The Rusty Old Minivan

Chapter 10

A few texts flew back and forth over the next couple of days. It was fun, easy, jokey and – pointless. Every time Louis suggested actually seeing each other in real life – 'lets watch the game together' – 'im workin. Pop by the shop and ill slip u a free donut' – it was replied to with things like 'nah, im knackered', 'thats stealin Loueh o.O' and goddamn fucking 'lol'. As much as that three-letter conversation-ender had been appreciated when they were going through a textual dry-spell, it wasn't anymore. Now it was just getting on Louis' nerves. He needed some hugs. Kisses. To hear the sound of Harry actually laughing out loud.

"Okay, so I'm thinkin' I'll just be straight-forward with him. You know, we're grown men, I don't need to beat around the bush. I'll just tell it like it is. That he's got to step up and tell me if he isn't interested in seeing me," Louis said to Fizzie a Wednesday afternoon when they were sitting around the table, playing a lazy game of fish. "Ace of hearts?"

"Isn't that a little desperate, though," Fizzie muttered, "and go fish."

Niall, who was on the side line, trying to teach the toddlers how to stack a card-house more than one storey tall, chimed in with a very useful, "yeah you'll seem like a fuckin' thirsty no-lifer."

Louis gave an offended snort. "I'm like, the least no-lifer-ish twenty-one-year-old ever. I've got seven kids, for cryin' out loud."

"Living vicariously through your younger siblings is not having a life," Fizzie said. "Four of hearts?"

"Go fish. And where do you get off using the word 'vicariously'?" Louis asked, "you live in a bloody trailer and you're, what, like, eleven?"

"Twelve and a quarter, thank you very much."

"Oh dear, so sorry to offend you. Ten of clovers?"

"You better get yourself a hook and a tin of worms, because guess what, brotha? You gone go fishin'."

Niall laughed much too loud and too long at that.

"Anyway," Louis said when things had calmed down again, "I'm not going to go all Fatal Attraction on him. I'm just gonna be like, 'hey, you wanna fuck or nah'?"

"Ew," was Fizzie's bright response. "Two of hearts?"

Louis sighed, handing over the card. "I don't think just implying that I'm up to take things further if he is constitutes as 'too much'. Does it? Queen of spades?"

Fizzie shrugged a shoulder. "What do I know about love, I'm only eleven."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," Niall said, patting her shoulder, "you're twelve and a quarter, thank you very much."

Louis was too caught up in his own internal dilemma's to even give a little snicker. "Queen of spades?" he repeated, and then, "and you can still weigh in on it despite your age, Fiz. Just giving him a little jab, a little help in the right direction, that's all I plan to do. Don't you think he'll respect that?"

Fizzie stared at him for a moment, this empty almost tired-out look in her eyes. "You know what he'll respect?" she then asked, "if you pop down and get yourself a pair of high wellies, a boat and a silent old rowing-partner, because you know what? You know what? You's be fishin, brotha!" With that, she slammed her cards down in the table and jumped out of her chair. "And that's all I have to say about that."

Louis was left with a red-faced laughing Niall and two toddlers on his legs that looked like they were in the middle of an earthquake.

*

Another few days went by and Louis was busy as always; taking Freddie to a routine doctor's visit, stitching up Fizzie's jacket after she got in a footie-related schoolyard fight, burning thirty muffins for Daisy and Phoebe's cake-day at school and then just giving them money to buy them at the corner store, and also, taking a last-minute extra closing shift at Frank's on a Thursday afternoon.