Happily Never After // Larry Stylinson

4. Aid

"No thanks, I got it."

Looking through each little aisle of the small store, he wasn't getting anywhere. He asked the cashier for the bathroom and she lazily pointed the way. "Oi, some weird kid's in there," she warned, applying a new coat of wine coloured lipstick. "Poor lad came in 'ere with tears in his eyes."

He thanked her before walking towards the door in the back of the store. Before opening the door, he lightly knocked a few times, quietly calling Louis' name. When he opened the door, he saw Louis on the floor, opening up a bottle of cheap, and obviously stolen, whiskey.

Before he could drink it, he looked up at James. "What do you want? Let me be." He groaned, his cheeks flushed and glistened with tears, throwing his head back as he gulped down the alcohol, the orangey-brown liquid splashing inside the glass bottle.

"Hey, hey, Lou. What's wrong?" James whispered, shutting the door behind him and sitting next to the angry, yet sad man.

Louis shook his head, putting the bottle down next to him. "Don't act like you care, 'cause you bloody don't, okay? So why don't you just save both of our times and leave, go out with your friend — or fuck buddy — or whatever."

"No, no, I lied about that." He chuckled, watching Louis' face turn from sadness to confusion. "It's actually my best friend, he's going through sort of a breakup and I'm supposed to be cheering him up, but instead I'm here, trying to cheer you up. If that's not me caring, then I don't know what is." He looked at Louis, smiling.

Louis nodded, sighing, grabbing the bottle, looking down at it. "I'm a loser, I don't need cheering up, I'll cheer up after I get some sleep, I'm exhausted."

"Do you want to come over then? I'm sure there's room for one more." James offered, grabbing the bottle from Louis' hand, drinking from it.

Louis shook his head, standing up and dusting himself off. "I don't do well with uncomfortable situations, so no thanks."

James followed his actions, handing him the bottle. "If you say so, but you'll miss it, it's going to be so much fun."

"I'll take my chances."

As they walked out, the cashier allowed them to take the bottle. James thanked her once again before they left, getting into the car. The car ride, again, was silent, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable. It was peaceful, James was finally getting to Louis' good side...right? I mean after all this time, from the moment they've met they did have some sort of connection. Or maybe James is just so peculiar to Louis that the connection had to be made in order get the answer to 'are you an alien?' Whatever it was, the aura between the two seemed pretty cool, Louis was finally, slowly getting to know people, on the other hand, friends definitely still isn't a word he likes to name the people he meets.

"What about acquaintances?" James asked, glancing towards him before looking back at the road.

Louis thought about it for a whilst, minutes passed and James thought he wasn't going to answer, until he finally did, "I'll allow it, as long as you're restricted from doing things people do in friendships — like feeling." He comically trembled. 

He laughed at Louis' exaggerated explanation, but what he didn't know was that he wasn't kidding. "Right, of course, I'll keep myself from doing just that."