Elf Bites ❄ l.s. AU

30: Anne and Adam

C H A P T E R    T H I R T Y

Anne and Adam

(19 days til' Christmas)

❄●❄

TO PUT IT mildly, Louis was pissed.

He didn't really know if his anger was directed at Harry, or perhaps himself, or maybe the whole situation in general, but he did know that he's off-the-rails pissed and it only seemed to continue to escalate.

Meeting Gemma was nice, though. Even Ed, although the bit of jealousy that flared in Louis was an unpleasant surprise. He hoped he'd get over that. He didn't seem to struggle with the idea of Harry's old friendship before, but being here to witness it combined with all the other shit he's seen in the last hour or so is probably a recipe for disaster. Louis promised himself he'd revisit the issue sometime later – it's not his most pressing concern currently.

Currently, that most pressing concern is where the fuck he is and why Harry didn't warn him. Why doesn't the hospital have some kind of name like any other hospital he's ever been to? Why weren't there signs on the road – well, path of some sort – to indicate the town name? Why did they take a fucking carriage here? What kind of place is this?

It was...maddening, not knowing. He didn't know anything at all. And he couldn't ask Harry any of these questions right now because the whole reason they're even here is for Harry's mum, and Louis wasn't a shitty person. He wouldn't make this about himself. Whether he was angry with Harry or not – and he still wasn't really sure – he won't take it up with him until later.

Until then, here he sat, in a waiting room disguised as a nightmare, making small talk with Gemma and Ed while he waited to meet his boyfriend's mum, whose condition was still mostly a mystery. And it's not that he wasn't enjoying getting to know them, it's just... It's hard to really get passed the hospital staff walking by in the most horrific elf costumes he'd ever seen, the flickering fairy lights in every single direction he looked, and that god-awful holiday music playing far too loudly over the waiting room speakers.

But as much as he wanted to escape whatever hell he's managed to find himself in, when Gemma and Ed asked him to accompany them to the hospital cafeteria for a quick bite, he refused as politely as possible.

"Are you sure? Harry might be a bit. If he and Mum get talking it can sometimes take them a while to quit," Gemma was saying.

Louis waved a hand, hoping his eye wasn't actually twitching when "All I Want for Christmas Is You" began playing. "I'm alright, honestly. I think I'll just wait."

More than he wanted to escape, he was starving. He didn't know how long that train ride had been, but it felt like most of a day. He hoped they couldn't hear his stomach.

"Okay. Well, we'll be right back then. Want something?" Gemma asked.

She really did look very similar to Harry. At first, Louis didn't think so, but then the resemblance eventually hit. They make a lot of the same faces and smiles, and they have almost the exact same humor. When this became apparent, Louis almost didn't know how to act around her. It was like being in the presence of a celebrity. It was hard enough to believe Harry existed, but now there were two of him?

It was one reason he was excited to finally meet their mum. If they're both so similar, they must get it from somewhere.

"No, thanks though," he said. "I'm good."