"dinner's ready, louis!" lottie yelled from the kitchen. louis sighed, because lottie was making every meal he ever ate these days. he could take care of himself perfectly fine and didn't need her to do everything for him. he took his headphones out of his ears and came into the kitchen. lottie smiled at him as she passed him a plate with some homemade pizza on it. he smiled at her then thanked her as he left to go sit down with the twins, who were watching the hunger games for the first time. louis sat next to phoebe and pulled his sweater of his hands, nibbling on his pizza. he enjoyed watching the girls' reactions to the movie, loving the priceless looks on their faces whenever something happened. louis grew tired of watching the movie and moved into his room. he wrapped himself in blankets and started watching netflix. his favourite show was pretty little liars and he adored watching it. he watched it till about half past nine until jay called him to the kitchen.
"louis, what have you been doing for the past three hours?" jay asked sternly. louis knew he'd get yelled at or punished somehow and he recoiled slightly from jay. her eyebrows were furrowed and she looked mad with him. she never usually did this but tonight she seemed to be pissed off at something. he knew that because louis had heard her yelling at lottie over his headphones not long ago. they were arguing about him and he could tell lottie was trying to defend him.
"lottie, why do you always side with louis? he acts like a baby!" jay had yelled at lottie.
"because he needs someone to look after him! nobody but me ever listens to him or understands what he's feeling! he doesn't need you to make him feel worse about himself," lottie had snapped back and by this time louis had paused what he was watching to listen.
"he's 18 for heavens sake! if he can't look after himself now he needs help or he can move out!" jay hissed at lottie. louis heart dropped as he analysed what jay had just said. she suggested he moved out. maybe he should if he was that much of a problem to her.
"bloody hell." lottie had yelled back before storming off to her bedroom. as he snapped back into the moment, jay's face wasn't far from his and her eyebrows were furrowed. he felt terrible even though he'd done nothing whatsoever wrong.
"i was watching netflix." louis mumbled, turning his head away. jay grunted and stood back, shaking her head in disappointment.
"you need to engage with the family more, louis." she growled, folding her arms. louis felt terrible and upset.
"maybe you need to engage with me! you treat me like i'm nothing to you because i'm gay. why does that change anything? you never understand anything about me or how i feel. lottie is the only one here who understands me. she cares about me, unlike some people! all you do is yell at me for no reason and pretend i don't exist. and when you actually notice i'm alive, all you do is yell and scold me. it's not my fault i'm gay." he yelled, his words trembling. louis pushed his way past jay and lightly brushed lottie off at the front door and went outside in the cold with no shoes on or a jumper. he was only clothed in his shirt and sweats. he winced as his feet made contact with the snow and his hands got numb quickly. louis shivered and longed to go inside to get warm but feared what would happen if he did. he stood in the cold, shivering. his head got sore and he felt his entire body flood with numbness. before he knew what was happening, he passed out.
"hey, are you okay?" a voice said. louis groaned and tried to move but hands were wrapped tightly around him. they were warm and he felt comfortable there but parts of him were cold where whoever was holding him hadn't touched him. louis opened his eyes and surprisingly there wasn't a pair of blue eyes looking down at him. it wasn't lottie or any of his family members. louis realised that it was the cute boy who had walked past his house. his hair fell over his face loosely and his skin was pale. louis immediately tried to sit up but he got pushed back down.
"no, you're not going anywhere. i'm going to carry you back." his voice was raspy and soft. louis loved the sound that escaped his lips immediately. he picked up louis and he noticed a smile creep onto the boy's face as he picked him up.
"you're so light," the boy said. louis blushed and thought how red his cheeks must be if his skin was this pale from the cold. the strong boy carried him to his doorstep and carefully removed one hand from where he was carrying him to knock on the door. the door opened and louis saw daisy at the door whose face dropped.
"lottie!" she screeched, seeing louis' shivering state. the boy with soft skin and warm clothes still held onto him as daisy shoved them inside. lottie raced to the door, yelling in surprise. she immediately snatched louis from the boy's soft arms and yelled for daisy to get a blanket.
"oh my god louis, where were you? we thought you ran away." she mumbled, gripping tightly around him. her hands were warm and soft but the cute lad's hands standing by the door were warmer and more inviting. the charming green eyed, curly haired boy cleared his throat.
"i found him on your front yard. he passed out and i don't know how long he'd been out for but he was really cold." his voice quavered. louis felt too exhausted to put effort into anything but standing up straight.
"oh god, thank you so much, er, what's your name?" lottie asked softly.
"harry. harry styles."
