with your eyes so bright
He doesn't stay for very long after that – bounces a little on his heels, because it's a bad habit and he is sometimes a child - and then makes his excuses and goes away. He spends the rest of the day trying to very, extremely sneakily gauge if Marie would try to incinerate him with a cigarette lighter, or also possibly the heat of her scary, intimidating gaze, if he maybe took an extra long lunch break for a few days or something maybe possibly don't kill me.
Which she doesn't, actually, since he has his photos done early (because, the little girl was really sweet and very fun to photograph), but she does give him a very suspicious look and then a knowing sort of smile which Louis does not understand and does not care to. Who can understand the ways of magazine editors with too much time on their hands, the answer is certainly not Louis.
So he is feeling mostly very guilt-free during lunch the next day when he traipses out at half past ten to bring Noemie some croissants. It's not particularly because they are a French food and Noemie is French so they will remind her of home and give her joy, it's only that he really likes croissants. But then he thinks of the French thing, too, and realizes that probably makes him super thoughtful and a good person, which is a very nice way to feel before lunch.
He also manages to bribe the doorman with one of the croissants, which sort of works. The doorman just sort of stares at it with this puzzled intensity, which Louis finds a little disconcerting. Perhaps no one has ever tried to bribe him with French pastries before? More things Louis does not know and doesn't care to find out.
He raps smartly on the door, and yells, "Food delivery!" before he has to take an undignified little hop back to avoid being smacked when the door swings open.
"Um, hi, yes, food," he says, still a little off balance, and nearly whips the bag at Noemie's head before catching hold of it again. "I hope you like croissants?" he ventures.
He only gets one and a half of the eight or nine in the bag, so he has to assume that she either does or has an appetite to rival James', honestly.
"Delicious," she says after she's done.
"You think so?" Louis asks, unreasonably pleased, "They're from this place by work. Most of the other stuff is kind of eh, but the croissants are really good, as you can obviously confirm," he finishes. On getting no response, he blinks and turns back to look at her.
"Noemie?" he says, trying to catch her eye, before noticing that she is looking nowhere near his face.
Objectively, Louis is aware of his body, and that it is a very good body, and is very compliant about not getting chubby even though he eats enough sweet things to justify some chubby. He is also aware of his face, and that it is capable of making even Edie at the paper, who is a middle-aged martinet, relent, and occasionally smile back, so, technically, yes, he is familiar with people looking at him, and in general, yes, he likes being looked at, but Louis is being ogled by a lonely, waddling, pregnant lady, and it is ridiculous?
Not that he's never gotten unpleasantly ogled before, just that usually he has Hugo around to hide behind, and Hugo has Ricky, who's built like a boxer and is generally brilliant, to set on them, and it's not even that this is unpleasant, just that she's pregnant-which-a-little-bit-scares-him, and there is probably a right way to react to this without embarrassing everyone, but what it is, Louis does not know.
He tries to reach discreetly for one of Anna's brightly colored throw pillows to break the line of sight, and gets about halfway there before Noemie's face shoots up, both of them have an uncomfortable moment of terrible and mortifying understanding, Noemie turns a really shocking red color, and, oh, that was not discreet, that was not discreet at all.
Noemie drops her head and buries when he can only assume is a string of very inappropriate French expletives in her palms, considering a very loud "Merde," makes it over to him.
Now everyone is embarrassed, he finds himself thinking in a kind of panic, everyone forever is embarrassed, thank you, Louis, you are terrible and useless, and she will never ever like you – not that she needed to. Or was supposed to. Technically, he figures, since he's only here to be company, she really doesn't have to like him – she just has to like his company, but, considering she did spend a good few minutes staring at his crotch, she probably doesn't hate him, which is close enough to liking him, so there. On the confused conviction of that thought, he finally yanks over the pillow and settles it in front of himself, throwing an arm around it like a shield.
"Er," says Louis, and then, when Noemie drops one of her hands to look back at him, blurts out, "This is awful."
Noemie manages an embarrassed chuckle and peeks back up at him. "It is not how I usually behave, I promise. I don't often – stare –"
Louis crosses his arms in front of the pillow. "Are you saying that I'm not worthy of being stared at unless you are … are hormone-y?" He is pouting, a little bit. He is also very serious. He may have been embarrassed before, but that was only on behalf of Noemie and her feelings. He likes being looked at, he likes being admired after being looked at, and Louis is a little bit hurt.
He pauses for a second and then adds, "I'm a little bit hurt," in case she can't tell.
Noemie looks at him for a second, nonplussed, and then, suddenly, starts to laugh. Chuckle, even. Guffaw? Louis holds out for a few seconds, but he's fighting a grin by the time she looks back up. "Louis," she says, sounding a little distressed, possibly from laughing so much, "That was an – apology. I am not trying to … damage your vanity."
"So … we agree I'm stareworthy?" Louis says, sticking his chin in the air. It's a good angle for him – shows off his jawline.
"Louis," Noemie says, a little breathlessly, then: "Are you a child?"
He checks, and she is definitely laughing at him. Again.
"It's important to me!" he insists, "I want people to think I'm pretty! Especially other people that are also pretty, it's not – vain – Noemie, shut up, shut up your entire face!"