Look After You

chapter 10

   The flat was eerily quiet, the only sound was the slight hum of the television or an occasional snore that found its way out of Harry's bedroom. Louis hadn't moved since Liam left him. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, minutes or hours, or what show his eyes were blankly staring at without registering anything. All he was sure of, was the fact that he had hurt, then abandoned, Harry. He was amazed with how selfish he had been. His own best friend. Louis hated the feeling in his throat that he got when he teared up, so he tried his very best to keep his emotions from spilling over the edge. His vision blurred as tears fought their way to the surface, fought their way to give Louis away, but he was good at forcing them back down.

   The sound of Harry's door opening, tore Louis' attention to the staircase as heavy footsteps began to descend. Louis swallowed heavily when Harry came into view. The curly headed boy had a thick blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his hair flattened on one side, and his eyes weren't as red, but still tired looking. Louis watched as the boy shuffled into the living room and sat down on the far side of the couch, away from Louis, curling the blanket around his bare feet. Harry didn't look at Louis, which made the older boy's heart ache. 

   "Haz, are you alright?" Louis whispered, scooting closer to the bundle of covers and curls.

   "Yeah, fine. Thanks." Harry's voice was raspy, yet dismissive.

   Louis was shocked by his tone, Harry usually told him everything. "You want to talk about it?"

   "I rather not." Harry sighed, pulling the blanket up to his chin.

   "Want some tea?"

   "Please, if it's not any trouble." Harry grinned slightly, or at least Louis thought it was grin.

   "No trouble at all, Haz." Louis muttered, ruffling Harry's hair as he walked into the kitchen.

   As Louis put the kettle on the stove to boil, he couldn't help but feel hurt. He felt Harry tense beneath his touch, he was being ignored by his best mate. Perhaps this is revenge. Louis thought as he pulled two cups out of the cabinet. The kettle began to whistle, signalling the water was ready to pour.  The shrill sound was ended when Louis ripped the kettle off of the stove top and poured the steaming liquid into the cups. Harry sniffled slightly as Louis stirred extra sugar into the boy's cup to cheer him up.

   Louis walked carefully into the living room, swearing under his breath when he spilled some of the scolding liquid onto his hand. He handed a cup off to Harry, who slightly blew at the tea, nodding his thanks. The older boy slowly sat down, learning from the stinging red spot left on his hand, and blew the steam away from his own cup before taking a small sip. "Haz, I don't know how you can take your tea with sugar, I mean, I get you have a sweet tooth and all, but it masks my tea-making skills!" Louis ranted, taking another tiny swig from his cup.

   "I'm moving out." Louis choked on the hot liquid and placed his cup onto the table in the center of the room. Harry's blank expression never changed as Louis stammered in disbelief.

   "What!? Is that what you and Liam were talking about? Did he tell you that you should move out!? I'm gonna kill him!"

   "Liam doesn't know about it." Harry hoped the warm liquid would wash away the knot that was forming in his throat. "I just think I should have my own place, you know, go out on my own." The lie hurt Harry to say almost as much as it killed Louis to hear. Harry could feel the familiar sting of tears as Louis crumbled in front of him, because of him.

   "Is this because I went home with Eleanor?" The whisper that found it's way between Louis' trembling lips was shaky and quiet. He was losing his best friend, his comfort, his everything. My heart.  

   "No, Louie, it's not." Harry wanted the hurt that had twisted Louis' handsome features into something unrecognizable and painful to vanish. He hadn't expected this kind of reaction, to be honest, Harry wanted to take it all back. No.  "I just think it's for the best, yeah?" He whispered, pretending his heart wasn't completely shattering inside of his chest.

   "I...I don't want you to go, Haz." Louis looked up at the curly headed lad, his crisp blue eyes now bloodshot and watery with tears, the last piece of Harry's heart breaking.

   "You'll still see me all the time, Lou. I'm not leaving my best friend, just his flat." He tried to smile, but the sight of the broken boy he had come to love made it impossible.

   Louis said nothing, just sat beside Harry and sobbed silently to himself. The younger boy felt heartless that he had caused his best friend to breakdown. He stood up from his spot on the couch, thick blanket and all, and grabbed Louis by a shaky hand, pulling him up from the couch where he had curled  himself into a ball. Louis stared at his bare feet instead of the boy that stood in front of him, sniffling the rest of the sadness out of his system. Harry wrapped his arms, along with the blanket, around Louis and pulled him into his chest tightly. Louis flung his arms around the taller boy's waist and buried his face into his chest, the sobs erupting from his small frame once again.

   Louis clung to Harry as if he would disappear if he let go, which is exactly what he thought would happen, clutching tighter with every jagged breath. The younger boy felt his ribs sting with the pressure, but hugged Louis closer, ignoring the pain. This must be what love feels like. Harry rested his chin on top of the sobbing boy's messy hair. This would've been perfect if I hadn't made Lou cry. The two stayed like that, wrapped inside of the blanket hugging, until Liam returned.

   "Hey...guys? What's up?" the boy asked, slowly removing his sweater. The two never separated  from their embrace at Liam's interruption, but Harry's deep voice was the one to answer.

   "I've decided to move out." Harry's eyes were clouded with sadness as he felt Louis squeeze tighter at his words.

  Liam's face distorted into one of shock when the words finally sunk in. Harry watched as Liam's dark brown eyes flicked from his face to where Louis' head was resting on his chest. Liam raised a thick eyebrow and when Harry nodded slightly, his face faded into the sympathetic look Harry had grown accustomed to. "Wait, you're not leaving the band, are you mate?"

   "Of course not!" Harry shook his head, he would never quit the band, he and all the other boys, had worked too hard to get to where they were. He felt Louis' grip loosen a bit and he took this opportunity to pull the blanket off from around his shoulders and wrap it around Louis. "I'm going to talk to Liam for a bit, alright? I'll be back." He kissed the boy swiftly on the cheek as reassurance and turned to walk away, but was stopped when the oldest lad's hand caught his own.

   Harry spun around and felt his heart breaking all over again. Louis' blue eyes were wide and scared, like a puppy who had been kicked too many times. Harry wrapped his long fingers around the cold hand and gave it a firm squeeze, a grin tugged on the corners of his mouth. Louis slipped his hand away slowly, leaving a tingling trail on Harry's skin, and sat down on the couch. As Harry walked up the stairs with Liam, he glanced over his shoulder to see Louis pull the blanket over his head, but not before he caught a glimpse of the nonexistent expression that made the boy's face look unfamiliar.