Barricade Bunny

CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR: APOLOGY

Louis is scared. His mum raised strong, independent children and the fact that Louis has not only been lying to his sister but confessed everything to her while fucked out and wasted. Lottie has left her life to come and deal with his shit. Louis is the older sibling and shouldn't be putting her through this, but he sure as shit doesn't regret it. He has to face the music and take whatever she throws at him.

"Hmmm." Lottie hums as she opens the door for Louis. It's so clear that he's in hot water. Louis contemplates running straight back to Harry, but that's another mess for another time. Right now, he needs to save his relationship with his sister.

"Lots." He whispers.

"Don't start with that, Louis. I'm so fucken disappointed in you." Louis gulped.

"Can I explain?"

Lottie shot him a look, "You better."

Louis sat cautiously on the edge of the bed, wringing his fingers, hating that this was happening right now.

"I didn't mean for you to find out like this, Lots. I planned to explain it all to you, but one stupid night has ruined everything." Lottie huffed, glare intensifying but saying nothing; she sat trembling on the sofa's edge, her face etched with anger and hurt. Louis' heart was pounding in his chest, knowing he had to come clean about his double life. Taking a deep breath, he started with the simplest explanation, his voice trembling with emotion.

"I'm a stripper. It's not something I planned, but I needed a way to pay the bills and not get stuck in some office job that would suffocate me."

Lottie's eyes widened with shock and realisation that this wasn't new.

"A stripper? How. How could you? You not only sold yourself for money, but you hid this from me, Louis. I thought we promised honesty after everything."

"I know, Lottie, and I'm sorry. I was scared of how you would react, how it would affect you, and how I needed to be a better role model than that. I needed it to not affect our relationship. But know I never wanted to hurt you." Louis could feel the emotions swirling inside him, tearing at his heartstrings, churning in his belly.

Teary-eyed, Lottie looked at her brother and whispered, "You lied to me, Lou. You lied and made me believe everything was alright. How do you expect me to trust you after this?"

"I understand why you're upset about me stripping; I truly can see why. I should have been honest from the start. But please let me explain this mess with Harry, and then we'll return to everything else. I'm not following Harry on tour, Lottie. Yes, I'm following his tour but not for him. I'm following Michael, the guitarist."

"What the fuck has Michael got to do with any of this, Louis?" Lottie huffs.

"Coachella weekend one, do you remember me saying the guitarist was sick? We debated it, but you didn't care because Harry fucken Styles was prancing onstage. We went back on weekend two, and the guitarist was replaced by Michael. I couldn't look away, Lottie. He is gorgeous. I asked you who he was, but I was again brushed off because Harry was on stage. I couldn't let it go. I stalked his socials, brought tickets to as many shows as possible, and I've been trying to get his attention since then."

Lottie just looked gobsmacked, and Louis couldn't stop shaking. He's expecting her to pounce on him and slap him stupid at any moment.

"How do you expect me to believe you, Louis? You've gone from stripping to full-on stalking, all without telling me. This sounds so insane."

Louis sat beside his sister, grabbing her trembling hands, and softly saying, "I know it does, Lots, but I need you to understand. I've been torn between my obligation to protect you and my desire, to be honest with you. I love you and never want to lose our bond, but I thought telling you the truth would ruin everything."

"It's not just the lying Lou. It's the fact that you didn't trust me enough to risk confiding in me with such huge life decisions. I ring you to ask for dinner ideas or what colour rug to buy, and you've been hiding all of this for who knows how long." Lottie is full-on sobbing, shattering Louis' heart, but it's his fault.

"You're right, Lots. I should have trusted you with this. I was scared and selfish. That isn't very brotherly of me, and it sure wasn't me being a good best friend. I promise from now on, I'll be completely transparent with you. No more secrets." Louis vowed.

Lottie launches herself at Louis just as he expected, slapping him upside the head before pining him down and kissing him all over his face.

"I love you even if you are a fucken idiot. I'm not angry about all of this, Louis. I was confused, and I was scared. Scared of your career, scared that you are being Mr worldwide with no one knowing. Scared, I would lose you too."

Louis reached up, snaking his arms around Lottie's waist, and letting her curl beside him.

"Thank you for worrying about me, little sis. We've been through so much as a family. I'll do everything to make it right."

"You can start by explaining every little detail about the Harry situation. You just got out of his bed, Louis. Thousands of screaming fans would kill for that chance." Lottie laughed between words.

"Given a chance, I can achieve anything, and this time I didn't even want the prize. It just happened. I'll answer anything you want to know, but first, we'll nap. The popstar really wore me out."

"Ew, Louis. That I didn't need to know."

Louis snuggled into his sister, inhaling her familiar strawberry shampoo, feeling like the luckiest man on the planet. He knows once he wakes up, she will have a lot of questions, he knows she'll have trust issues for a while, and he knows Harry will be waiting for him for answers of his own.

Louis is determined as he drifts off to make it all okay again. No more games.