Louis hasn't been at school all week. I'm not surprised at all since he was stabbed. But what surprises me is that his friends are very calm and happy. Don't they know? Did Louis tell them what happened? Do they know what I had to do last week?
"Hellooooo? Earth to Harryyyyy." Jasmine waves her hand in front of my eyes. "Are you even listening to me?"
The girl snaps me out of my trance of thoughts. I look around to remember that I'm in a cafe with my redhead friend.
"Oh yeah, sorry Jas..." I take a sip of my coffee. "So what were you talking about?"
She sighs. "Jesus Harry, I just told the craziest and the most emotional story that's ever happened in my life!"
"Daniel?" I ask bored because I know it's about him.
Jasmine met a boy, Daniel, at work. He just moved into town. It happened a few days ago, and Jasmine is only talking about him and how obvious it is that he likes her because he winked at her. He didn't. I was there and saw that the steam from the coffee machine hit his face which made him start blinking. I've already told Jasmine this, but she doesn't want to accept it, instead I have to hear every day about how handsome Daniel is, how beautiful his smile is, how nice he is. This makes me want to bury myself alive.
"Yes! O my God okay. I'll say it again." The girl says excitedly.
Ugh, I could pretend I was listening to her. Now I really have to listen to her.
"So, yesterday Daniel went to a hairdresser and today he had a new haircut at work and oh my God..." Jasmine starts fanning her face with her hands. Suddenly, after a moment of fanning, she slams her hands hard on the table. "...He looks even better! I didn't know this could be possible. And those muscles of his..." The girl slumps slightly in her chair. "...ugghhh, I'm melting." She sits up straight again and takes my hand. "You HAVE to see him! He's wonderful."
I chuckle. "Yeah, I believe you Jas. I already feel like I know him."
"He's going to be my husband."
I'm just nodding to my friend because I don't have the strength to hear any more about Daniel. I look out the window and see that Louis is walking towards the cafe where I am currently with Jasmine. I can see that the boy is still limping.
"Do you want a new coffee?" I quickly ask the short girl sitting across from me.
"But I still have half a cup of coffee. Plus, How dare you interrupt me?" The girl knits her eyebrows.
"You look like a pissed off squirrel now." I laugh.
Jasmine rolls her eyes and gestures for me to leave.
I quickly get up and go towards the barista to make a new order, when I reach the counter Louis is just finishing talking to the barista. When he turns around, he flinches slightly and I immediately open my mouth.
"Hi, how's your leg?" I ask with a smile on my face.
"Are you enjoying this, Styles? Do you like the fact that I'm hurt? And anyway, I have no intention of talking to you about it. We are not friends. Move."
I look at him with wide eyes and step aside so the older boy can pass. But before he could leave, I grab his arm.
I speak in a quiet voice so only he can hear me. "I literally sewed your leg together so you could show some empathy, you piece of shit."
I don't know what got into me, but I felt I had to say it. Louis doesn't seem to understand my sudden change either and looks at me surprised. A small smile appears on his face.
"Oh is my little Britney mad that I'm ignoring her?" He tilts his head slightly to the side. Suddenly, from a pleasant expression, his face is emotionless again. "Like I said, we're not friends and I don't have to tell you everything."
Louis breaks free from my grip and goes to get his coffee.
"My leg feels better. Thanks..." The brunette boy says quickly as he walks past me and leaves the cafe with his coffee in hand.
I'm still standing there and trying to understand what happened.
I go back to the table where my friend is sitting. When she hears me pushing my chair away, she puts down her phone and looks at me.
"Where are the coffees Harry?" She asks.
"Oh, uh... The coffee machine broke down." I sit down.
"Seriously? That's sucks. Anyway, did I tell you about Daniel's new hairstyle?"
I hit my head on the table with a groan. I can't bear to hear about this Daniel anymore.
"Jas?" I say with my face still against the table top.
"Yep?"
"Can you please stop talking about Daniel? I'm tired of this shit."
I feel that the girl is running her hand through my hair. A very pleasant feeling. Jasmine seems to have discovered that when she does this, it calms me down.
"Okay. But you have to tell me what you and Louis were talking about just now."
I tense up and lift my head slightly from the table just so I can glance at my redhead friend. I see her smiling stupidly and raising her eyebrows significantly. Stupid ginger squirrel.
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh don't pretend Harry. I saw that you were talking to him when you went to get coffee."
I blush slightly. I can't tell her the truth. I have to lie. But how? After all, Jasmine knows that I hate him, so what could I possibly talk to him about?
"The usual. We argued a bit and that was it."
As I say this, my phone starts vibrating. Jasmine immediately takes my phone.
Yeah, the problem with her is that there is no such thing as "private space" around her.
"Uuuu, Niall texted you. It says "Hey man, why didn't you tell me you fucking stitched up...""
I immediately take my phone away from her so she doesn't read any further.
I look at the text. I feel my heart beating.
"Hey man, why didn't you tell me you fucking stitched up Louis's leg?! You have to fucking tell me things like that. And if you do something like that, do it fucking professionally, because now Louis was fighting with Liam (for fun) and his his leg suddenly fucking started bleeding. I don't blame you, you tried to help him, but now we're in the fucking hospital with him."
I cover my mouth with my hand. They're in the hospital. It's my fault, I could have taken him to the hospital straight away. Now he probably has some kind of infection.
I feel like the whole world has stopped. I hear my heavy breathing, Jasmine's voice somewhere in the distance. I immediately get up and run out of the cafe.
I don't know what got into me, but I feel like my body isn't mine. My legs move on their own, my hand opens the door of a taxi, the address of the hospital comes out of my mouth.
After the ride, my trembling hands take money from my wallet and my legs carry me to the hospital. At the reception I ask about Louis Tomlinson, but they won't let me in.
It's my fault. My fault. My fault. My fucking fault.
The whole world is spinning before my eyes. Why do I care so much? I hate him, but right now I would give anything to make sure he's okay.
I sit down in a chair in the lobby by the reception desk, my legs are shaking. Suddenly I hear someone entering the hospital. It is a big, tall, scary man. He looks angry. He walks briskly to the reception desk and asks about Louis Tomlinson.
He knows him. This scary man knows Louis. I listen even more carefully to his and the receptionist's conversations.
"Are you related to Louis?" The blonde girl at the desk asks in a nonchalant voice.
"Unfortunately. I'm that asshole's father." Says the angry man.
The receptionist looks as if she is not moved by his words and shows him which direction to go.
After a while, I see Liam, Zayn and Niall emerging from one of the corridors. The mulatto notices me first and points in my direction so the boys will also notice.
Three of them approach me. Niall looks sad, Liam looks scared, and Zayn looks like he wants to kill me.
The boy with darker skin grabs my jacket and pulls me closer.
"You are a complete idiot for coming here! It's all your fault and now you show up here like you care about him."
The Irish boy pulls Zayn away from me. "Leave him alone. It's not his fault, he didn't do it on purpose. It's our fault because we couldn't keep this bastard in his place."
I feel like Louis often causes problems for them.
The boy in the leather jacket steps away a little and runs his hand through his hair.
"Is he okay?" I ask with a shaky voice.
"He is..."
Niall tries to talk but Zayn interrupts him.
"Of course he's fucking not okay! The boy almost bled to death and now his father is there with him. Even if he didn't die from bleeding and he'll probably die now because..."
Niall punches Zayn in the shoulder.
"Shut up."
The brunette looks scared.
What's happening to them? I've never seen them care so much.
"Don't argue in front of this kid. This is not the time for that." Liam says.
Did he just call me a kid? Is he for real? They are just a little older than me...
I keep feeling my phone vibrating in my back pocket. I take it out and I see that it's a call from Jasmine. I ignore it.
I put my phone back in my pocket. "When can we see him?" I ask.
"We? We?! No, no, no. You won't see him." Zayn says indignantly.
"But..."
"Na-ah. You won't see Louis."
"Watch me."
I get up and go towards the room where Louis is. I don't know what drives me. My body is not mine. I just go. I do not know why.
"See? I told you I'll-" I turn around but it turns out that the guys weren't following me. I turn around again and see Louis with his father. They're already looking at me.
I look at Louis, he was crying. His eyes are red and the light from the hospital lamps reflects slightly off the wet surface of his cheek. He looks so... scared.
I look at the older man next to him. He is very broad-shouldered and has the same hair and eye color as his son. In fact, they are very similar to each other, with the only difference being that he makes Louis look like a stick next to him that he could easily break with one hand.
"Who are you?" The man asks me in a gravelly voice.
"H-Harry..."
"Well H-Harry... Get the fuck out. Me and this little asshole need to talk." He looks at his son. "Right, Louis?"
The boy just nods. I've never seen him so unconfident.
I can't leave him with this man. I don't trust him. I know it's his father and that I'm not friends with Louis, we're enemies actually but even though I can't leave him with this man.
"What are you still doing here?" The man speaks to me in a threatening voice. I see him approaching me.
"Dad don't." I hear Louis's voice in the background. "He will go out alone. Right Harry?"
I look at the brunette on the hospital bed. Even if he doesn't say it, I can see he's begging me with his eyes to leave.
Without a word, I quickly turn around and leave the room. As soon as I get out, I hear a thud from behind the door. I run away to Niall, I hope he's still with the guys at the reception.
Liam sees me and quickly walks towards me. He grabs my arm, pulls me to him, and whispers in my ear.
"Congratulations, idiot. I see from the look on your face that you have become acquainted with Mr. Tomlinson."
I look shocked at him. "You knew? Y-you knew about this... How he treats Louis?" My voice is shaky.
Jesus, I thought I had a shitty father because he left us. But Louis' father is on another level.
"Go home Harry." I flinch when I suddenly hear Niall's voice in front of me.
"But..."
"He's gonna be okay. He always is. Go home, it's getting late."
I still have shock on my face.
"Jesus, get this kid home for fuck's sake." Zayn sighs to himself somewhere behind.
"I'll take you home Harry. C'mon." Niall walks out of the hospital and I follow him without a thought.
When I catch up with him, he says to me without looking at me.
"Welcome to our fucked up life."