Louis laid in bed, cold, shivering, with the blanket wrapped tightly around him. Looking over at Liam's sleeping figure, the emptiness in his chest grew immensely. The sheets tangled around his legs as he turned to look up at the ceiling, a cool breeze hitting him. He considered closing the window, but didn't feel like getting up. Lazily he propped himself up on one arm to grab his sweatpants on the floor, he looked around for the hoodie he was wearing but realized that he left it in the other room.
With a sigh, Louis pushed himself up from the warm bed and walked over to the closet, picking out the first shirt he found. He put on the t-shirt before getting back in bed. He stared at Liam as he slept, not feeling tired at all, which was weird he thought, he was completely exhausted just a couple of hours ago. He cast a glance at the clock hanging over the door.
01.47
He could barely distinguish the numbers with the weak street lights being the only light source in the room. He watched as the seconds passed by, one by one and counted them together with the clock. One, two, three, four. five, six, seven. . . He continued like that until one minute had passed, then he would start all over again. He did this until he could feel his eyelids grow heavier, but still somehow, he wasn't at all tired. One, two, three . . . Ninety four. . . Ninety fiv- he stopped. He had passed sixty a long time ago and now his minutes were all messed up.
Louis let out a sigh, shivering slightly at the cool air entering the room, he wanted to slap himself for forgetting to close the window, but there was no way he was getting up again. He could sleep in the cold, he decided. Whatever, he deserved it. It's just a little gust. Besides, he had heard that it was good to sleep in a colder room. Apparently you slept better or deeper or something, he couldn't quite remember.
After tossing and turning for most of the night he decided he would not get tired like this, he closed his eyes, facing Liam and just tried to at least get some rest.
He must've dozed off, because a loud noise startled him out of his slumber. He snapped opened his eyes and looked around for his phone, finding it under his pillow. With a quiet groan he turned the damn thing off before slumping back down again. He rested his hands on his chest, phone still in hand, and just stared up at the ceiling trying to gather enough energy to get up and get ready.
With a heavy sigh, Louis pushed himself off the bed and headed to the bathroom. He got ready a little earlier than usual and decided to pick up a tea on his way there. They had started making much more money since Louis got this job and spending it on stuff like this wasn't a problem anymore.
Drink in hand, Louis walked into the office. He doesn't know why he hadn't done it before, he had always loved his tea. And it had zero calories, Louis looked it up. So that was great, now he could get it everyday without feeling too bad. Though it had to be without cream and sugar of course.
He placed the half empty mug on his desk before heading towards the staff kitchen. Still feeling half dead from the lack of sleep, Louis made the coffee robotically like every morning. He poured it in Mr.Styles' mug before heading down the hallway. He greeted him like every other morning and Mr.Styles answered politely with a smile.
So there he was, at his desk, trying to work. He was supposed to send an email to Mr.Miller regarding the lawsuit but he had no idea what to say. This was getting ridiculous he thought as he looked at the draft in front of him. He had done this a thousand times before, why was he finding this so hard now? He sighed and took a sip of his cooled tea before going over Mr.Styles' file once again and decided to just go for it. If it turned out like shit then so be it. He'll fix it then.
Dear Mr.Madison Miller. . .
"So are you coming?" Louis couldn't come up with a reason not to, he couldn't say he had too much work because Mr.Styles hadn't given him much to do lately, it was actually getting a bit boring. So with no excuse Louis reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, hold on, let me just log out," he said and nodded towards his computer.
"Alright, I'll go get Harry." Louis' head snapped up to look at Niall. "Why are you getting him?" He asked, hoping with all his heart it wasn't what he thought. "He's coming with us," Niall said before walking into Mr.Styles' office, without knocking Louis noted. He never knocked. Louis thought it was quite odd, even if they were good friends you should always knock. Especially when you're at work, he could be busy. What if you just walked in without knocking and you accidentally interrupted a very important meeting? Louis does not know how he would've handled that situation. Probably not so well, he thought as he watched his screen go black.
Niall came back out of the office just a moment before Mr.Styles who locked the door behind him. Louis got up with a little sigh and grabbed his phone, greeting them with a tight lipped smile. He had no idea how this was going to go but he just hoped that it wouldn't be awkward. Then he wouldn't know what to do, because he was honestly the worst at handling those situations. Especially when you're with multiple people. If you are only two you can pretend that it's their fault, but when there are more people talking and having fun and you just don't know what to say or do even though they are doing their best to include you, then it's definitely your fault.
They ended up at some sushi place and Louis was dreading this. There was no way he could avoid eating here, they would see all the pieces left on his plate. He considered for a brief moment to run out the door, but figured that that probably wouldn't work out so well. He thought back to the last time he had lunch with Mr.Styles. Now that was awkward.
They took a seat at a corner table and Louis noticed some eyes on them. Or more specifically on Mr.Styles. He wondered what it was like to be him. Rich and famous and have everybody falling at your feet. Must be nice, he thought, to be able to do whatever pleases you whenever you feel like it. There were probably a lot of people looking up to him, Louis knew he did. And he certainly would not handle that kind of pressure well.
Louis let himself imagene how it would be if he actually did become famous one day. In this fantasy he obviously wasn't an awkward freak, he was social and funny with many friends, but he was still humble. He had a cool backstory where he had been very brave and that experience had built the person he was today. But not many people knew about that because he didn't really like talking about it. But one day it got out and exploded on the news and everyone would think so highly of him but he wouldn't let it get to his head. He wouldn't be one of those people and the waitress handed him a menu bringing him out of his thoughts.
Looking over the menu carefully he noted that there were three different salads. That definitely lightened the heavy ball in his gut a bit. He decided on which one was cheapest, there was no point wasting money if he wasn't going to eat it. As they waited for their food to be brought to their table, Louis noticed the glances exchanged between Niall and his boss. Not completely sure what it was about, Louis just sat there fiddling with his fingers. He wanted to pick up his phone so he could escape this just until the food arrived, but that would be highly impolite.
Louis focused his gaze on his lap, staring intently at his hands as he was trying to pass the time a little bit faster. But it didn't seem to be working as he felt his face grow hotter. His collar grew tighter around his neck as he felt the heat spread to the rest of the body. Louis grabbed his glass of ice water and chugged down half of it. The cold liquid ran down his throat, cooling him down a bit. There were a few mint leaves floating around in his glass, drowning in the water as he set it down.
A sigh of relief left him when he saw the waitress approach them with two trays in hand. He placed one in front of Mr.Styles and one in front of Louis before excusing himself and went to get Niall's food. The young woman soon returned with Niall soup. Wait, they had soup? Louis cursed himself for not getting that instead, he really should start reading more than just the names. But it wasn't his fault, why do they always choose so long and complicated things to call their dishes. If Louis was a chef he would call his food something simple, like tomato soup with mushrooms or cooked pasta with shrimp. See, simple, uncomplicated but effective. You could easily understand what's in the food without reading a mile long description of every item on the menu. Maybe he should open a restaurant, he chuckled a bit at the thought.
Niall shot him an odd look and Louis realized he had no idea what he was laughing about. A faint blush covered his cheeks as he looked down at his untouched food. He picked up the fork and moved around a half cherry tomato before stabbing it with his fork. Slowly he brought it to his mouth, keeping his gaze stuck on the plate. His own mind was a tough enough cretic, he didn't need other people judging him as well. Sometimes he wondered why Niall always invited him to these lunches when that obviously was the last thing he needed. Maybe it was to mock him he thought, but that didn't seem Niall-like at all. Louis came to the conclusion that he was only trying to be nice, that's more like him.
"Louis?" He snapped his head up.
"What?" He asked a little taken aback. Niall laughed while Mr.Styles just looked confused. "I asked you- never mind, forget about it." Louis looked between him and Mr.Styles for a moment before nodding and slowly started chewing on his tomato. "You're really quiet today, what's up?" Niall asked.
Nothing's up, he just didn't know what to say with Mr.Styles right there. He wasn't used to this, Niall he had gotten used to but this, not this. Whenever they were more than two people Louis found it incredibly hard to find his place and with these people, well they were already friends so that made it even harder. He couldn't help but feel like the third wheel with them chatting away about. . . Whatever it was they were talking about.
Louis let out a quiet sigh and took a sip of his water. He just wanted to get out of there. Maybe he could sneak out the bathroom window? Suddenly Louis felt like crying, why was he always like this, always the odd one out. And it was so stupid because he shouldn't be upset and they are in the middleof a freaking resturant and he didn't know what hit him but he was really trying his hardest to keep his tears at bay. This was ridiculous he thought as he blinked his eyes a couple of times before looking up from his glass.
"Are you alright"? He suddenly asked, concerned and Louis realized that he hadn't even answered his previous question. "You seem really out of it today."
"Oh no, it's nothing. I just didn't get much sleep," he explained and wrapped his arms defensively around himself. Mr.Styles hadn't said much yet and Louis didn't know if that was a good thing or not. On one hand he wouldn't have to try as hard to keep up a conversation, but on the other hand he had no idea what he was thinking. Was he always like this or was it because Louis was there with them. He probably doesn't even want him there he thought as he bit into an olive.
The rest of the lunch mostly consisted of Niall and Mr.Styles trying to engage him in the random conversations they were having and Louis doing the best he could to not be awkward, though it was a lot harder than he anticipated with the weird glances they were giving him.