Bonded

Chapter Thirty Five

Louis sat on the couch in silence. His body was turned a little to face Lottie, who sat beside him. She chatted away happily while his eyes remained glued to the seat cushion between them.

"I brought my new game with me," she said, pulling the case out of her bag. "I thought maybe we could play it since you didn't get a chance to see it Friday."

Louis's brows furrowed. "Lottie..." he started, looking up at her as she smiled and tilted her head questionably. "Aren't you mad? Don't you want to talk about things?"

"What do you mean?" She asked softly. "Didn't we already talk about things on the phone last night?"

Louis's face fell. They had talked last night, but just like right now, Lottie had acted like nothing had happened. "You're supposed to be mad."

Lottie's smile faltered. "Can I be?" She asked. "It's not worth it if you're going to get upset again and ignore me for days."

Louis felt his cheeks burn. "I won't," he promised. "I won't do that to you again. You can be mad at me."

Lottie sighed. "It's not that I even want to be mad, I just .... I don't understand why you ignored me, out of all people.... Do you blame me for what happened?"

Louis startled in shock. "No," he denied profusely. "No, absolutely not."

Lottie waited a short eternity for Louis to elaborate and explain more but the longer she waited the further from her Louis's eyes wandered.

She popped open the game case in her hand. "It's a farming rpg. It might sound boring, but I promise it's fun. You grow crops, raise animals and decorate your house."

Lottie rose to her feet, moving towards the console. "There's a lot to learn with the controls but once you know what you're doing it's pretty easy."

Louis reached out and grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Didn't you want to talk?"

Lottie scoffed lightly, looking down at him. "No," she told him. "You were the one that wanted to talk. I wanted to come and make things normal between us. Let's just play the game, laugh and have a good time. Okay?"

Louis pouted as he gazed up at his friend, swinging her arm back and forth.

Lottie clicked her tongue as she started to turn away, but Louis didn't let her walk away. He tugged her wrist, pulling her into his lap.

"LOUIS!" Lottie called out in surprise.

Louis adjusted them both so that she sat between his bent legs and he could rest his head against her back. "Sorry," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her to keep her in place. "It's just embarrassing to admit out loud."

Lottie huffed out in defeat, and stopped her half hearted attempts to get up.

Louis squeezed his arms, pulling her even closer. "I don't ever plan to fight with Ethan," he explained. "I always tell myself that no matter what he does to provoke me, I'll just let him say what he wants and ignore it."

Lottie tossed her game onto the cushion beside them and leaned back into Louis. She ran her fingertips gently up and down his arms as he moved his head to lean against her shoulder. "Ethan's the one who's wrong for always saying mean things in the first place."

"I know," Louis agreed. "I'm not so delusional as to think his issues are my fault. It just bothers me a lot that I decide to do something one way but then in the moment it goes another way."

"Any sane person would react when provoked."

Louis sighed and turned his head toward Lottie's neck, hiding his eyes against her skin. "But I don't like how my spats with Ethan affect you and James."