Euphoria | Larry A.U

(iii) - Deceit

Deceit: the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misinterpreting the truth.

Louis loved Vanessa but he wondered how someone, a lawyer of all things was so damn unobservant.

Louis had met Vanessa through Liam. Louis and Liam were in the same Human Biology class at the private secondary school they went to and Liam had pointed Vanessa out the second day of form six, saying, "I went to the same primary school as that girl! I'll call her over, you could use a friend as I'm probably dropping this piece of shit class."

But Vanessa was all light and fun and witty banter, and she was loud and confident in a way that Louis could never be, never hoped to be - but with her words of encouragement, eventually became - She was easy at a time when nothing in Louis' life was - not his classes, not his relationship with his family, and certainly not the tangled mess he was in trying to create his own fashion line as a broke scholarship uni student.

So Louis made things with Vanessa official after graduation when they were both seventeen and it was witty banter and light and fun and if it wasn't entirely satisfying Louis ignored the little nagging voice that whispered so insidiously against Vanessa and instead he told himself that he would make himself better and make Vanessa enough, because she was beautiful and she was smart and for some reason he couldn't understand she accepted him, a mere fact that went beyond his money, because she didn't need it.

Her family was richer than Louis could ever be and not to mention she was a lawyer at the age of twenty-seven, and also she loved him - or at least seemed to - unconditionally and that was all that mattered to him.

Louis loved her back (maybe in a way that wasn't - couldn't ever be - more than platonic) That was a fact he himself couldn't ignore.

She was there for him when he needed her, and she never unnecessarily nagged him. Only when he was being a douchebag. Which was a good thing he had someone to set him straight when need-be.

Louis couldn't push down how he felt, the guilt eating away at every bit of his being.

No matter how many times he told himself that Vanessa wasn't someone he wanted to settle down with, he had never stooped as low as cheating on her, because she didn't deserve it. That would not be fair to such a genuine human being.

Weeks had passed, Harry and Louis slept together again and again.

Vanessa never found out anything that Louis didn't feel comfortable of her knowing.

He was just that conniving.

But that was nothing compared to the deep walls of secrets that Louis was still trying to fill up and build over, piece by piece, everyday beyond the unfaithful doings he found himself partaking in; his whole life since the day he turned sixteen seemed like a never-ending soap opera filled with drugs, money, business and bullshit.

Prior to contrary belief, besides the plethora of secrets he kept confidential Louis' arrangement with Harry was not something that he was really trying to hide.

Louis didn't bother saving Harry's name as something else in his phone, nor with deleting their more salacious text messages.

Louis assumed that this was would be a short-term tryst, something that was convenient at the moment but which would end the moment Harry found someone his own age or once the high ended, because with Louis a high was almost always involved.

As terrible as it may sound, Louis was fine with Vanessa discovering his meaningless hook-ups with Harry - it was the long-term emotional involvements that he had to be guarded about.