Limitless

Chapter 17

I sighed as I listened to Harry disappear out of the neighborhood and turned to walk up the dark stairs to my room.  Before I got to the first step, the stair lights flipped on.  Startled, I shrieked and looked up the stairs to see my father standing at the top of the staircase.

He shook his head and closed his eyes, bringing his fingertips to his temples as he did. I brought my hand to my chest and tried to steady my heart rate.

“Louisa…” my father began.  I was surprised he wasn’t screaming at me. “Louisa, I just…”

Suddenly I remembered what I was wearing.  I also remembered my fresh tattoos that covered my back.  My dad would surely kill me if he saw them. I turned my hand down so he couldn’t see the small cross on my wrist.  I waited for him to say anything.

He took a few deep breaths and looked down at me with tired eyes. “You’ve shown me tonight that I cannot trust you. I am disappointed in you.”

My stomach dropped.  There was something about the word “disappointed” that really pulled at my heartstrings. I would rather him be mad than disappointed.  You could always make a mad person happy.  You couldn’t always get a disappointed person to be proud of you again.

I swallowed. “How long have you been home?”

“I didn’t leave,” he answered.  I furrowed my brow.

“What?”

“There was no business trip.  It was a test to see if you would obey me,” my dad spoke calmly. I felt my cheeks get hot.

“You were testing me?”

My father nodded. “I don’t appreciate you not listening to me.  I’m trying to look out for yo-“

“I don’t appreciate you testing me!” I raised my voice.  I was beyond angry. “You don’t trust me? Well now I’m never going to trust you!”

My father raised an eyebrow and stared down at me. “You need to realize how reckless you are bei-”

“How am I being reckless? I’m completely sober right now and I’m safe at home.  Just because I attend a party with a few friends doesn’t mean that I’m vandalizing children’s parks and burning down buildings!”

“Well that hasn’t been the case before!” My dad was beginning to shout as well.

“I TOLD YOU I DIDN’T START THAT FIRE!” I slammed my purse down onto the floor. “God dammit why don’t you fucking listen to me?!”

“DON’T YOU USE THAT LANGUAGE WITH ME-”

“WHY FUCKING NOT DAD? I’m an adult!”

“If you are such an adult then you can leave! Get out of here! I’m not going to continue to be responsible for a trashy disrespectful little girl!”

I was at a loss for words. I never thought it would get to the point where I was being kicked out of my own house by my own father.  He always supported my douchebag brother through his shitty career and now he doesn’t even trust me because I snuck out to and returned home safely from a party. Speechless, I grabbed my purse and walked out of the front door.  As I started to walk down the street, I called the one person I knew for sure was awake.

“Lou are you okay?”

I felt a tear run down my face. “Harry, can you come get me?”

“Right now? Is everything okay?”

I sniffled. “I’ll explain when you get here.”

“Okay, just hold on. I’m turning around right now.”

Moments later I saw his car flying down the street.  He slammed on the breaks and got out of the car when he saw me.  He rushed over to me and grabbed my shoulders, staring into my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I slowly explained to him everything that happened.  He watched me and rubbed my shoulders as I struggled to control my emotions.  I shivered as a wave of cold air rushed past us.

Harry embraced me. “Let’s get in the car. We’ll go back to your house and grab some stuff tomorrow.”  He helped me into his car and we made our way back to his apartment.  Harry turned on the radio and we listened to music all the way back.  I was glad that he didn’t try to talk to me further about the situation.  I was still having a little difficulty absorbing it all.

We walked through the front door and into the living room.  I saw the outline of Nora and Zayn on one couch, Louis and Isabella on the other, and Niall on the floor. 

“Do they sleep here every weekend?” I whispered. Harry nodded and lead me to his room. After he closed the door and turned the light on, he spoke quietly.

“I don’t know why.  It’s just something we started after our first party and they just keep doing it.  It’s fun.”

I nodded and sniffed.  My nose was runny because of the cold air outside, but Harry must have thought it was from being sad.  He smiled at me weakly and walked around his bed to hug me tightly.  I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him back.  We stood there for a while, just rocking back and forth.  I could tell that we were in one of those moments where Harry was showing his true feelings and I prayed to God that it would last.  Thankfully, he pulled away from me and kissed me lightly on my cheek. I tried to let the feeling of his warm lips linger on my skin for as long as I could.

“Do you want help washing off your tattoo?” He asked.

I nodded. We tiptoed to the bathroom and I sat down on the toilet lid.  Harry carefully started to pull off my bandages and looked at my tattoo.  I peered over my shoulder and watched him grin out of the corner of my eye.

“I’m so glad you got those. They look amazing.”

I grinned a little bigger. Harry grabbed some soap and ran it under the warm water from the sink.  Moving my hair carefully around my neck, he began to lightly rub the soap over my tingling skin. My mind began to wander as his hands ran over my back and I imagined him bending down and carefully sucking on my neck and whispering sweet yet meaningless nothings into my ear.  To my dismay, that didn’t happen.

Harry finished helping me clean my tattoo and then took me back to his room.  He pulled out a large Briarwood t-shirt and tossed it to me, as well as some plaid boxers. “I’m sorry,” he said, chuckling. “All of my shorts are dirty.”

I laughed as I looked at the shirt and boxers. “It’s okay,” I said as I held the boxers up to my waist. Harry stood and watched me for a moment and then quickly rushed back to the bathroom.

“Just let me know when it’s okay to come back in.”

I quickly and carefully slid my dress off over my head. I threw on the t-shirt first and then stepped into the boxers.  They almost slid off of my hips.  Tiredly, I crawled into the bed and laid down.  I meant to wait for Harry before I fell asleep, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold.  I vaguely remember him knocking on the door to his room. “Lou?” he whispered. He quietly crossed the room and bent down next to me.  He picked up a strand of hair in my face and brushed it behind my ear.  I heard a click as he shut off the light and then felt the bed slope as he climbed in the other side.  He laid facing away from me for a minute, but then rolled over and sat up.  He leaned over me slowly and softly as ever planted a sweet little kiss on my cheek.  Then he rolled back over and fell asleep.