“Exciting news, Styles!” Louis cried into the phone, twirling around the kitchen as he grabbed ingredients from around the kitchen. The phone was wedged between his ear and shoulder and he threw a few vegetables down, beginning to cut them up, while attempting to entertain Daisy and Phoebe as well with over exaggerated movements that had them clutching their stomachs with laughter. Louis and the girls were alone, and Louis had been named baby sitter. He had insisted that his Mum go out – she spent far too much time trying to look after her children and not enough time on herself, and Louis had wanted to spend some time with the girls anyway.
“Oh really?” Harry asked, his voice lifting curiously. In the background Louis could hear the faint hum of a TV, and he suspected that the younger boy was lying on his couch, doing absolutely nothing. “What is it then?”
“Louis! Tell Lottie to stop annoying me!” Fliss screeched from upstairs. The cry was shortly followed by a shriek, then silence. Louis glanced upwards suspiciously at the sudden lack of noise and briefly wondered if Lottie had murdered his other sister.
Louis sighed. “Hold on a second, Hazza,” he muttered down the phone. “What are those girls doing?” He asked Daisy and Phoebe who both shrugged, giggling as Louis frowned. “Would you mind going and getting them please, my little Daisy flower? If they’re going to kill each other, I’d rather it be where I can see them.”
Daisy nodded, jumping off the chair and running upstairs. Louis turned his attention back to Harry, “Sorry about that. Lottie and Fliss are fighting again.” Harry laughed reassuring Louis it was fine, before Louis remembered what he had been saying. “Now, the exciting news that I have is that I might have a job.”
Though Louis was content to help his Mum around the house in the years before he was ready to go to university, he had been looking for a job for a few months now, though not with any particular enthusiasm.
“Really?” Harry asked, “Where at?”
“At a bar,” Louis said cheerfully, pulling out a carrot and beginning to chop at it, offering a piece to Phoebe who accepted it cheerfully. “A flash bar. It’s just a few night shifts a week, though, and for the money. Mum’s really pleased.”
“So am I, Lou, that’s great!”
Louis smiled, ignoring Lottie and Fliss who ran into the kitchen, still arguing loudly over who knows what, with Daisy tagging along behind them. “I mean, it’s not anything awesome like you, Mr Pop Star, but –
“Shut up,” Harry laughed, sounding so genuinely pleased that Louis actually listened to him and closed his mouth. “This is so awesome, Lou.”
“Thanks,” Louis smiled shyly, and Lottie mimed throwing up, rolling his eyes when her older brother attempted to wave her away. If Lottie had been a bit older and there weren’t younger girls around them, Louis would have flipped her off. Instead he settled for a firm order of, “Go sit down at the table, Lottie.”
“Go sit down at the table, Lottie,” Lottie mimicked in a nasally voice, that didn’t sound one bit like Louis. Her face crumpled up into an ugly expression and she danced around, waving her hands madly in the air mockingly. Louis wondered for an instant if she was trying to be him, or trying to be a deranged penguin.
“Seriously, Lottie, I’m busy!” Louis snapped.
“Seriously Lottie, I’m busy being sickeningly in love with my boyfriend –“
Harry snorted loudly into the phone, and Louis scowled at Lottie, pointing a warning finger at her. Distracted momentarily by Harry, he yelped, “Don’t laugh, Harry, she’s a little brat!”
