Tell Me a Lie - L.S. English

~ Twelfth Chapter ~

Louis' expression was hollow throughout the ceremony and I couldn't understand what he was thinking.
"The vows were lovely," I said trying to get his attention.
He nodded distractedly and I sighed.
We walked in silence to the hall.

"She should have been here." He suddenly whispered in a broken voice. An icy chill ran down my spine.

"Who?" I whispered back. too choked to speak.
My lungs shrunken from the vulnerability in the voice of the cheeky, bold, sarcastic guy I knew so well.
Who was right at my fingertips.

"My sister." He answered, carefully quite. "Here, at the wedding?" I asked Louis who finally gave me his attention. He stood up and focused his gaze on my face.
His eyes went wild. Waves smashed furiously at their beaches and swept everything in their path to the depths of the stormy sea where I saw ships capsize and sink into the depths of his seas.
His gaze ran between my eyes.
He shook his head and broke eye contact.

"Here alive."
Oh.
"My condolences." I said and he nodded.
"Thanks."

"Is it okay if I ask you about her or do you not want to talk about it?" I asked trying not to invade his privacy.

"You can." He said like someone who doesn't have the mental strength to put together long sentences and I nodded.
"When did she die?" I asked and Louis remained silent.

"A year and seven months ago." he finally said.
"Wow." He nodded.
"How did she die?" I only asked because I knew that if he doesn't want to answer that he wouldn't.

I already thought he wasn't going to answer me when he said "She overdosed. She was on drugs ever since mom died." I didn't know how to answer that.
"I'm sorry, Louis." I finally said and he nodded.
"Yeah... I am too."

"That was my mother." Louis said after a short silence. "What?" I asked when I didn't understand what he meant.
"The picture you were holding when you were in my room. It's from her second wedding in 2014 when she married Dan." He said and my eyebrows stiffened in wonder. What is the connection?

"She looked so young." I remembered and Louis nodded. "She was 41. I was 23." He said and I calculated the difference.
"She gave birth to you at 18?" I asked and he nodded. "If it's okay to ask, what happened to her first husband?"

"They broke up, his name is Mark. He's the father of four of my sisters, Lottie among them. He's a great guy. I took his last name after he married my mom." He said and I nodded.

"What happened to your father?" I asked, taking the opportunity to hear more about him now that he opened up a little, and he hesitated. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said and he shook his head.

"It's okay, I like that I can talk about it." He said and I nodded. Quiet, stupid butterflies. He took a deep breath and said "He left us. When I was a baby."

"I'm sorry." I answered. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"He named me Louis Troy Austin after his name, Troy. After my mom got married I changed his name to William and took Mark's last name." He said.

"So your name is Lewis?" I asked, confused.
Have I been pronouncing his name wrong this whole time? Does everyone mispronounce his name all the time?

"Basically, yeah. At home everyone called me Lewis, and when I got to university one of my teachers addressed me as Louis and that's how everyone called me and it just... caught on." he answerd.
"Huh." I said and he chuckled.

"Okay enough talking about me." He said as we approached our table, two girls I didn't know were sitting around it talking to Lottie as Jake looked at his phone.
There were four empty chairs left next to the chairs on which we had left our coats.

"Louis!" exclaimed one of the girls when she saw us with a big smile and the other turned in our direction and also smiled at the sight of him. They were twins. Oh.
"I didn't know you were coming." He said and you could hear the happiness in his voice. Or at least that's what I thought, I don't hear him happy much... Or at all, when you think of it.

The twins were identical but had small differences between them. The twin who sat to Lottie's left had straighter and longer hair than her twin who sat to her left. She wore a blue dress that highlighted her eyes. Her eye makeup was delicate like the rest of her makeup. Her sister was wearing a pink dress that complimented her skin tone. Her makeup was a little heavier and her short hair was curled. They were beautiful, both of them.
They also resembled Louis.

"Come here, give me a hug." The twin in the blue dress said and Louis went around the table and kissed the top of her head. I sat down on the chair I had left my coat on and moved my coat to the empty chair next to it. The other twin stood up and wrapped her arms around Louis. They exchanged a few words quietly and parted with a smile.

"And who are you?" asked the twin who remained seated and looked at me with a curious smile. Louis meanwhile went around the table back to his chair and sat down between me and Jake. I opened my mouth to introduce myself but of course Louis preceded me.
"This is Harry." He said, placing his hand on the back of my neck and tangling his fingers in my hair. A chill ran down my spine but I smiled and waved.

"Nice to meet you, Harry." That same twin said. "My name is Phoebe," she introduced herself and smiled. "And I'm Daisy." said the sister in the pink dress.
"Nice to meet you, Phoebe and Daisy. And I must say you are just beautiful." I said politely and they smiled.

"Thank you," Phoebe said. "I love your suit. It's so... unusual. It's beautiful." She answered honestly and I laughed. "Thanks." I said and she smiled with her mouth closed.

"Yes.. unusual." Jake chuckled, we all glared at him. Louis' look was the most murderous. He fell silent and lowered his gaze back to his phone.

"How did you meet Louis?" Daisy asked me suddenly and Louis' hand froze on the back of my neck. "We work together, actually." I answered and saw Lottie raise an eyebrow out of the corner of my eye. Louis released his hand and placed both hands on the table.

"And you're like...?" Daisy started to ask but didn't finish the question as it was very clear. Are we together. The answer is, obviously, no. Definately not. Louis and I are not together. Not even a little. I wouldn't even consider us friends.

But when I looked at Louis who was looking at me as if we were hanging out and my answer would decide if we were together or just going out. I answered "Yes." quiet and decisive.

I put my hand on Louis' hand on the table and looked back at Daisy. "Yes, we are together." I said louder this time. Did I just lie to Louis Tomlinson's younger sisters?
Yes. That's exactly what I did. I made them think that their brother was in a relationship and that he was happy. I feel terrible, but he seems glad that was my answer.

"Who asked who out?" Phoebe asked with shy enthusiasm. "I asked him." Louis answered with a smile and interlocked our fingers. "And he refused. For almost a week he said no," he said and I faked an in-love-smile.
"Yes, but in the end I agreed." I said without mentioning the part where he took care of me when I got drunk.

"How long have you been together?" Lottie asked and I looked at Louis questioningly. What do I answer? Since 7 PM?
"About a month?" Louis lied unconvincingly and I nodded in agreement.

Jake let out a snort of disrespect and everyone sitting turned to him. "Do we have a problem?" Louis asked him bluntly and he looked up from his cell phone to find us all looking at him angrily.

He closed the phone and crossed his arms.
"Yeah. Yeah, maybe we do." He said and I raised my eyebrows at him.

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(1436 words)

Chapterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I'm sorry it took me sooooo longgggg
Love y'alllllll💙