Within These Walls

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Isaac said you might be coming but I didn't know if you'd actually make it out!" Sarah said, a smile still plastered on her face as Louis shrugged. "I would get up and hug you, but I'm on a bit of a leash."

Looking down at her arm, Louis saw the tubes sticking out of it, pumping her full of a poison which was, hopefully, going to make her better.

Returning a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Louis moved closer and bent down, wrapping his arms awkwardly around Sarah, doing his best to not touch any of the equipment surrounding her.

"Thought you could use the distraction," Louis muttered, pulling away and locking his gaze on the white, leather chair which sat beside Sarah.

"You didn't have to," Sarah mumbled back, though Louis saw the happiness radiating in her eyes that said otherwise. "Things are tough."

"No, it's time," Louis said quickly, reaching his hand out to rest on Sarah's. "Besides, things are tough for you, too."

"Okay, if you're gonna sit here with me, we need to get one thing straight."

"What's that?" Louis questioned, and Sarah moved her hand away from Louis' and pointed at the bag hanging from the drip stand.

"We don't take pity on me because of this." Sarah let her hand fall back to Louis' as he kept his eye on the bag. "Enough people in my life do that already. I don't want you to treat me any different now you know."

"I'll try."

"How're you?" Sarah asked, and Louis gaze dropped to hers, watching the sympathy ripple through them.

"I'm fine. If I can't pity you, you can't pity me," Louis pointed out, and Sarah shrugged, letting out a chuckle as she did.

"Deal."

Silence hung between the two friends as they settled into each other's company, and Louis let his eyes wander around the room, taking in the greenery, art, and photographs scattered across it.

Despite what was happening within the room and what it was used for, it was quite a nice place. It was calm and comfortable. Something one would want when going through what Sarah was.

"So, what do we talk about if we're not pitying each other?" Sarah asked, breaking the silence, and bringing Louis' attention back to her. "I mean... it's been a while since we've just... talked."

"Yeah..." Louis said quietly. "The last few weeks have been... interesting."

"Why don't we talk about you and Isaac?" Sarah questioned, and Louis looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Isaac doesn't tell me much about you two. He's always too busy throwing a pity party my way. I need the gossip."

"He does love throwing pity parties," Louis said with a chuckle, though he never minded them. "What do you wanna know?"

"How it's going! Just spare me the gross details. He is my brother, after all."

"Trust me, I wouldn't want to tell you about our make-out sessions or when we wrestled—"

"Oh, my God!" Sarah exclaimed, slapping Louis' arm. "Please tell me that wasn't a euphemism!"

"No, no!" Louis laughed, pulling away from Sarah and raising his hands to protect himself. "We haven't done that!"

"Good!" Sarah said, settling back down and letting Louis' hand rest on hers once more. "He must remain innocent."