- [✩] ; AFTER CHANGING, CORA SHOVED her phone into the pockets of her sweatpants, or also known as joggers by Issie and everyone in Britain. Then when she left the bathroom, she ventured down the hallway that was filled with family pictures and a lot of baby pictures of Louis (which were way too fucking cute) before making her way to the kitchen where Louis was sitting by the island, scrolling through his phone. He didn't notice Cora, so she used this to her advantage.
She crept up behind him, careful to make sure she wouldn't step on any creaky floorboards. Then Cora got on her tippy toes so she would be able to get real close to his ear before saying in a sing-song voice, "Whatcha doin'?"
Louis jumped, nearly hitting Cora if she didn't step back to laugh loudly. "What the fuck?!"
"Your face!" Cora wheeze, pointing her pointer finger at him as she held her stomach whilst she laughed.
Louis's lips curled into a scowl as he glared at her. "Well, that was awfully rude of you, Corazon."
After she calmed down a bit, Cora couldn't wipe a big smile off of her face. He looks cute like that, she thought to herself. "I couldn't help myself. You're such an easy target, Lou."
He shook his head and huffed. "Whatever," then his face turned neutral and somewhat serious. This made Cora confused. "Are you okay though? I saw your face when you received your mum's text and..." he shifted the weight on one leg to another.
Cora shrugged and shoved her hands into the pockets of her joggers. "It's nothing new, Serena's never home anyway." she did her best to keep her voice calm and playful as she ignored the pang in her chest. "Like I see her from time to time in the morning when she leaves for work and gets back, but it's whatever honestly."
Louis gave Cora a worried look as he tilted his head to the side and took into account that she called her mum by her first name. "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely not," she laughed sourly and sniffed as she felt her eyes suddenly begin to water. "I don't know, maybe she's finally tired of me."
The corner of Louis' lips fell into a frown. "I don't think that's true-"
"-Then why the fuck is she never home?" her voice was small now as she sniffled, her arms wrapped around herself.
The teenage boy before her hated the sight he was seeing and felt his heart crack inside of his ribcage. By his side, his hands were curled into fists. He honestly didn't know what was going on with Cora's mum, maybe she was just so genuinely busy with work that she couldn't spend time with her daughter. After all, Serena Valencia is a single mother, but Louis couldn't grasp why she would neglect her only daughter so much. Clearly, it was affecting Cora a lot more than she was leading on. She's been trying her very best not to cry in front of him, and he felt like his words wouldn't do much to help in this current situation.
