The Divorce

1

"Louis? What's wrong?" Harry asked as he answered the phone and Louis was sobbing on the other end of the line.

"El wants a divorce." Louis cried.

"What?" Harry questioned.

"And she told me through a fucking text!" Louis wailed.

"Seriously?" Harry was totally baffled.

"Yeah." Louis sighed.

"Wow. That's awful. I'm so sorry, Lou. Is there anything I can do?" Harry answered, feeling bad for his friend. Who the hell asked for a divorce through a text? Oh, that's right. Eleanor.

"As you know we bought our apartment last year. I don't want to spend another second in her company. I know we haven't talked much in the past couple of years, but any chance I can sleep in your spare bedroom for a couple of days?" Louis wondered.

They hadn't spoken much at all since Louis' wedding two years ago. Harry had his reasons.
"Yeah, of course. You can stay for as long as you need."

"Are you sure? I can always ask one of the boys if I can sleep on their couches. You know, go back and forth." Louis hesitated.

"Don't be silly. I have an extra room. You're welcome to use it. Honestly, Louis. I'm happy to help." Harry replied.

"Thank you, Harry. I really mean it. I've already packed me bags. Can I come over now?" Louis asked.

"Sure." Harry agreed.

As soon as they hung up Harry flew up and ran to get the vacuum cleaner. He opened the door to his spare bedroom and realized it was something of a mess. Crap!

He ran over to some boxes on the floor and grabbed them and hauled them into his own room. Then he picked up last week's clean laundry and threw it on his own bed. He vacuumed the floor after he had opened the window to air out the room.

Then he realized how dusty it was and ran to get a rag. He changed the bed linen after that and he was dripping with sweat when the doorbell rang. Fuck!

He ran to the bathroom and pulled the t-shirt over his head, splashed some soap and water under his arms, and rolled on some deodorant. The doorbell rang again.
"I'm coming!" He shouted and realized how that could be interpreted. He blushed and grabbed a random t-shirt and threw it on as he approached the front door and opened it.

He hadn't seen him since Niall's birthday a couple of months ago. He looked the same.
"Hi."

Louis held up two black trash bags.
"I'm moving in."

"Do you have more in the car?" Harry asked.

"A couple of boxes. I just packed the essentials." Louis shrugged.

They went to fetch the rest of his stuff. Harry giggled as he held up a plunger.
"The essential, huh?"

"I just threw stuff in the car." Louis chuckled.

They walked up to Harry's apartment again and put Louis' belongings in the spare room. Louis looked around.
"This is great. Thanks again, Harry."

"Anything for a friend." Harry smiled.

"I've missed you, man. I'm sorry we've drifted apart. I guess it's me fault." Louis said.

They stared at each other for a moment before Harry opened his mouth.
"It's not."

Louis just shrugged his shoulders. Harry decided to change the subject.
"Are you hungry?"

"I went through The drive-in at MacDonald's on me way here." Louis said.

"Beer?" Harry offered.

"Something stronger than that." Louis chuckled.

Harry poured him a whisky and grabbed a beer himself and they sat down in the living room.
"She really asked for a divorce through a text?"

"Yep." Louis snorted.

"Did you see it coming? That she wants a divorce that is?" Harry asked.

"Not really. I mean, things haven't been great but I thought we would work that out, you know what I mean?" Louis said.

"Do you... Is there someone else?" Harry asked carefully.

"How the fuck would I know? I guess I'll find out soon." Louis sighed and poured himself another whisky.

A half-hour later he had almost emptied the bottle. He was getting pretty drunk and emotional and started to make little sense. It was Eleanor this and Eleanor that and he jumped between topics. Harry had a difficult time trying to understand it all but he knew that Louis just needed him to listen and get it all out, so he sipped his beer and hummed once in a while so Louis would know he was listening.

He ended up helping Louis to bed. Louis lay under the cover with his eyes closed. Harry figured he had already fallen asleep and tried to sneak his way out of the room.
"You're awesome, you know that?" Louis suddenly said.

Harry turned his head to look at him.
"Uhm, thanks. Good night."

"Night, Hazza." Louis mumbled.

The old nickname stung. Louis was the only one who ever called him that. They used to be really close before he met Eleanor. So close that Louis' then girlfriend had a problem with it. Harry had no idea if Louis knew that. He hadn't told him about a very uncomfortable conversation between him and Eleanor a couple of years ago, and he didn't think she had told him either. Well, that didn't matter anymore.

Harry went to brush his teeth and headed to his bedroom just to see all the laundry he had forgotten about. He sighed deeply and began to fold it. He put the clean clothes in the closet before he headed to bed. He lay awake for a long time before The Sandman finally paid him a visit.