Hamburgers and Summer Time

Chapter 7

“I want Louis to put me to sleep tonight!” Louis smiled at the cute brunette already in her pajamas, a water bottle in hand. He then looked over at the older brunette, silently asking permission and Harry smiled back with a little nod for a reply.

Louis followed the little girl in her bright pink room, walls covered in Disney princesses and the bed difficult to find under the amount of stuffed animals laying on it. He smiled to himself, thinking about his own sisters’ room when they were about the same age, except this wasn’t Harry’s sister and that little girl use to have her own room back then and that thought wiped away Louis’ grin.

“Do you want a bedtime story?” he asked but Brittany shook her head, Louis looking over at Harry, puzzled.

“Can you sing me to sleep?” Louis was taken aback. He never sang for his sisters. Actually, he never sang for anyone before and the fact that the curly lad was still watching him from the doorway really didn’t help him. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of Harry.

“Singing? You sure? Because everyone always tells me about how great of a storyteller I am.” he tried to convince her but blue eyes filled with sleep were still looking expectantly at him, her bottom lip in a cute pout and Louis sighed. There really was no way out of this.

“What do you want to hear?”

“Harry always sings me ‘Hey There Delilah’.” Harry felt his cheeks burning up but decided to ignore it and gave an encouraging nod towards his friend.

“Hey there Delilah

what’s it like in New York City?

I’m a thousand miles away

But girl, tonight you look so pretty

Yes you do

Times Square can’t shine as bright as you

I swear it’s true”

Louis wanted to turn away and look over at Harry, just to make sure he wasn’t completely embarrassing himself, but Brittany was slowly falling asleep at the sound of his voice and he really didn’t want to screw up so he kept on singing, trying not to mess the lyrics and surprisingly, the little girl fell asleep after the first chorus, much to Louis’ relieve. He wasn’t sure if he would have been able to go all the way through the song without messing it up. He pulled the covers up on the girl and silently exited the room, following Harry back in the kitchen and took a seat at the table while Harry took a glass of water.

“Do you want something to drink?” Harry asked him but Louis shook his head. It was getting late. Well, not really late but they had to be at work early the following morning so Louis needed to go sometime soon, even if he didn’t want to. He was still wearing his uniform from earlier that day, not wanting to go home for dinner, not when Harry asked him to stay over with his hopeful cheeky grin that Louis couldn’t resist.

“So what did I miss today at work?” he tried to keep his tone cool and casual but Louis didn’t buy it. He didn’t say anything about it though, just answered Harry’s question and trying to ease the tension.

“Well, Zayn was a wreck.” Harry gave him a curious look and took another sip of his drink; Louis took it as his cue to continue. “Niall was very sick the night before and Zayn was being overprotective and overreacting, as always.” The last statement earned a genuine smile from the tired looking boy.

“But is he alright?”

“Zayn? Yeah, Niall called him sometime during his break to let him know that his fever was gone and that brought the biggest smile on Zayn’s face. He looked as happy as if someone told him they found a cure to cancer!” Louis let out gleefully but Harry’s expression darkened once again and the smile disappeared from his face.

Louis didn’t know what he had done wrong but he wished more than everything that he could take it back and admire Harry’s dimples again but it was too late.

“I’m sorry Haz.” Louis tried using his nickname to cheer him up a little but it didn’t work. Harry’s eyes were glued on the floor, dead, without the cheeky flame burning them up.

There was an odd silence between the two of them and Louis didn’t know what to say which was something unusual for him. Louis always knew what to say and when to say it but with Harry, it was a completely different story.

“Where is your mom Harry?” Louis couldn’t help it. He didn’t want to sound pushing or annoying but he didn’t get why he was taking care of Brittany alone at his age, it didn’t make any sense.

“What do you mean?” Louis sighed.

“Why isn’t she here tonight?” It was Harry’s turn to sigh.

“She’s, uh, she c-couldn’t come home be-because-” Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Louis’ hand stroking his own on the table, giving it a gentle squeeze and Harry looked up.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I’m just here to help you.” he said while staring deep in Harry’s green eyes and the curly boy could almost taste the sincerity of the older boy’s words. Harry took a large breath of air before opening up his mouth again.

“She’s in the hospital.” Louis gave another squeeze to his hand, silently telling him to go on and silently promising he’d still be here.

“She’s been diagnosed with lungs cancer a little while ago but it wasn’t as bad as it’s getting now. She can’t leave the hospital or go to work. We receive an amount of money but I still need to work to help her with everything. It’s-It’s-”

Louis couldn’t make up the rest of the sentence, his words muffled by sobs and stuffy nose but he didn’t care. He got the important bit and it tore him apart. Louis really found himself speechless and useless and he hated it so instead of saying anything, he pushed himself off his chair and reached for Harry with open arms. He held the boy so tight against him, he could break him. He wrapped his arms around his waist and nuzzled his face in the boy’s wild curls. Tears were spilling a little from his eyes but as far as he was concerned, he didn’t care. Because, Harry was trying to take care of everyone around him, without thinking about himself. Someone needed to take care of him. Louis would take care of him.

“What?” Harry asked between sobs and Louis’ face drained at the realisation that he said it out loud.

“I’m gonna take care of you Harry. Don’t worry, I’ll be here.” Louis assured him but Harry didn’t reply, he only held onto him tighter, but that was enough for the older boy.

“Brit usually goes to a daycare center but they’re closed for summer break for two weeks so my neighbor comes over during the day, but today, she wasn’t available, that’s why I skipped work.” Harry let out when the sobs subdued. Louis stroke his back and ran a hand through his curls.

“You should go, we have work tomorrow.” Louis let an audible sigh and that brought a tiny little smile on Harry’s puffy face. The older boy detached himself off Harry but let his hand lingered on the side of his face a little longer than he really should.

“Yeah, you’re right.” The two teens walked into the unlit hallway all the way back to Harry’s front door.

“Thank you Louis.” Harry said quietly, almost wishing the other boy couldn’t hear it. But Louis did and Harry didn’t mind because Louis slowly leaned in, lips brushing across the chapped ones of Harry. It was more of a light peck than an actual kiss but Harry didn’t complain because it was far enough for him. Louis realised that he really didn’t need his words when it came to Harry and he liked it, it was much more natural this way.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Harry?” Louis asked, almost afraid of Harry’s answer.

“You can bet your pretty ass you will.” Harry replied in all his cheekiness, and just like that, it was almost just like in the beginning of this weird summer when everything was about burnt hamburgers and hot summer time. Almost.