Zoo // Louis Tomlinson

//13//

Louis’ POV

 

            It had been two days since Lydia or I had spoken anything more than a polite sentence to each other. Both of us too hardheaded and stubborn to ask the other what was wrong, without bringing part of the blame upon ourselves.

            The high tech, stainless steel room had been completely empty when I’d entered nearly an hour ago, but of course just a few minutes later an angry blonde had stormed in. Her curly hair matted to her head, and the light of a vicious fire burning in her forest eyes.

            “Raining?” I kept my voice light, void of emotion as I tried to gauge if today would be the proper day to ask her –well, more like let her know- that she was taking a trip to London in a little less than four weeks.

            “Looks like it, doesn’t it?” She snapped, her usually melodic voice was purely anger. Wet stains left dark marks on her green plaid, and she shivered a bit under the fluorescent lighting.

            Although I loved how green looked on her in comparison to her killer eyes, I was thinking more of the cold weather that was quite quickly approaching. Turning the end of summer leaves into brilliant shades of warm hues.

            “Alright, what’s wrong?” I finally gave in first, rolling my eyes to the ceiling while she stared at me in shock.

            No one saw that coming.

            I was nearly always the last to even bring up a peace offering, let alone follow through with it.

            “What’s wrong with you? You’re the one who turned to stone after bruising my ass.” Lydia was almost growling, the light spreading through her eyes like a wildfire. She was furious, but I wasn’t sure what about.

            “I have a lot on my mind, and it’s all unfair to you if I loaded it off like a dump truck.” I shrugged, knowing that sooner or later she was going to have to find out. “Why are you so angry?” I posed the question gently at her. She was more than worked up about something, and it wasn’t the type of angry she’d been at me for the past couple of days. This one was different.

            “M’not angry.” Lydia mumbled, and I knew she was lying. From the moment her chewed down fingernails started scratching the surface of the gold smiley face that hung from her neck, I knew. It was her nervous habit, one that seemed to feed into her absentminded thoughts and aid her longest silences.

            I matched the final slide on my last row. Choosing not to place them back into their respective bins, but instead make my way over to her side.

            Lydia remained silent, nose glued to a set of slides. Her thinly spread freckles making her appear much more youthful than a grad student. She had pinned back her curls today, the bobby pin straining to withhold them from her line of sight.

            “Yes you are angry,” I was done pretending to have patience with her. She knew as well as I did, that neither of us possessed even an ounce of the dreadful quality.

            “N-“ Lydia jumped as soon as my hand brushed past her hip, wild eyes settling on my own. “Why did you ignore me?” If I wasn’t mistaken, I heard more than a bit of hurt pass through her full lips.

            “I asked you first, what’s going on babe?”

            “I am not your babe!” Lydia raised her voice, trying to back away from me but hitting the table instead. Her eyes were wider than a deer in headlights, a bit of color tinting her sun kissed cheeks.