Solace

Chapter Twenty

"Harry Styles, what are you doing out here?" Janet's voice filled Harry's sore head painfully but he didn't regret sleeping on the corridor floor; Louis was all worth it. His eyes widened, hoping that the lad was safe and okay and alive and-

"Harry!" She screamed again, her face scrunched up with annoyance of having to repeat herself.

What if Louis wasn't breathing anymore? What if Louis killed himself while Harry was asleep and didn't hear anything? What if Louis gave up, what if he wasn't there anymore? It was heart breaking, seeing Louis in such a state, knowing that he drove the person he fell for to this. He couldn't' explain it more than he did, because, okay, maybe it was his fault. He could've changed the topic of the paper, he could have told Louis at the beginning, maybe then they wouldn't have gotten so attached to each other...

Everything in him wanted to shout at him for breaking Louis' trust, the one thing he cherished more than anything else. He was fucking stupid and those tears which started falling mere seconds before proved it.

"Harry!" The older woman shouted again, growing more and more impatient with every call, arms crossed over her saggy chest, hair scraped back so much so that it made her look almost bold. 

"What?" Harry shouted back because he didn't know what else to do; he was already at war with himself, "Leave me alone, okay!" He stood up on his feet, the sudden movement causing his head to spin but he didn't care. 

Janet looked taken back by Harry's sudden attitude, having been used to the nice side of Harry, who always managed to keep his temper at an acceptable level. Her mouth opened and closed like and, yes, she looked like a fish as she walked down the corridor, kissing her teeth in the process. She was never the nice kind, anyway.

He was an idiot and instead of checking up on Louis once again, he walked towards the staircase and walked downstairs, looking back a few times, hoping that Louis would emerge from his room. He didn't know why he didn't walk up to the door and knock, but it felt wrong in every way possible, the further he walked away from the room.

"Morning," Anne greeted her son when he walked into her office and threw himself on the couch, head falling back, eyes closed, "Harry?"

His head fell back into its normal position and his eyes looked at his mum. They were bright red and his face didn't exactly cover up the fact he had been crying either. He couldn't even manage a smile to fake feeling good to his mum.

"Honey," she cooed and Harry weakened at the sound of her soothing voice although nothing could soothe his heart after seeing Louis so broken.

-

Louis' feet dragged along the floor, his entrie body not having the energy to walk properly anymore. It had been three days since he last saw Harry, two since he last cut and two since he last cried. He just couldn't go on for much longer, he was so drained.

Of course, it wasn't his choice to attend his therapy session, but Anne's, who personally came up to his room a few hours prior, practically begging him to attend the therapy for his own good.

So there Louis was, trying to walk the long way round to Anne's office but it wasn't energy efficient and he wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep and just fuck everything.

The sleeves of his sweater were held tightly by his fists, eyes locked on his feet and yeah, if Louis wasn't paying attention, he totally would have tripped over his shoe laces but whatever, he ignored them.

Louis tried to calm himself down, it was just a stupid therapy session, breathe in, breathe out, repeat. He got into a small routine inside his head that he didn't realise when the oh-so familiar plant outside Anne's door was mere meters away from him already.