Chemistry (L.T.)

Chapter 21

Louis POV

"You look like absolute shit" Harry laughs with that dimply grin of his as he opens the door to his apartment and I step inside.  "Rough night huh?" he gives me slap on the back as I walk towards his kitchen.  I head for the cabinets, grabbing a glass and a bottle of aspirin.  I turn on the faucet and let the cold water run into my glass.  I take out a handful of pills and toss them back, flushing them down my throat with the cold water.  I needed something to cure the ridiculous hangover I was having. 

"You don't know the half of it" I finally respond, setting my glass on the coffee table and laying myself down on Harry's couch.  He takes a seat in the chair across from and for a second, I feel like I'm back in a psychiatrists office, spilling out my feelings to some stranger.  "I called you and you didn't answer" I say with slight irritation.

"Sorry mate, Leah and I went out last night and I just wasn't checking my phone.  You're obviously alive, so I guess you figured it out right?" Harry shoots me a grin.  Figured it out, if that's what you could call it, although my attempt at figuring it out had only made my life even more complicated. 

"I have some news for you that I'm sure you will be thrilled about" I chuckle, just waiting to see Harry's reaction.  Harry had been telling me from the day that I started dating Erica that it was a bad decision. He hated every fiber of her being and I wasn't sure if that was more of a hatred towards her personally or the person that I had become while I was with her.  The sad thing was, I was almost excited to tell him, as though a weight I had been lifted off of my shoulders.  This was a weight I didn't even realize I had, but now that it was gone it felt like I was free of some great burden. 

"Do spill" Harry says, grabbing a sip of coffee from the mug beside him. 

"Well, Erica broke up with me." I say and Harry gives a face of approval. 

"Took you long enough Tommo.  That's great news, the only thing that would have made it better would have been if you had been the one to break it off." He shakes his head.  "So finally you're free of that one . How does it feel?" Wow, we're jumping into psychiatry Harry. 

"Last night, not so great.  This morning, I feel somewhat free.  But I guess we'll have to see what kind of crazy rumors she spreads about me now that we are broken up." I sigh.  Erica wasn't the type of girl that broke up with you, accepted your differences and let you go on and live your seperate lives.  Erica was the type of person that wanted you to see how bad your life was without her, and make you think you were missing out on some incredible person. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about how people would think of me now.  Even though I'd done nothing wrong, I was terrified that she'd start some proposterous rumor about me. 

"Louis, you care too much about what people think" Harry sighs.  He never understood what it was like for me to make the transition from someone's whose life was a total mess into someone that people respected and admired.  Harry's life had always been simple, and he had always had it together.  "So am I going to get a glimpse of the Louis I know and love for a bit?" Harry asks with a smirk. He was such a cheeky lad, I sometimes wondered how we could stay friends for all these years despite how different we were.

"You're getting him right now aren't you?" I shrug, knowing its not quite the answer that Harry is looking for but the one that I'm willing to give. 

"So you're​ suffering from last night because of the break up obviously, how'd you make it home?" He continues to question me.  I should have known coming over would be like a therapy session. 

"So interesting thing...for some reason my highly intoxicated self decided to call my lab partner for a ride" I sigh, still unsure about what I was thinking in that moment.