Drowning || Larry Stylinson

chapter one

drown

/droun/

verb 

gerund or present participle: drowning

die through submersion in and inhalation of water.

"she drowned in the pond"

synonyms: suffocate in water, inhale water; go to a watery grave

Louis nibbled on his fingernail, tearing off a piece of the end between his teeth. He spit it out after a couple of seconds, moving on to the next nail. He watched Niall as the boy went on and on about something the interviewer had asked. It was about the fans, or something like that, because Niall was talking about how supportive they were. Louis was happy that they were on a radio show and not on camera, because he wan't sure how nice fans would think he was just sitting there and casually grunting in agreement while chewing off his fingernails. 

"They're always lining up outside the door at events and are keeping us on our toes," Niall finished, smiling a wide crooked smile. His blue eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked over at the other boys, who were all nodding or smiling in agreement. Sans Zayn who looked just as bored as Louis was and was instead tapping away at something on his phone. He was most likely talking to Perrie or his mum based on the small shine in his own eyes.

The interviewer smiled wide at Niall before turning his attention to Louis, the anxiety-ridden nail-biter, and raised his eyebrows like he was expecting something from the man. Louis pulled his finger out of his mouth, making the interviewer's face relax. "So. Louis. From what's been spreading around, there's been news that you and Eleanor broke up," he said, giving the blue-eyed boy a sympathetic look. 

Louis sighed, shrugging a little. He wasn't exactly comfortable talking about the break up yet. They had broken up just two weeks before and no one had really given him time to get over it. Everyone, including the boys and his family, wanted to know every little detail about the breakup. They all assumed that he had broken up with her, since he sometimes complained about the lack of charisma between them. Louis was usually just being a bit of a sourpuss, since he only said those types of things when him and Eleanor were arguing over something stupid. He wasn't ready to say that Eleanor had actually broken up with him, especially not to the public. He knew that he would receive some kind of backlash. Or, worse, that Eleanor would. Even though Louis agreed with Eleanor that they had both fallen out of love with each other, he didn't like the thought of Eleanor being attacked by a bunch of fans. 

"Yeah, it's true, sadly. We've been apart for a couple of weeks now," Louis replied, nibbling on his lip as he pulled away from the microphone. He wished that the conversation would end there, but he knew that it wouldn't. Interviewers always liked to push just a little bit further with these kinds of things, because all they cared about was getting something juicy and worth selling to the public.

"Would you like to give some details about what happened? There's been a rumor that she ended up breaking up with you," the man, who Louis was sure was named something like Kevin, had said, looking at Louis in interest.

The boy simply shrugged again and looked down at his phone as he scrolled through his messages, trying to distract himself from what was going on. "No, it was mutual. We both just...fell out of it," Louis responded after a moment of silence. "We obviously still love each other and care about each other. But it's not like we're in love with each other. It's like two friends loving each other. Except, you know. We used to make out and that. Not very typical friend stuff, unless you count me and Niall, here."