One Meaningless Promise

One Meaningless Promise~14

Chapter 14.
___________________________


The door swung open.


"Louis!"


Eleanor threw her arms in the air enthusiastically, grinning ear to ear. She flung herself forward and coiled her arms around Louis's torso, squeezing him with a grip like a python's. Louis froze, his face scrunched up in a frown.


"Oh, hi, El..." Louis said, gently prying her off of him.


"Nice to see you, Lou."


Louis made a face at Harry's nickname for him and shuddered. Grabbing Eleanor's suitcase, he lead her upstairs into his bedroom. He set the bags on the floor by the dresser and turned towards Eleanor, who was staring up at him with innocent, curious eyes. He felt sick. As much as she annoyed the hell out of him sometimes, Louis didn't want to hurt her feelings.


"Listen, El," he sighed. "Do you know why I asked you to come all the way over here?"


She shook her head, her brown waves falling over her shoulders. Louis hoped that she would understand what he was going say. Eleanor had a quizzical look on her face, and she took a seat on the edge of Louis's bed, kicking off her shoes and crossing her legs.


"No, I don't." She answered.


"Well, uh... I've been having some problems here with... One of the other residents in this house," Louis explained.


"It's Harry, isn't it?" Eleanor asked, not looking surprised.


Louis nodded.


"Let me guess, you two had a thing, and then he broke your heart and now you want to use me to make him jealous," she said.


"Yeah, kind of," Louis grimaced.


Eleanor nodded her head knowingly. The one-and only-thing that Louis liked about her was that she knew that he didn't like her in the same way as she liked him, but she was willing to help him. She knew when something was wrong and she would always do him favours if he needed them. Eleanor shrugged her shoulders.


"So what am I?" She asked. "Your friendly acquaintance or your girlfriend?"


"Girlfriend. But don't overdo it, okay?"


Eleanor agreed and Louis thanked her. He was glad that she was helping him; he'd do anything to show Harry that he didn't give a fuck about how he felt. It was just one kiss...whatever. Not a big deal at all. He didn't even like Harry...at least he thought he didn't. Louis persuaded himself to believe that he was making a good decision, but it still didn't stop the one doubtful part of his mind that was telling him it was wrong.


He and Eleanor skipped down the stairs hand in hand into the kitchen. He tried to ignore the fact that her hand felt cold and uncomfortable around his. Louis barely even glanced at Harry, who was sitting at the kitchen table sipping from a glass of orange juice, but even a blind man could see that Harry was in terrible shape. The dark bags under his eyes, the careless, messy style to his hair, the pale completion said it all. Louis told himself that he didn't feel bad for him.


"Hey, El, want some tea?" Louis grinned over at Eleanor, switching on the stove and placing the kettle over the flame.


"Sure, Louis," she gushed. "Thank you."


Harry sat slumped and unmoving in his chair, his face an emotionless mask, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes glued to the table as if he was carefully studying the patterns of the wood. His jaw was set tight and his lips were a straight line, Louis could tell he was bothered. Good.


"Would you like to go pick out a movie for us to watch, love?" Louis forced the words out cheerily.


"'Course, Lou," she drawled flirtatiously, flouncing out of the kitchen and into the living room.


Louis poured the steaming water into two mugs, plopping the tea bags inside and making sure not to look at Harry as he shuffled out of the room, careful not to spill the scorching liquid. On the couch, Eleanor was seated comfortably with a blanket over her and a smile on her face. The television screen was playing some credits at the beginning of the movie. Louis slid beside Eleanor, handing her a cup of tea and casually slipping an arm over her shoulders. She shifted closer to him as the movie started. Louis couldn't pay attention to the movie. He could feel a pair of eyes staring a hole through him, and he knew whose they were. He could sense them looking at how close he and Eleanor were to each other and how his arm was wrapped around her. It was impossible to ignore. When he had thought about this earlier, it seemed much less difficult to know what he was doing to Harry. But he wouldn't stop.
***



Please forgive me for this short filled chapter :( I needed to put this in so I can get to the juicy stuff in the next part. I'll get it done ASAP ;)) ilysm

~Bell