Chapter 4

It had been a week since our heated argument and Louis was keeping his distance from me. You’d think a demon would torture me for pissing him off, but I think Louis figured I was going to fight him back just as hard as he prodded me. I walked out of my room into the living room and I sighed, seeing boxes of pizza littering the room, along with many other assortments of food. I heard the toilet flush and saw Louis exit the bathroom. He gave me a grin and I gestured to his mess of food.

“Glad to see you’ve welcomed yourself back,” I mumbled and he shrugged, jumping onto the couch and grabbing a bag of chips.

“That’s the hello I get after giving you some free time? You should be thanking me,” Louis spoke, his mouth full of potato chips. I let out a laugh, walking into the kitchen area.

“Well don’t get too comfortable if you’re hanging around, because I have to go get groceries,” I said, grabbing a piece of paper and jotting down some of the essentials I needed.

“Good, I need you to get me some things anyway,” he answered and I looked over at the demon who was draining a 2-liter of Coke. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

“You need to clean up the living room before we go. We’ll have rats and who knows what else if you leave all that junk out,” I shuddered and Louis laughed, standing up and coming over to the counter. I looked up at him from my list and I felt uneasy from the smirk he was giving me.

“What?” I spoke cautiously and he held hand, clenched into a fist, up. I frowned, but as soon as he opened his hand I screamed. He held a giant rat in his hand. I threw my hands up, causing the rat to fall out of his hand and start running around my apartment. I was hysterically screaming, which then turned into frantic crying as I hoisted myself onto the counter as the rat scurried around the room. Louis was laughing at first, but then he saw how genuinely scared I was and he immediately grabbed the rat. It disintegrated in the air and I sighed through my cries. I was gasping as I tried to regain a normal pace of breathing and heart rate.

“Hey, Noelle, it’s alright,” Louis spoke, his voice soft and soothing. I looked at him and saw true sympathy in his eyes. I nodded, wiping my eyes and getting off the counter with shaking legs.

“It was just a little rat. He’s more scared of you than you are of him. He wouldn’t have hurt you,” Louis spoke reassuringly, as my fear swelled into anger.

“A little rat? That thing was huge! I hate rats, rodents or anything like that! You saw how scared I was. That was a horribly cruel joke,” I spat hastily, walking to my room to clean myself up. While Louis and I were learning to cooperate with each other, I’d forgotten the practical jokester inside of him.

“Noelle?”

I heard a light knock on my door and I sighed, opening it up. Louis pushed his way into my room and past me and he sat on my bed.

“What I meant to say was that I wouldn’t have let that dumb rat do anything to you,” he spoke assertively, and I could tell he meant it. It was strange for Louis to be protective.

“You’d protect me? You’re a demon,” I replied, not buying it. Louis clenched his fists and looked down at the ground as he stood up.

“I may be a demon, but I am your guardian and I will protect you,” he seemed to growl, his eyes meeting mine before he exited the room. I stood in the room in complete shock. Louis had never been so genuinely concerned for me like he just had. I finally found the motivation to follow him out to the living room where he was cleaning up his mess.

“You ready to go?” he mumbled, continuing to clean up.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied, watching him and trying to hold on to his sympathetic moment; probably the only one he’d ever have. He looked at me and I tore my gaze away and headed to the front door.

“Why are you so surprised? I’m your guardian right? And being-”

“Yeah, but you’re a demon and we just got in that big fight and you’ve never been-”

“I’m a demon, I get it, it’s every other word that comes out of your mouth after all, but that’s just a label. I’m a demon, but I’m also a guardian, which most demons don’t have to deal with, so I guess I’m pretty special,” Louis began lecturing as we got in my car. I sat in my seat for a moment and looked at him.

“If you had a guardian angel, you wouldn’t be graced with my presence as often, you know. Angels are there, but they don’t show themselves as often because, well because they’re goddamn goody two shoes! So again, reoccurring theme here, you should be thanking me,” Louis continued and I rolled my eyes. There’s Louis.

“You are so confusing,” I sighed, pulling out of the driveway.

* * * *

For every item I put into my cart, Louis doubled it. Every time I put his items back he’d get frustrated and sulk.

“I’m living there too! I need things,” he complained, trying to drive me absolutely insane and it was working.

“I’m not going to support gluttony, Louis. Remember your whole speech? ‘I’m a demon, but I’m also a guardian?’ Guardians wouldn’t be living their lives revolved around the seven deadly sins!” I sang, throwing a few cans of soup into my cart.

“That’s like me telling you not to revolve your life around living,” Louis huffed dramatically.

“Oh, calm down,” I grumbled as I set a loaf of bread into the cart. I went down the feminine product aisle and Louis groaned. I rolled my eyes and put my items in the cart. I checked off my list and smiled at Louis.

“Since you’ve been relatively decent you may get one thing,” I spoke, hands on my hips. Louis gave me that lazy, unimpressed look, but I saw a gleam of excitement in his eyes as well.

“Oh gee, thanks mom,” he grumbled, waving as he sprinted down the aisle to get whatever it was that he wanted. I walked up to the cash register and waited patiently for Louis. While I waited, I browsed through my phone and suddenly felt my cart move slightly. I looked up and saw a man walking quickly away with my purse.

“Hey!” I screamed, abandoning my cart and chasing after the man. He realized I was following and took off into a sprint. I suddenly saw the man tumble to the ground and one of the workers grabbed my purse. They handed it to me and I grabbed it, panting. They took the man away and I stood there, still regaining my breath.

“I’m gone a minute and you manage to get into trouble,” Louis spoke from behind me, causing me to jump in alarm. I swatted him and he smirked as we walked back to my cart.

“Yeah, we’re lucky he fell,” I replied, glad that those stupid, almost unnecessary falls that happened in movies were true to real life.

“Fell? Noelle...I knocked that guy over,” Louis scoffed and I glanced up at him, rolling my eyes as I began scanning items and he bagged my items.

“Sure you did, thanks Lou,” I sarcastically answered and he stopped bagging.

“I did knock him over. Haven’t you ever heard about people who almost fall, but their ‘guardian angel’ catches them? Same f*****g principle. You were in trouble, so I stopped the guy,” Louis spoke, that same assertiveness and genuinity in his voice and face. I stared at him for a moment before I realize that Louis really was starting to accept they fact that he, indeed, was a guardian.

Author's Note

I wrote this at 1am so it might be a little rough, but....yeah. I like updating and feedback so I try to get a chapter out a day and I like writing because it calms me down sooooo. Yay.

Reviews

[theHobbit]

This is actually my favorite chapter!!!! It's just all so perfect, especially when you introduced a little bit more into the world of the guardians!! (the principle) And how they are starting to become more of a team, gahh this chapter is just so amazing!! I'm so ready for the update!!! :)

[kaylahardy120]

I'm glad you liked it! Going back and reading it this morning I really like it too! I'm trying to develop more of the principle and belief's that Louis has!

[Anastasia Ortan]

I loved the ending so much! It was so emotional and I am enjoying reading your stories so much! This was my favorite chapter so far. But the story just keeps getting better and better, keep up the good and excellent work!