Tempest || l.s. ✓

Chapter 11

The waves crashed against the rocks below, roaring loudly as the wind whistled.

"Would you die if you fell off here?" Harry asked, pulling at the grass as the two sat on the cliff.

"Most definitely." Louis nodded. The height would be enough to kill you, but if that wasn't enough, those rocks definitely would."

"Oh." Harry grimaced.

"Not fond of heights?"

"I don't mind them. They're okay."

"I get why people don't like them. They can be scary."

"Yeah." Harry continued to stare out at the ocean.

"Where are you from?" Louis asked.

"Cheshire. What about you? Are you from here?"

"Nah, I'm from Doncaster. Me and my mum and stepdad moved here when I was 7. A couple of years later my sister was born, then my other sister, then the twins, then the other twins. My mum and stepdad brought the pub and house and when they passed it to me I turned it into an inn. They moved back to the mainland about 5 years ago."

Harry listened in interest, nodding along. "So you've got a lot of siblings?"

"Yeah, 6. 5 sisters and 1 brother. It was very busy as you can imagine. Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah." Harry looked down to his lap. "An older sister. I don't, I've not talked to her for a while though."

"How come?"

Harry didn't answer, just shaking his head.

Louis frowned at his response, "you should talk to her."

"No, I can't. I don't want to."

"Did she do something to you?"

"No...I did something to her. I shouted at her and I shut her out when she was just trying to help. It was my fault, she didn't know."

"What happened?" Louis asked softly, "you don't have to tell me, it might help though."

"She, we were always a happy family. Me, Gemma, my mum and my stepdad. Like, we were the typical perfect family until I screwed it up."

"How did you screw it up?"

"I-I came out to Gemma and she was fine with it, and then when I came out to my parents later on they-they couldn't accept it...they couldn't accept me. Gemma didn't know that that was why we stopped talking. She still doesn't, so she tried to get us to talk again. But every time it ended up in a fight and she was angry at me because I shouted at them and I shouted at her and she didn't fucking understand." Harry's voice was strangled, his head now dropped into his hands.

Louis's face immediately contorted with sympathy as he shuffled closer and placed a hand softly on Harry's back.

He moved his thumb up and down soothingly as Harry cried into his hands. "If you told her I'm sure she'd understand."

"But I don't want to tell her. She deserves to keep a good relationship with them, I'm the outcast, not her. I want her to be happy."

"You deserve to be happy too."

"Well you're the first person to think that."

"In that case I'm the only person with an opinion that matters. What about friends? Surely you have friends who want you to be happy."

"I only had 2 proper friends really. Niall was my friend growing up and then I met Liam in uni." Harry told him, "but as per usual I screwed it up."

"You wanna talk about that too?"

"They didn't ever hurt me but I lashed out at them. I-everything was getting too much and I was overwhelmed and then Liam got too close when I was in that state and I hit him." Harry clenched his jaw, squeezing his eyes shut tighter, "I didn't mean to, I regretted it instantly but I just couldn't stay. He promised he wasn't mad but I was hurting everyone around me so I had to leave. That's kinda why I'm here."

"You came here to escape everything?"

Harry nodded.

"You know, I bet they all miss you like mad. I don't think they'd be angry at you at all, it's understandable to act like that if you're going through shit."

Harry shook his head aggressively, sobbing out "everyone fucking hates me. I was messing everything up. They're so much better off without me." Harry wasn't quite sure why he was telling Louis this, or how his mind was allowing him to without shutting down and panicking, but Louis's non-judgemental eyes made it seemingly easier.

"Hey, that's not true. That's in no way going to be true. Your friends will be missing you and your sister will be missing you. You're a wonderful person Harry, you're so interesting to be around. They won't hate you. You should contact them."

"I can't." Harry shrugged, he knew he couldn't bring himself to do so. He would feel even more guilty- if possible.

"Thank you for telling me about all that. I can imagine how hard it was, but it's good that you've told someone."

"You know me very well now." Harry laughed dryly.

"I suppose I do." Louis agreed. "Anything you want to know about me? Any burning questions?"

"I don't think so. Not now anyway, I'll make sure to ask if I do. You basically know every shitty thing about me now, but is there anything else to ask?"

"I do actually." Louis said, Harry looking a bit shocked. "When I was looking at your art, I saw your journal thingy and you write poems and lyrics?"

"Yeah I do." He nodded, wiping the tears away that were still flowing. "They're rubbish though."

"You said that about your art too. And your art is amazing."

Harry sighed, "I use creative stuff as an outlet, like art, poetry, music and baking. I do it for fun as well but when everything is shit it helps a little. Gives me something to focus on."

Louis nodded, his hand still on Harry's back. "Do you sing as well?"

Harry shook his head immediately. "No. No, I don't."

"I find that hard to imagine."

"Okay, I do sing, but not very well."

"Again, I find that hard to imagine."

"Ask the people I went to school with then. They'll have something to say."

"What do you mean?"

"I was in a band, the main singer." He admitted, "people thought it was hilarious."

"I'm sorry." Louis frowned. "But if you managed to become the main singer, then you can't be that bad."

"I dunno." Harry huffed, "they always found something to make fun of me for. I've always been the outcast."

Louis found himself feeling more and more sorry for Harry. It seemed that he had acquired so much bad luck, though he was nothing but sweet.

what time do you prefer updates? (with your timezone pls because I'm gonna have to look it up as the Uk time lol)

also drop songs for my young & beautiful playlist pls (I'll link the playlist if you want I can work out how but it's not the best atm)