Stolen Kisses; Larry Stylinson

Thirteen

Louis stares at Harrys name on his call log, cheeks flushed as he remembers the conversation him and the boy had the night prior. He graciously accepts the glass of water Zayn is holding out to him as he swallows multiple tablets of headache relief medicine. 

"I talked to Liam this morning." Zayn says it in a stern tone, almost as if he was angered by whatever this talk was about. 

"Did ya? Look Zayn my head is killing me and I'm not really in the mood-" 

"Harry came into school today crying. Apparently, he hasn't talked to the boys at all today, and he opted out of hanging out with them when he got home."

Louis just chuckles. "Well Zayn, very funny story but that isn't true considering the fact its still the morning." 

There's a loud thud as Louis' body rolls to the floor, Zayn being the one that pushed him off the bed. 

"Look at the fucking clock would you Louis! It's 5 in the afternoon, it might as well be dinner time! You are drinking and sleeping your life away. The only reason I didn't wake you up sooner is because I didn't feel like dealing with you. Like seriously, what is your issue? Do you need somebody to talk too?" 

Louis stays silent as he thinks to himself. He doesn't really know what happened to him. Ever since he had gotten to school, it felt like he had changed completely. He didn't know how to uphold his friendships at home. Other than the many drunken calls, he hadn't talked to Harry in months. Him and Liam would call once a week, and it was always so awkward to the point Louis would make up some excuse about classes to hang up and do something else, which usually ended up with him finding another party to go too. His texts with Niall consisted of them sending photo updates without real conversations. The only person he really kept up with was his mom, but every call consisted of her asking how things were going, and he would just say the same thing every time. 

"Yeah, mom, things are great" "I'm having so much fun!" "I've made plenty of friends." "Yes, I've talked to the boys." Even though he hadn't, and then he would swiftly move the conversation from him to all about the girls, their school, and how life at home has been, until the hour-long call finally came to an end. The same conversation would be repeated every week. 

"Are you even listening to me right now?" 

Louis looks up at Zayn and shakes his head. "No, I'm not. I'm going to go take a shower." 

Zayn scoffs and watches Louis walk off towards the bathroom. 

After spending an hour washing up and thinking over the past couple of months, Louis makes a decision. A possibly impulsive and irrational decision, but a decision, nonetheless.

While Zayn is out to dinner with Stan and the group they've made at school, Louis makes a call to Liam before packing up two bags fit to last a week. One is for him; the other is for Zayn. He calls all of his professors, and then Zayn's, to let them all know neither of them will be attending class for the next week due to a 'Family emergency' back at home in Doncaster. 

He hears the door creak open as he's putting the last of their belongings together. 

"Louis I'm back, I brought you leftovers mate." 

Louis comes walking back into the main room as he picks up a backpack and hands another one to Zayn. "Great, I'll eat them in the car. Let's go!" 

"What the hell is going on?" Zayn loosely holds onto the backpack, genuinely worrying for Louis' sanity. 

"We're going home, let's go. It's already late so we need to get going. It's a Friday night so who knows what the roads will be like. Liam is waiting up for us to let us into his house, and we'll go see everybody in the morning." 

"You've been avoiding going home for months, and now all the sudden you're eager to go? What's caused this? You're not planning something I should be scared of, right?" 

Louis laughs at genuine fear creeps up onto Zayn's face. He just shrugs and starts pushing Zayn out the door. 

"All of our other stuff is in the car, your professors already know you won't be here, and we can stop by the guy's dorms to say goodbye before we go. And yes, I told my footie coach I won't be here, I've already got his approval. We don't have a game for a while."

Realizing he won't be getting answers anytime soon, Zayn just follows Louis out the door, locking their dorm on the way out. They stop by all of their friends' dorms to say goodbye and head out to the car. 

 The first ten minutes of the drive are silent, until Zayn goes right back to questioning Louis. Louis just turns music on to drown him out and doesn't say a word for the whole drive. Zayn knows somethings up but can't figure it out. Finally, he stops asking and settles into a nap for the remainder of the drive.  

As Louis pulls into the driveway, he sees Liam pull open the door and he quickly stops the car to get out. He runs up, pulling Liam into a tight hug. Liam hugs him back with a grip so tight it seems he fears Louis will disappear all over again. 

"I'm sorry for taking so long to come home bro, but I'm here now!" 

Liam just laughs. "You are here now, that's all that matters. You've got some patching up to do with some people though mate." He raises an eyebrow and lightly bumps into Louis' side before walking over to open the passenger door. 

"I figure we can unload in the morning; Zayn seems exhausted so we can just go in and go to bed for now. I feel bad waking him up though." 

"That's okay, I'll sing him a little song and wake him up no problem." Liam starts humming as he pinches Zayn's cheek and he wakes up with a groan, promptly slapping Liams hand away. Louis and Liam both laugh as Zayn gets out of the car. He quickly gives Liam a hug and walks inside without another word. By the time Liam and Louis get inside, Zayn's already fallen back asleep on the couch. 

As to not disturb him, they turn the lights off and head to Liams room so they can both get settled. Louis makes a tiny bed on the floor next to Liam and holds his necklace to his heart before falling asleep, ready to see his boy. 

*

With this update, I would like to take a moment to honor Liam. I am honestly still in disbelief. His passing does not feel real, and I truly wish things could have been different. Take care of yourself and your fellow directioners during this heartbreak. We love you forever Liam <3