Your Addictive Heart || l.s

Playing the Part

What did he do? Why did he say that? He's never going to get his sister's face out of his head. The way all of his friends stared back at him like he was trash on the side of the street. He could only imagine what his parents would think of him. He could kiss getting into college goodbye. He ruined everything in a matter of seconds...

And Harry.

He couldn't think about him for more than a second without his chest feeling tight. He begged him to tell him it wasn't true and Louis just stared back at him with a stone-cold expression.

He had one more chance with him and he blew it.

He had been in his room since he had gotten home. His parents begged to celebrate his big achievement with the family but he insisted he didn't feel well and needed the rest.

He could only imagine what it would be like once Lottie came home and told them what happened.

Louis had been staring at his ceiling for hours, trying to think of why he did it. It wasn't his problem. She didn't ask him to take the fall, but he did it anyway.

So stupid.

A voice in his head kept telling him how stupid he was. That he was incapable of holding a good thing in his hand without crushing it to bits.

He stared at the ceiling for so long he hadn't realized that he hadn't blinked until tears started pricking his eyes. He wished the ceiling would just cave in.

When the ceiling refused to move he finally checked the time on his phone. 12:37 a.m

He'd been in bed for hours. It somehow felt like an eternity and a few short seconds.

He heard a crashing sound come from the kitchen. He decided to go investigate. Maybe it was Lottie. He wanted more than anything to get this confrontation over with.

She was rifling through their pantry and collecting ingredients to make a sandwich. She gasped at the sight of Louis standing in the kitchen. She gave him a cold stare before getting back to what she was doing.

"Did you just get home?" Louis tried to start a dialogue between them.

She wouldn't answer. It was as if Louis wasn't there. He wondered where she had been all this time. Her makeup was smeared as if she had been crying. Louis wished he could wrap her in his arms and just tell her the truth. He wanted to bare his soul and let her know just how fucking hard this was for him, but he needed to be stronger than that.

"Were you with Anna?" Louis tried again.

Not a word.

"Lot c'mon, I'm really trying here," He pleaded. He just needed to get her talking. He was sure he could figure out the rest.

"What do you want from me, Louis?" She slammed down her utensils and looked him in the eyes.

"I just want to explain...I- I need to." He stuck his hands in the sleeves of his sweater, suddenly feeling cold.

"Fine. Go ahead." She tilted her head waiting for a feeble excuse.

Louis thought an idea would come to his head. A version of the story that sounded less terrible. A reason that made forgiving him a hundred years from now seem possible but it all came up blank.

"That's what I thought." She resumed her sandwich-making again.

"What are you gonna tell mum and dad?" Louis stared at his feet wondering if it would hurt this bad to have his parents hate him as much as his sister did.

"Nothing." She gave him a fake smile before taking the first bite of her sandwich.

"W-why not?" Louis didn't understand.

"What for?" She shook her head. "So you can get in trouble? Kicked out of school? Never get into college?" She snickered.

Louis still didn't understand. Why didn't she want to punish him?

"The way I see it, Louis... is in a few short months you will go off to college. Therefore, I will only have to see your treacherous, annoying face on holiday. Until then, I want you to stay as far away from me as humanly possible. Do you think you can manage to do that?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

His heart was breaking with every word. She couldn't possibly mean those things.

"So, congratulations. You're going to get everything you wanted. As per usual." She took her food and headed for the stairs.

Louis' heart was pounding and his thoughts were racing. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand feeling this way.

"It wasn't me," Louis said it so softly he was sure she wouldn't hear.

She stopped in her tracks but didn't turn around. "It was..." Louis took in a sharp breath. He knew he shouldn't but... "It was Diana."

Lottie turned around slowly. She studied her brother's face before saying a word. "What game do you think you're playing?"

"Look, if I tell you the truth. You have to promise to it doesn't leave this house. I'm serious, Lottie." He gave her a stern look before continuing.

"Jordan is not the guy you think he is. He's been tormenting Diana and he's been trying to get her to sabotage the musical since the beginning." Guilt flooded him as he divulged her secrets.

"What? No. Why would he do that?" She tried to make sense of it in her head.

"I don't know." He shook his head. He really didn't know how someone could mistreat such a nice person.

"She did it. She ruined my musical." She ran her fingers through her hair.

"Try to be understanding Lot," Louis begged.

"Are you kidding? Why wait? This whole time she just pretended to be part of our team and then pulls this at the last minute? She could have said something or done something! Anything!" Betrayal was written all over her face.

"I know it's a lot to take in but please try to show her some compassion." He could see his sister was spiraling and he had no idea how to contain the situation at hand.

"No! No way! We have to tell on them! Both of them. They deserve to be held accountable. Doesn't it bother you that the whole school is going to think you did this?" She looked at him as if he had a total of three brain cells. As if this was simple. As if Louis wouldn't have it any other way.

"Of course it does! I just lost the love of my life over this, Lottie! My best friend is never going to forgive me for ruining his chance of getting into art school. And all of my friends think I'm a fucking criminal. I didn't do this for fun, okay?" Louis shouted in a hushed tone to avoid waking the rest of his family.

"Well, I-" She was breathing heavy. "I have to tell Anna."

"Excuse me?" Louis didn't understand what part of 'this can't leave the house' his sister wasn't getting.

"She's practically in love with the girl..." She crossed her arms. "And I...I think she deserves to know the truth about her." She stuck up her nose.

"No." Louis denied the younger girl. "I'm not going to let you do that. You're not going to tell someone something just because you know it'll hurt them. I'm not going to let you be that person." He cared too much for his little sister to see her follow in his footsteps. "I know you like her but you gotta be patient, okay? Diana will tell her when she's ready and then when the time comes...just- just be there for her, okay?"

Lottie looked back at him with so much sorrow filling her eyes. "I'm sorry Lou. That I thought you could do this and that you had to...I'm so fucking sorry." She teared up.

Louis brought her into a tight hug. He missed her so much and at the very least he was glad to have her back.

"I'm really proud of you." He rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Me too." She whispered back.

***
Way to blow your cover, Lou.

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