Stella's POV
Every night the nightmares were different, but in all of them, it involved the people I love dying. Louis, Ava, Peter... I couldn't shake them. I tried locking myself in my room, forcing myself to deal with them without asking for help. Ava could pick the lock of course but she didn't. Sometimes I would stay at Peter's but Paul lived there now and I knew how Ava felt about me interacting with Paul. It would be like... like Ava befriending Olivia Grand. She was by far the meanest of the mean in school. Flash was a bully of opportunity, picking on me when he saw a chance to, but Olivia was different. Olivia was the girl who convinced our entire grade to stick tiny pieces of paper with the word "slut" on them in my locker. Flash bullied me because he was stupid, but Olivia bullied me because she was mean. And if Ava ever became friends with Olivia I wouldn't like it, so I only made sense that Ava wouldn't like me hanging around Paul so much. So I didn't like going over to Peter and Flash's house, and I couldn't sleep at home without the nightmares... I was struggling hard with it and trying to be strong and it's rough.
"You look exhausted." Louis commented, touching the top of my head as he passed me at the kitchen table. I was eating oatmeal, but mostly just pushing it around absently with my spoon.
"It's early, I just woke up." I responded.
"Why'd you wake up so early?"
"Why did you?" I knew what he'd say if I told him I hadn't slept, but I couldn't bring myself to admit that I needed help. I know I was supposed to be communicating but I really, really suck at that.
"I aaammm... going to see a house today." He said.
"A house?" I wondered. He walked over and took my still mostly full bowl of oatmeal from me.
"Hey." I pouted.
"If you come with me I'll buy you a chocolate croissant." He offered, before taking a bite of my oatmeal. I sighed.
"Two chocolate croissants." I negotiated.
"Fine." He responded, oatmeal still in his mouth. I got up and went to my room to find something to wear. It was May now, hot in LA, and Ava had a couple pairs of black Nike Pro shorts that my mom never let me wear so now that she was long gone, I had been borrowing Ava's shorts a lot. I wanted to wear them again, but after the whole Coachella incident I didn't want to get photographed in teeny tiny shorts in public, even though I wore them around the house all the time. All this to say I changed into some pants and a baby tee and made Louis drive for once so I could braid my hair in the passenger seat.
"I kind of like this passenger princess lifestyle." I smirked, when we left to look at the house.
"Yeah, don't get used to it devil girl, you still owe me for stealing my car on fucking day one of knowing me." Louis responded.
"It was day two, actually." I pointed out.
"Smart ass." He mumbled, then hit my arm lightly.
"Why didn't you just send me back to New York?" I wondered.
"What? When you stole my car? Stell, I told you, there are things that matter and things that don't matter. I have a million cars, but there's only one you. I wasn't just going to blow my first chance at having a sibling by getting mad at you for stealing my car, or sneaking your friend into my house. And it's not like it started you on a life of crime." He explained.
"If you yelled at me it wouldn't have blown it. You can be mad at me." I offered.
"I don't want to be mad at you. Remember I'm giving up that Tomlinson rage lifestyle?"
"I mean... I'm just saying that you don't always have to try so hard to be perfect."
"I just am naturally perfect."
