Letters to the Author -Larry Stylinson

chapter twenty three

"Your hands are so soft," she whispered in Louis' ear.

Louis looked up at her, squeezing his eyes shut as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Kiss me," he choked out, not wanting her to see his tears.

Tory kissed him hardly. It wasn't an emotional kiss. It was a physical want, and Louis felt nothing.

Harry deserved this. He deserved to see what Louis was doing right now. Louis put his arms around Tory's waist. He missed Harry's thin waist, the feel of his abs against him. Tory had a big chest and it felt foreign.

And she had very thin lips. He hated it.

He jumped when his phone rang in his pocket. Tory pulled back, politely putting her hands in her lap and looking at the wall while he answered it.

Louis cleared his throat. "Hello?"

"Louis. Where are you? You work today! You can't just keep coming in late!"

Louis mumbled a curse word under his breath.

"Yeah, I'll come in. Give me twenty minutes."

Ethan sighed. "You're lucky I'm giving you any time at all. This is your fifth time of no call no show. Liam has had to handle all of this crap. You only have one more chance and I'm gonna have to find someone to replace you Louis. Also, after your shift, come to my office. I need to talk to you."

Louis gripped the phone. "Alright. I'm sorry Ethan." He hung up and looked at Tory.

"Work," he murmured.

"Louis, you should have told me you were working. I didn't know you had a problem of showing up late."

"Whatever," Louis sighed, getting up and opening the door. "See ya later."

She grabbed her purse and walked out the door, but not after giving him a long, deep kiss. "Yeah. I will see you later," she smiled, and shut the door behind her.

The minute he heard the click as he locked the door, he fell back against it with a low moan. "What is wrong with me?" he asked Lucile, who was laying on the bed, her tail swishing back and forth with a watchful gaze.

Louis rushed to get his clothes on for work, before grabbing the key to his house and running out the door. He would have to jog to work today.

Louis had considered multiple times getting a car, but he just couldn't afford it. Especially now that he was probably going to lose his job. He took his glasses off as he felt the sweat form beneath his eyes.

***

It was ten minutes later that he arrived at the Donnie Cafe, and the minute he walked in the door his phone was ringing. And at the same time, Ethan was throwing him his apron while rushing to put whipped cream on a coffee with his other hand.

"Put this on," he said, "and if you answer that call your fired. You don't have time to answer it, if you can't tell by this line." He motioned his hand and saw a line almost out the door, anxious people waiting to get a delicious cuppa before their long day at work.

Louis reluctantly took his phone out of his pocket to hang up, and almost yelled out in surprise when he saw the picture of Harry he had set as the contact photo so many months before.

"Can I please take this?" he begged. "It's important."

"If it's more important than your job than sure. Because you won't be having it if you answer it."

Louis almost started crying. He hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket, not meeting eyes with Ethan in fear that he would say something he would regret later. Instead he bit his tongue and pushed the door roughly to get behind the counter and start working. Liam was on the cash register, so he decided to run for him along with Ethan.

The whole time he was putting ice in blenders, shaking cups, sprinkling cinnamon on top of whipped cream, his phone felt as if it were burning a hole in pocket. He had the vibration on, and his heart sank lower and lower every minute he didn't get another call.

Maybe Harry had called him once and gave up. Or even worse, he probably accidentally clicked his number when trying to call someone else.

Louis bit his lip and tried not to cry when someone ordered exactly what Harry used to get.

The day was long. He only had a seven hour shift, due to the fact that he missed the first thirty minutes because he came in late. When it was finally over and he clocked out and flipped the closed signed, he felt as if he could collapse from exhaustion.

"Louis," he heard from behind him. It was Ethan, calling from the Employees Only door behind the counter. He reluctantly walked towards him, following him towards his office in the back room.

"Look Ethan, I'm really sorry about coming in late. Things have been really hard and-"

"Louis, I understand. I really do. Liam has told me all about Harry and your relationship issues, and trust me, I've gone through it. But this is your tenth time being late. There is no excuse for that. And frankly, I don't know if I'm willing to give you another chance. We've gone over this a million times and nothing has changed. I can't afford to have so many unhappy customers this frequently. You do realize that the less happy they get, the less they'll come here to get their coffee."

Louis nodded. "Yeah, I realize that, and I'm so terribly sorry. I would be really grateful if you gave me another chance, Ethan."

Ethan looked at Louis for a second, and then tapped his pen on the pile of papers on his desk as if he was bored. "Louis, you need to make a commitment to never be late again, unless it's an emergency that I would excuse. Can you do that?"

Louis wanted to say no. He wanted to have the relief of not having to show up to work every day. He wanted to lay in his dorm all day and do nothing. But his mother was already working hard at home, and she had no money to spare for him. He needed this job. And he probably wouldn't be able to find a job that paid as much as this one did, as he had already gotten many raises.

"I can do that," Louis said quietly, his cheeks flushed in his embarrassment. He rarely got in trouble. Well, nowadays he did.

"Thank you. Now go home. Get some rest. You look like a train wreck."

Louis almost replied a sarcastic thank you, but decided against it. It probably wouldn't be a very good idea. He had a lot of sucking up to do.

So instead, he pushed his chair up, shaking hands with Ethan before walking out the door into the winter air. It was a little warmer now, but he still needed to put on his light jacket.

He decided to take the bus. He was too tired to walk home. He was too tired.

But not too tired to try and call Harry when he got home.

***

What do you guys think of this chapter?

i sleep naked readers comment here. I want to see how many of you there are, aha.

I hope everyone has a nice day!

Much love. x

-Kayla. x