Sugar Cookies

6. Falling.

Louis woke up to his phone ringing, it took a few seconds for him to notice that the sound shooting through his room was the ringtone he had specifically set for his best friend.

"Kate, what's up?" Louis asked sleepily as he attempted to turn the call onto speaker. It was only seven o'clock but he was exhausted so after his dinner he went for a sleep, not expecting Katie to call him. She sniffled through the phone, immediately alerting Louis of the serious situation, "Katie, what happened?" He asked again, his voice not as thick with sleep this time round.

"Can I come to yours, please?" Her voice was desperate and he could hear that she was crying. Louis would never deny Katie the opportunity to come to him in a time of need and now wasn't any different.

You see, Louis and Katie had two very different family lives.

Louis came from a loving home in every aspect, and although his father was never around his mum and siblings were always there for him. They did everything they could for him and were never a step short of affectionate, smothering him in love and praise at every possibility.

Katie on the other hand didnt have life so good. Her parents were still together, still married- much to her dismay. Her mum was young when she had Katie and Katie's dad was a considerable amount older than her mum for the ages they were at the time. Yvonne was seventeen and Travis was twenty six and because of Yvonne's family's religion they were forced to get married- her father would not stand for his daughter having a child out of wedlock. So they were put into a situation neither of them could've ever imagined and to cope with this the pair of them turned to vices that majorly neglected their daughter. Yvonne spent all her time in work, slaving away day after day as a reactive maintenance manager, it was boring and stressful but she spent almost every free minute in the office. Her dad drank- very different, yes, but it was still what he did- and he got angry. So Yvonne was always tired and Travis was always drunk- not a good combination.

To put it simply he abused his family, he would take out his anger on Yvonne mostly but on the odd occasion he would abuse his daughter. It was very occasional but if Travis got very drunk and something just tipped him over the edge then Kate was his target. And Louis had to assume that this is what happened.

"You start walking over here and I'll come and pick you up okay?" Kate let a strained 'yes' slip through her mouth and into Louis' ear before he heard her front door shut and the wind begin to rustle around her.

He pushed his bedsheets off of him and hurried downstairs to where James and Liam were sitting in the living room- watching football, as per usual. Louis quickly muted himself to Kate and walked towards the pair, "Can one of you take me to get Kate? She's coming over here for the night."

"Come on. Let's go." James was up in a second, alerted by the tone of his brother's voice. He didnt know the ins and outs of Kate's personal life but he wasn't stupid, and over time James had put two and two together to a degree. The older man got his keys out of the small bowl sitting on a shelf by the door, with Louis at his heels- the teenager in joggers, a big jumper and very unruly hair.

They drove their way towards Katie's house, Louis' eyes scanning the streets as he watched out for his best friend. He saw her when they turned onto Almond Road. She was wearing one of James' old hoodies, that he had given to Louis and Kate had stole from him, and had her head facing her feet as she slowly walked down the road. Her recently died purple hair was hanging out of the hood and sitting by her shoulders, blowing in the wind.

The younger brother quickly tapped James' shoulder, signalling for him to stop the car. Both of them exited the black vehicle and James began to move towards Katie while Louis opened the back door of the car and slid in to the side as James wrapped a muscly arm around her shoulder and directed her to the car. Kate got in next to Louis, her hood still draped over her head and her eyes dull, void of emotion. Louis turned to face her, watching as she stared ahead while James started the car back up again. After a few minutes Katie leant her head down onto Louis' shoulder and allowed a singular tear to slip down her cheek, it flowing down onto Louis' skin where the collar of his jumper had moved.