Who are you?

chapter 3.

Louis was disappointed when he woke up alone the next morning. He had such high hopes when he went to bed the previous night, but it seemed to be for nothing.

He didn't feel like getting out of bed. How could he when he wasn't where he was supposed to be? He didn't even know how to get out, and the one logical answer for his escape didn't even turn out to be the right one. It's only been a day but Louis was rapidly losing hope.

Louis shut his eyes in hopes of getting at least another hour of sleep, but it seemed fate had other plans.

"Louis, what time are we leaving today?" Lottie asked through the door, not even bothering to check if he was awake. Louis decided to ignore her in hopes that she wouldn't answer. Lottie just knocked on the door and repeated her question.

"Probably around four, now let me sleep," he grumbled, but she still didn't go away.

"Stan's downstairs, said he wanted to play some footie before he had to go to work," she said, and that woke Louis up. He hadn't talked to Stan Lucas since he still lived with Harry. He remembered Harry getting jealous of Stan, even though his best friend was as straight as they came.

"Louis, do you like Stan more than me?" Harry asked one night after Stan had went to his guest room for the night. Louis and Harry have only been dating for a month, and Harry was still very insecure about their relationship. He claimed that he was fine, but Louis knew that his extroverted personality could attracted more people than needed. In the end, though, Harry knew that Louis wanted him more than anything else.

"Harry, what are you on about? Stan's my best friend, yes, but you're my boyfriend," he said, grabbing Harry's hands. "I haven't seen Stan in person since X-Factor, so I've been excited to catch up with him. That's all."

Harry looked down and mumbled something that Louis couldn't hear.

"What was that, love?" He asked, and Harry sighed. "You've been ignoring me all day, I just... I thought you got tired of me," he said quietly. Louis pulled him into a hug.

"Harry Edward Styles, I could never get tired of you. You're the most interesting person I know," he said honestly.

Louis still thought that statement was true.

"I'll be down in a second," Louis sighed, rolling out of bed. He wasn't really in the mood for football, but he did miss Stan, even if it wasn't his Stan. He threw a shirt on and made his way downstairs, noticing Lottie finally left his door.

"Stan!" Louis said happily when he got down stairs. Stan got and greeted him with their trademark handshake that they've used since secondary school.

"Tommo, what's good?" Stan asked, exaggerating Louis' nickname. Louis let out a augh, he was only used to hearing Liam and Niall use that nickname. It was kind of nice to hear it from another mouth.

"Same old, same old," Louis lied, praying Stan wouldn't notice. Lucky for him he didn't, because Stan grabbed the football he brought and dragged Louis outside so they could kick it around the park for a bit.

"I'm going to a One Direction concert tonight," Louis decided to bring up. He knew Stan would make fun of him, but he also knew Stan was pretty smart when it came to philosophy. He didn't know how he would bring up the fact that he wasn't where he was supposed to be, but he figured if he dropped enough hints then he would eventually connect the dots.

Stan dropped the football and started to dribble it around his feet before kicking it back to Louis. "That's the band your sisters like, right?" He asked. Louis was glad Stan didn't make fun of him for going to it; however, he was also hoping he would so he could defend himself with some lame-ass excuse of "I feel connected to them" or something along those lines. He forgot that he's not in a movie.

"Yeah, I got Lottie and Fizzy VIP tickets so they can meet the band," He said, kicking the ball back.

"Well damn," Stan said, stopping the ball, before kicking it harder to Louis' left. "Big brother of the year goes to you I guess. How the hell could you afford VIP tickets to fucking meet the lads themselves?"

Louis threw his leg out to the ball, stopping it just before it got past him. "I know people on the inside, they like to plant things around the cities that can get them VIP passes essentially," he explained, kicking the ball full send back to Stan.

Stan stopped the ball to take a break it seemed, looking at Louis with wide eyes. "How the hell do you know people who work for the UK's biggest band?" he asked.

Louis of five minutes ago would've told Stan the truth, but now that he had the chance, his confidence was gone. "I mean, I just do," he said, the worst lie he's told since he woke up outside of his normal life.

Stan raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. "Do you want to keep kicking the ball, or do you want to go get breakfast? Smith's is only a five minute walk," he suggested. Louis nodded, not knowing who or what the hell Smith's was. "Let's go," he said. Top Tier Acting, he thought as Stan picked up the football and they started walking.

---

As it would turn out, Smith's is a new little cafe in Doncaster that was about a year old, hence why Louis had never heard about it. It's food was enjoyable, Louis would definitely be back when he was back in the real world.

Stan never got suspicious of Louis not being himself, which Louis decided was ultimately a good thing. If someone sprung on him that they weren't in the right world, he would check them into a mental institution, and he didn't doubt that Stan would be any different.

They stayed at Smith's and talked about anything that came to mind for about an hour before Stan had to leave for work. It was about noon when Louis got home, and he had wanted to leave at four, so he had plenty of time before he had to start getting ready. Unfortunately, without the nice distraction that is named Stan Lucas, his mind went straight back to Harry and the rest of the boys. He wondered if their personalities were any different.

Without Louis, was Liam still as stuck up and serious as he was when they first met? Were Harry and Zayn still stuck in their shells? Maybe they didn't need Louis to do all that. They easily could've corrupted Liam without him.

"Louis! Are you ready for tonight?" Fizzy asked him when he walked into the kitchen, looking as if she was already ready to leave.

"Yeah, can't wait," Louis said, unconvincingly. Fizzy frowned.

"Do you even know anything about One Direction?" she asked, and Louis shrugged. "Not really," he said. It was only a half-lie. He knew about the world famous One Direction, not the UK famous One Direction. Even so, he knew more than she did.

Fizzy pulled her phone out, typed something in, and handed Louis her phone. She looked up one of their X-Factor video diaries.

"I think that's the best way for you to get to know them outside of their music, they haven't changed much since their X-Factor days," she explained, and Louis hit play.

Liam seemed to be about the same, maybe slightly less irritated because of the lack of shenanigans Louis and Harry liked to pull. Zayn somehow seemed even quieter, Niall wasn't as giggly, and Harry.

Harry looked like he was enjoying himself, but wasn't having fun. He almost looked like he was glad to still be in the competition rather than being with his four- his three new best friends.

Louis didn't want to admit it, but maybe he helped them through the X-Factor days. That was when he felt most relevant after all, being the only one who knew how to lighten the mood while keeping things serious. He was the oldest child in his family, that was like a second nature to him.

"They seem nice," Louis said when the video was over. He barely watched any of it, he was more focused on Harry more than anything. The way he just looked bored when anyone else was talking, the glint in his eye only there when he was talking about the fans or the show. It was weird, something was definitely off in the whole group.

If things went according to plan, maybe he would find out tonight if they've gotten better without him.