number 12. (l.s.)

Chapter 14.

F O U R T E E N
-I don't want to lose you-

It was a Sunday. He hadn't talked to Juliet in four days, which didn't feel good to him. He sat in his room, drawing a bit, while listening to some music. Ge was just applying shadows when he heard someone knocking or the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah,' Louis nodded, looking up to the door, which opened and Dan appeared.

He smiled. "I heard you listening to some music,' he said.

"Ow, I'll turn it down,' Louis said and reached for his phone, even though the music already was quite soft.

"No, sorry, that wasn't what I meant. I just heard Queen. You're a fan of them?"

Louis put his pencil down, and turned fully towards the door. "Well, I do think they make good music."

"I agree. Can I... erm... come in?" Dan hesitantly pointed in the room.

Louis nodded. "Yeah, of course. After all, it isn't really mine,' Louis blurted out, only to regret it.

Dan softly smiled and sat down on the end of the bed. "I want to talk to you about something, if that's alright with you? If you got the time." Louis nodded as he pulled his hands up his sleeves and brushed a strand of hair from his face. "Actually, both Scarlett and I wanted to talk to you, but she's out with friends tonight and the weekend is almost over. So, it's also from her side, just so you know,' he started rattling and Louis was wondering what he wanted to talk about, he was slightly nervous —thinking he'll might get evicted again. "How... erm... are you?" He asked eventually.

Louis frowned softly. "I'm fine." He shrugged.

"But like, how do you feel? You live here for two months, and you might already be kind of used to this new place. So what do you think of all of this?" Dan asked carefully.

"I don't know really, to be honest. I think it's quite okay. It's just...,' Louis didn't finish his sentence, but looked away instead, out the window.

"You can tell me, I'll listen." Dan gave a sincere smile, which comforted Louis. Something about Dan just made him feel the comfort he was radiating. He had such a calm and warm personality.

"I'm not really used to talking and especially not about my feelings,' Louis spoke the truth. It had been a while since he got to this new place. He had some small talks with Dan and Scarlett, but Louis wasn't really comfortable with talking, and he thought they had noticed, because they took small steps, instead of asking about his entire past — Louis liked that, and respected them for that. Every few weeks he started to open up a bit more than he usual is, not that he was about to spit everything out, but just regular talks.

"Of course, we don't want to push anything. Shall I answer the question, but with what I think in my perspective?" Louis nodded slowly, still not looking at him. "Well, two months ago, we didn't know what we could expect, a new boy in this house of seventeen years old. So we were prepared for an adolescent, maybe a teenager who can't be handled, you know? So the first week that you lived here, Scarlett and I were kind of surprised. You were polite, nice and quite quiet. So we thought it was an initial phase, but it seems like that's who you are." He waited a few seconds, and Louis turned to look at him, waiting if something else was to come, because then he was quite confused.

"Erm, Scarlett and I talked about it a few days ago, and erm... These past two months have been scary yet amazing. We've always wanted a new person in our life, but we couldn't. I'm so glad we found this opportunity, and of course, I could never imagine how you feel, but I can try. And if I think of it, this is what I want you to know. You can talk to us about anything. We'll listen. We want you to feel like this is your home, because it is. I hope you'll eventually feel that way. We noticed that you are quite quiet, and that's okay, but I hope that someday you can be open towards us."