Vicky West
"Yes, I am Louis." He murmured.
I didn't understand why Louis showed up in front of my apartment at this time of the day. It was surely strange someone I barely knew was standing here. I had no idea how he even found out where I lived. Also, I wasn't looking presentable since I wore a ripped shirt and oversized sweatpants. At least Harry found this overwhelmingly attractive.
"How did you know I live here?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
A smile crept onto Louis' face, and he shifted from position. "Don't think Harry has never mentioned you," And Louis winked quickly at me.
"Oh," I said, realizing what he meant. I gestured Louis to come inside, and I was aware I'd find out why he is here when he was seated. I locked the front door, and followed Louis into the living room. I had to give him a few directions because he almost walked into the bathroom instead of the living area. "Do you want anything to drink?" I questioned him once we had arrived.
"Water, please." Louis replied softly.
I grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. I walked over to Louis and joined him on the couch.
"Tell me, Louis, why are you actually here?" I encouraged him. Eventually, I would love to know why this man thought it would be a great idea to show up at my apartment.
Before he answered me, he found the strength to make sure his glass was empty. He placed it roughly on the salon table – apologized for the loud noise he caused – and spoke; "I need your help."
I was taken aback, since I couldn't understand at first why he needed my help. "What can I possibly do for you?" I leaned with my elbow on my leg to place my hand under my chin and rested on it.
"I screwed things up with Harry," Louis sighed frustratingly. "We were doing our tux fitting, and I figured out that things were pretty hectic between the two of you." I nodded understandingly. "He told me he didn't want to come to the wedding anymore if I wouldn't choose him over Liam. After thinking for a while, and writing pro's and con's down, I figured out that Harry's trust and friendship is more worth than Liam's, my cousin."
"That's great, Louis." I complimented him. I thought he had made the right decision to choose to go for Harry instead of Liam. However, at the same time I didn't know what Harry was really up to after everything I had found out. "Harry told me about Liam's way of earning more money. I was baffled, and hurt at the same time. I know that Harry has a past, too. But Liam is different, and I am glad you realized that." I gave Louis a smile, which assured him I was glad he had made a decision after all. A good one, to be quite specific. "But coming back to your previous point, what do you need me for?"
Louis went with his hand through his hair. "I still want Harry to be at the wedding, and Alexus may not know about the discussion we have had. Because if Harry isn't attending the wedding, I have a lot of explaining to do. I know that my fiancé would pick Harry over Liam, so that's also what made me make my final decision." You could see the facial expression of Louis telling you directly he didn't want to cause a lot of drama.
"You trusted her enough," I said, and the realization he chose her choice.
"I always do, Vicky. That's what happens when you fall so hard for someone, you want to make the person who is next to you happy." Louis smiled proudly. He was absolutely and painstakingly in love with her. It made me partly jealous because of the way Louis and Alexus' relationship is. Louis noticed my sudden change in my face. "Hey, I know Harry has fucked it up. But that doesn't mean he won't do the things I do for my fiancé. He just shows his affection differently." Louis shrugged nonchalantly, and I chuckled softly. He helped me forget about Harry's bad habits.
"You are right," I agreed instantly.
"We keep changing the subject, ugh." Louis groaned playfully, and he cleared his throat softly before speaking further. "I need Harry to attend the wedding. Not just for Alexus, but mainly because I want my best friend as my best man and no one else. But you are the only person who can convince him to come, and he needs to take you with him."
I was shocked and immediately protested; "Me? At your wedding? I do not even know both of you, no offence."
"I get your point, Vicky. But I told Harry this too; you are important to him, so important. We will most definitely see more of you throughout the years, I am highly convinced of that. Also, Alexus wants to see Harry with his girlfriend." He explained recklessly.
"To be honest, we aren't dating right now." I trailed off faintly.
"Ah, bullocks. Tell me why." He instantly wanted the juicy details. I didn't judge him.
Louis seemed trustworthy. He was labelled as Harry's best friend. And even though they had a fight, I knew they would never let go of each other. Their bond was like Red and mine, unbreakable.
"We talked about it, though. However, I do not want to give myself completely to him. He has hurt me, and I am afraid of the consequences if we get together at a quick pace." I told Louis, truthfully.
He nodded understandingly, and opened up; "I support your mind set, Vicky. Most of the woman would immediately forget everything and continue. But eventually, they will bring it back. You just make sure everything gets slowly left behind, so that at a certain point, you won't ever look back at it in a negative way and bring it up whenever you would have a fight." He patted my shoulder.
"You get it!" I cheered, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.
"I am glad I do," Louis smiled happily. "Just between the two of us, is Harry turning into a sentimental pussy when he is with you?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the change of subject. "He has a soft side, indeed. I guess you never witnessed that?"
"I only know his business side and best friend side. I would love to keep it that way." Louis held his hands up in defence.
"He isn't turning into a soppy guy when he is drunk? You most definitely have seen him being drunk in your presence." I stated with a giggle.
I wondered how Harry would behave once he would have too much to drink and was around friends. Surely Harry drank sometimes a bit of liquor when I was around him, or when he was working. But I never saw him smashed. Louis shook his head, and a laugh fell from his lips.
"It will surprise you, but Harry has never been drunk. He never has been the type of guy who needed alcohol to forget about his feelings. I remember, one time, we thought he was drunk – everyone was laughing because we thought he finally managed to feel drunk – but he was playing an act. Wicked. Need to give him credits for his way of acting."
So apparently Harry had never been drunk, and it surprised me. Not to sound mean or anything, but many people had always experienced their first drunken night. Harry didn't. But it was okay, because you didn't have to get .
With Louis telling me these things about Harry, I wanted to know more about him. And since Louis was very close to Harry, I knew I would get to hear things Harry might never opened up to. "Tell me more stories about Harry," I encouraged Louis, and he didn't seem to mind my brilliant idea.
"He has written a book," Louis started to laugh at the reminder, and I started to giggle along. The thought about Harry writing a book was quite hilarious. Just because I never pictured him as the guy who would do that. "It's a book about the Moulin Rouge. The power of his family and how it felt to be a Styles. He never published it, sadly."
"Is it good?" I wondered.
"Wow, you have no idea how well written it is! He gave me a copy of his work, because he wanted my opinion."
"Why didn't he publish it then?"
Louis leaned against the couch. "Because Harry wants success, and he was scared about the book being a massive flop. That's mainly the reason why he broke the contact with the publishing companies who were interested in his writing ability. I always encourage him to call them up again, and say he still wants to publish it." Louis sighed deeply. Feeling defeated because Harry didn't want to listen to him. "But Harry's subconscious always won, not my opinion."
"Quite sad to hear that," I replied honestly. "I'd have loved to read some of his words."
Louis' eyebrows went up, and his eyes widened as he received a great idea in his head. "I could give you the book? I have it somewhere in my office." Louis scratched the back of his neck. "I have a wonderful idea." Louis beamed.
"What is on your mind?" I sang softly, we were getting along pretty well.
"I want to get to know you, obviously because you are Harry's other half. If we go over to my house – you also get to meet Alexus – we can search for that book while we catch up with a bit of tea." Louis told me, and I was getting pretty excited to spend some more time with Louis since he was absolutely kind to me.
"You want to hang out and drink tea...You sure you aren't gay?" I remarked playfully.
Louis started laughing extremely loud. "Good joke, Vicky."
...
Louis' house was massive. He definitely owned a beautiful property. We entered the house, and he put his leather jacket away before leading me further in. My apartment looked pathetically small compared to his residence.
"Honey, I am home and brought a new fiancé with me!" Louis yelled loudly.
I saw Alexus walking around the corner, just coming out of the kitchen. A fake devilish smile was plastered onto her face. "It's your lucky day I just washed the knives," and she walked over to Louis.
Louis placed a quick peck on her lips, and whispered softly; "Love you too, babe." He turned around, and he pointed at me. "Alexus, this is the famous Vicky West who has conquered Harry Styles and made sure to take over his heart."
"Finally! I am meeting you! You look wonderful, Harry is a lucky guy." She beamed, and reached out her hand for me to take.
"So is Louis."
"I know I am wonderful, Vicky." Louis said.
"I didn't mean that part," I replied immediately. Referring that I meant Alexus was a lucky girl and looked wonderful. But this was the Louis I got to know, and I knew I had to keep up with these comments for longer than just today. "Whatever floats your boat." I waved him off, and Alexus chuckled.
"I brought Vicky here to share some embarrassing stories about Harry. Also, I want to give her something Harry once gave me. Could you make us some tea, love?" Louis questioned his fiancé with pleading eyes. Obviously, Alexus couldn't say no when Louis started to pout like a young child.
So Louis and I headed to his office, and I my mouth opened when I saw the space. "You've got a massive office, Louis. I bet Harry is jealous." I said, and my fingers traced the furniture that was placed in his office.
"Correct, he is. But I need my space. I told Alexus she would get her walk in closet if I could get a bigger office. She agreed, easily." Louis informed me proudly. I saw that his features were reminiscent as he reminded himself of that time. "Let's start." He gestured me to come and sit with him on the ground when he had carried a box in his office. He opened it, and we blew the dust off some objects.
I noticed that Louis was smiling brightly next to me, so I faced him. "Harry and I went to the same high school. The day we got our yearbook, we were both excited to see if they wrote down Harry's senior quote. They didn't." He said.
"Why not?" I wondered.
"Well, Harry – obviously – thought it was appropriate to write something unique as a quote." He tapped with his fingers slowly onto his chin. "He wanted to say something like 'I hope that, one day, I will be as much interested in my homework as Mr. John is interested in Mrs. Shelby's boobs.' Let's point out that Mr. John was practically glued to her boobs." I already pictured Harry feeling proud of his senior quote at that time being.
"It doesn't surprise me he wanted that as his senior quote. Also, it doesn't surprise me they rejected it." I pointed out. I roamed through the box and found a photo which asked for my attention. "Who are these people?" I questioned Louis as I held a photo in my hand.
"Oh, that is Harry." Louis said dramatically like I hadn't recognized him myself already. "This is his grandfather and on the right side you have his father." Louis added. "You know he doesn't have both of them in his life, right?" He asked me, and I nodded. "He does have his mother, but he isn't interested in her."
"He never told me why she isn't in his life anymore. Do you know what the reason is?"
"I do," Louis replied. "You see, Harry and his mom were never close. She was the one always travelling away because of business. He knew that she did that to make sure Harry got an education and food. But – just like his father – his mother didn't give a shit about him. They knew his grandfather was giving the club to Harry, and they just didn't agree with that. His grandfather had made that decision from the moment Harry was born. He just had faith in him." Louis shrugged, and my fingers brushed over the old photograph.
"Has he ever felt the need to return to his mother and talk to her?"
"No," He chuckled. "No one knows where she is, and we all want to make sure it stays that way. Harry doesn't feel the need to talk with someone who never loved him. Even though she was his mother, she was a heartless piece of crap. Just putting it out like that." Louis said bluntly, and handed me a new box with pictures.
Louis explained how he and Harry acted when they had their first encounter. Also, how their friendship developed through the years. It was amazing to hear that they still were into each other's life. But the night ended at a certain point when Louis found the book we needed.
"Here you go!" Louis cheered as he held the book. "Take care of it. I want to give it back to him when he turns fifty. Just in case I would go bankrupt and wouldn't have something to give him as a present."
"Thanks, Louis." I muttered, and left the house afterwards.
...
I was more than sleepy when I arrived in my apartment. I threw the keys on the kitchen counter, and filled a glass with water. I took an Advil, since I had a bit of a headache. I rubbed into my eyes, and yawned slightly. I needed to get ready for my bed. It was already two in the morning, and I knew Harry was coming back today. These past few days went by way too fast.
The book Louis had given me was laying in front of me. I stared at the cover; just plain black. I rested it in the palm of my hand as I examined the book. Carefully, I opened it. It was a lot, and the book was separated in different chapters. I had scanned a bit of his written words, and he described everything so magnificently beautiful. I wondered how baffled I would be after I read this entire thing.
My phone vibrated, which made me get out of my gaze. I looked at the screen, and saw that Louis had texted me. We exchanged numbers before I left his house.
Louis: "Hi love, I recommend the epilogue. Might be useful for you. NOW GET SOME SLEEP."
I chuckled when I finished his text, and brought the book with me to my bed. Maybe I had to do what Louis said; read chapter eighteen. So I changed myself quickly in my pyjamas, and rushed to my bed. I crawled under the silky sheets, and turned on the light from my nightstand. Despite my need for sleep, I decided to read chapter eighteen.
This time I opened the book with the thought I was going to learn more about Harry. I knew, I was getting to read information I might never heard him say. Yet, we didn't know each other for such a long time, so it wouldn't be weird if I had no idea about whatever I was going to read.
But when my eyes fell onto the first words of the epilogue, I was sure this was written from a broken boy.
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i entered the #wattys2015 with lush corruption yay.
xo lay