Hold Each Other (Lou x Nolan)

Chapter 20

The dolls had left the theater and made their way to the portal. Nolan had requested the robot driving to take a longer route. He wanted to have Lou mentally prepared for seeing the portal again. 

He saw Lou fidgeting with his fingers nervously, his leg shaking in anxiety. ''Hey, it's gonna be ok'', I said softly.

''You don't know that. I bet they hate my guts.''

Nolan smirked, and faced Lou. ''I'll be with you the whole time. Kay?''

Lou sighed and took Nolan's hand, ''Kay.''

The car eventually came to a hault and the driving robot turned his head to the back, ''Husband of Lou? You have arrived at your destination.''

Nolan hesitated to say anything.

It was silent for a few seconds.

''Husband of Lou? You have arrived-''

"Yes we know'', Lou interrupted annoyed.

Nolan looked at Lou with concern, his head in his hands. ''I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this this its just-'' he sighed, ''it's been awhile.''

Nolan nodded, ''we will go through this together, besides once the worst part is over I'm sure you will really enjoy yourself there.''

Lou nodded.

They stepped out of the car and watched it drive off into the distance. 

The memories. They came back fast. Too fast.

Thoughts of Ox asking 'what happened to you?'

Lou pushing Moxie and Mandy into recycling, leaving them to stitches.

He stopped for a moment, took Nolan's hand and squeezed it.

They left The Institute of Perfection.

                                                                                    ..........

A light shined, bright. It looked like the Sun. Then he saw colours. A whole range of them.

''You ok Lou?''

It was Nolan. But where was-

Uglyville.

He came to and rubbed his eyes, finally seeing his surroundings clearly.

It was Moxie, Ox, Uglydog, Mandy, Luckybat, and a other Uglydolls surrounding him. Nolan was supporting his head for god knows how long. Did the Uglies see?

Lou started to feel his palms sweat, ''Am I....?''

''Yes, you're in Uglyville,'' Nolan answered softly.

He helped Lou get to his feet and handed him a comb from his pocket. Lou turned around and quickly slicked his hair in position. The Uglies looked confused. ''Heh heh...habit'', Lou said.

''Wait...why was I lying down?'' Lou asked.

''You fainted about halfway through the portal, I yelled for Ox to help.''

Lou looked at Ox, who was next to Nolan suddenly. He smiled and waved. Lou waved shly back.

''We've been communicating for years thanks to paper airplanes,'' Ox explained.

''Communicated what?'' Lou asked.

''How he was doing and such. He told me he wanted to see you and I wanted updates so we kept in contact.''

''Oh,'' Lou shifted his feet awkwardly.

''Don't worry, it wasn't anything private, he just wanted to update me about if you we're doing ok and such.''

''But why do you care about me? After all I did to you.''

''Exactly, even though you betrayed me, you still treated me like a brother in the early days, and I respect that. I want to put the past behind us and look forward.''

Nolan smiled at Lou as he held his hand.

''Well, let's show you around, give you a tour!'' Ox said as he lead the dolls through the surrounding circle of Uglies. 

Maybe, Lou thought, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

He squeezed Nolan's hand and followed Ox.