Hotel {L.S.}

Chapter 15

I finally answered my phone. Louis had called multiple times, as well as Niall and Grindley, but I couldn't answer any. I didn't want to make anything worse.

When Louis called for the millionth time, I answered. "Harry?" He asked before I could even say a word. "Are you okay? Please say you're okay."

"Yeah," I sniffled. "I'm fine, Lou."

"Where are you?"

"A coffee shop," I answered, chewing on my lip. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry?" Louis asked.

I shrugged, keeping my eyes trained on the table in front of me. "Luke hitting you. I can't believe he did that. And for just leaving."

"Luke is an asshole you don't have to apologize for, and just tell me where you are so I can find you."

I stood up and walked to the door, taking a deep breath. "Um, fifth avenue and Grand street."

"I'll be right there, okay? It'll be like ten minutes. Are you okay, Hazza?"

"Yeah," I whispered.

"I'm not mad at you. Please don't think I'm mad at you."

It was my fault. I shouldn't have sang the song. I had a feeling Luke wouldn't like it. I didn't tell Louis any of it though.

"Yeah okay," I whispered, walking out of the small shop.

Louis sighed. "I'll be right there."

We hung up and I kept looking both ways for him. I had no idea how to get back. My plan was to Google the hotel and get directions later, especially if they would have given up on calling me.

I saw Louis before he saw me, so I made my way over to him, grabbing his arm. He looked shocked until he realized it was me, then he relaxed. "Come on." Louis grabbed my hand and nodded in the direction he came from.

I followed, trying not to look at the bruise on his chin. I shut my eyes tightly and kept close to him as we walked through the busy street, not caring if anyone bumped to me.

"Luke's getting sent home," Louis told me.

"Okay," I whispered.

He stopped walking. I stopped as well but kept head down. "Harry, that wasn't your fault."

"I sang the song and I knew he'd get mad. I shouldn't have done it," I mumbled. I should have kept it as the last song I sang, like planned. If I got that far.

"Nothing in that song was even remotely bad about him. It was just you growing apart."

"He's mad I wouldn't just tell him that, but I did. I told him and he didn't get it-"

Louis cupped my face. "Look at me. It. Wasn't. Your. Fault."

I stared at the bruise on his chin. It was mostly red, but the bruise was already forming underneath. "He hit you hard," I whispered.

"Tell me about it," he muttered. "But you didn't cause it. Alright?" Louis raised his eyebrows, still holding my face. "I'm not letting go until you say it wasn't your fault. And mean it," he added after a slight pause.

"Don't," I said, pulling away from him easily. "It's my fault."

"Fine. Am I supposed to be mad at you then? Ignore you?"

"Louis," I sighed.

"It's ridiculous, right?" He crossed his arms. "That's how you sound trying to take the blame."

"You don't get it." It was my fault no matter how he tried to spin it.

"No, I don't. You sang a fucking song that didn't even make him into a villain, and he got mad, just like you said. He snapped, Harry. Not you."

"I was mad when I said that. It-"

"Was the truth," Louis finished for me. I huffed and shook my head. "Just because you were mad doesn't mean anything. Actually, it meant you didn't have a filter, which was exactly what you needed."

I chewed on my lip and sighed. "I'm just... I'm not used to being right, okay?"

"Hey, hey," Louis reached for my hands. "You weren't ever wrong. Your parents were dicks for trying to change you. And I'll keep telling you that you're right for as long as you need me to."

I stepped closer to him, which caused him to let go of my hands and pull me in for a hug. I pushed my face into the crook of his neck, squeezing my eyes shut. He held me for a few seconds, then kissed my head before pulling himself away and suggesting we go back to the hotel.

I held his hand tightly, still staying close to him. Louis brought our hands up and kissed the back of my hand. I looked up at him and he smiled. "What do you want to do?"

"Food and sleep. I'm tired." That's all we had been doing, but there's been some reason for me to have a panic attack nearly every day. "You don't have to stay, though. You can go hang out with Liam and Zayn."

"No, cuddling and kissing sounds a thousand times better." He squeezed my hand.

"Have you thought about the deals?" I asked.

Louis nodded. "A bit, yeah." He looked at me. "If you want to-"

"I do, I really, really do," I said quickly. "We sound so good together and I really like you."

Louis chuckled. "I really like you, too, Hazza. Then we can accept the deal on Friday, and go home for a few days, then it'll be us again."

"I don't want to go home." We stopped walking again, moving closer to one of the buildings. "I'm scared."

Louis touched my cheeks. His thumb moved hand and forth. "You're going with Niall, remember? You don't have to go to your house."

"My parents will make me. They'll be there when the bus shows up." I looked away from him. "He gave up because it would start making him look bad if he didn't. When I get home and no one can see it-"

Louis hugged me tightly. "Then I'll fucking find a way for you to come back to my house. I'm not letting them touch you again."

"I'm dramatic, I'm sorry," I mumbled against his neck after a long pause.

"No, this is serious shit. You're not dramatic."

We got back to the hotel and I went straight to my music teacher. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"I think you had a perfectly natural reaction. Tonight we're going out, so you each get thirty dollars for dinner. You can stay back and like, order a pizza instead. Louis' school is doing something similar, so go talk with him and figure out what you want to do, then just let me and Yeets know, alright?" He handed me an envelope with my name and I took it with a small smile. "Please don't worry about Luke, Alright?"

"I won't. Thank you." I turned around and found Louis waiting for me, an envelope in his hand as well.

"What would you like to do? I know you're tired, so I'm fine with just ordering pizza or Chinese." Louis kissed the side of my head.

"Let's go out. I'm tired, but I also wanna look around." I know he's seen everything a thousand times, but I haven't. Louis nodded, so he went to find Zayn and Liam and I found Niall.

"Hey, you good?" He asked. I nodded. "Going out to eat?" I nodded again. "Are you going to ditch me when we get off the bus?"

My smile dropped and my okay mood faded away. I was being shitty to Niall. "I'm sorry. I'll hang out with you instead," I said, pulling my phone out to text Louis.

Niall grabbed my phone. When I looked up at him, he rolled his eyes. "Or just invite me along and tell Louis to bring his friends, dumbass. I don't care you found someone, I just don't want to be left out, H." He handed it back.

Harry:
I'm bringing Niall, invite Liam and Zayn. Non optional on Niall.

Louis:
Thank God, Liam and Zayn just said the same thing

"We're set," I said. Niall nodded.