𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 | louis partridge

three

"soooo, louis. where'd you even move to?" i asked, laying on his mattress. his bed frame hadn't been moved into the house yet, so he just had his mattress set out with a quilt on top.

louis was sorting through a box. i had offered to help him, but he declined, and i kept insisting, but the answer was always "no no no, i want to." eventually, i gave up.

"well, we moved to northern italy," he started. "we lost wifi, no internet. that's why my parents suddenly stopped contacting yours. i would have talked to you, but i couldn't. i suppose i could've written a letter, but nobody thought of that."

i sat up, looking at him as he takes clothes out of a box and sets them on the ground. "that sounds so cool. i mean, i got lonely here, until i met some new friends. did you have anyone?"

he glanced up at me, shaking his head and shrugging slightly. "i mean, kind of. i had a few friends at school, but then really none of them were the same as you," he looked up at me for a long time then, our eyes locking. i stared into his brown eyes for a while, he didn't break eye contact. "i missed you so much. it hurt a lot when i wanted to run over to your house and tell you the day's events and i found no houses nearby. i didn't see you running over to me, either."

i got up to go sit down next to him, and i put an arm around his shoulders. "jesus, louis. for the first month after you moved, i kept running over here, sometimes with a toy, expecting little louis to come out with that big dorky grin of yours. after i got used to the fact you weren't here, i would see that the lights over here were never on, and it would just hurt so bad," i confessed, leaning my head on his shoulder as i dropped my arm.

he rested the side of his head on top of mine, he leaned into me. "god, i didn't know that. i'm so sorry. oh, and i mean i guess i had a really close friend while i was there. a girlfriend, really. her name was lulu. we broke up a while before i left, but we had it good. it was great," he sighed, i could feel his jaw moving against the top of my head as he spoke.

"wow. i mean, good for you man. was she hot?" i asked, and he chuckled.

"yeah," he said. "yeah, she was pretty hot. gorgeous, actually. i loved her. i still do, but..." he trailed off.

i sat in the silence for a moment. "but what?"

he lifted his head up and stood up, looking out his window, which coincidentally was right across from mine. "but she had left me for some other guy. he was the best friend i had out there, actually. i don't know if she cheated on me, but looking back on it she totally could of. there were plenty of times she was hanging out with a friend, but then i saw the friend somewhere without her a few times." he managed to say.

i stood up with him. "i'm so sorry, louis. she doesn't deserve you, you don't deserve to be left for someone else. you're an amazing person."

he turned to look at me, a pained expression on his face, his eyes looked like they were on the verge of spilling out tears. "you don't know that. we haven't seen each other since we were like ten years old. i'm different."

i pressed my lips together, knowing he was right. i didn't know him that well, it's been a while. he was different, he was right. "well, louis," i started. "let's get to know each other again. spend the night at my house. ask your mom, i'll ask mine. is that good?" i asked, feeling like a little kid again. i hadn't asked my mom to have anyone spend the night in a few years.