The Way You Look in the Sunset

Three

☀︎︎

Zayn was on the other side of the counter as Louis made dinner. "Your sisters don't cook? You mentioned sisters." Zayn asked, filling in questions on a math sheet.

"Lottie... Is Lottie. And the twins are eight."

Zayn pointed to a brunette girl in the family picture. It made Louis' stomach twist. "Which one is that?"

Why was he asking so many questions? "Fizzy. She's in college." He answered, putting a lid over the sauce he made.

"Where's your Mum and Dad?" Zayn asked innocently, flipping the page. Louis poured the bow ties into the bowl and started working on a salad.

"They're at work."

Zayn nodded slowly. "So you take care of them like this a lot?"

Louis nodded. "Yeah. Sort of. I mean- Yeah. I do. I'm their parent, pretty much."

Louis heard Lottie's footsteps come down. She turned the corner and stopped. Her face met Zayn's, and then turned to Louis. Her mascara was running down her face, and she had a bandaid above her eyebrow. She looked bad.

"I didn't know you had a guest over." She spoke quietly.

"This is Zayn. Zayn, this is Lottie." Louis quickly pulled her into the hallways by the wrist. Which he noticed had a bruise on it, and a few shiny marks he'd seen before. "Did he do that?" He pointed to her forehead.

"Yeah. Said something about how it wasn't fair I didn't have any marks. Or something." She mumbled.

Louis ran his thumb over it. "He's going insane." He shook his head.

Lottie broke away from Louis touch. "It's fine. I don't want to talk about him. Don't try. Please." She went to the kitchen and grabbed a water, running back upstairs where she came from.

Zayn had turned over his math and was writing what looked like a few paragraphs now. "You good?" He asked.

"Peachy." Louis finished making dinner, putting it into two different serving bowls and mushing up some veggies and fruit for Doris and Ernest.

☀︎︎

"Lousy move, mate!" Zayn cackled as he beat Louis, once again, in a heated match of FIFA. They both knew their night was coming to an end, though, since it was almost ten.

"Alright, alright. Don't be a sore winner. I'm off my game." Louis smiled and moved his fringe to the side.

Zayn yawned and leaned back against Louis' bed. They were on the carpeted floor, school work sprawled everywhere. "We'll see if you're on your game another time. I'm almost asleep just sitting here."

"Okay then. I'll walk you downstairs." They both got up, knees and backs popping. Zayn gathered his things and walked ahead of Louis. Lottie's door was cracked, and Louis could hear the slight sound of her crying over the music she had playing.