Tessa's POV

I made my way towards the café, still shaken up by seeing Zayn. When I opened the door, all of the delicious smells wafted straight from the kitchen to me. It hit me as solid as a wall; the smell was just so strong. I went straight to the counter to order a caramel Frappuccino and a blueberry scone. I sat down at a table with my wonderful food and started to sip my coffee. It was as good as I remembered.

I basked in the peace and quiet of the restaurant, knowing it wouldn't last long. I waited a little bit and Noah walked through the door into the café. After he ordered something, he turned around, his eyes searching. I waved my hand and his eyes lit up when he saw me. He smiled as he walked towards me and took the seat across from me.

"Hey you," He said. Then, he looked at my Frappuccino. "You are such a white girl."

I scoffed. "Just because I drink coffee, I'm a white girl? What about men who drink coffee? And non-white people? Are they white girls, too?"

"Jeez, Tessa, I was just saying." He put his hands up in surrender.

One of the waitresses came over, baring a Frappuccino and a massive brownie. She slammed it down on the table clumsily and walked away with her hips swaying, smacking her gum and blowing bubbles with her cherry red lips. We both just stared at her. Then, I switched my glance to pointedly stare at Noah as he was sipping his coffee. I stuck out my tongue at him, and when he retaliated, we both burst into laughter.

"So, Tessa," Noah started the mostly civilized conversation. "You need to catch me up on the last three years."

I smiled at him. "It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"Fine." I conceded. "But you have to tell me about you first."

He sighed dramatically. "Not much to tell, really. I grew what must have been a foot, I started working out and building muscles. I got attractive." He winked. "A couple of parties, the usual. I start my last year of school in the fall. Applying early for UNI. That's pretty much it." He finished.

"Well, you sound like you had bundles of fun." I said sarcastically.

"Your turn, missy." He whined, pointing his finger at me.

Now it was my turn to sigh dramatically. I didn't know where to start. "Well, I graduated. I got into multiple universities but not NYU, my dream school. It's always been my dream, so I decided to try again. So I moved to New York with no plan other than to reapply the next year."

Noah gasped. "You, with no plan?"

I nodded my head grimly. "I know. It was very hectic. I found myself an apartment and a job working as an assistant to a major journalist at a magazine company. It paid well, so that was a perk. I reapplied to NYU and got in finally. I reorganized my schedule once I started school. So to recap, I moved to New York, found a job and an apartment, and finished my first year of UNI at NYU."

Noah reached across the table to place his hand across mine, in what I hoped was a friendly gesture. I hadn't had a boyfriend in years, and now was not the time. Whilst I had talked, his face had changed between many emotions, but now it was just stuck on one: confusion.

"Tessa, you've told me about everything except your social life. Knowing you, you probably had so many friends and went to the coolest parties." He trailed off as I took on an expression of sadness and confusion with a hint of wistfulness. "Why? What's wrong? Did I say something?" He looked incredibly concerned.

I waved off his attempts at comfort. "I-I thought you knew." I was so confused. Why didn't he know? Someone must have told him. "I thought somebody told you. Why-I'm so confused." I shook my head in an attempt to clear it.

"What don't I know, Tessa?" He looked stricken, a look of panic clearly written across his face.

I knew I would have to explain that part of my story, yet again. He didn't need to know the reason of my long departure, so I omitted that part. I let out my breath, my shoulders slouching. "Noah, what you see now is a different side of me; a side it took years to perfect. You've only seen this good side of me. You haven't seen the loneliness, the bitterness, the tears. You've seen the laughter, the happiness, the smiles.

"During the part of the year I'm not here, I'm dark. I only have three friends in New York, literally. I don't do anything wild. I'm a boring prude. Not necessarily a prude but boring. I'm that nerd in the back of the classroom. I'm-I'm" Noah moved his chair to the side of me and pulled me into a side-hug when tears came to my eyes. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Here, on the coast of Malaga, I'm light. I'm free. I don't care what people think. I can do what I want with myself. I can be me. God, it sounds so cheesy and cliché. I'm the worst at telling stories. I sound like some damsel in distress." I buried my face into the shoulder of his tee-shirt and cried, ruining the dark grey material of his shirt. I pulled away and started rubbing at the stain and trying to make it go away, but it wouldn't come off.

He shrugged my hand away. "Tessa, it's okay." He used his thumb to brush away the tear tracks on my face. Then, he held his hands on the side of my face. "Theresa White, you are gorgeous. You are funny, smart, independent." Noah looked straight into my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. "You don't need anyone to approve of you. You light up the world like nobody else. You light up my world like nobody else." The next moment Noah was bringing my face up to his and crashing his lips against mine.

It took a second before the realization sunk in. I was kissing Noah, a guy I just recently reconnected with. Sure, he was somewhat attractive, but he was like my brother. I pulled away as soon as I could feel my tears streaming onto our lips. I gasped for breath, not realizing I had been holding it.

"No, I'm sorry, Noah, but I can't." I got up and ran from the café, leaving my coffee and blueberry scone. Noah called out for me, but I kept on running. I was too fast for him to catch and I had a head start. Soon, I was nearing the edge of town. I wasn't sure where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to get out. Telling that story had gotten my mind all out of whack. I ran harder and faster, tears still pouring down my face.

I could see it on the headlines:

HYSTERICAL TEENAGE GIRL LEAVES TOWN, KNOCKING DOWN EVERYTHING IN HER PATH

I ran until I reached the ocean and my feet gave out. There was a big rock that I climbed atop of. It was in the ocean and looked big enough to stay where it was, but every once in a while, waves would crash against it. I sat on top of the warm rock and cried out everything I was feeling. I screamed in rage. I punched the rock in fury.

After at least half an hour of my hysterics, I started to calm down. The sun was starting to set and I wrapped my arms around my legs and set my chin on my knees. I stared out into the ocean for God knows how long. I just thought about my past. This time, I welcomed the pain of the memories. The pain was intense, gut-wrenching. It took my breath away, literally. I reveled in being able to feel something so strongly, even if it was pain. For so long, I had felt numb. Like everything that had happened, happened to someone else and I had just stood watching. It didn't matter the feeling; anything was better than the feeling of numbness again.

I didn't know when I fell asleep, but I woke up awkwardly resting on the big rock. It had lost all traces of warmth long ago, and I was shivering in the cold. It was the middle of the night and the only light came from the moon reflecting off the water.

I started to panic. I had no idea where I was. I pulled out my phone and saw it had seven percent battery left. I called Liam, Cara, and Lola, but I didn't get an answer from any of them. Tears were prickling my eyes. I would have called Noah, but after the kiss… I ended up calling Louis, praying that he would pick up.

He ended up picking up when I called the second time, much to my relief. "Louis?!" I called out.

"Tessa, what is it?" He asked groggily, still half asleep.

"Louis, I'm lost! I have no idea where I am and my phone is about to die! I'm really scared and cold and I don't know what to do!" I cried to him. I broke into sobs as I waited for a reply. I heard shuffling through the phone.

"Tessa, please listen to me." His voice helped to calm me down. "I need you to tell me anything you can about your surroundings. I'm coming to get you. It's going to be alright." His calm manner soothed me.

I sniffled. "Well, I'm by the beach on a big rock." I looked around some more. "There isn't a path anywhere, but there are some trees about thirty yards away from the shore line. Louis, I'm really scared; the water is rising. Please hurry, I don't want to be alone right now." I heard a door slam.

"Tessa, I'm on the way, just-" I didn't get to hear what he was going to say because he was cut off by my phone dying.

"Dammit!" I screamed and cursed, throwing my phone as hard as I could onto the dry land. It didn't seem to break, which was lucky. The waves started to crash against the rock, splashing cold water and soaking my clothes. I was shivering, sad, scared, and cold. I couldn't get off the rock because the water level had risen. Plus, I wasn't able to see through the water. It would have been even more dangerous to try and swim in the water. I started to rock myself back and forth, trying to generate some sort of warmth. I was so cold I couldn't feel my feet. I curled into a ball, rocking back and forth for what seemed like hours. I don't know how long I waited, Louis found me eventually, but it wasn't soon enough.

I woke up to someone carrying me bridal style whilst they were wading through water. My head was pounding so hard it felt like someone was banging a pan against it. "Louis?" I called out, my voice scarcely more than a whisper.

"I'm right here, Tessa. I won't let you go." He said, lifting me higher, so I was more out of the water.

"I'm so cold." Louis hugged me closer when he heard my words. He was warm, but not warm enough for it to spread to me while walking through the ice-cold ocean.

"I was so worried. If you hadn't called or your phone had died." He shuddered but not from the cold. Finally, we reached the shore. Louis carried me to the car and pulled open the door to the back seat. He laid me down on one blanket and bundled me up in the other. He hopped into the driver's seat and put the keys into the ignition. He blasted the heater to warm the car, but it wasn't warm enough to stop my shivering; I was cold to the bone.

Louis turned on the radio to fill the silence. Softly playing was Piano Man by Billy Joel. It soothed my emotions, but my teeth were chattering louder than a chainsaw so I couldn't enjoy it much. Louis sang along to the song, filling the car with his angelic voice. Louis could have been famous for his voice, but he chose to play football instead. His voice was so unique that he would have made it far.

A few songs played along the way and, soon enough, Louis was carrying me out of the car and up the steps into the house. He silently opened the front door, and led me upstairs to the part of the house where the bedrooms were located. He was taking me to my bedroom when I placed my hands on his chest to stop him. He looked down at me to see what I wanted. I pointed towards his bedroom and he led me there instead. When I was a kid and had bad dreams, I always wanted to sleep in Louis' bed. He was always comforting and allowed me to. Louis laid me across his bed, still wrapped in the blanket, and changed before crawling in next to me.

I cuddled in closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around me in a caring way. It didn't feel like anyone else; Niall wrapped his arms around me in an "I couldn't care less" way, Liam in a friendly way, and Noah. Well, now I know what way Noah did. Right now, Louis was just a big brother comforting his little sister.

"Tessa?" Louis whispered.

"Yeah?' I whispered back, hating the weak sound in my voice.

"What happened?" He asked. I could hear the tears in his voice. I looked up to see he was crying. I reached up with a shaking hand to wipe his tears away. I understood what this must have looked like.

"Louis, it was nothing like last time. I promise. I got upset and ran, then I got lost. I'm really sorry I scared you like that." I knew how this situation had similarities to the one three years ago, but it wasn't like that at all. I scooted up so Louis and I were holding each other. I didn't know that what had happened three years ago had affected him like this.

After a while, Louis was back to his old self and held me again, just like when we were little. I fell asleep to him humming the tune of the song we heard in the car, Piano Man by Billy Joel.