Outing Larry

Chapter 35 (Part 2)

A/N HEY GUYS HOPE EVERYONE IS DOING WELL AND THAT YOU ALL HAD A LOVELY CHRISTMAS.  SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN UPDATING BUT THINGS GOT A LITTLE HECTIC OVER THE HOLIDAYS AND I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO WRITE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE WHO SEND ME MESSAGES ASKING FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER. YOU GUYS ARE THE REASON I KEEP WRITING. SORRY IF THIS CHAPTER IS A LITTLE DULL BUT VAL IS STILL GETTING TO KNOW THE STORY. HOPE YOU LIKE IT. LOOKING FORWARD TO READING YOUR COMMENTS. ALL THE LOVE M.

The stadium was huge. And empty. Val and Shane followed Paul to some empty seats that were in the shade. The Australian late afternoon sun was scorching. Shane sat down holding Adam in her lap, Val beside her. A few rows behind them, Eleanor sat chatting on her phone.

'I need to watch them,' Val told Shane. 'See how they interact with each other.' Shane threw her a pensive side way glance.

'There's some thick tension between them but God its kinda obvious.' Val grinned.

'Innit?Louis worries me though. He's so deep in denial about everything going on in his life right now that I don't even know where to begin with him.' Shane squeezed her hand.

'Love,you are brilliant at what you do. You will figure him out and unravel him and then you can begin to help him.' Val gave Shane a doubtful look.

'He tried to kill himself Shane. As much as he says it was an accident, I really don't believe it. I have to get him to open up yet I need to go easy on him or he will shut down even more.' Val looked down at her hands and played with her wedding ring. 'Mostly I don't want him trying again and succeeding.' Shane sighed.

'He won't Val. He's got the best therapist in the world,' Shane reassured her but Val looked at her with a sad look.

'So did Abel. What if I don't reach him Shane? What if he retreats further inside himself where I can't get to him?' Shane squeezed her hand tighter.

'Hey don't think like that okay. Abel.....he wasn't your fault Val.' Val looked down again pressing her lips together. Shane turned in her seat to look at her. 'Baby hey, look at me. You will reach him. This is different. If you feel you can't handle it, quit now.' Just then the boys came out on stage. Val's eyes focused on Louis.

'I won't quit on him. If it takes all I have, I will break Louis Tomlinson's chains.' Shane smiled and kissed Val on the cheek.

'There's my little jet fighter,' she told her proudly. Val smiled at her though the smile did not reach her eyes and Shane knew that she was worried.

Val sat back in her seat and watched as the boys filed on stage. Louis and Harry came on a few minutes after Liam, Zayn and Niall. Louis stood on the left side of the stage next to Zayn and Harry was on the right next to Niall. They were as far away from each other as the stage allowed, the other three between them. A voice boomed out into the empty stadium from the sound tech.

'Louis,you are going to sit this one out man.' Louis squinted at the guy who was halfway down the stadium right in front of the stage.

'Why?'Louis asked into the mic.

'I just go the order man,' the tech guy said. 'We'll do a sound check for you tomorrow before the show but no rehearsals today. We'll cover No Control tomorrow okay.' Louis kept his gaze trained forward towards the sound control area up ahead from the stage.