"soooo, louis. where'd you even move to?" i asked, laying on his mattress. his bed frame hadn't been moved into the house yet, so he just had his mattress set out with a quilt on top.
louis was sorting through a box. i had offered to help him, but he declined, and i kept insisting, but the answer was always "no no no, i want to." eventually, i gave up.
"well, we moved to northern italy," he started. "we lost wifi, no internet. that's why my parents suddenly stopped contacting yours. i would have talked to you, but i couldn't. i suppose i could've written a letter, but nobody thought of that."
i sat up, looking at him as he takes clothes out of a box and sets them on the ground. "that sounds so cool. i mean, i got lonely here, until i met some new friends. did you have anyone?"
he glanced up at me, shaking his head and shrugging slightly. "i mean, kind of. i had a few friends at school, but then really none of them were the same as you," he looked up at me for a long time then, our eyes locking. i stared into his brown eyes for a while, he didn't break eye contact. "i missed you so much. it hurt a lot when i wanted to run over to your house and tell you the day's events and i found no houses nearby. i didn't see you running over to me, either."
i got up to go sit down next to him, and i put an arm around his shoulders. "jesus, louis. for the first month after you moved, i kept running over here, sometimes with a toy, expecting little louis to come out with that big dorky grin of yours. after i got used to the fact you weren't here, i would see that the lights over here were never on, and it would just hurt so bad," i confessed, leaning my head on his shoulder as i dropped my arm.
he rested the side of his head on top of mine, he leaned into me. "god, i didn't know that. i'm so sorry. oh, and i mean i guess i had a really close friend while i was there. a girlfriend, really. her name was lulu. we broke up a while before i left, but we had it good. it was great," he sighed, i could feel his jaw moving against the top of my head as he spoke.
"wow. i mean, good for you man. was she hot?" i asked, and he chuckled.
"yeah," he said. "yeah, she was pretty hot. gorgeous, actually. i loved her. i still do, but..." he trailed off.
i sat in the silence for a moment. "but what?"
he lifted his head up and stood up, looking out his window, which coincidentally was right across from mine. "but she had left me for some other guy. he was the best friend i had out there, actually. i don't know if she cheated on me, but looking back on it she totally could of. there were plenty of times she was hanging out with a friend, but then i saw the friend somewhere without her a few times." he managed to say.
i stood up with him. "i'm so sorry, louis. she doesn't deserve you, you don't deserve to be left for someone else. you're an amazing person."
he turned to look at me, a pained expression on his face, his eyes looked like they were on the verge of spilling out tears. "you don't know that. we haven't seen each other since we were like ten years old. i'm different."
i pressed my lips together, knowing he was right. i didn't know him that well, it's been a while. he was different, he was right. "well, louis," i started. "let's get to know each other again. spend the night at my house. ask your mom, i'll ask mine. is that good?" i asked, feeling like a little kid again. i hadn't asked my mom to have anyone spend the night in a few years.
louis looked surprised. "yeah. yeah, okay. i'll go ask right now." he left the room, his step seemed more energetic. maybe i had cheered him up.
i pulled out my phone, sitting on his bed, and texted my mom.
hey mom, so can louis stay the night? he's sad that
we don't really know each other anymore :Y/N
typing...
MOM: No
why? :Y/N
MOM: He's a boy
okay.... your point is?? :Y/N
MOM: He can't stay over. It's the rules.
mom, when he was little he would stay over :Y/N
MOM: Okay, but now he's grown up, who knows what will happen.
EW NO. we wouldn't do that. it's his first day back. please. i promise nothing will happen :Y/N
MOM: Okay. Fine. Doors open, do NOT share a blanket.
THANK YOU :Y/N
I smiled, happy louis could stay over. louis rushed up the stairs, an identical smile plastered on his face. "she said yes!" he said happily.
"mine did too!" i said, and then the feeling of being a little kid just grew. louis grabbed one of his smaller suitcases and just threw the contents onto the mattress.
he then dug through a box of clothes, pulling out an outfit tomorrow, and some nightclothes. he looked up at me, a few strands of hair falling into his face. "you guys have enough blankets, right?" he asked.
i thought for a moment. yeah, we really did have enough. "yeah, yeah we do." my phone buzzed. "oh, my friends wanted to make sure you guys weren't axe murderers. guess you aren't."
he smirked. "are you sure?" i laughed and flip him off. he acted offended, and i just rolled my eyes playfully and go onto my messages.
LEO: Y/N ARE YOU OKAY
CYLIA: tbh she's probably dead
EVAN: good
RALPH: um
EVAN: that was a joke omfg
FLORENCE: okay okay but is she okay
LILIA: Y/NNNNNN
i'm okay guys :Y/N
CYLIA: you seem disappointed
i'm not :Y/N
FLORENCE: then what's wrong?
nothing i'm just rlly surprised :Y/N
RALPH: um why
guys i'm sorry but i'm busy rn ttyl :Y/N
i sighed and put my phone down, louis looked back up at me. "is something wrong?" he asked, zipping shut the small suitcase.
"no, no, nothing's wrong. i just don't know how to explain to my friends that my neighbor and long time best friend is louis partridge. it doesn't help that this morning they were just talking about you. one of them even said they were in love with you."
louis blinked. "oh. really? but they don't even know me."
i just shrugged. "yeah, well. they wanted a picture of you, but i don't want them to freak out."
louis seemed to be able to recognize a change in my mood, so he just stood up. "well, um, are you ready to go over to your house?"
i stood up from his bed. "yeah, uh yeah. let's go." we walked down the stairs, louis in front of me. i couldn't get out of my head that louis is back, my best friend was back. it was so hard to wrap my head around.
"bye, mom!" louis yelled, and his mother yelled goodbye back. we walked out of the house, i had the duty of closing the door.
this time, we walked across the grass to get over to my house. i got to open the door, considering it was mine. of course, my mother was sitting on the couch where she could see the door.
she stood up, a smile on her face. "oh, louis, darling!" i rolled my eyes, taking louis' bag off of his shoulder and hauling it up to my room. he gave me this look that basically read, please don't leave me alone.
when i came back downstairs, he had a glass of water and was on the couch. mom was chatting up a storm, and i cut in. "mom? i think louis doesn't want to hear about every second of our lives. c'mon, louis."
louis started to rapidly shake his head, his hair flopping around. "oh, no, no, no, i don't mind!"
i just ushered him over to me, ready to start our hang out session. the first one in a while.
i just wanted it to be perfect.
perfect for louis.