Short and Lost

Chapter 16 ~ Ricky and a duck face

Sicily

(A/N: NO OFFENSE TO ELEANOR IN THIS CHAPTER, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ELEANOR! IT'S JUST PART OF THE STROY, I SWEAR!)

After that night, Louis didn't come down for a whole month. He didn't have dinner, didn't talk to the boys and had no contact with anyone at all. It hurt the boys, and they always made a place for him right next to Zayn at the table. We knew he went to to toilet at night, but we were never awake then. I tired to stay up that long once, but when I heard his door click, my eyes had let sleep rake it's hand over me.

Harry was the worst. He'd sit all by himself and push half his food around the plate while hardly swallowing it. The boys were like a family, they were a family, and Louis was apart of that. And no-one likes seeing someone they love in pain.

I figured the only way to get in was though his window, and Louis' bedroom was the furthest from mine. I sighed and tried to think if I could get in his room to talk to him.

Harry's room.

Like me and Zayn, the boys each had connected balcony's with each other, Harry with Louis, Niall with Liam and Zayn, up until now, had a random balcony. In the middle of the night, I'd walk into Harry's room while Louis goes to the toilet and slide under the bed and wait for him.

When it was the middle of the night, I sat by my door, waiting for the click I heard each night. I waited, and waited. Just as sleep almost took me over, that gentle click could be heard and the faint footsteps. I willed myself not to sleep and I pulled myself to my feet. I tiptoed down the hall as I saw the bathroom door close. Harry always had his room open. I slipped inside and past his sleeping figure.

I pulled open his curtains and slid into the night, clicking the door shut as the cold air whipped me. I was in a dark tank top and Pyjama bottoms, so my arms were freezing. I walked the few steps to Louis' balcony door, and it slid open. I slid inside, closing the curtains to how they looked before. Then, I heard his footsteps making their small journey to the door of the bedroom.

I threw myself under the bed, dirty socks and shirts balled up and small toy cars were under the double bed, but it didn't matter as Louis walked back in and laid down on the bed. He shifted to his side and I was just about to jump up and shout why he wasn't coming down, when I heard a noise.

A kind of sniffiling.

With a sob sound.

He was crying.

My heart tore and I felt horrible for doing this, but it wasn't fair to the boys. He was really important to them, not just someone they needed for fame. He was their friend, their brother, their best friend. And no matter what, they help each other out.

"Louis?" I whispered. 

I felt him jump on the bed and I slid my head out from the bottom of the bed. He turned on a light. "Who said that!?" he asked, freight in his small voice. My heart tore again.

"Louis, it's me." I felt him shift his head over the bed and look down at me as I pushed out from underneath the bed. I caught my knee on the end, and it stung but I ignored the pain.

"Sicily?"

"Yeah, it's me, I-oh my god." Louis. Our Louis. His face was red with tears, his eyes puffy and a few burnt pictures of him and Eleanor lay on his pillows. A few were around my feet. I moved to touch him, but he flinched away. It hurt, but he was in more pain than I was.

"Louis, I..." I couldn't continue. I couldn't stand to see his face like this.

"How'd you get in?" he asked, looking down at the small blanket. He turned around and even sitting down, he was taller than me. He slid down the side of the bed facing the door, as his tears glistened in the small lamp light we had.