Misadventure

45

Louis' POV

"Not fucking cool," was the first thing I said when I woke up the next day. Was it the next day? It was probably the next day.

Will was kneeled on the ground beside the couch where I was laying. Not sure what you're talking about, mate," Will replied. He handed me a water bottle, which I downed half of without even pausing to breathe.

I wiped the droplets from my lips, capping the bottle and tossing it on the concrete floor. "Fuck off."

"Jesus. What the hell's your problem lately." He stared at me in disbelief. "Back at the start of university, if I had given you extra heroin you would have thanked me. You've really changed you know."

"Maybe I want to change. Has that ever occurred to you?" Maybe I was getting fucking sick and tired of being an addict, and if he was really my friend, he would respect that.

"Chill, dude. It's not like I gave you enough to overdose. It was an extra half-shot."

"It was an extra half-shot that I told you not to give me." I glared at him. "It was too much. I don't have the tolerance that I used to."

"Good for you. You're less fucked up than me. Do you want a gold star sticker or something?" Will rolled his eyes. "God, you sound just like him."

"Like who?"

"Like fucking Harry." Will's expression suddenly shifted, his lips curving into a small frown. He no longer seemed as defensive. In fact, he looked more than a little bit sad. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have given you so much."

I let out a humorless laugh. "No kidding."

"It seemed like a good idea in the moment, you know." He sank into the couch cushions, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his bony knees.

Then he sighed, slouching forward to hold his chin in his hands. "I was high. It felt really good. And, I don't know... You seemed so down. I wanted to help you feel better. And Harry..." he trailed off.

Any attempts by Will to diffuse my anger went to waste the moment he decided to mention Harry's name. I rose from the couch, hands on my hips with my lips pursed at Will. "What the hell does Harry have to do with it? With what you did to me?"

"It's what I've been saying since you got here, man. He's really under your skin. You used to love getting as fucked up as possible. I thought... I don't know..." He exhaled. "that maybe you still wanted to on some level? But you were scared? You know, cause of Harry's opinions on that sort of thing."

Was he insane? Last night, I almost overdosed. "I told you not to. You did it anyways. You violated my trust."

He scoffed. "You're one to talk about trust." His familiar smug grin was back, and I wanted to punch it right off of his prematurely-aged face.

"Just shut up, Will."

"Niall's parents-"

"Seriously. Shut the fuck up." I felt nauseous. My heart started racing at the mention of them.

"Niall could have gone to jail. Because of you. Because you were such a fucking coward, Louis."

"I'm leaving," I said suddenly.

"Looks like you're still a coward."

It took me ages to look for my phone and keys. Eventually, I found them in between the couch cushions.

My phone was dead. I didn't exactly get the chance to plug it in last night, considering Will nearly put me in a fucking coma.

"Sit down. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up." He unplugged his own phone, that way I could you use the outlet closest to the couch.

"I'm going upstairs to make you some tea and toast," he told me.

"I'm really not hungry." This wasn't true. I was famished. I started to second guess just how long I had actually been asleep for.

"I'm making you some anyways," he insisted. "You'll feel better after you eat something."

"You're right," I said sarcastically. "What was I thinking? I'm starving, but I've got Harry in my ear telling me not to eat tea and toast. Thank god my best friend is here to give me what I secretly want."

"You're an insufferable twat."

"Takes one to know one," I muttered, sinking into the couch cushions. "Fucking prick."

Soon enough, my phone screen lit up as it turned back on.

My stomach dropped to my toes.

"Fuck."

The date was February 2. I had been asleep for an entire day longer than I'd even been aware of. Was Will just not going to tell me? It was low, even for him.

He came back down the stairs with loud footsteps. He carried a tray with toast and two steaming mugs of black tea, sugar packets on the side.

The smell made my mouth water. I was starving, but couldn't have eaten if I wanted to. My stomach was in knots.

"What's the matter?" Will sat down beside me, seeming unbothered, meanwhile I felt like I was about to have a god damn heart attack.

"Look." I swallowed thickly, then showed him my screen. 36 missed calls from Zayn. 11 missed calls from Harry.

Will shrugged. He tore open a sugar packet and shook it into one of the mugs.

Then he pulled out a spoon from between the couch cushions to store it, metal clinking against porcelain. "It's going to be fine, Louis."

"You don't know that..." My breathing was becoming dangerously fast. It was like I couldn't get enough oxygen, no matter how much air I drew into my lungs. Then a wave of dizziness hit me as I stood up. "I need to go. Where are my shoes?"

"Fucking chill, mate. They need to get over themselves."

"Harry called. He actually called me," I said in disbelief, more to myself than to Will. "I slept through his birthday."

"Eh. Shit happens."

"What if that was the only chance I had to fix things? And it's fucking ruined because you... you fucking drugged me!"

"Oh my god, would you relax. Seriously. Whether or not I gave you the extra heroin wouldn't have changed the fact that you fucked up things with Harry big time. Tell me, if you had been awake and answered the phone when he called, how would that have gone? You still would have been high. He still would have been pissed, because he's a prick with a superiority complex."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I hollered.

"You're better off without him."

Will was wrong. I wasn't better off without Harry.

But it was becoming clear that Harry was probably better off without me.