Within These Walls

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"You don't have to do this, you know. No one will mind if you take some more time," Sam's voice wrapped around Louis' head as the both of them stood in the kitchen of Sam's home.

The time he had spent with Sarah at the cancer clinic made him realise he couldn't keep hiding away from reality. He had to face it and do his best to live his life. Nothing was going to change if he stayed stowed away in his room, hiding from the rest of the world.

So, here he was, awake bright and early on Friday morning, showered and dressed, as ready as he'd ever be to take on the world.

He wasn't looking forward to it.

Of course, Louis loved learning and his intelligence was proof of that—top of his classes and acing all of his tests—it was more so the people within the school Louis always had trouble with.

It wasn't the fact Louis was disliked—he wasn't. At least, not by the vast majority of the students in his school. There were a few kids who liked to annoy him and make fun of him because he liked to keep to himself and didn't have many friends.

It was a choice.

Though, Jonathan, Luke, Ryan, and Tyler seemed to think it wasn't and that Louis was some kind of loser, which he wouldn't mind if they didn't bother him and hurl insults his way all the time.

Not that Louis couldn't handle it. He had been for the majority of his school life. However, the four of them always seemed to push their luck when Louis wasn't in the greatest of moods or the best of places mentally.

Most notably was a few months prior when all of them expect Jonathan, goaded Louis on the wrong day and threw a punch his way. This, of course, hadn't ended well for them as Louis left two of them on the ground in pain and the third scared he was going to be next.

One could say Louis was dealing with a lot back then as well.

He never thought things would get even worse.

"I'm fine," Louis finally said, keeping his eyes on the toaster, waiting for it to pop his toast out.

"Can I be honest?" Sam asked through a mouth full of food, and Louis turned to look at him.

Sam stood leaning against the island bench which sat in the middle of the large kitchen. His now empty bowel sat next to him on the marble countertop, which glistened as the light from the chandelier above them scattered light across it.

Sam's short, spiked blond hair sat perfectly on his head—as it always did—and his blue eyes looked as though they were trying to take in everything at once.

"Go for it," Louis encouraged, watching Sam swallow his food and cross his arms.

"You look like crap."

"Noted. And you look like you've been playing for my team. You have milk dripping down your chin," Louis added with a smirk, and Sam scrunched his face.

"You're gross." He wiped the milk away before grabbing his bowel and moving beside Louis to put it in the dishwasher. "Are you sure you're okay? Did you even sleep?"

Louis had not slept. Though, that wasn't anything unusual. Even before the passing of his aunt Louis barely got any sleep. He could never seem to calm his mind down enough to drift off into anything pleasant. Usually, he had to until his was too exhausted to stay awake any longer and passed out.

That hadn't happened recently, and from what Sam had said, it was obvious.

"Look, I'm fine." Louis turned away from Sam as his toast popped. "You don't have to worry about me."

"But I am worried about you. You're my family. You're like a brother." Louis felt Sam's gaze piercing into the back of his head as he spread butter onto his toast. "Look, I'm happy you're coming back to school, I just don't want you to—"

"Lash out at someone?" Louis asked, turning to look at Sam again with raised eyebrows.

"Get bullied," Sam corrected, and Louis rolled his eyes. "And then lashing out."

"It was one time. Look, I can handle four people being idiots."

"You could before. Things are different now."

Louis watched Sam as he took a small step back as he spoke. Louis took a deep breath before grabbing his toast and taking a bite.

After a few seconds he swallowed.

"Maybe it's what I need."

"A fight?" Sam questioned, and Louis shook his head.

"No. Not to be treated any different." Louis looked down at his food, realising he wasn't hungry and placing it back on the plate. "Look, I appreciate you and how much you care, Sam, but... how am I meant to move on if people keep acting like I'm going to break? Everyone walks on eggshells around me and, honestly, it doesn't help."

"I'm sorry," Sam muttered, looking away from Louis and letting his hands roll over each other. "I just don't know what to do."

"I know. But... just be how you were before. I'm dealing with this the only way I know how to. Maybe that means shutting down a little bit. I'm still me, though."

"A little bit of an asshole?" Sam asked with a chuckle, and Louis smiled.

"A little bit of an asshole."

"Look, I'll try. As long as you tell me if you need someone, okay? I know you have Isaac now but... I'm here for you."

"Okay. We should go, though. Probably gonna be late," Louis pointed out, and Sam sighed.

"Yeah. You're not going to eat that?" Sam pointed at the toast Louis had made, and Louis shook his head. "Sweet. Alright, let's go."

Grabbing the toast off the plate, Sam started shoving it in his mouth as he moved around the kitchen's island and grabbed his bag which was sitting on one of the bar stools.

Louis rolled his eyes and followed suit, grabbing his own bag from the floor, and trying to contain his thumping heart—hoping it didn't spring from his chest.

It was going to be an interesting day, Louis had no doubt about that, and as the two boys made their way outside to Sam's car, Louis was making mental list of things he shouldn't do at school.

The main thing he needed to avoid doing was mentioning to Sam what was going on with Sarah. While she had told Louis about her cancer and treatment, she had yet to tell Sam. Sarah was going to do it when Louis was with her, however, that hadn't transpired yet.

Thankfully, while at home, Sam had been giving Louis his space—as had Sam's entire family—so it hadn't been too difficult keeping the news to himself. However, now Louis was stepping out into the world again and he and Sam would be spending more time together, he had to be careful. At least, until Sarah told him.

The second thing Louis needed to steer clear of was Jonathan and his squad of ghouls. Most of the time Louis was quite able to fend them and their insults off with only his words, though, as the past indicated, he was prone to getting more physical.

Given his mental state and how unpredictable his mood had been of late, Louis was concerned he was going to be leaning more toward the physical aspect of defending himself. Which, of course, wouldn't be difficult as his height had him towering over most people, and while he hadn't been eating properly or working out, he hadn't lost too much of his muscle.

Louis didn't want it to get to that point, though. So, he thought his best course of action was to avoid the ghoul squad all together.

Though, as he climbed into Sam's old, red jeep—which had seen better days—Louis knew it was going to easier said than done.

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A/N: Okay, so, I do want to warn everyone... if you cried during 'If Walls Could Talk' this book is more depressing.

Just a little FYI for y'all.

I still encourage you to vote and comment, though!

Question:

Do you think it's right for Louis not to tell Sam about Sarah?