The Suburbs

t h r e e

c h a p t e r   t h r e e 

t h e  b a k e r y

l o u i s

Saturdays were one of Louis' favourite days of the week. He had no serious responsibilities and wasn't cooped up in the school all day. Taz was a Saturday fan too, because he got to spend the whole day with Louis, whether they went to the park, for a walk, or even if the two just bummed around at home, Saturday was definitely a good day.

As Louis slowly sat down on the floor to enjoy his breakfast of coco pops with Taz, his mind wandered to the previous evening when he'd gone out for dinner, and the gorgeous guy he'd seen sitting alone who he'd overheard introduce himself as Harry, and a newcomer to Silverstate. He must have been the person responsible for the moving truck, and Louis was itching with curiosity as to where exactly he'd moved into, although it was really none of his business.

"What are we gonna to today, boy? A walk?" Louis asked Taz, scratching behind his ears, and Taz panted heavily in agreement.

Louis had a few errands to run, and he needed to pick up a few things from the bakery and return his latest read to the bookstore, so after the two were finished their breakfast, Louis got himself dressed in snappy black dress pants and a silky grey shirt of which he rolled up the sleeves. It wasn't long until Taz was happily on his leash, and the two were walking down the sidewalk, soaking in the brilliant sunshine.

"Morning Louis," a familiar voice chirped, and Louis looked up to see Ellie walking towards him.

"Morning Ellie! How are you this morning?" Louis asked, slowing to a stop as Ellie crouched down to scratch behind Taz's ears.

"Pretty good, I just went for a peek next door to my place, the new guy in town's moved in there and he's planning to do it up," Ellie told Louis, only briefly looking up from Taz's grin to raise her eyebrows at Louis.

"Harry?" Louis asked before his mind could catch up to advise him to not say that, seeing as he only knew the guys name from overhearing it at the cafe last night.

"Yeah, do you know him?" Ellie asked, standing back up straight, eyeing Louis curiously.

"Oh, no I uh . . heard people talking about him, seems to be a lot of buzz about him," Louis said quickly, scratching at the back of his neck like he always did when he got nervous.

"Well he's new, and he moved into that gorgeous old cottage on the edge of town, and he's pretty easy on the eyes," Ellie told Louis, her cheeks flushing slightly, and even though Louis hardly knew the guy, he felt a pang of jealousy hit him hard in the stomach at Ellie's words.

"Mmm, well I better get going, I'll see you later yeah?" Louis smiled, and Ellie nodded.

"Sure thing Tommo, tonight maybe? We could go out for a drink, get you out of that house for a night?" Ellie suggested, and Louis grimaced.

"Thanks El, but I've got lots of papers to mark and stuff, maybe another night,"  Louis told her, and he pretended not to notice her heavy sigh.

"Alright, see you later babe," El said, and she gave Louis a tight smile before crossing the road and keeping on walking.

Louis felt a little bad for blowing Ellie off, especially seeing as he did every time she ever invited him out, but he did have work to do, and honestly he was never in the mood for sitting around a crowded table with people prodding him with intrusive questions. He would much rather sit at home with Taz and watch reruns of Friends on television and drown his sorrows in chocolate ice cream.