My Prince Charming

Chapter 10

Louis POV

I trudged down the path in defeat. Another useless phone call. 

Why couldn't people just give me useful, honest information? It's not that difficult. Over the past three weeks, Sam has received a ridiculous amount of phone calls of women claiming they are 'the one,' but majority of them being that they claim to know the woman and insist that I need to go see them for myself.

I pulled the hood of my jumper over my face as I walked past a pair of girls talking. I thought it would be a lot easier to find A, but it wasn't when people kept on recognising me.

I walked into the closest shop to my left. As I walked through the aisles of the grocery shop, I noticed somebody struggling to reach something on a shelf just above them. I swiftly walked towards them and plucked the item off of the shelf with ease and handed it to them.

"Thank you, sir," the person smiled up at me. Her face crinkled at the gesture, and I found myself smiling back.

"It's no issue, ma'am," I replied, and I took a moment longer to observe her. Her hair was slightly greying but was mostly brunette. The wheelchair she sat on shortened her height significantly and on her lap was a basket full of food.

"Would you like help with your shopping?" I offered, gesturing to the basket on her lap. She looked down at the basket, then back up at me.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to bother you. I'm sure a young man like you has places to be." 

I gave her a small smile. "Quite the opposite ma'am." I took the basket off her lap and took the jar out of her hands. I set it in the basket before looking back at her.

"Now what else did you need?"

* * * * *

"All right, your total comes to..." The woman clicked the register, "$105.60."

"Oh my, umm..." The woman, Lisa, next to me mumbled. "Could I take some items off?"

"Of course, what would you-"

"That won't be necessary." I interrupted. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out some notes. 

"Oh no, Louis, I couldn't possibly let you pay this," Lisa remarked, but I waved her off, and quickly paid the cashier.

"Too late," I smiled and lifted the bags of groceries. I didn't miss the small smile that she gave me as we headed out the doors of the shop. It was dark outside now as we made our way down a path.

"You remind me so much of my daughter," Lisa said with a small laugh. "Always refusing to let me pay for anything and doing all the shopping."

"Hey, that's not true!" I responded. "I let you help with the shopping."

"If rolling around is helping, then yes, yes you did." We both laughed.

"That's exactly something she would say," she remarked. "Even though, and pardon my language, works her ass off, she still does all the work." My step faltered as a memory came into mind.

I work my ass off just to get by, and if I judged somebody for being poor, I would have to take a good look in the mirror and figure out how I am in any better position than them.

"You two would be good together," Lisa's voice brought me out of the memory. At that moment, she turned her wheelchair to go through a fence of a run-down-looking house.

"Come inside, please. I'll make you some tea." I followed her into the house. When people say that appearances can be deceiving, they are correct. I would not have thought that this house would look so nice inside. I set the shopping down on the kitchen table and began to unpack, but Lisa stopped me. 

"Don't worry, I'll just get Ava to unpack it when she gets home." After a few minutes, we both sat with tea in our hands on the comfortable seats in the living room. My heart pounded at the one thought that was racing in my mind like a racehorse.

"Could you tell me more about your daughter?"

* * * * *

Ava POV

I trudged down the path, stretching my back resulting in a satisfying crack. Working two jobs was difficult, but worth it if it meant my mum and I could eat and have a place to live. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my mum's number. It rang two times before the call went through.

"Lisa's phone." a voice that didn't belong to my mother answered.

"Umm, hello? Who are you?" There was shuffling on the other line for a moment.

This time the voice I was expecting answered. "Hello, Ava. I couldn't get to the phone in time, so I asked the lovely gentleman with me to answer for me." 

I sighed and rubbed my hand on my forehead. "It's fine, I guess. I was just wondering what we needed from the shops."

"Oh, we don't need anything, I already went to the shops." I stayed silent for a moment.

"You mean you got somebody to pick up the groceries, right?"

"No, Ava. I went to the shops in person."

"Why would you do that, mum?"

"You were right."

"Of course I was, I know my daughter."

"Who are you talking to?" I snapped.

"Just the nice man who helped me with the shopping. You two have a lot in common." I groaned. Why was she always doing this? I swear, at least once a week she would invite a man over to our house and try to set me up with him.

"Don't even try it, mum. "

"This man is different."

"You say that every time. And how many times do I have to tell you I can't date anyone; I'm too busy." There was mumbling on the other line that I couldn't hear, but I ignored it.

"It doesn't matter. I'm almost home. Try to get the 'nice man' out of the house before I get back." Without waiting for an answer, I hung up the phone and continued my walk back to the house.

* * * * *

"Mum, I'm home!" The door closed behind me as I walked into the house. I looked at the kitchen and saw the bags of shopping on the table. I held back a smile as I walked over to the table, glad that my mother hadn't tried to unpack the shopping.

"Hello, my dear," my mum called out from the living room. I couldn't help the smile when I saw her sitting alone.

"So, did the 'nice man' leave?" I reached up to set a jar of jam in a cupboard just above me. I stood on the tips of my toes, just about to set the jar down, but two hands on my hips made me freeze.

"No, he just had to go make a phone call." She called out, but it went out one ear and out the other. Butterflies suddenly came to life in my stomach once I finally set the jam down in the cupboard. 

I quickly pushed the hands off of my hips and stepped out of his reach. I rushed out of the kitchen and turned to face the 'nice man.' I didn't expect to see the man I had been avoiding standing in my kitchen.

"Ahh, I see you're off the phone." My mother rolled over to us. "Ava, this is Louis, the nice man I was telling you about."

The all too familiar blond man strode over to me with a small smirk on his face. I wanted to take a step back when he got close, but I couldn't. I was frozen in place.

"It's a pleasure to meet you..." He took my hand and leaned down. I felt shivers run through my body when he kissed the back of my hand without breaking eye contact.

"Ava."