Defenceless l.s

Thirty Six

Thank you to @wild._.child_00 for this new cover!! :)

Louis' POV

Louis ended up staying home for three days. He just couldn't gather enough energy to get out of bed, but he really should go or they would cut it from his paycheck he thought. But it's friday, there is no point in going in for only one day. He stared up at the ceiling trying to convince himself to get up, to get out of bed and go to work. With a groan Louis pushed himself up and went to the bathroom. It still hurt to walk but it wasn't like someone was stabbing him with every step he took, so that's a plus. 

He started the water and stripped out of his clothes making sure not to look in the mirror before getting in. The hot water burned his skin but it still felt so good and he just wanted to stay there forever, but alas that couldn't happen. With a little sigh Louis stepped out of the shower, quickly drying himself off and throwing on his shirt and pants before exiting the bathroom. He knew Liam wasn't home but he still didn't want to go out like that, just in case.

He buttoned the shirt as he walked back to the bedroom looking for his suit jacket. He really should've dried his hair better he thought as cold droplets run down his back, soaking his shirt. He styled his hair and put on his suit jacket before slipping on his shoes and heading out. He considered getting himself a tea like last time but decided against it, he just wasn't in the mood; he did not deserve the tea anyway. The whole ride there Louis felt this lump in his throat he just couldn't get rid off. He really didn't want to go and was so fucking exhausted. His eyes burned a little with the unshed tears he tried to keep from falling. He didn't quite understand why he cried so much but he hated it. It was ridiculous, the things he would cry over these days. Yesterday he was close to breaking down in tears because he forgot to put detergent in the washing machine. Luckily he managed to pull himself together before someone saw him. 

Louis parked the car and cleared his throat as he walked through the double door. Smiling politely at the reception lady, he stepped into the elevator, hoping and praying he wouldn't run into Niall today. He didn't know how he would deal with that when he was this close to a fucking mentall breakdown. Liam had said Niall told him about their lunches, was he really so fat that Niall felt the need to call him? Louis felt his eyes glaze over again but ignored it as the elevator came to a stop.

Coffee in hand, Louis knocked on the door, he had only been away for three days but it felt like weeks as he waited for Mr.Styles' approval before entering his office. He looked up from his desk and his lips twitched into a smile when he spotted him. "Oh, hi Louis, you're back!" He exclaimed. Louis was a little taken aback by his enthusiasm but shrugged it off, he was probably just glad to have his assistant back. He smiled back a tight lipped smile as he placed the coffee on the desk. "Yeah, had the flu," he explained. "Well, I'm glad you're better," he said.

Louis nodded awkwardly, not sure on what to say, so he just nodded and gave him that tight lipped smile again. "Yeah, me too." His eyes flickered across the room as he waited for Mr.Styles to say something, but he didn't. "I should get to work," he said and walked out.

Eventually Niall showed up in front of him. He hadn't noticed him coming as the music blaring in his ears blocked out everything distracting. It was nice, he decided that he would do this more often. Louis pulled the headphones out and looked up at a smiling Niall. "Hey! Good to see you're back!" Okay what's up with these people, he thought, he was gone for three days not three months. "Yeah," Louis's eyes fled across the wall behind Niall, he hated this. He never knew what to say and always made things awkward. 

Niall smiled at him before going into Mr.Styles' office, without knocking. Louis sighed before plugging in his headphones again. Ugh, he had missed almost the entire song.  

The weekend mostly consisted of Louis worrying and Liam ignoring him and before he knew it, it was monday again. Liam was still as mad at him, if not even more when Louis got into his car. They had found an apartment that they were supposed to check out later today but now he wasn't quite sure if that was going to happen. It had completely slipped his mind until he got a notification this morning from the website they used for apartment hunting.

The day went by agonizingly slow, which was weird considering how fast  the weekend had passed. It's funny how that worked, or no it actually wasn't, Louis thought. He hated how slow the minutes would go by when he had to will himself not to cry in the middle of a fucking conference or meeting or just infront of Mr.Styles or Niall or when he's just walking down the hall or in the kitchen making that damn coffee. Louis knocked on the door, a little more aggressive than usual but he didn't care. His knuckles hurt a bit but that was fine. He entered the office and saw Mr.Styles pacing around the room with a deep crease between his eyebrows. Not really sure on what to do he placed the mug on his desk and turned around to leave but Mr.Styles grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. 

Louis stiffened at the touch and Mr.Styles immediately removed his hand giving him an apologetic look, he gestured to the phone and then to the couch. Louis walked over there and sat down waiting for him to end the call. But he didn't have to wait long, cause he hung up almost right away. He sighed and ran a hand through his long curls. "We have to meet up with Mr.Miller, he agreed to meet with me today," apparently there had come up some emergency about the lawsuit. Louis didn't fully understand what was going on but he just went with it, too tired to ask any questions.

The meeting didn't last for more than about half an hour, whatever the problem was, they seemed to have solved it pretty fast which was good, though he didn't really care that much. He was just glad it was over cause it was fucking freezing in this room. All throughout the meeting Louis kept rubbing his hands together or on his thighs trying to get some warmth, but it wasn't working particularly well. He had looked at the others and they seemed perfectly fine. As soon as they entered the car Louis wrapped his arms around himself, bouncing his leg up and down, hoping it would provide some kind of heat.

Mr.Styles glanced at him before turning on the AC and the warm air started pouring in, before starting the car and driving off. Louis looked out the window and got lost in his little fantasy world again. It was nice, gave his mind a little time to rest. He thought back to Friday night, throughout the weekend he had come up with a pretty solid story of what happened that didn't make him feel as bad. It went something like this: because they lived in a very bad area Liam had gotten dragged into some bad stuff, (he hadn't come up with what yet, probably something to drugs) so the bad people threatened him and said they would hurt Liam if he didn't do something (hadn't quite come up with that either) but he couldn't tell Liam about so it ended with him thinking that he cheated and that's why he got mad.  But Louis wasn't really hurt cause he knew he only did it to protect Liam so it was fine.

Louis ended up cancelling the apartment viewing an hour before they were supposed to meet. Blinking away his tears Louis sent a text to their broker. He laid down on his side, burning cheek pressed to the cool sheets, staring blankly at the wall. He laid there for a while, completely still, eventually letting a couple of tears slip, but that was about it. He hugged the pillow close to his chest and buried his face in it when he felt a new, stronger wave of tears rushing down his face.