red stone heart {l.s} • needs editing

chapter three

The first complaint about the way Louis looked and smelled was two weeks after he began to work as the waiter at the Three Coins Diner.

A preppy group of school girls and their boyfriends had come in on a Friday afternoon. Their boyfriends; Mark, Josh, and Ricky. Of course, no one except Louis and Harry knew about the incident between the boys.

At the end of the day Ricky and Josh walked up to the counter in front of Liam.

"Hi, I'm Ricky and this is Josh. My friends and I have a problem with our waiter. Can we speak to the manager?"

Liam, being the shy little pup he was, of course got Niall and let the boy explain that Louis smelled of garbage and his face was too dirty to be shown in public.

Niall stopped the boys from continuing to insult their friend and told them they would take care of it.

Niall and Liam made a promise when they first opened the restaurant; the customer is always right. And maybe the boys were harsher with their words about Louis but both men knew they must speak to Louis, friend or not.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to bring this up, babe. We'll talk to him together but we have to be gentle. He's obviously vulnerable and fragile." Niall said, rubbing his hands up and down Liam's arms, trying to soothe the boy.

"I just don't want him to leave. I know he has it bad, Ni. He'll have no where to work. And we don't even know if he has a home now! He could be coming here from an alley or something!" Liam exclaimed, not knowing that was exactly how it is.

Niall and Liam hadn't ever confronted Louis about where he lived or if he lived anywhere at all. It just wasn't something that came into topic.

As it got closer to the end of the day, Liam's nerves were going crazy. Niall was very anxious and couldn't focus on any paper work. So, they decided it was time.

"Louis." Liam said quietly while Louis was typing in his customers bill.

"Oh, hi guys! What's up?" Louis said with a smile. His cheek had a little dirt on it and his hair seemed slightly greasy. Liam nor Niall had never noticed until the boys complained.

"Hi, Louis. Go finish that customer then come to the bar and we'll talk to you, okay?"

Louis eyes filled with worry but he hesitantly printed the ticket and slowly walked to the table, dropping the bill next to the couple and taking the bills to put into the cash register.

"You guys wanted to talk to me...?" Louis said slowly. No one was in the diner, which was rare especially at 4 after everyone was coming home from work.

"Yes, Lou. Liam and I have gotten a complaint from some customers. Ricky and Josh...they complained about your hair and face and..smell. Listen, we don't care. I didn't even realize it until someone said something. Just try to come to work more..clean. Okay?"

Niall nor Louis realized that Liam had greeted the next customer, a certain curly haired lad that had sat down at the bar.

Louis' eyes filled with tears at Niall's words. "Ricky and Josh hate me. They have never really liked me. I knew I should've let Liam take that table I just thought that if they saw that I was up on my feet they wouldn't bother me anymore..." Louis sighed. "It's alright. I understand if I'm fired. I'm sorry but I can't come to work clean..I-I don't have a water hose or anything in my al-" Louis cut himself off. "My apartment. Yeah, my apartment..um have a nice day guys. Thank you for the job and um, you don't have to worry about my paycheck." Louis only noticed the customer when he turned his head to say goodbye to Liam, who was serving Harry.

Louis' tears fell in that moment. Harry, the man he had only met once but had grown to have a tiny crush on just heard how pathetic he truly was. Louis was heartbroken. "O-Oh. Hi, sir, I didn't see y-you there." Louis politely greeted Harry before turning around back to Liam. "Goodbye, Liam. Thank you for everything you've done. It was great, really."

Harry hadn't caught on to the fact that Liam nor Niall supposedly knew about him being homeless and the details behind Louis' life. So when he spoke up to ask if Louis had finally moved from the alley and into a clean and nice home everyone fell into silence.

"Wait, alley?" Niall asked, clueless. He knew Louis had it rough but no one really wanted to believe and admit to the fact that the small, blue eyed beauty was actually homeless. Niall and Liam had talked about Louis circumstances more than once but neither of them questioned if he had a home or not. It was just an expectation that he had a home and maybe a crappy family. But neither had truly guesssed that Louis lived in an alleyway.

Louis stayed silent. Harry spoke up to explain. "A couple of weeks ago I found Louis being beaten up in his alley by the boys who complained about him. They were ripping his paintings and kicking him around. I took him in for a couple hours and then sent him on his way after feeding and bathing him." Harry examined Louis, moving his eyes up and down his body. "Now, I'm sure that wasn't the best decision." He mumbled quietly.

"I'm so sorry," Liam sobbed running over to Louis and letting him cry on his shoulder, both sobbing together. "How did we not know that he was at the house? I didn't even hear anything." Niall questioned.

Liam and Niall both lived together in Harry's home. Niall and Harry went way back and when Liam and Niall had first gotten together Liam had gotten fairly close to Harry as well. "You were both working late that night."

Louis lifted his head and tilted it to the side with a small pout on his lips. "You all know each other?"

"Yes, Louis. Niall is basically my brother. Both of them live with me." Harry gave Liam and Niall a look. "And now you will too."