Gone (Larry Fanfic)

 Present.

It had been five months since Harry had died. Five terrible, gut-wrenching months that left Louis feeling empty and alone. Sometimes he still refused to believe it. He would lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, and pretend that Harry was sound asleep in the next room over. Sadly, that wasn't the case. It was far from it actually. And Louis knew this, he just couldn't properly wrap his head around it.

A knock came at Louis' bedroom door and he groaned. "Louis, are you coming down for dinner?" Zayn asked, genuine worry in his tone. 

"No." Was Louis' only mumbled response as he shoved his head into his pillow. He heard a loud sigh come from Zayn on the other side of the door. "We made your favorite, mate!" He said, obviously trying to cheer Louis up. 

"I don't care." Louis said, this time clearer than before, so that Zayn got the point. Zayn himself went quiet and Louis sighed, figuring he had given up. Then there was some shuffling outside, and the door swung open to reveal Zayn, holding a key in his hand. Louis rolled his eyes, remembering that the boys had all kept an extra key to his room, because they didn't want him to be left alone too long. Who knows what he might do. Was exactly how Liam had put it  after the accident. 

Zayn came over and sat on the edge of Louis' bed. "You need to eat mate." He said, sounding concerned.

Louis just shook his head. "I already ate."

Zayn sighed, seeing he was getting nowhere. "That was yesterday, Lou. You can't do this."

"I'm not doing anything." Louis said harshly, and layed back on the bed. "I'm not fucking hungry." He added, just to be sure his point got across.

It had been only five months since his best friend...his boyfriend, the closest person to him, had died. And now Zayn expected him to act normal? No, that was not happening. 

Zayn slightly nodded and got up, taking the hint. "Alright, but the foods always there. Unless Niall gets ahold of it."

Louis didn't respond to Zayn's terrible attempt at a joke. Instead he stayed put on his bed, just like he had for months.

****

Louis' stomach growled, causing him to wake up. It did it again, signaling he was hungry. Or  starving. Zayn had been right about one thing; Louis didn't want to eat. He wasn't starving himself, he just wasn't in the mood. But at the moment, his body needed food. Whether he liked it or not.

Louis cautiously walked to his door and opened it. He also wasn't in the mood to see the boys. He hoped they would be gone, but that never happened around here anymore. He slowly made his way around the corner, towards the stairs. It was pretty quiet, until he heard Niall laughing like a crazy person. Louis stopped, Niall and the boys were downstairs in the living room. How the hell can Niall be laughing? Louis asked himself, almost angrily. 

He sighed and walked down the steps into the living room, where Niall was seated on the couch. He was too busy watching TV to notice Louis on the stairs behind him. Louis raised and eyebrow and looked around. Where were Zayn and Liam?  He made it to the bottom of the stairs. He had figured Niall was joking around with the other two, but he was wrong.

He walked around the corner to the kitchen, where he heard Liam and Zayn. He stopped at the doorway to listen. Yes, they deserved privacy, but at the moment Louis didn't care.

"Yeah, he said he's not hungry." Zayn told Liam, obviously talking about Louis.

Liam rolled his eyes. "And you listened to him? He's fucking starving himself Zayn!" He softened his tone and tried again "I'm sorry, but we can't afford to lose both of them." He sighed and glanced out into the room Niall was in.