“How could you?!” Paul’s voice boomed throughout the flat, making Louis shrink back in his chair.
“I-I don’t-”
“I’m not done,” Paul’s stern voice broke in as he put his hand up, signaling for Louis to stop talking. “Don’t you understand how irresponsible that was? How selfish that was? Dammit Louis, the only reason your getting a new phone is because Liam had to beg me that you were just too upset and weren’t thinking!” Paul pulled a new iPhone out of his pocket and tossed it at Louis.
Louis stared down at the iPhone, tears in his eyes. He refused to look up at Paul, knowing the moment he did the tears would start pouring out of him like a fucking waterfall. “S-Sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it Lou! You cant just go running off like that!” Paul threw his hands up in the air as he spoke, becoming more and more aggravated.
Louis nodded and sunk back into the couch more. He was sitting alone in his and Harry’s flat, Paul lecturing him. Paul had forced all of the other lads out of the house earlier that morning once everyone had woken up. Louis begged to have at least one of them stay, just for support, but Paul refused and kicked them all out.
“Louis you’re not even listening!” Paul groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This isn’t you Lou. You‘re normally never like this. Irresponsible yes, upset and quiet no.”
Louis shrugged, eyes not leaving the floor. Paul looked at the boy, noticing how the tears were now freely falling down his cheeks. “Louis can you tell me what’s really wrong?”
Louis sniffled once Paul took a seat besides him on the couch. “E-Everything…”
“Define everything.”
Louis put his head in his hands, lightly tugging at his already messy hair. “Harry hates me. He’s terrified of me and he refuses to even be in the same room, scratch that, same flat as me. Even at movie night the other night I was picking out a movie and he came upstairs to help and once he saw I was picking out the movie he just said he’d leave and then I said Hazza don’t leave and he flipped out on me saying only people he trusted could call him that! I’m just losing my best mate and I cant fucking take it much longer!” Louis rant ended in a verbal explosion, causing his body to shake with heart wrenching sobs.
Paul immediately wrapped his arms around the boy; he acted as if he didn’t hug Louis and hold him together, he would shatter completely. “Louis,” Paul spoke softly, rubbing his back. “Louis calm down, it’ll be alright.”
“N-No it wont!” Louis cried out, shaking as he tried taking a deep breath. “Th-The doctor said he should be regaining little memories here and there and he isn’t! He isn’t remembering anything and it’s not fair!” Louis’ sobs became louder once he finished, burying his face into Paul’s shoulder.
Paul stared down at the sobbing boy, rubbing his back gently. He had no idea what to say to him, so he decided just to stay quiet for this one. Thoughts floated through his head as he held the sobbing boy close. How come Harry’s memory hasn’t started to return yet? Why would Harry hate Louis? How come none of the other boys seem to care?
Questions buzzed through his mind and he didn’t even realize Louis was fast asleep. Louis had his head rested on Paul’s chest, curled up in a ball, and he was biting on the tip of his thumb; and old habit of his besides sleepwalking.
Paul’s phone buzzed, snapping him out of his thoughts. He slowly rose to his feet, laying Louis down fully on the couch, and walked over to the table where his phone was.
From: Liam
Can we come back yet? Niall’s complaining he’s hungry and we decided were gonna go out for lunch and Louis should come.
Paul rolled his eyes at the text; Niall just cant stop eating, can he?
To: Liam
Louis is asleep… had a small breakdown earlier and I guess he’s really tired. You can come back and wake him if you wanna its up to you.
Minutes passed and Paul still hadn’t received a text back, so he just shoved his phone into his pocket and covered Louis with a blanket, making sure he looked comfortable. Louis quickly grabbed onto the blanket and pulled it close, his body shivering slightly as he did so. Paul just gave Louis a sympathetic look before heading towards the door; Louis would be fine alone as long as he was asleep.
Right has he was about to open the door and leave, there was a knock at the door. His eyebrow rose in confusion as he opened the door, finding it weird that someone knocked when he was leaving.
At the door stood Niall, small smile on his face. “Hey Paul, figured we should take Louis out to dinner with us but no one wanted to wake him, so I volunteered.”
Paul gave Niall a sad smile before stepping aside so he could enter the house. Niall made his way past Paul, saying goodbye as he did so, and walked over to Louis. Hearing the front door click shut, Niall shook the sleeping boy gently, “Louis.”
“Hmm,” Louis rolled over, pulling the couch pillow close to him.
“Louis,” Niall basically sang, prying the blanket off of Louis; he sure as hell hoped that didn’t make him pissed.
Louis took the pillow he was clutching and chucked it at where he thought Niall was, praying it hit him. His prayers work, and it hit Niall right in the face. “Oi!” Niall yelped, grabbing the pillow of the ground. “That’s it.”
Before Louis realized what was happening, Niall was on top of him, smacking him with the pillow. “Stop it!”
“You got yourself into this Tomlinson!” Niall continued whacking Louis with the pillow, ignoring any protests to stop.
Louis finally became fed up with Niall and shoved him off as hard as he could, making Niall plummet to the floor with a loud thud. Before Niall could react, Louis was on top of him, pinning him on the floor. “I think I’m stronger than you Ni,” Louis smirked playfully, sticking his tongue out at the Irish lad.
“That’s not true!” Niall protested, struggling to get out of Louis’ grasp; it didn’t work. Niall struggled for a bit longer before he finally gave up, staring up at Louis. “That’s not fair, I’m in food withdrawal!”
“Niall it’s only ten in the morning!”
“So?! I haven’t anything since like midnight!”
Louis rolled his eyes and rolled off of Niall, allowing Niall to hop up to his feet. “C’mon mate!”
“I’m guessing you want me to come with you for food?”
“Yeah! All of the lads are waiting in the car, and it was my job to wake you up. Now let’s go!” Niall grabbed onto Louis’ wrist, yanking him towards the door.
Louis stumbled up off the floor and towards the door, his feet not allowing him to move. His mind instead reeled with thoughts. All of the lads, meaning Harry would be there. Louis wasn’t ready to see Harry let alone be in the same vehicle as him. It terrified him, so he quickly made up an excuse. “I’m not so hungry mate.”
“Stop lying Lou you haven’t eaten in ages. You’re coming whether you want to or not,” Niall continued to drag him out the door, before Louis stopped him again.
“Then can I at least take a piss first? I really gotta go.”
Niall rolled his eyes, not believing Louis. “I know you’re lying but whatever. Now hurry up I’m starving!”
Louis smirked and made his way down the hall towards the bathroom. The moment he shut the door he wiped the smirk off his face, turning back into his depressed self. He realized he had to once again suck it up and go back to his old self, even if he was just acting.
* * *
Zayn sat in the back seat of the car, snoring loudly. Paul waking him up early just so he could get out of the house when Paul talked to Louis didn’t sit well with him. He was a grouch basically the entire time the boys just drove around the town aimlessly, before finally resting his head against the car window and passing out.
Liam sat in the drivers seat as they sat at Louis and Harry’s flat, waiting for Niall to come outside with Lou. It had been maybe fifteen or twenty minutes since they arrived and so far the only person to come out of the front door was Paul, and that was the moment they got there.
Glancing back to the back of the car, Liam noticed Zayn was fast asleep and Harry was just staring out of the other window, blank expression on his face. “Haz?”
Harry’s head quickly snapped in the direction he heard his name, “Yeah mate?”
Liam took a deep breath; he was getting pretty impatient with waiting, which was rare for him. “You wanna go in and check on them? See if Niall needs any help?”
Liam hadn’t realized that he had basically just set up plan to make Louis more depressed, and the thought never dawned on him either. Harry realized it though, but decided to shrug it off; if Harry could just shrug off Louis whenever he walked into a room, why couldn’t Louis? “Alright Li.”
Harry jumped out of the car and walked up to the front door. Opening it revealed Niall leaning against the wall closest to the door, arms crossed and eyes closed. Smirking, Harry nudged Niall a little bit, making Niall lean to one side. Right before he was about to fall to the ground since he was still kind of asleep, Niall quickly caught himself from falling, immediately waking up.
Before Niall could even say two words to Harry, Harry was on the ground in a fit of laughter. “You-You should have s-seen your face!” Harry cried out, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.
Niall narrowed his eyes at the curly haired boy, cheeks turning red from embarrassment. “It’s not that funny,” Niall grumbled.
Harry continued laughing, letting it die down after a few moments or so. “A-Alright alright I’m sorry,” Harry covered his mouth as another chuckle escaped his lips.
Niall just rolled his eyes and shouted down the hall, “Louis come on I’m hungry!”
“And tired,” Harry spoke softly, receiving another glare from Niall. He just smirked, looking down the hallway where Niall had shouted down. “Where is Louis anyways? Shouldn’t he be coming?”
“He’s in the loo,” Niall mumbled, glancing down the hallway. After a few seconds a door opened, and Louis appeared in the hallway. Harry watched as he froze for a moment, probably not expecting to see Harry standing there with Niall, but he quickly covered it up and plastered a smile on his face.
“Lets go!” He cheered, bouncing past both of the boys and dashing out to the car. Niall looked at Harry, who was glancing right back at him. Only Harry figured something was up with Louis, while Niall just smiled, happy to see Louis back to his old self.
The other two boys walked to the car, Niall taking the passenger seat while Harry sat next to Louis in the back. Not like he had much of an option; Zayn was still asleep against the car window, drooling Harry might add, and it was either the other side or the middle. He chose the window seat.
They drove in the car in silence, not wanting to wake Zayn and now Niall, who Harry figured would fall asleep in the car ride here. Liam kept on glancing in the review mirror, seeing a smile plastered on Louis’ face, while Harry leaned his head up against the windowsill. Still only Harry could figure out that Louis’ smile was fake, and that got him thinking.
How come he could tell that Louis’ smile was fake, while the other boys couldn’t? How come he suddenly felt like he knew some things about the older lad that most of the others had no clue about. Harry couldn’t put his finger on what he knew exactly, but he had a strange feeling that he knew things no one else should. Yet he still had no memory of Louis, or any of the other boys for that matter.
* * *
All of the boys sat in Nandos, hoods up and shades on. The press did hear about Harry being in the hospital, after they suddenly had a three month break and they caught sight of Harry leaving the hospital, and they didn’t want to be spotted. Even though they saw Harry leaving the hospital, not one person outside of One Direction knew about Harry’s memory loss, and they planned to keep it that way.
The waitress came over to the table, and Niall couldn’t help but stare at her. She had long, straight dirty blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, just like his own, and a nice body; she was very fit in his book.
“What can I get you all today?”
Niall continued to stare at her, not realizing he was. He was lost in her blue eyes, and he was lucky he was wearing the shades, or else he would have embarrassed himself even more than he did.
“Niall?” Louis elbowed him in the side, making Niall snap out of his thoughts. He quickly looked at Louis through his shades. “Your turn to order.”
“O-Oh,” Niall blushed, staring down at his menu embarrassed. He knew exactly what he wanted, but he tried to take a moment to pull himself together before he spoke. “I-I’ll have the Peri-Peri C-Chicken, and a coke.”
“Mate it’s breakfast time,” Harry butted in.
“So?” Niall questioned as he handed the waitress the menu. She smiled at him before collecting the others menus and walking off.
“You got it bad Ni,” Zayn smirked, lightly kicking the lad from underneath the table.
“Do not,” Niall blushed, pulling his hood up more so they couldn’t see.
“Niall’s got a cruuuusssshhhh!” Louis sang.
Before Niall could interject, the waitress came back with everyone’s drinks. She handed Niall’s his last, slipping a piece of paper to him with it. Niall glanced up at her, seeing a small smile appear on he face before she walked away.
“Oooooo!” Louis smirked, glancing over Niall’s shoulder to read the note.
“Niall and Valerie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Louis and Zayn started singing, making a few people turn to look at them. Liam hushed them, not wanting to be recognized, while Niall put his hand down on the table and covered his face with his arms. Could this be any more embarrassing?
After a few minutes the boys settled down, realizing that if they acted like that again they could be recognized. Everyone seemed to notice Louis’ change in attitude as well, right after Zayn and his singing, but shrugged it off since he was acting like his old self; maybe the depressed him was just a phase.
Liam slowly looked down at his utensils once the boys became quiet, staring at his spoon. He picked it up quickly and handed it to Niall, “Keep it.”
Niall, who had finally stopped blushing, smirked and passed it to Louis, who passed it to Zayn, who passed it to Harry. Harry just stared down at it, confusion written all over his face. “Why are we passing Liam’s spoon around?”
The boys grew silent, realizing he didn’t understand why. Niall decided to be the brave one and speak, “Liam doesn’t really… like spoons.”
“What are you kidding he’s afraid of them!” Zayn snapped, the smirk on his face was priceless. The entire table, besides Liam, began to laugh. Even Harry laughed at that statement; how the hell are you afraid of spoons?!
Liam just rolled his eyes and thanked God that that was when the food arrived. Once all of the food was on the table, Niall began to devourer his, acting like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“Shesh Niall slow down,” Harry gawked, seeing Niall eat his food that fast.
“Get used to it Haz-” Louis stopped mid sentence, realizing what he had said. “Um, get used to it Harry, he eats like that all of the time.” Louis spoke slower the second time through, making sure he didn’t say Harry’s nickname.
Harry nodded, a little annoyed that Louis went to use his nickname. He had told him not to use it, and that he didn’t like it when he said it, so why doesn’t he listen? This just made any sorrow or guilt he was feeling towards treating Louis like that go down the drain, yet he didn’t have a clue why he would do that.
The boys ate in silence from there on out, each of them enjoying their meal. Once Zayn finished, being the slowest eater, Liam asked for the check. While the waitress, who the boys now know as Valerie, was getting their check, Liam coughed to get the boys attention.
“Yeah Li? Louis questioned, looking at Liam.
“Well,” Liam began, glancing at each of the boys. Niall earned himself a slight thump on the back of his head from Louis when he wouldn’t stop staring at Valerie. Liam smirked once Niall looked back over, blush on his cheeks. “As I was saying, Paul was talking to me today when you were getting Lou from the house.” Liam gestured to Niall when he mentioned who went to get Louis.
“Yeah, and?”
“He said Simon is going to start scheduling a few signings and a few interviews before we jump back in to doing concerts again, just so Harry has some time to learn all of the songs.”
“When are we going to start this again?” Zayn spoke softly, trying not to get angry.
“Next week sometime,” Liam mumbled, eyes darting to the table. He knew it was too soon to start getting back to One Direction business, especially when Harry still couldn’t remember, but he couldn’t argue back. He had no other option but to agree.
“What?!” Zayn, Harry, and Louis both shouted at the same time, Louis and Zayn becoming filled with anger, while Harry became scared. It was obvious why Harry was scared, and Zayn had always had problems with covering up his emotions well, but Louis had a completely different reason why he was angry.
Louis’ anger was from his heart. He couldn’t let his best mate jump back into the publicity being scared of it. He wanted him to be comfortable with doing this, and even if Harry didn’t consider Louis his best mate, Louis still considered Harry his. “He cant just jump back into this Li!”
“I know Lou,” Liam sighed, scratching the back of his neck; he did that whenever he got nervous or was confused. “That’s why they figured doing a few signings and interviews first would help him ease back into it.”
“Bloody hell,” Louis growled, slamming his fists into the table. “Cant you see how fucking see how scared he is?!” Louis stared at Harry across the table, who was almost in tears from his fears. “He cant fucking do this-”
“Louis calm down!” Zayn whisper-yelled, once he realized people were starting to stare. He grabbed onto Louis’ wrist and made him get up, dragging him outside of the place. “What’s your problem Lou? Even I’m angry but not as mad as you, and that’s a first.”
“Can’t you see how fucking scared he is?! He doesn’t wanna do this yet, and him being forced isn’t going to help!”
“Louis think about it, how the hell are we going to ‘ease him back into the publicity’? When one direction was first made we were all basically thrown into the publicity, and we all had to get used to it. Harry just has to do that again,” Zayn dropped Louis’ wrist, staring at the older lad.
Louis stared back at Zayn, mouth open but no words coming out. He had no response to that, and even if he did, he didn’t think he would be able to get it out anyways. “Okay,” Louis managed to mumble, eyes staring at the ground.
Both boys sat outside for a few minutes, Zayn wanting to make sure Louis had calmed down. When they were about to go back inside, Harry, Niall, and Liam made their way out the doors. Harry looked so shooken up, his eyes not once leaving the floor; Louis noticed right away.
“Ready mates?” Liam spoke, trying to ignore the tension building in the air. All of the boys nodded, and made their way to the car, Harry shuffling behind all of them.
Louis couldn’t stand to see Harry this upset, so he slunk back so he was next to the youngest lad, and snaked around his shoulder hesitantly. Harry immediately pushed it off, but Louis just did it again. Harry sighed and walked to the car, Louis’ arm staying wrapped around his shoulders.
“It’s a start,” Louis mumbled to himself, not loud enough for Harry to hear. “It’s a start.”
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sorry it's kinda bad but it was kinda like a fill in chapter... i needed something for the next few chapters to fill stuff in and while writing this all i could think was 'sorry its pretty bad...' lol sooo.. yeah... votes would be nice(: