Petal [h.s.]

Chapter 15

Violet.

Louis took a deep breath as I looked at him with wide eyes. "An apology?"

He snatched the tequila bottle from my hands to take another sip as he nodded. "Yes. First of all, for everything with Ian..."

I quickly shook my head. "No, don't apologize for that. You were just worried a-"

"No, I was being a dick." Louis cut me off and I quickly shut my mouth. "It... irked me. To see you help him. I'm pretty sure you and I are the same age, and to see you just so effortlessly get to him... Same thing with Harry. Like, these are my people, and I couldn't do anything for them."

"Wasn't effortless." I chuckled while shaking my head, "It's never effortless. I told you, I think Ian's great. I'm sure you tried everything in your power to help him, and Harry. But having someone you love go through addiction... It's rough." I sighed, giving him a sympathetic look. Louis had his eyes trained on the bottle clenched in his hands as he slowly nodded.

"Did you go through it? You sound like you have experience."

I shook my head, holding out my hand in a silent question for the bottle. He handed it back. 

"No one in my family ever struggled with substance abuse. Not that I know of anyway." I guessed a lot of people thought that I got in the rehab field after horribly seeing a loved one succumb to addiction, but my story wasn't that inspiring.

It was quiet for a bit as we passed the bottle back and forth. I realized how much I relied on alcohol lately to handle heavy conversations. 

"You never asked what happened to Ian's parents." Louis stated, letting his eyes dart to my face until resting on mine. I frowned slightly, racking my brain for a moment that I asked Ian about his parents, but I hadn't. 

"It's not unusual for kids in the RSP to not have parents. I guess I just didn't question it. Lots of people around me don't have parents, I don't have parents."

Louis' eyes widened slightly. "You don't?"

"Nope. Maybe we can form some sort of club. The no-parents club." I tried to joke, but the air felt heavy around this topic. Louis chuckled to humour me. "Harry can join too."

Realization dawned on me that there were three people in this apartment, all young, and none of them had a parent. Louis held up the bottle with a weak smile. "To the no-parents club."

"Cheers."

Silence dawned over the bedroom again. I leaned back slightly, feeling the bed behind my back and I sighed, crossing my legs over one another as I looked at Louis who was still sitting against the wall on the other side. He put the cap on the bottle and put it flat on the floor, giving it a kick so it rolled my way. My foot caught it and I smiled at him as a thank you.

"I also want to apologize for the way I've been behaving. I know I haven't showed it, but I actually like you quite a lot."

My eyes widened. "You do?"

"Mhm," Louis nodded, not looking at me, "I was sceptical at first, but you're a good person. Eleanor loves you, so does Ian. Harry seems to like you too."

"I have a bone to pick with you, by the way." I gulped down the tequila as I pointed my finger at Louis, "Why on earth did you convince Harry that he loves me?"

Louis palmed his forehead and groaned. "No."

"Oh, yes." I chuckled. "Imagine my surprise when he nervously admitted that he bloody loved me."

"Fuck, what an idiot." Louis was laughing and I couldn't help but laugh along. I felt bad for laughing at Harry behind his back, especially after I had already given him such a hard time about this topic. But it wasn't personally him we were laughing about, more so the absurdity of the situation. Louis was shaking his head, his laughter dying down.