Mystery Buyer (L.S)

Five

"So this guy just randomly paid it and you don't know him? What did you say his name was? Fran asked, just as confused as Louis.
"Styles, Mr Styles. He didn't say a first name."
"The name sounds familiar." Fran raised an eyebrow as she thought. "I mean, at least you dont have to worry about money for abit now?"
Louis tried to let it go but he couldn't stop wondering.
-
It was 1.25pm and Louis was getting ready to leave his shift and head over to the record store. He received a warm hug from Fran.
"Keep me updated, Lou!"
"Mhm, I will" he replied as he grabbed his board and headed through the door as skated off.
He reached the record store and went straight in, putting his board in the back room. It was pretty busy in there already, which he liked as it made the shift go quicker. He walked over to the desk where his coworker, Dan was and waited while he finished serving the customer he was with. He didn't know Dan that well so felt a bit awkward just standing waiting.
"Thanks dude" Dan said, nudging Louis as he walked past him, heading to the staff room.
Louis grinned at the next customer as he stepped closer to the desk and logged into the cash register.
"Thanks, how are you?" he gave a small smile to the customer and took her items, scanning them. He told her the total and packed them in a bag before taking payment and finishing up. He had about 4 more customers waiting after, and served them all.
As his shift started to quiet down, Louis grabbed his phone from his back pocket and leant his elbows on the counter, checking his phone. He grabbed some scrap paper from one of the draws on the desk, making note of the total orders and what he needed. He had nothing, no envelopes, bubble wrap or anything to ship these order so needed to shop for them after work. As he scrolled through them and wrote notes down, he stopped at the latest one - the one with the huge tip - and clicked the buyers profile.
HS.
He noticed that the buyer was local too, but no profile photo. Louis sighed before noticing a customer heading his way and stood up straight again, putting his phone face down on the desk next to him.
-
Louis was daydreaming as his boss came to stand next to him to take over his shift at 7pm.
"You're free to go, unless you wanna stay overtime?" he laughed.
"Oh sorry Rob!" he let out a small laugh, feeling his cheeks turn pink and grabbed his phone and heading to grab his board. He gave Rob a wave before leaving.
-
Louis had just got home after heading to the shops to pick up the things he need to pack and post. It was almost 8pm at this point. He put his carrier bag on the table along with his phone, then headed back over to the door, put down his board and locked the front door, keeping the keys in the lock. He came back over to the sofa, sitting down on it crossed legged and picked up his phone, choosing a playlist then opened his laptop, turning it on.

((Just a little idea of the kind of thing I have in my mind of Louis flat, well the living/kitchen area. This is kind of low end council in the UK so pretty small and basic, but obviously its still clean/tidy and kinda nice and cute! And of course, let's just pretend it's more decorated to Louis taste ♥️))

Louis kept all his stuff on his coffee table pretty much all the time as he didn't have a desk of anything, plus it meant his laptop and sketch books were always handy! His laptop has only been on sleep mode so was loaded straight onto Artsy, meaning he just needed to click the tab for his 'ready to ship' listings.
He made his way down the list, selecting the drawing needed and signing his name with a smiley face in the corner of each one. His smiley faces had crosses for eyes, just to make it abit more personal. He also added a small 'Thank you' note in with each drawing, to show how grateful he was. He then carefully put each drawing into a plastic wallet, adding a piece of card on each side of the drawing for extra support then putting in a 'do not fold' envelope. He only had another 3 to pack, one being the order with the huge tip. He decided he was going to put that one in a frame, just to make it look a little more fancy. He had done the others and just finished putting this last one into the frame when his laptop chimed. It wasn't a noise he recognised, making his eyebrows furrow together as he checked it seeing it was a message on Artsy. Louis put the framed drawing down and pulled the laptop onto his legs while he read it.
"Hey, I noticed your location is down as local? If you're close to the city centre, I can come collect the order to save you posting it? Would mean I can see the drawing in person sooner too! I totally get if you would prefer to post, its all good. 🙂 Let me know either way, Harry."
It was from his buyer, and before even really thinking about it, he agreed. They arranged for Harry to meet Louis at the record store at his shift tomorrow. He was gonna be there for most of the day so was pretty flexible. Louis decided to still put the frame in the shipping box with some bubble wrap just to keep it safe, especially since he would be boarding to work.
Harry.
Louis thought to himself, at least he knew his buyers name now. He felt like everything in his life was a huge secret or mystery to him recently.
As Louis was finishing off sticking stamps on to the letters his phone rang. It was Fran requesting to video call him. He answered but turned off his camera and set his phone back on the table.
"Firstly, lemme see you, you turd. Secondly, heyyyyyyy!" Fran squeaked down the phone. "Pleaseeee, it feels weird looking at myself." she continued with a little giggle. "Plus you can finally meet my doggo!".
Louis hesitated, trying to fluff his hair slightly then balanced his phone against a glass that was on the table and turned his front camera on.
"There he is!" Fran grinned, making her dogs paw do a little wave. "This is Olaf, don't laugh!"
Louis smiled wide seeing the little dog on the screen, making the corners of his eyes crinkle.
"Hey Fran, you good?" he mumbled, feeling shy being on camera, while he carried on sticking the stamps. Louis had bad anxiety and low self confidence, even though Fran tried her best to support him and help.
"We're good! Did you hear anything else from your landlord? Wait, what are you doing?"
"Nah I didn't get time to message him again, I'm just packing these drawings." he blushed slightly. "But I did find out the first name of my mystery buyer!"
"Oh?! How did that happen?"
He chuckled at Frans excitement.
"So Harry is gonna collect the drawing in person as he apparently lives locally. Gonna meet me at the store tomorrow."
"Ok firstly, Harry is a dreamy name. Secondly, can I be there? Just wanna be nosey"
They both laughed and Louis agreed. He would be the only one working at the recond store tomorrow so why not, and his boss is pretty chilled out so he knew it wouldn't be an issue. He and Fran talked a little longer before she said she was gonna head to bed to watch Netflix.
"I'll see you tomorrow Fran, thanks for the company." Louis really was thankful too, he wasn't just saying it.
"Don't be silly! Love ya, Lou!"
"Love you too". Louis gave a warm smile before hanging up. He checked the time seeing it was almost 10pm, and decided to go and post the other drawings since they would fit in the postbox that was only a few streets away. And would also mean he wouldn't have to leave earlier than usual in the morning and rush to post them before the morning postman collected them. He glanced out of his window debating how cold it would be and decided on wearing a jacket. He pulled it on and zipped it up almost to the top and pulled up the hood too before locking the door behind him and leaving. He left his skateboard at the flat as it wasn't far.
-
It only took him 10 minutes to get there and get back home. He took off his jacket and shoes and went to shower. Then he put on some joggers and dried his hair with a hairdryer before getting into bed. He watched some YouTube videos on his phone for around an hour before plugging it in to charge and headed to sleep.