Someone you won't talk about (l.s)

Friday

Louis finds that a his hangover is exponentially worse when coupled with the flash of regretful memories that come with it as he wakes up. It's for that reason that he opts for staying in bed despite the lively sounds coming from downstairs.

Not only was he absolutely dreading having to face Harry, but if he remembers correctly, Liam had bought them all tickets for some kind of river booze cruise tonight, and he wasn't sure he could survive another alcohol infused outing.

His persistent headache seems to calm down as long as his head doesn't move from its spot on the pillow, so he grabs his phone and decides to scroll through Twitter. It stupid really, because Louis knows better than to scroll through his own hashtag on Twitter, especially when already being in somewhat emotional turmoil, but here he is, staring at a picture of himself with his hand covering his pant zipper and a headline that reads "former one direction member caught publicly urinating."

Christ. 

On any other day, especially the days when he was in the band, this would have upset him. But today he can't be bothered to care. He would surely hear from his agent, and maybe a few family and friends expressing concern, but there have surely been worse headlines written about him so he takes this as a lesson learned about peeing in alley ways and closes his phone.

The decision remains now about whether he has the energy or emotional stability to get up and face the commotion downstairs. It's not looking good. So he rolls over and pulls the blanket up over his head, willing himself to maybe sleep for a few more hours in hopes he'll wake up with a clearer head. His plan doesn't have time to go underway because he eventually hears a small and hesitant knock at his door. At first he ignores it, praying maybe whoever it is will think he's still asleep and go away. Apparently it's no use because he then heard the turning of the doorknob and the slight click of the door as it opens. Peaking his head out cautiously, he sees a head of blonde hair coming toward him and eventually dipping the bed down with his weight.

"Morning, Louuuu." Niall sing-songs, a little too cheerful for how Louis is feeling right now.

"Louis is asleep, please come back tomorrow." Louis mumbles under the covers, voice hoarse and probably sounding crankier than he intended.

"How yah doing?" Niall asks softly, like he knows exactly how Louis is doing. It's sweet and thoughtful and Louis should probably be more appreciative but right now all he wants to do is be alone, and maybe even cry a little bit despite how dramatic that sounds.

"I wanna go home." Louis says, small and insecure, more emotion seeping out of the words than he intended, but it's Niall, and Niall had something about him that made it easy to be vulnerable.

"You can't go home Lou." Niall says softly, running a hand through the small part of Louis' hair peaking out from his duvet. "Don't let him ruin this trip for you." Niall says.

"I'm trying, Ni." Louis sighs, lifting himself from under the covers and wincing when the sudden movement makes his head throb. "I—I still care about him and I don't know how to not let him affect me."

Niall shushes him, sensing his frustration. "I know, I know." He says, understanding.

"It's like—it's like he's purposefully fucking with me." Louis sighs, brining his knees to his chest and tucking his face into his hands.

"I think he's confused." Niall says, like he's still in thought. "I don't think he was prepared to see you—to have to spend time with you like this." Niall tries and Louis knows he's just simply trying to be the mediator in their fucked up acquaintanceship, but he doesn't want to keep making excuses for Harry anymore.