I Hate You ~ Louis Tomlinson

STAY WITH ME?

"I know I already asked for a lot-" Natalie starts after a few minutes of silence, but Louis interrupts her.

"I offered."

"Okay well I know you've already done a lot and I don't have any right to ask you, but can you not leave? At least for now?" She asks shyly. A day ago she never thought he'd say yes, but now. Now she doesn't know. 

"I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay as long as you'd like." He says warmly.

She breathes out a sigh of relief and he moves to sit next to her on the bed, still holding the ice pack gently to her ribs. They sit in silence and her eyes started to water again. She doesn't want to keep crying, but it's one of those times where she just can't stop.

"Do you want tea?" Louis asks, breaking the silence.

"What?" She says turning to look at him.

"I don't know it always makes me feel better." He shrugs, looking down.

"No, I think I just want to lie down." She mumbles. 

He looks up at her and nods, and then he sees her tears.

"Oh, Natalie." He moves to the other side of her to avoid her cut and pats his lap, motioning for her to put her head down. He sees Harry do this with her all the time so he figures she likes it and he really has no idea how to comfort her otherwise.

She lays her head down tucking her hands in to her chest and curling her knees up.

"I'm sorry, I just can't stop crying."

"Shhh, it's alright. It's okay, let it out." He sits there pushing his hand through her hair until she falls asleep. He pulls a blanket over her and gently rubs her arm.

Truthfully this was really weird for him, but as much as they fight, he doesn't hate her despite what she might think. He would never want to see her hurt and he would very much like to punch the hell out of whoever did this to her.

He starts to get sleepy himself, but he doesn't have the heart to get up and risk waking her. She seems pretty comfortable, so he figures it's fine if he stays. He grabs one of her pillows from the top of her bed and props it under his head so he can lie back at least. He falls asleep with his hand tangled in her hair and doesn't wake up until it's morning.

When he does wake up, he realizes she had moved during the night to lie next to him. Her breathe is ticking his arm and she's still curled up into a little ball. They're both sideways on her bed so his legs have been hanging off all night, but he can't complain too much. He slept well all things considered. He sits up and realizes she put a blanket on him in the night which he smiles at.

He brushes her hair out of her face and places a small kiss on her forehead, which okay that was weird of him he thinks. He shakes his head out of his daze and walks out of her room quietly.

Harry catches Louis as he walks out of her room. Natalie had texted Harry last night and said she went to bed because of a headache so he wouldn't come look for her. Louis had his door shut when the boys got back so they had just figured he was in a mood and left him alone.

"The hell are you doing?" Harry says.

"Trying to find my sweatshirt. She stole it AGAIN." Louis yells the last part.

"So you snuck into her room while she's sleeping?" Harry asks.

"That's right. Not like she'll give it back if I ask." 

"Hm. Okay, but I'm telling her you were in her room." Harry replies snarkily.

"Go ahead." Louis says and he walks away happy with himself that he could think that quickly on his feet. If she doesn't want anyone to know, he'll keep her secret.