You Can Hear It In The Silence

Chapter 12

Louis barely got through his shift on Saturday and vowed never to get that drunk again. There were about twenty other reasons why he'd vowed never to get that drunk again, and fucking up everything with Harry was definitely on the top of that list.

Amy hadn't worked with him on Saturday, which made the shift even more torturous. But because she hadn't been there, it made Louis realise how badly he wanted to talk to her.

She was scheduled to work Sunday with him. It took him about an hour to decide, but he finally messaged her, asking if they could meet before their shift. She'd said yes straight away, without even asking what it was about and thank fuck for that because he'd have no idea what to say.

"You're early?" Amy said as she walked into the cafe.

"It happens occasionally," he said.

He stood and hugged her, which she readily accepted, to his relief.

"You needed to get out of the house, didn't you? That's why you're early."

Louis smiled half-heartedly as he sat back in his chair, "You know me too well." Because he really fucking did need to get out of there.

She nodded and sat in the chair across from him, "See, I thought I knew you well. But this has thrown me off."

"What?" Louis asked.

"Well, I don't think you've ever invited me to lunch before, let alone to a cafe," she said.

"Yeah, fair," Louis said. "Thrown me off a bit too." He told her truthfully as he scanned the menu.

Amy didn't say anything until the waiter came and took their orders.

"Okay, Lou, you're stressing me out. What's happening?" Amy said. "Are you firing me?" She couldn't hide the humour in her voice.

"Well," Louis said and took a deep breath. "There's kind of two things."

She just nodded and waited.

"Firstly, I'm sorry for yelling at you. That was so fucking out of order. I'm really sorry," Louis said.

She looked at him confused, "What? You loudly said 'No'. You don't need to apologise for that." She studied him, "Okay, now you have to tell me the second thing because there was no need to have lunch to say sorry for that."

He rubbed his forehead, "Yeah, okay." He was actually going to do this. He'd have to. He was in way too deep not to. "So, you know how you said I can talk to you...?"

"Oh my god, Louis! Are you actually going to talk to me?" She said, seemingly as shocked as he was when the idea came to him.

"Think so," he said. "Maybe."

"Fuck, okay," she said.

"I mean, I don't have to," he said. "Like if you were just offering because you felt like you should, then tha-"

"Shut it, Lou," She said. "Well, shut it with that. But actually, start talking about whatever it is you want to talk to about... Or who."

"I don't know if it's better or worse that you know," Louis said.

"Better, definitely better."

He wasn't convinced. He tried to go through everything he wanted to say, but none of it would come out. "I don't know."

Instead of getting annoyed, she just nodded. "Okay." She looked at the wall to his side for a moment, "Okay, so what if I just ask questions? And then you just have to answer them?"