, right?" He confirmed quietly, leaning down to place one arm on the back of her chair and the other at the soft spot of her skin where her jaw met her neck.

Louis leaned a little further, his fingers moving automatically to weave into her hair. This is too fast, he warned himself, you'll scare her away. But he couldn't stop, didn't want to stop, until finally his lips were just above hers and he could feel her breath on his skin. He hesitated, breathing in the scent of her and hoping this would mean something more to her, too.

"Ruth," he whispered again as he angled his head to fit against her comfortably. A moment's pause more, and Louis was kissing her softly, once, twice, three times. He pulled back only enough to see her reaction, praying hard that the feelings that had overwhelmed him were mutual.

[ruth]

people in the movies always said a kiss was electric, and magical in some un-wizarding way. they glorified the essence of it, and ruthie found herself disappointed before now. she'd kissed guys- but it was hardly like this. it was simple, with no rigid electricity or pounding of the heart. and you could say she was surprised, yes, when she saw louis leaning forward, his hand on her face, twirling fingers in her hair. in a fit of self-conciousness, she couldn't remember whether or not she had washed it the night before. and then she decided she didn't care. "a deal..." she barely had time to breathe those words of reply, his lips pressing against hers softly. he was kissing her.

she was shocked, deep inside. ever since she stopped talking she was that 'weird ravenclaw' or 'the silent one.' she was in a way, some sort of outcast. she never minded it, she just expected it to be constant. she expected to be like that until graduation and live her life silent and alone. in a way, maybe she wasn't letting anyone in on purpose. but she let louis in, and that counted for more than all the silence in the world. this was the part in the movies where romantic music started playing, and where little hearts bubbled on the screen. ruthie kissed louis back just as gently, finding she enjoyed every moment of it.

he pulled back, staring intently at her, as if trying to gauge her reaction. she offered a smile, which was not hard for her lips to form. they tingled slightly, and her heart beat in a fast, happy rhythm. she didn't say anything, not at first. she didn't need to, she felt her gaze radiating with more emotions than words could describe. after a bit of silence stretched between them, ruthie couldn't help herself in speaking. for once, she was actually eager to use her tongue to form words. for the first time in so many years. "louis." she said his name, and that was it. she was never one for long strings of words, but she was good at summarizing everything in a single, or double, syllables.

[/size]

[.LOUIS HENRI WEASLEY !]

It was mind boggling, really, the way one's emotions could just up and turn a 180 at an instant. There you could be, happily going about your way, not bothering anyone to only a moment later be scared for your dearest life. One mental breakdown later and your cowardice turns to arrogance turns to trust turns to lust. Emotions are funny, funny things.

Funny, but exciting. Gripped by the latter of the listed feelings, Louis couldn't hide the smile that turned his lips to mirror Ruthie's own delicate grin. Heart hammering away beneath his shirt, had Louis taken the time to examine this phenomenon, he would have realized his blood was pumping quicker for this girl than any previous he'd been with, and at lighter a touch as well. It was almost painful, this connection they'd formed, the struggling of his heart to keep up with his warp speed emotions. What was it about trusting someone so completely and instantly that left Louis dizzy?

Peering at her and seeing her wide eyes, Louis could almost feel the relief building inside him. He'd taken a chance, a huge, I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that chance, and she had responded positively, equally. So what did this mean? For him? For them? Was there a "them" now? He wanted to know, but maybe he was being too eager. He wanted something to happen, he had to admit. Louis hadn't ever felt anything like this before; like the weight of world had been lifted from his shoulders to be replaced by the lightness of these feelings he was forming for Ruth. And despite the drum roll of his heart, Louis felt like he could breathe.

A moment passed and Ruth looked at him still, her brown eyes penetrating his blue ones with a gaze that was intense with the sharing of their pasts, but soft at the moment between them. "Louis," she said simply, her voice quiet like his had been. Like their entire conversation had been. There was something to be said for soft tones that loosened Louis up, opened his consciousness and cracked his stony facade. Wasn't it perfect that he should fall so completely head over heels for the quietest girl in Ravenclaw, then? Louis's smile stretched minutely as he recognized the irony.

At her voice there a reaction in Louis that had him leaning back down, a sort of prompt that cued him for another kiss. He smiled through this one, his lips not nearly so soft on hers anymore. His blond hair fell into her brunette, and the fingers he laid at the base of her neck tangled quickly around the strands at the back of her neck. Breathing became harder now and the pulse that thundered in his ears was going to make him go deaf pretty soon. But all he knew was that he wanted Ruth, wanted her emotionally, physically, everything. She was someone new and exciting and already incredibly important to Louis. He didn't want to ever let her go.

"Ruthie," he said, his eyes still clamped shut and he moved his head to fit in the hollow of her neck and shoulder. "Don't tell me this is too good to be true," he muttered, hoping against anything that what they had, what they were building, was something more permanent than the average teenage romance. He was scaring himself now, in the best way possible. Things were going fast, and he wanted faster. "Don't ever go away..."