5 Leagues Above ➸ Larry Stylinson

Chapter 26

[Louis POV] 

t/w: implied discussions about abuse

"It's nice to see you again, Louis," She said as we sat down at a table. 

I nodded nicely and scooted in the patio chair closer to the table. The air outside of the burger joint smelled faintly of hamburger grease and french fries, and my stomach grumbled.

The host gave us two menus and promised to come back in a few minutes to get us drinks. My mom thanked her and picked up one of the menus as the host walked back into the restaurant.

"It's felt like ages since we'd actually done something together," She continued with a weak but warm smile, looking at me instead of the menu.

"Well it's because we haven't," I replied and her face fell a bit, a sad look flooding her expression.

I stuttered and quickly added, "It's okay mom, I get you're busy. Don't worry, okay? I'm not mad."

"It's just-" Her voice trailed off as she seemed to look right past me.

She snapped her attention back to the room when the host came back to the table, "What can I start you two off with today?"

I looked at her nametag - Jameson - and she smiled, awaiting a response.

"I'll have a black coffee please," I said and turned to my mom, "Mom?"

"An iced tea would be great, thank you!" She chirped.

"I'll have those out for a bit for you guys and then I can take your orders," She said, jotting down the drink orders on a little notebook that she'd pulled out of her apron.

I decided on outdoor seating on the restaurant's patio since no one was out here. We could have a more personal conversation without the worry of other customers listening in, which might allow her to open up to me more. Plus, it was a nice day out; the sun was shining in the cloudless sky and there wasn't a breeze so it wasn't too chilly either.

We had some small talk for a few minutes, briefly talking about school, how I've been, and how Liam's been - my mom had known Liam and me were best friends since what felt like forever. 

Soon enough, Jameson came back with our drinks and I thanked her, asking her to come back in a few minutes after we had a chance to think about what we wanted to eat. Neither one of us had actually looked over the menu thoroughly; I knew I wanted to just get a normal cheeseburger and assumed my mom would want something similar.

"So girl drama, huh?" My mom asked, before taking a sip of her iced tea and changing the subject of our conversation away from her absence in my life, "Of course I hope that everything is alright, between you guys, but I love gossip and drama!"

I laughed because I secretly loved talking about gossip too. Liam and I liked to talk about drama and gossip from school when he came over all the time.

"Well, what do you want to know?" I asked, taking a drink of my own coffee. It was hot and strong since I got it black, and the steam from the coffee mug dissipated into the autumn air.

"How about you start off with who you're seeing? Give me a rundown of what she's like." She suggested.

I cringed slightly at the female pronouns, but quickly recovered and remembered Harry's plan before nodding quickly.

"They're super sweet and we haven't been together super long, but I'm really happy. I'll probably take them on a date sometime if I can," 

She smiled but I felt like there were traces of guilt in her expression for not being there all the time to have conversations like this. I longed for these conversations too but looked forward to ones with lighter subjects than the abuse I was going to try and loop into our conversation.