Chapter 11
Niall cares about Jamie. He cares a lot. It is more than he should, and more than what feelings are returned; he knows that. Still, Jamie is Niall’s best friend - whatever else is or isn’t between them - and he is worried. He understands the Jamie wants to meet the flirty, fascinating stranger he has been talking to online, but he also understands the potential danger and risks that Jamie is facing. He has tried to point these out to his friend, but every time the conversation begins to get serious, Jamie brushes it aside or turns it around. Niall is well aware that he has to be careful not to upset Jamie, or he knows that his friend will disappear for a while, so he tries his best to keep him happy and unfortunately, that means he hasn’t been able to successfully open his eyes to that scare factor that should accompany his meeting of this ‘Louis’ guy.
Niall knocks on the door of the familiar house and crosses his fingers inside his pocket, hoping that it won’t be his friend who opens the door, but his sister or his mother. It’s Gemma’s familiar face that Niall is greeted with when the heavy door swings open in front of him. Her smile is genuine as she steps aside and points towards the stairs.
“He’s in his room.”
“I’m here to see you and Anne, actually.” Niall shuffles his feet awkwardly.
It is not as if Niall doesn’t consider Gemma to be his friend as well, so noticing this behaviour makes her nervous. It is clear Niall is here for a reason, and judging by his discomfort, Gemma has reason to be worried.
“Mum’s in the kitchen,” she tells Niall.
The Irishman nods and walks through to the familiar kitchen where Anne is slaving away over what smells like pumpkin soup. Niall’s stomach growls a little too loudly, and Anne turns to smile at him with a knowing look.
“Niall, honey! How are you, and where’s your better half?” Anne’s gaze scans the room for her son, expecting him to be accompanying his friend.
“He doesn’t know I’m here, I was hoping I could have a word with you?”
Anne turns the gas down on the stove and steps away from the meal she is making. Gemma walks past Niall and settles herself on one of the stools by the breakfast bar. Anne leans on the bench across from her daughter, so when Niall takes the seat beside Gemma, he is facing them both.
Niall doesn’t really know where to begin. He feels guilty for going behind his friend’s back like this, but he knows he has no choice. He needs to make sure that Jamie is safe, and if that means betraying his trust a little, then so be it. Better safe than sorry, right? He twists his pale hands together then launches into his story from the beginning. Niall tells Anne and Gemma about Jamie writing online, and he tells them about him talking to one of his readers. He tells them about Jamie beginning to fall for an idea instead of a person, and most importantly, he tells them that Jamie is planning to meet Louis in two days.
There is silence as Anna and Gemma take this in, both unsure of how they should respond. Do they interfere? Or do they let Jamie do as he pleases? There is one thing that bothers Anne more than anything else she has just heard.
“Does this Louis person know about Harry?” Anne asks nervously, her voice almost breaking.
Niall shakes his head, “Jamie doesn’t even speak to me about Harry. It’s almost as if he’s dead.”
~
Liam is lying backward on his bed. His feet are propped up on the pillows that usually support his head, and his body is stretched out so that his head hangs over the end that his feet usually do. Liam’s eyes are following a very distressed Zayn as he walks in the same circles around the room.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is.” Liam sighs.
Zayn pauses and tugs on his hair. “Are you kidding me? Liam, Lou has no idea who this guy is, they could be anyone, they could be anywhere. He trusts every word this guy has said to him, but that could all just be an act. There is a huge chance that if Louis goes to meet this Jamie kid in a few days, he won’t come back.”
“That’s not entirely true.”
“Did you know that 94% of the people who meet in real life after talking on the internet end up raped, or murdered or in some kind of other trouble.”
“You just made that up.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes. You did.” Liam rolls off his bed and walks towards his boyfriend.
Zayn looks away from Liam because he is right, Zayn did make that up. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true. Plenty of people think they are safe and it turns out they’re not, right? Liam places his hands on Zayn’s shoulders then runs them down until their hands are connected. Zayn bites his lip as he looks down at Liam’s fingertips mingling with his own and he slowly relaxes.
“I get that you’re worried-”
Zayn cuts Liam off, “I don’t get why you’re not.”
It’s not like Liam was keeping it a secret from Zayn, it has just never came up. Admittedly, now he was almost nervous to tell Zayn, but if it brought them together and it was obviously in the past and no one had been brutally murdered, then maybe it would change Zayn’s perspective on the whole situation.
“Has Josh ever mentioned how we met?”
“No offense, Li, but is that really relevant right now?”
“Surprisingly, yes.”
Zayn’s confusion showed on his features. Liam pulled his hands away and fell back down onto his bed, this time situating himself in the centre of the mattress and crossing his legs underneath him.
“Alright then, how?”
“Let’s start with when.” Liam pats the space next to him and Zayn sits down, more confused than before. “I met Josh approximately two hours before I met you.”
Zayn stares blankly at Liam. “I don’t understand.”
“I knew him a lot longer than that, but I only met him for the first time on the same day I met you and Louis.”
“I thought you guys had been friends for long before that.”
Liam smiles at Zayn, because he is obviously not seeing the connection between this conversation and the one they had been having previously. He thinks the confused frown on Zayn’s lips is rather cute and he is momentarily distracted from the story he is supposed to be telling him as he contemplates saving it for later and using the time he has at hand to kiss the beautiful boy in front of him.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Liam continues. “We were. Zayn, you should be grateful that not everyone is as skeptical as you when it comes to making friends online. If Josh and I were as cautious and paranoid as you, I never would have come here. I never would have met you. And we wouldn’t be able to do this.” Liam finishes by acting on his earlier impulse and pulling Zayn into a long, slow kiss.
When the two break apart, it takes some time for Zayn to fully put the pieces together and for his head to catch up. He’s a little bit dizzy from the way Liam just kissed him, and he’s also still a little confused about what his boyfriend was trying to tell him. Slowly it falls into place and Zayn understands how Liam and Josh met is relevant to his concern for Louis running off to meet a stranger tomorrow.
“You met Josh online?”
Liam nods.
“And you just up and left everything for some stranger you met, who could potentially kill you?” he asks in disbelief.
This time Liam shakes his head. “I up and left a place that didn’t feel like home for a place that did. I said goodbye to a lonely room on a dull campus where I had no friends to come to a lively place with two energetic roommates and friends, and you.”
Though Zayn is somewhat happy to hear Liam phrase it this way, he is still not all that reassured about Louis meeting Jamie tomorrow. So, Josh and Liam were the exception to the rule, that didn’t mean everyone was safe. Liam can read the doubt in Zayn’s eyes, so he thinks carefully about how to word what he says next.
“I had a feeling when I was talking to Josh that whatever it was that brought me to here would be better than where I was. Not only did we get along and click straight away, I just knew. I knew that he was the path to something better. I went with my gut, Zayn. And my gut led me to you. Louis isn’t an idiot, he knows that there are risks, but he also has a gut feeling about Jamie. Instincts don’t usually lead us too far astray. If I hadn’t followed my gut, I wouldn’t be here right now. Do you really want to tell Louis not to follow his?”
~
Louis stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jumper as he walks along the sidewalk. He is excited. There is no point in saying that he’s not because it would be a lie. Maybe it’s just because he feels good in his bones, but Louis decides that everyone looks exceptionally happy today and that maybe - even if it’s only for a few minutes - everything is alright with everyone.
He feels good because he is no longer in danger of failing English Lit and he is (mostly) over his fight with Zayn. Louis is grateful to have a friend who cares, but Zayn was being completely ridiculous. He knows that Jamie wouldn’t hurt him and so what if they met online? Not everyone is an predator. Jamie isn’t going to be the next Craigslist Killer or anything of that sort. Louis wishes Zayn trusted him more when it came to his judgement of character because if Louis felt like something bad was going to happen, there’d be no way in hell that he’d be walking to meet Jamie right now. But he is.
The majority of Louis wants to meet with Jamie because he has taking such a liking to the boy, and he believes that Jamie will prove to be an awesome person in reality just like he is online. The minority of Louis wants to go through with meeting Jamie because he wants to prove Zayn wrong and wants to throw it in Zayn’s skeptical face that Jamie is a perfectly good person.
Louis enters the coffee shop and smiles when he realizes that it is just like how Jamie described it in the story they wrote together. The shop is quiet and comfortable, and has a really relaxing vibe to it.
With a mental debate of if Louis should order something and sit down, or sit down to wait, or look around to find Jamie, he is at a loss. Louis doesn’t want to order and look impatient for not waiting. Louis doesn’t want to wait around and look like an idiot. There really is no winning.
He sighs, figuring he should just wait outside. Louis knows he’s a bit early, but he really couldn’t contain his excitement and ended up leaving a bit earlier than scheduled. Once he is back outside, Louis takes a seat at one of the outside tables. It is pretty cool out, but he doesn’t mind it. Louis pulls out his phone and aimlessly goes through his pictures and checks his twitter and scrolls through tumblr. He is completely at ease until he hears what sounds like fireworks.
Louis looks up from his phone, startled by the loud noise. There is still light out, so it doesn’t make sense for anyone to put on fireworks. He pockets his phone and stands up, wondering what was going on; however, within seconds, he hears screams and people running. He is frozen in his spot because he doesn’t understand what is happening.
Why are people freaking out?
What is going on?
What was that?
“Louis!” Someone yells. “Louis!”
He turns his head and searches through the faces to find the one that called his name. Louis spots a tall, curly-haired boy with a worried look on his face. “Jamie?”
The boy's eyes zero in on Louis and he looks relieved. “Oh, thank god.” He rushes over to Louis. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
Jamie’s worried look turns scared. “Someone has a gun.”
Louis’ eyes go wide and he feels a rush he has never felt before. “What?! We have to get out of here.” He grabs Jamie’s hand, the electric shock going unnoticed by either of them in their frenzy, and pulls him as he starts running in the direction the crowd is going. It’s all heavy-breathing and loud footsteps and people screaming and chaos erupting. Louis has a pretty good grip on Jamie’s hand until there are a few more gunshots and he is nearly pulled to the ground. He looks back and sees Jamie down on the ground with blood seeping through his shirt. “Oh, shit.”
He kneels down, but Louis has no idea what to do. His hands are shaking as they hover just above Jamies wound. The thoughts running through his mind are a mess, should he apply pressure? Should he call for help? Is Jamie going to be okay? Louis can hear sirens which means that cops and paramedics should be coming, but how does he flag them down without leaving Jamie? Louis feels like screaming because this is definitely not how he pictured his meeting with Jamie. Today was supposed to be a good day; not the day a crazy gunman takes the streets.
With a frantic phone call to the police and trying to keep people from stepping on Jamie, Louis sits next to him, horrified. He was told to apply pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding, but it doesn’t take long before his hands are covered in blood and his cheeks covered in tears which he has no regard for. Jamie looks extremely pale and Louis is extremely worried.
Thankfully, a paramedic spots them and rushes over. Louis moves out of the way, but stands close enough to ask, “He’s going to make it, right?”
“I’m going to try my best to make sure he does,” the paramedic answers, before waving down his partner. Together they place Jamie on a gurney and place gauze over the wound to slow down the bleeding. They start wheeling Jamie towards the ambulance and Louis follows them.
“Can I come?”
“Yes.” The paramedic doesn’t say no because he knows that Louis is desperate and will argue with him and there really isn’t time for that.
Once all four of them are in the ambulance, they speed off to the hospital. Louis watches Jamie carefully because he feels like if he looks away, Jamie will die and he can’t have Jamie die. They haven’t even had a proper face-to-face conversation and they were supposed to be such good friends. That can’t happen is Jamie dies.
They arrive at the hospital in less than fifteen minutes. Doctors swarm Jamie as soon as the ambulance stops and Louis is forced to stay away while they rush Jamie to an operating room. Just after they enter the hospital, another victim is rushed passed, but no one is accompanying her the way Louis is with Jamie. He feels sick as he watches the place where Jamie was taken away. A nurse gently places a hand on Louis shoulder and shows him to the waiting room and he feels sick to his stomach when he realizes there is dried blood on his hands.
It isn’t until hours later that doctors begin coming into the waiting room and calling out names of patients to talk to their families. Louis always hopes to hear Jamie’s name, but he doesn’t. He pulls out his phone, knowing he should call someone, like Jamie’s family, but he doesn’t have their numbers. He doesn’t even know Jamie’s last name. God, why did this have to happen?
The sun has long gone down and day’s events are finally catching up to Louis. He really doesn’t want to go to sleep because he doesn’t want to miss the doctors call Jamie’s name. He really doesn’t want to go to sleep, so he rests his eyes for a minute. Just one, short minute.
Louis is woken when he feels pressure applied to his knee. He opens his eyes slowly and realises after a short moment that his short minute rest turned into a full-blown nap in the hospital waiting room. A doctor is kneeling in front of him. “I was told you arrived with our wounded John Doe.”
“Jamie?”
“If that’s the name of the teenage shooting victim, yes. I have good news is Jamie made it through. He’s in recovery right now, the bullet grazed his right side just below his rib cage and he’s going to have a helluva battle wound, but the most damage was done when his head collided with the sidewalk. He’s still unconscious, but he should be fine.”
“When can I see him?”
“Now, if you’ll follow me.”
Louis intakes a sharp breath when he enters the room where he see’s the boy lying unconscious under thin sheets. The boy Louis can only presume is Jamie.
“There is no telling when Jamie will wake up because it is all up to him and when his body is ready,” the doctor says.
“Thank you,” Louis speaks quietly.
“Anytime.” And with that, the doctor leaves.
There is nothing left for Louis to do but to sit by his friend and wait for him to wake up.
~
Waiting is never a fun thing to do. Louis can vouch for this considering he has been sitting by Jamie’s bedside for the better part of the past four hours. He stepped out twice so far - once to use the toilet and once to take a call from Zayn. Obviously, the shooting has been all over the news and Zayn wanted to make sure Louis was okay. Well, more like scold him for going to meeting a stranger because see, I told you bad shit would happen. Louis rolled his eyes countless times throughout the conversation and told his concerned, asshole of a friend that he’s fine, but Jamie’s not.
Louis hung up the phone before Zayn could talk his ear off, and went back inside. Since then, he has been sitting in the same spot, just waiting.
It is not for another hour before Jamie finally wakes up. He is confused and scared, and Louis panics for a moment before hitting the button to alert the nurses that Jamie is awake.
“Hey,” Louis springs up from his seat. “Are you alright?”
Jamie rubs the side of his head. “What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” Louis frowns.
“I remember going to meet Louis - who I’m assuming is you - but everything is kinda hazy after I got off the bus,” he answers. “Now, I just have a huge headache.”
“That’s because you hit your head pretty hard when you fell.”
“I fell?” Jamie’s eyes go wide. “I know I don’t have the greatest balance, but I never fell that hard before.”
Louis is thinking of making some joking comment like “Maybe it’s just my good looks,” but he doesn’t get to respond because a doctor and nurse come into the room.
“Jamie, isn’t it?” The nurse asks him kindly. Jamie nods. “You didn’t have any identification on you, do you have a surname we can take down, and a family member we can contact?”
As the nurse speaks to him, Jamie’s doctor inspects the side of his head and makes him follow his finger as he moves it from one side to another, up and then down. He checks how alert Jamie is and concludes that Jamie is doing well.
“Is it alright if I call my mum myself, I don’t want her to freak out too much.” Jamie requests when the nurse repeats that they should contact his family.
Since Jamie is eighteen and awake, they are not obligated to inform his guardian if he asks that they do not, so Jamie is left alone with Louis once again, to call his mother - but he puts this off until later.
Jamie takes Louis in properly for the first time, and wow. Sure, Jamie had pictured Louis as an attractive guy, but he had also thought he was kidding himself if he was going to get that lucky, but apparently he was wrong. Here, staring at him was probably one of the sexiest people Jamie has ever seen. There were bags under Louis’ eyes, but that didn’t take away from how beautifully bright and blue they were. His chestnut hair was just sunkissed enough, but a complete mess on top of his head.
Louis feels Jamie’s gaze on him for longer than what he considers normal and feels a bit self conscious. “Is there something on my face?”
“No,” Jamie shakes his head and regrets it instantly. “Ow,” he complains, placing a hand on his head and rubs his temple.
Louis smirks, because the scrunched up face Jamie just made was kind of cute, but he also hopes Jamie is not in too much pain. “Then why were you staring?” He challenges.
“Because there is a monkey staring at me, duh.”
For a moment Louis is caught off guard and unsure of how to respond. “But, monkeys can be cute, right?”
Jamie opens his mouth to respond, then closes it, silently cursing his fall for obviously slowing down his quick-witted mind. “Some of them.”
“Mate, I think you hit your head harder than we thought because there are no monkeys in this room,” he muses.
“Maybe you’re the one who hit their head and this is all just in your imagination.”
“Well, if that’s true, I bet I would have never had a failing mark in English Lit in my imagination,” Louis says. Then, “But really, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’ll get over the headache, but this just isn’t really how I imagined us meeting, that’s all.”
“Think of it this way: if this is how we meet, just think about all of the adventures we’ll have all the other times we hang out.” Louis knows it’s best to pull some sort of silver-lining out of the situation, so that’s what he went for.
“Or maybe, you’re just bad luck.” Jamie winks at Louis.
Louis gasps. “How very dare you? I’m as lucky as a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover, thank you very much!”
Jamie bites back his smile, and continues to tease Louis. “I’m not so sure, I have a lucky Irish charm and I’ve never ended up in hospital because of them.”
“Well, then maybe your lucky Irish charm isn’t as lucky as you think it is.” Louis knows Jamie is joking and doesn’t mind playing along. It’s good to know that he wasn’t just faking it when they were talking online and that this is how Jamie really is.
Jamie shrugs and his smile finally breaks free. “Whatever, just don’t put me in hospital on our next adventure.”
“Aw, and I’m sitting here thinking it was our first date. You have misled me, my friend.” Now, it’s Louis’ turn to wink.
Jamie exaggerates a shocked gasp which quickly turns into a cheeky, dimple complemented grin. “Oh no, if this was our first date I wouldn’t be in this bed alone.”
“Oh.” Louis adjusts his posture. “If you wanted company, all you had to do was ask, darling,” he smirks.
Jamie is taken aback and he wonders if he could actually get Louis onto this bed with him. At the thought he feels a rush and suddenly has the desire to be close to the blue eyed boy. To know what it feels like to have his warmth that close. He mentally slaps himself after these thoughts because Louis is just a guy he met online, and he shouldn’t be rushing things along so quickly in his mind. Sure he might have a bit of a crush, and it certainly doesn’t help that Louis is drop-dead gorgeous and sitting right there flirting with him, but there is no reason to get ahead of himself.
Despite this, Jamie continues on, “Well, you’re not just going to leave me hanging now that I’ve asked, are you?”
“I would never, but,” Louis pauses. “I’m not that kind of a person to give out on the first date. Sorry, love.” He is completely laughing at himself on the inside because really, what the hell is he doing right now? He always talks rubbish, but this is just flat out hilarious.
“So you’re saying that if I took you on a second date?” Jamie wiggles his eyebrows, caught between trying not to laugh and also keeping his heartbeat steady.
Louis arches his brow. “You’re just a confident little bugger, aren’t you? Already asking for a second date when the first one has barely started.” He bites the inside of his cheek, so he doesn’t smile because if he smiles, it’s going to take up half of his face and Jamie doesn’t need to see that.
Jamie shrugs, “What can I say, I like to be prepared. Besides, I think this date is going rather well, since you’re not the one who hit their head. Why wouldn’t you say yes to a second?”
“Babe,” he stifles his giggles, “I know you literally fell for me today, but no need to get cocky. Well,” Louis pauses. “Unless that’s your style,” he winks.
“I think you’re my style.” Jamie makes sure to force the joking tone into his words, but he’s not sure how much of a game they are, because something about them seems true - but Louis doesn’t need to know that. Not yet.
Louis lets of a chuckle, he can’t help it much longer. “I very much approve of your style, then. It means you got good taste. And, on a different note,” he says, getting up from his seat and walking to the table by the door. He picks up a large bag of Jamie’s belongings, and goes through it until he finds what he is looking for and goes back to Jamie. “Here,” Louis hands him the phone. “Call your mum. I’m sure she’s worried.”
Jamie is slightly disappointed by the topic change, but he knows that Louis is right, so he takes the phone. He is nervous about calling his mother because she didn’t even know where Jamie would be today, so he’s not sure how he will explain the whole situation to her now. Nevertheless, he dials the number he knows by heart and holds the phone to his ear.
When his mother doesn’t answer, Jamie disregards it as her being busy, or not having her phone with her, or maybe she’s driving and can’t answer. So he hands the phone back to Louis with a shrug and the claim that he will try again in half an hour or so.
Louis places the phone next to Jamie’s pillow just in case his mum decides to call back. “Didn’t the nurse say something about you getting out of here?” he asks. He knows Jamie is obviously hurt and doesn’t want to rush him out or anything, but he is curious. These four walls are minutes away from taunting him from being in the room for so long, and he can only imagine how Jamie will feel like if he has to stay for a while.
“I’m free to go when my head feels a little better and the doctor has checked over me again. Shouldn’t be too long, it doesn’t hurt to move it now.”
“That’s good,” Louis smiles. “Means you’re on the road to a speedy recovery.”
Just as Jamie predicted, the doctor returns not even a half an hour later and checks Jamie’s alertness once again. The doctor is pleased with the results and tells Jamie to come back if his head hurts quite a lot, so the doctor can make everything is fine.
Jamie agrees with a smile and a thank you. As soon as the doctor leaves, Jamie asks Louis to hand him the bag of all his stuff, so he can change out of the tacky, hospital gown and back into his clothes.
Louis remembers the blood on Jamie’s shirt, so he strips off his own jumper and shirt, and hands the shirt over to Jamie. “Here, I doubt you’re going to want to wear your own with all the blood.”
The younger boy nearly drools at the sight at shirtless Louis. He doesn’t trust his voice to speak so he just nods, accepting the offer with what he hopes is a grateful smile.
“I’ll give you some privacy,” Louis offers, pulling his jumper over his head. He gives Jamie a small smile before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.
Jamie stares at the closed door for a moment before shaking his head and focusing on the fact that he is supposed to be dressing himself. He pulls on his pants, and then Louis’ shirt. Unintentionally breathing in as the fabric slides over his face. It smells good, and Jamie knows that it is what Louis smells like. “Oh my god.” Jamie mutters under his breath, he is almost ashamed at how pathetic he is inside of his head right now.
A few minutes later, the door opens and Jamie finds Louis standing outside of the room like he is guarding the royal prince or something. Louis notices Jamie and gives him another smile. “You ready?”
Damn, that boy has one hell of a smile. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” Louis extends his hand to Jamie and he nearly dies.
“Are you alright?” Louis second guesses his decision briefly. “I just don’t want you to fall again.”
Too late. Jamie thinks to himself catching Louis’ hands before he swings it away. “Good point.” He knows he won’t fall again, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to hold Louis’ hand.
Louis wraps his hand protectively around Jamie’s. “If you feel like you’re going to pass out or something, tell me and we’ll stop walking.” Once Jamie nods, Louis leads him through the hospital, having to weave through people since it was crowded from the aftermath of the shooting.
“Do you want to go home?” Jamie asks Louis after he checks himself out. He knows that it has been a bit of a crazy day, and he is exhausted, so why wouldn’t Louis be? It was more than enough that Louis waited with him, he doesn’t want him to feel obligated to stick around longer, even if Jamie would very much like him to.
“Not until I get you home,” Louis answers. “Like I said before, I don’t want you to fall again.” He hopes he’s not overstepping any boundaries, but he wants Jamie to be safe, especially after today’s events. It’ll break his heart to find out that something happened to Jamie if he left him now.
Jamie is not about to argue with Louis, so they head towards to bus stop at the front of the hospital.
“I warn you, it’s about a twenty minute ride.” Jamie says.
“That’s no problem at all.” He gives Jamie’s hand a reassuring squeeze.
It doesn’t take long before the correct bus arrives and Jamie climbs on. Louis places his hand on the small of Jamie’s back to steady him as he climbs the two steps and walks down the centre aisle. When they take a seat, Jamie lets his head drop onto Louis shoulder because he is tired and after walking, it is beginning to feel heavy again.
Louis runs the tips of his fingers over Jamie’s hair, moving it out of his face. “I know you’re tired, babe, but you can’t fall asleep, okay? No sleep with a concussion, doctor’s orders.”
Jamie wriggles slightly closer to Louis because it just feels right to be sitting with him like that. It only registers after that movement that Louis called him babe with no teasing or joking in his tone. And it sounded nice.
To keep Jamie from falling asleep, Louis talks to him about anything and everything that comes to mind through the bus trip. About half way through the ride, Louis arm ended up around Jamie’s shoulders. Jamie stays awake and takes everything Louis says in, enjoying the sound of his voice and listening to all the little details he is giving away about himself. He realises something during this time, Louis isn’t who Jamie thought he would be, he’s a million things more that Jamie could have hoped for and someone much greater than Jamie could have imagined.
When they arrive at the stop around the corner from Jamie’s home, he gives Louis a nudge and they climb off. Once both have their feet on the ground, Louis wraps a protective arm around Jamie’s waist and they start walking towards the corner. Two houses down from that corner, Jamie pulls Louis to a stop.
“This is where you live?” Louis asks, looking up the driveway at the house.
Jamie nods. He is preparing to say goodbye to Louis there when Louis begins to lead him right up to the front door.
“Sorry you spent the whole day in a hospital because of me.” Jamie says, realising now that Louis can’t have had a good day and it’s all his fault.
“Oh hush, it really doesn’t matter,” Louis assures him. “There’s no way either of us could’ve known what would happen today, and the fact that we finally got to meet is all that matters to me.” And then, as an afterthought, “Your health. That also matters to me, so please, keep me updated on your head.”
Jamie smiles at Louis concern. “I’m glad I finally got to see you. And I will, you’ll hear from me all too soon, I’m sure.”
“I better.” He gives Jamie one last smile before retracting his arm. “I better get going now, but I’ll see you soon, yeah?”
“Without a doubt.” Jamie assures him because there is no way he will not be seeing Louis again.
“Good.” Louis takes a step backwards before turning around and walking down the driveway.
Jamie watches Louis go, wishing he didn’t have to know knowing he will see him again soon. When Louis is out of sight, Jamie turns to his door and pushes it open. The moment he steps inside he knows something is wrong.
From his place in the doorway, Jamie can hear someone crying, but he doesn’t know if it is his mother or Gemma. At the sound of the door closing behind him, the crying stops suddenly.
Moments later Gemma is standing in front of him. Scrunched up tissues are clenched in her fists, her hair is a mess and her eyes are wet, red and puffy.
“What is it, what happened?” Jamie jumps forward to grab her in a hug.
Gemma wraps her arms around her brother and sobs into his shoulder. Letting the tissues in her hand fall to the floor, she clenches her hands around the fabric of his shirt.
“M-mum.” Is all Gemma can manage to choke out before her sobs take over again.
Jamie feels his heart begin to sink. “Where is she?” he asks, his voice low and shaky.
Gemma shakes her head against Jamie and he knows that something is seriously wrong. All that he can register is that Gemma is a mess, and their mother is not here. Jamie gently pries his sister off him and holds her by her shoulders.
“Gem, where’s mum?” he asks her seriously.
Gemma takes a deep breath and waits a moment. Then she spits out the word before her tears can get the better of her again.“Shot.”
Jamie knows he’s had a bit of head trauma today, so that means he didn’t hear his sister, correctly, right? Because there’s no way their mother got shot today. “What do you mean shot?”
Gemma steps back from Jamie, suddenly her pain gets the better of her. Her voice comes out stronger than before, louder and harsher. “I mean shot! She was trying to make sure you didn't do anything stupid and now she’s gone! She’s gone!” As quickly as it came, Gemma’s anger crumbles and so does she.
The raised voice triggers something inside of Jamie and it has been a very long time since he felt like this. It’s as if someone grabbed his head and pushed him into a bath of icy water to wake him up.
He blinks twice. Gemma is on the ground, and her brother falls to his knees beside her. The words ringing in his ears. When they were said, and what came before and after is forgotten, but he knows Gemma is distraught because their mother has been shot. Because their mother is dead.
“Gemma?” he reaches out to her gently.
Something about her brother’s voice sounds different than before, but it is familiar to her all the same. It has been close to a year since she heard that underlying dopey sound to his voice. Her tears halt again and she gasps as she looks up at her brother. It breaks his heart to see her like that.
“H-Harry?” she stutters out, almost hopefully.
His eyes fill with tears all over again and he instantly knows that he hasn’t been himself. “I’m so sorry,” he chokes out.
Gemma launches forward and tackles her brother into a hug. If she had to lose her mother today, she is thankful that she got her brother back. “I missed you so much,” she cries into his shoulder, clinging onto him as if he might disappear again.
Guilt washes over Harry and he holds his sister tightly against him. He has come back to a nightmare, but he still has her, and he will stay here for her because it is clear that Gemma needs him now more than ever.
“Don’t worry, I’m back now. And I’m not going anywhere.”
A/N: Holy shit, are you crying? I'm crying. Did you expect that? I didn't. What the hell just happened? Find out soon.
I hope you are all hanging in there enough to let us know your thoughts. Your comments and responses mean the world to us. ~Thing 2 :) x