Pride {l.s.}

45- Something Stupid

The story so far:
Harry is struggling with depression. He stopped taking his medication because it gave him bad anxiety. Louis is doing paintings for an anonymous guy. Niall is opening a restaurant and has a crush on his chef, Cheyenne. Zayn and Liam now live together, but Louis doesn't have the guts to come out yet. Louis has fully recovered from Eleanor setting his room on fire, but he has some legal actions to take care of.

I finish up the final touches of the large order of paintings I received. They were in a rush, but I'm actually really proud of how they turned out. I hope that they match the mood that they were hoping for. I'm completely wiped after being in court the past couple days.

It's late November, and Eleanor has been convicted of arson with 20 years in prison and a large fine. I don't know how to feel about all of this. The court process came about faster than I thought it would because of the damage done and because she physically hurt someone (almost killed), that someone being me. It was a lot to pay for a lawyer and everything, but I feel worse about the charge. Seeing her in court was difficult. I've known this girl for awhile. I've known her practically my whole life. It was hard seeing her in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs. She looked at me without any fear in her eyes; she was only angry.

Harry was by my side the whole time. He knew not to comment too much on it, but he continued to reassure me that it was the right thing to do. That girl almost killed me; she deserves a harsh punishment. Luckily, she did not mention her real reason for the fire. She said that she was mad about the breakup, and that was why she caused the fire. Harry did go to the stand, but he didn't have much to contribute since he left before the fire.

Harry and mines love is still a secret. Nobody sees. Nobody knows. I can see Harry getting impatient, and I think that it would be a good thing to tell them all soon. They deserve to know. Harry deserves to be able to hold me whenever and wherever.

"Hey, Lou?"

I look over my shoulder to see Zayn standing in the doorway. "Hey, Z. What's up?"

"I just uh wanted to make sure you're okay. You've been strained these past couple days. With the court stuff and all of the paintings... I just want to make sure you're all good," Zayn says kindly and somewhat shyly as he steps into the room. He leans against the table where the paints lie.

"I'm good. I'm all good, I swear. I'm actually uh more worried about Harry than me," I admit as it turns to face Zayn.

"What do you mean?"

"He's depressed. I know I've mentioned this, and it's good that we live together now. I can keep an eye on him. I just can't make him happy sometimes. He won't take his meds because of the anxiety it gives him. There has to be another option," I babble on nervously as I stare down at the paint brush in my hand. "I'm so worried about him. He's good. He's been doing good, but he still shuts down sometimes. Sometimes Harry won't even let me in. I just don't want him to do anything stupid."

"Have you ever thought of checking his blood?" Zayn asks.

"No. Why would we check his blood?"

"One of my sisters was feeling down for a longer period of time, and it turns out that she had a vitamin D deficiency," Zayn replies. "I get that he is depressed, but maybe it's not all in his head. Maybe it's his body trying to tell him something. There are many things that can be checked in the blood that can lead to a person being depressed. Has he gotten bad recently?"

I shrug my shoulders. "He's been getting insecure about his body. I see him poking at his food. When he's anxious, thinking too hard, or something, sometimes he'll mindlessly start to scratch himself. I don't know. I'm just worried. I'm trying, but there's only so much I can do. I'll try to talk to him and convince him to call the doctor. We'll look into getting his blood checked out."

"That's where I would start. I've noticed that he's been seeming off too. I hope we can help. Call me if you ever need anything," Zayn mentions with a smile. "I'm going to head back to the front desk. I've got someone coming to pick up some more paintings for the anonymous guy."

I give him a nod before he heads back off to the main display room to do his thing. He's always been better at the business side of this. I try to leave it to him. I finish up the last of the paintings and set it to the side. I have about an hour left, so I begin to sketch out a new idea for a painting. The gallery is looking somewhat empty since we got the big order. Zayn and I try to split the work half and half. There is usually half abstract and half realistic. Every once in awhile, we swap places and mess around with the other's genre. Those days are always fun.

I barely hear my phone going off. I get into this trance when I'm painting, but I set Harry's ringtone to the loudest one I could find. I recognize it as him, and I take my phone. I'm confused as to why he needs to call me since I'll be home in an hour. Night has already fallen on Orlando.

"Hello?" Silence. "Hazza? Is everything alright?" As I wait to hear him reply, I notice that I can hear him breathing. I also notice that he's breathing quickly; this isn't like a panic attack breathing. It's like he's been crying. I hear a sniffle on the other side of the phone. Fear sets into me. "Harry? Baby, please talk to me. Are you okay?"

I set my paintbrush in the water and focus everything on getting Harry to talk to me. I hear a bit more crying on the line before he finally replies.

TRIGGER WARNING: SELF-HARM MENTIONED (skip next chapter if triggered. there will be a summary)

"Lou... Louis, I did something stupid," Harry says nervously. He shouldn't be nervous. He knows that I'm always there for him. We always talk when something is wrong.

"Harry, you have to tell me what's going on," I say quickly and as calmly as I can. "You're scaring me. Are you hurt?"

"I-I just couldn't feel anything, and I don't know what happened," Harry replies in a rushed voice. "There's a lot of blood."

A/N

This is a warning that the next chapter has self-harm in it. There will be a warning at the beginning of the chapter. Please do not read if triggered by reading it. Also, Eleanor has faced legal actions. That part of Louis's life with her in it is now officially over and taken care of. I did some research on charges of arson, and it was going to be quite high since someone was in the building (Louis). It's not exact to real life, but it's the best I could do.

xoxo raindropkiss1