fighting love » l.s.

thirty five - girlfriend: the sequel

After dropping Harry off at his house the next morning, Louis pulled into an empty parking lot and took out his cell phone. He sucked in a sharp breath, the nauseating pit returning to his stomach immediately at the thought of what he was about to do.

In less than 12 hours, he was going to introduce his "girlfriend" to his mother. And over and over, he kept asking himself the same question: why? Why wasn't he brave enough to tell his mother, who had never been anything but loving and accepting, that he might be gay? How could he tell her that he was falling in love with this beautiful boy; that he knew deep down it wasn't some teenage phase; that after just a few months, he already found himself planning out the rest of their lives together?

Louis couldn't tell his mother because he had seen those baby photos of Harry. Those pictures displayed in stark contrast to how that horrible woman treated Harry now. Before knowing Harry, Louis had thought that nothing could change a mother's love, but apparently Harry's sexuality had. And he was terrified for the same thing to happen to him.

Scrolling through his contacts, he forced himself to click the contact name. Deep down, a part of him wished that he had deleted it immediately after putting an end to their essentially fake (or, at the least, manipulative and twisted) relationship, but he had been so caught up in finally living out his whirlwind romance with Harry. Truthfully, she had barely crossed his mind since he walked away from her that night at the party.

Louis put the call on speakerphone, the humming of the ringer echoing through the empty car. His knot in his stomach pulled tighter after the first two rings. Why would he expect her to answer, let alone do anything for him, after what he had said to her?

He made a mental resolve as the phone continued to ring loudly with no answer. If she didn't answer, he wouldn't call again. He would man up, show up to dinner alone, and tell his mother that he didn't have a girlfriend. He would tell her that he was questioning his sexuality. Maybe he could even bring Harry and introduce him as his --

"Louis? What do you want?"

Louis's heart dropped. So much for his bravery.

"Hey. How are you?"

"Are you serious, Louis?" Eleanor's shrill voice cut through the silence, and he could picture her glaring angrily at the phone. "You have the nerve to call me after the scene you caused at that party, and you want to know how I am?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for what happened at the party. I didn't mean for everything to go down like that," Louis replied truthfully. He smartly refrained from mentioning how much happier he had been since that night. "Listen, El, I need a really big favor."

"Why would I do anything for you, Louis?"

"Just hear me out. My mom wants to meet my girlfriend, and I'm not ready to tell her about my feelings for Harry. I don't know if I'm gay, El. But I really do like Harry, and I just need to buy myself a bit more time to figure it out," Louis said, hoping that honestly expressing his feelings about the situation would make her at least a bit sympathetic.

"So you want me to be your fake girlfriend. After you just broke up with me," Eleanor stated, not making any effort to hide her annoyance.

"Well, yeah," Louis said, cringing at how ridiculous his request sounded. "I'll do anything to make it up to you. Seriously, anything," he added quickly.

Eleanor paused for a moment, heavy silence flooding into Louis's car. Finally, she spoke. "Okay. I'll do it. But you have to go to prom with me."

Louis's heart dropped into his stomach. "What? Why would you want that as your return favor?" Louis asked immediately, his mind spinning from the shock of her unexpected request.