I'll Make This Feel Like Home {l.s}

48

{Saturday, Oct 17}

We agree on leaving early Saturday morning so that we can still spend the rest of the half term with our families.

Lottie had missed all of Louis' calls on Thursday, causing him to freak out. Louis said that by one a.m. on Friday, she finally called back saying she lost her phone. He didn't believe her and he was scared their dad did something to her, but she assured him it was nothing to worry about.

He let her go to sleep for the night, but Louis being Louis didn't let this go. He was on edge the whole day Friday and begged me to convince the others that we should leave as early as possible today. I guess he didn't want them knowing what was going on at home which I guess is understandable.

We all said our goodbyes to Liam, and he promised to come visit us all as often as he can. By now we've dropped off Zayn and Niall, and Louis is dropping me off at mine.

The car ride was pretty quiet considering it's only now 8 in the morning, and Louis only says a quick goodbye with a kiss before zooming out of my driveway. I send him a text telling me to let him know how Lottie is because I know it's all he's worried about right now.

I walk in my front door and my Mum opens the door for me before I even place a hand on the doorknob.

"Welcome back Harry! I missed you so much," she starts as she smothers me in kisses. "Did you have so much fun?"

"Yeah it was a blast. Were you alright here without me?"

"I had plenty to do to keep me busy, but it definitely wasn't the same without you."

"Yeah I'm surprised you let me leave for that long away from home."

"Well you're growing up and this was a good test to see if you're mature enough to handle being on your own for a week. You seem like you're in one piece so I'd say you passed."

"Splendid."

"Hey you guys got back home really early. You must have left at like what? Six a.m.?"

"Yeah a little before that actually-" I decide to spare her the reasons as to why we left so early- "Just wanted an early start to the day."

"I'm your mother I can see right through you. Why'd you leave so early? Did something go wrong? Did everyone get home alright?"

"Calm down Mum everyone's safe, alive and well so don't worry about that. Louis just wanted to get home to Lottie because he had been away from her for such an extended period of time."

"Isn't she with their parents?"

"Well parent, yeah," I say nervously.

"Wait are his parents divorced?"

"Yeah they were but then his Mum passed away," I say quietly.

"Oh my goodness I had no idea."

"Yeah he doesn't talk about it very much. I could get why though."

"But did he need to check up on Lottie if she was her her father?"

It's just that...well," I don't really finish my thought because I'm not sure how much Louis is comfortable with me sharing.

"But what?" Of course she questions me further. Our discussion in the hot tub begins to come back to me, and I remember my idea of Louis and Lottie moving in with us.

"He doesn't trust his dad with her very much, that's all. He didn't make it sound like that big of a deal." Of course it was a big deal, what am I saying?

"Elaborate."

"Louis just said that he's not very capable of caring for children."

"That sounds like kind of a big deal. Are they okay at home?"

Here goes nothing. "I don't think so. Louis actually mentioned him getting... um, physical with him at home."

"Physical how?"

"His dad hits him, Mum."

"And Lottie?"

"Apparently has never laid a hand on her. But Lottie made it sound like something happened while we were gone this week, so he wanted to rush home."

"I'm going to call child services. They can't be living in fear like that. That man needs to go to jail."

"No no no. Louis said it's not that easy. His dad had all kind of connections and stuff apparently. Plus they'd get spilt up and sent away in foster care. And if you think about it, no one wants to take care of a child that will be turning eighteen in just over two months."

"So he's seventeen almost eighteen?"

"Correct."

"And you're fifteen almost sixteen?"

"Yes. Where is this going?"

"Taking care of a seventeen year old can't be much different than a fifteen year old right?"

"What do you mean?"

She ignore my question and asks, "How old is Lottie?"

"I think twelve. How is this relevant?"

"I've taken care of a twelve year old before. I can do it again."

"Mum are you saying what I think you're saying?" This worked out better than I imagined.

"Yes, call Louis and propose the idea. Him and his sister need to get out of that house."

"Are you sure about this Mum?"

"Never been more sure in my life. It's my responsibility as a mother to be that figure to whomever may need it."

"This is really going to mean a lot to both of them, you know that right?"

"Yeah I do, I'm just hoping that he takes up my offer, otherwise I'm scared of what else could happen to the poor kids."

"Thank you so much Mum. I'm actually going to go call him now, and I'll let you know what he says."

"Okay just don't sound too demanding or anything. Lay it on him easily. It'll be a big change for the other of them, but I'm afraid it'll save their lives in the long run from how you're making their dad sound."

"I'm actually afraid that he's sugar coating his whole dad situation, because he doesn't like people feeling bad for him."

"Let's worry about one thing at a time. Call Louis and introduce our idea."

Yeah we'll pretend it was your idea Mum, I think to myself.

That whole process of 'convincing' her to let Louis and Lottie live with us was much easier that I thought. She actually came up with the idea on her own. I can't wait to tell Louis how eager she is to have them stay with us.

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Word count: 1091