Letters to the Author -Larry Stylinson

chapter five

Louis squinted his eyes, slowly pivoting around on his heel and gripping the strap of his bag tightly. Did he hear Liam correctly?

He could see Zayn nodding, smiling at Liam as if he was the only person in the world. Louis didn't care about their budding relationship, though; Zayn might just be friends with his idol and he was sitting in this very coffee shop. He took a few quick strides towards the boys, his face serious. "You're lying." he accused, sitting down next to Zayn at the bar and staring straight at his face.

He could see Zayn giving Liam a weird look, as if asking, Why is this strange boy talking to me?

"Okay, I'm lying," Zayn finally said, chuckling. "Go away."

Louis looked at Liam, his eyebrows furrowed. Was Liam not going to defend him? Liam avoided his eyes, just looking at Zayn with a forced smile. "Sorry, he gets that way sometimes," The younger boy finally said, patting Zayn's hand but biting his lip all the while. Louis held in a few words and a scoff, just bit his tongue and stalked out of the Donnie Cafe. He was coming back tomorrow and Zayn was going to tell him more about his friendship with Harry Styles. But right now, he just needed to go home.

The minute he stepped outside, his jacket zipped up and his hood over his head, the wind practically blew his body over. He blinked rapidly as water pushed against his glasses, blurring his vision. He ripped the things off, stuffing them in his back pocket and accepting the fact that he was going to be blind the whole way home. 

It was quite chilly outside, each time the breeze picked up a shiver would go down Louis' spine. Louis usually walked home, but he decided he was going to ride the bus home today, His feet, although he wore very comfortable shoes to work, were killing him. He sat down on a nearby bench, where a girl was also sitting. She had an umbrella, along with rain boots and a raincoat. Louis envied her. 

He was extremely grateful when the girl moved closer to him and put her umbrella over his head as well. "Thank you," he said quietly, hoping she could hear him over the pounding rain, bouncing off the sidewalks and sending a mist into the air.

She smiled at him. "Of course. You looked quite miserable."

Louis laughed flatly. "Quite."

They sat in silence, Louis watching the rain form a circle around them as it slid down the umbrella before falling straight to the ground. Louis was thinking of Harry Styles' legs when she finally spoke.

"What's your name?"

Louis turned to look at her, watching the way she nervously brushed her brown hair over her shoulder and avoided his eyes. "Louis," he said. 

She nodded quickly, biting her lip and rubbing her knees with her hands. They didn't talk after that. She could tell he didn't want to make a conversation, and honestly, he didn't care if he knew her name either. He knew he was being quite rude by using her umbrella and not even making the effort to start a conversation with her, but he just wanted to go home. The fact that he was so close to meeting Harry without having to pay a million pounds was still tugging at his heart.

The white tall bus finally stopped in front of them, when the pounding rain had weakened to a soft downpour. The girl moved her umbrella away, and Louis let her go on the bus first before he stepped up the bus, his feet squishing beneath him. The bus was unbelievably warm, heat blowing out of the vents and he hated that he was warm and wet at the same time. He'd rather be cold and wet.

There were a few stops around the city before the bus would start driving towards Louis' dorm, so he plopped down in an empty seat, propping his bag against the window side before laying his head on it. He straightened his legs out, but his feet didn't hang over the edge that far. 

He pulled his phone, which had his ear buds wrapped around it, and turned on his playlist titled, Soft. He pushed the white ear buds into his ears and closed his eyes as he listened to Cigarette Daydreams, by Cage The Elephant. The music soothed him, and he finally stopped shivering enough that he could relax. He was uncomfortably wet, but that was okay.

He had fallen asleep when Chasing Cars came on, and woken up when the playlist stopped. He blinked quickly, shooting up in his seat. There was nobody else on the bus, just the sound of the rain and the bus driver accompanying him. And yeah, they had probably came to his stop and he was missing out on quite a bit of precious reading time, but he liked being here, on the bus. He met eyes with the bus driver in the mirror. He spoke. 

"I have two hours left in my shift, so tell me when you need anywhere to go. If you'd like I can keep driving."

Louis blushed a bit, but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah," he said quietly. "That'd be great, thanks."

And so he laid back down, this time just listening to music and watching the rain fall against the window across from him. When he started to recognize the buildings again, he said a weak yell to the bus driver that it was his stop. His eyes were halfway open when he finally stood up, stumbling a bit. 

"Thank you for driving me," he slurred lazily, and the bus driver chuckled.

"Anytime."

Louis let out a tired laugh when he ran into a person who was coming on the bus, talking on the phone. He almost fell down the stairs onto this boy. "Sorry," he whispered, too tired to say anything more.

But then, then he made the awful mistake of looking up. And he just saw green, he saw shining green and full pink lips and dripping wet curls, and never had Louis been so weak in the knees. The boy looked at him, some odd emotion flashing across his eyes before he gently pushed past Louis. Louis followed his tall figure with his eyes all the way until he sat down. 

"You getting off?" The bus driver asked. Louis, flustered, nodded, shaking his head as every thought he had before vanished his mind and all he could think about was sleep.

***

Short chapter. Aha.

-Kayla. x