You like to preach with a vodka in your mug

Chapter nine

Walking in the door with his footie bag, his school bag and notes for Harry to copy and return to their rightful owners, Louis internally groans at how squeal-y his younger siblings are. Something must've kicked off and Louis is not in the mood to deal with it.

"Achoo, spider!"

Okay, Louis can manage a spider. He forces his bags upon Lottie and flashes her a smile to get her to put them upstairs and grabs a cup. His mum is probably in the shower (she likes to time it for just before Louis gets home and sometimes Louis thinks she might do it on purpose) and so he traps the spider and throws it outside. Doris is all pouty so Louis gives her a cuddle and kisses her forehead.

"Will you play with me?" She asks, looking all angelic. Louis swears she flutters her eyelashes and he ends up having a tea party with her, Ernest, Phoebe and Daisy. He realises he's still in his muddy footie clothes (only muddy because some twit of a five-year-old jumped in a puddle right next to him as he was trying to explain something) when Phoebe yanks his jumper sleeve and tells him he's not sticking his pinky finger out enough.

"I think it's because I'm not dressed for tea parties!" Louis gasps, squirming a little when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. "How about you all go and get a teddy and I'll get tea party ready?"

That excuse to get into something warm seems to work pretty well and Louis tosses all his dirty stuff in the laundry basket to do later on. He's putting on fresh socks when Daisy stomps into his room to tell him he's taking, "aaaaaa-ges," and Louis reminds her that it's nice to knock before barging in. She rolls her eyes at him but squeals and laughs when Louis picks her up and blows a raspberry on her cheek.

"Come on, Phebes, I hear a tea party calling our name."

Louis fills up the tiny teacups with orange juice and winces when it ends up all over the noses of everyone's bears. They're washable, right? At the fear of his mother's wrath (it will be dinner time in about an hour) he doesn't allow anyone to have a biscuit and gets them all to imagine their very favourite treat to eat instead. Predictably, they all speak at once and Louis has no idea what any of them are meant to be describing but he assures everyone that their ideas sound delicious.

"Louis?" Louis turns around, feeling someone sit in his lap the moment he takes his eyes off them. His mum has her hair wrapped in a towel and his hoodie in her hand. "Please try not to throw your phone in the laundry basket. It was ringing a moment ago."

Lazily, Louis reaches his arm out and his mum dangles the filthy thing in front of him with the claim that she isn't going to rummage around in it. Louis flashes her an innocent smile and wraps an arm around Ernest, who is clearly the culprit of who has snuck into Louis' lap, as he unlocks his phone.

Harry has called him seven times. Oh, shit.

He's about to call him back when it rings again. Ernest puts his hands over his ears – he's recently started hating the sound of the phone ringing – and Louis answers it.

"Lou," Harry whines, "Lou I don't feel good."

Louis tips his head back and uses every ounce of strength in his body to not groan out loud. Why now?

"Why?"

"Dunno." Harry's slurring his words and sounds like he's about to cry.

"Okay," Louis sighs tiredly.

"Are you mad?"

"No, baby, I'm just a bit tired."

"Oh," Harry whimpers, "sorry. You can go if you want."

Louis can hear the fragile shake of Harry's voice and winces when he begins to sob. He sounds a little further away, almost as if he's dropped his phone so he can hide his face in his hands. He glances at Lottie and unfortunately for her, they make eye contact. She frowns and questioningly nods towards Louis' phone but Louis simply deposits Ernest in her lap, ruffles his hair and then announces to the tea party attendees that Lottie is their new host.