"I'm so glad you're back to yourself now," I gave Louis a smile.

He took a drag from his cigarette and blew out the smoke, careful to direct it away from me.

"Me too. I was an idiot," he shook his head at himself, "I can't ever apologise enough for the way I acted towards you and dad..."

"Actions speak louder than words, Lou. We've made him so happy by managing to spend time as a family, without anything bad happening and ruining things," I reminded him.

He nodded, gazing out into the forest.

"I hate that I've put him through so much, all while he's been the one trying his hardest to keep this family together after mum left," he sighed, deep in thought.

"You can't blame yourself. Her leaving the way she did, after the things she made us be apart of... it's not right," I told him, "she's an alcoholic, always has been. She wasn't a real mother to us, we just need to be glad she's out of our lives and we still have an amazing father here for us."

"You're right. When did you get so smart?" He grinned jokingly and nudged me gently.

I chuckled and shrugged.

"What do you have going on for you now? Any specific plans?" I had to ask him while he took another drag from the cigarette between his fingers.

"My manager at the coffee shop has hinted that I might be taking over her job soon," Louis told me, "it's not my dream working at a coffee shop for the rest of my life, but with a record of drug use and minimal studies, there's not too many options for me."

"I think it's fantastic you have a job like that," I gave him another smile, showing the pride I felt towards my little brother, "you're not homeless or on the streets like some."

He laughed, "thank fuck. Lucy's been such a motivator for me. She pushed me to apply to at least a hundred jobs after we got out of rehab. She applied as well. She has such an amazing way of always being positive and looking at the world as if it's full of opportunities and nothing's out of reach, even for people like her and I..."

"I think you two are so good for each other."

"I'm so in love with her, S," Louis looked at me, his eyes showing nothing but seriousness and how genuine he was.

"That's very sweet. You really met her in rehab? What was she there for?" I asked, curious especially now after what I'd overheard from her and Theo.

"Her older sister caught her with all sorts of drugs," he shrugged, "sent her to rehab the same day. Luce ended up being in the same support group I was, and we got talking after one session by a table that had donuts."

"Donuts? A common interest?" I let out a small laugh while he chuckled.

"Definitely. She was so upfront with me, I think I fell for her just a few days after we started talking."

"Upfront?"

He smiled and looked back over at the forest in front of us. We were sitting on a bench in dad's backyard, the house behind us.

"She was so... I don't even know how to explain it. She's one of those people who knows exactly what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it," he told me and I nodded, definitely able to relate through Theo also being quite like what Louis was describing.

"She's really the one for me, S. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her," he added, and I smiled.

"I definitely approve of her. She's great."

Just then, after Louis had finished off his cigarette and placed the butt into an ashtray, the backdoor of the house slid open and dad walked out.

"What are you two gossiping about over here?" He gave us a warm smile, seating himself down next to me and throwing an arm over my shoulders. I leaned against his side.

"Just girl stuff, dad," Louis joked, and dad laughed. Dad had this very contagious and high pitched laugh. We'd all heard a lot of it this weekend.

"I want to thank you both for everything. I know this hasn't been anything special, but this' really meant the world to me," he told us sincerely.

"To us too, dad," I patted his chest and leaned my head onto his shoulder, "we really need to see more often."

"We do," Louis agreed, "as long as Lucy and Theo can join us as well."

"Of course!" Dad nodded, "I feel like I'm in love with them both already. Lucy is an absolute sweetheart, and Theo is Theo Black. I'm still so starstruck."

"He's a regular person, just like us," I spoke, almost defending him in a way, "I'm happy you got along with him so well. Him and I are getting pretty serious in my opinion."

"Does this mean a grandchild of mine could be half Theo Black?" He teased. Louis and I laughed while I nudged him.

"Dad, please," I shook my head, grinning to myself, "we're not that serious."

"How serious are you two, then?" Louis wiggled his brows in a childish way, and I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Serious enough for him to be flying me out to see him in Russia next weekend," I told the two.

"Really?" My dad was immediately extremely excited, "you need to send me pictures!"

"Of course," I smiled lightly, "just don't spread it around, the fewer people know, the more privacy him and I will have there."

"Could you three get any more adorable?" Lucy walked around the couch to stand in front of us, a sweet and bright smile on her lips, "I need to take a picture!"

"Go right ahead, babe," Louis gave her a smile while she fished her phone out from the pocket of her jeans.

Louis scooted closer to me and also threw his arm over my shoulders.

We all smiled, and my dad put up a peace sign with his fingers while Lucy took a picture of us sitting on the bench.

"I'll send it to you, Louis," she spoke after showing the photo to us. We looked very sweet, just like the family I had always dreamed of us being.

"What are we doing today?" I asked after Lucy had situated herself on Louis' lap, "I have to start driving back in three hours."

"Three hours?" Her brows furrowed, "honey, that's way too soon!"

I smiled, agreeing with a nod.

"I have an idea, though," she then perked up, her childlike naïvety and kindness making her impossible not to like. The way Louis was watching her as she spoke, it had to be love.

"Let's go for a nature walk! It's such a beautiful day today," her eyes moved between each of us. I glanced over at dad to see how he felt about it, and seeing as he seemed up for it, I nodded along.

__

Dad knew these forests like the palm of his hand, so he ended up guiding us to locations where nature's beauty really shined through.

"Scarlett! Let me take a photo of you!" Lucy was rushing up to me with her phone in her hand.

I let out a small laugh, "sure, go right ahead."

I was standing by a pond, the sun reflecting on it beautifully. She raised her phone up and directed it at me. I smiled after moving my hair back over my shoulder.

Once she'd taken the picture and had shown it to me, Lucy convinced me to post it onto Twitter.

It wasn't a bad photo of me. I looked natural and happy, the forest creating a beautiful surrounding for me.

Once we got back to the house, I posted it onto Twitter with a simple caption of 'such a lovely day'.

Just when I was about to get ready to leave, I froze when I happened to glance at a like of the tweet that I had just received.

@Cristiano liked your tweet

As much as that had me internally freaking out, it could never compare to the feelings just a simple comment from Theo made me feel.

@TheoBlack: Beauty ❤️

I liked his comment and then turned the notifications off, knowing they wouldn't stop rolling in now that Cristiano Ronaldo had liked my tweet and Theo Black had commented on it.

This would be gossiped about, of course, but I didn't care anymore.

I trusted him to take care of whatever he felt like he couldn't tell me. Everything would work out fine for us.

I sent him a simple heart emoji, since I was not ready to tell him how far I had already fallen for him; so close to what I interpreted as love.

To: Theo: ❤️

From: Theo: ❤️