Waifs and Strays [Larry Stylinson]

Chapter Twenty-Three

Oh my, where to start? This past week has been one of the strangest weeks ever. I still can't believe what happened and I'm still in shock of every single additional stab that followed in the past few days. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are confused and sad and probably even mad about the whole situation.

I hope Zayn will reach out to us soon, and tell us what really has been going on. Or at least say something, any goodbye would do. But honestly I don't think he will. He would've done it by now if he wanted to.

I don't want to rant here, I don't want to give anyone bad feelings again. I just want to say that despite everything, I love Zayn and I hope he is alright and that he will be happy with his new life.

As for my fanfic, it might seem reasonable to change the storyline now concerning Zayn, but I won't. It's just a story and I really don't see the need to change anything. To be honest, it's kind of ironic that this following portion of the story is starting exactly in this strange week but like I said I won't change the storyline.

Well... in other news, this story has over 5k reads now!! Thank you so much! I was so happy when I saw it, you should've seen me :D

Ah and this A/N is getting longer and longer, I'm really sorry :/ I'll stop now, it was only because of Zayn! I'll shut up now!

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Harry's POV

I shouldn't have laughed. I really shouldn't have. But when Louis gets like this, loud and witty, I just can't help it. I don't even know where he get's his jokes from.

Kim left the kitchen a while ago and the rest of the girls disappeared at some point while I tried to stop laughing. Louis and I are alone in the kitchen now and I am watching him eat his breakfast.

"So," Louis hums without looking at me, his eyes are glued to the cereals on his spoon, "why'd you push you're mattress away from mine again?"

"Um, what?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Louis says loudly, looking up into my eyes as if he didn't know what I was talking about.

"The question you just asked me?" I unnecessarily tell him.

"Uh yeah, doesn't matter. Just forget about it, was silly," Louis backtracks again.

I look at him a bit concerned. "What's the matter Louis?" I wonder. He's been so much more open with me lately. And what I really don't get is that at the most random times, he starts closing off again. I never know when to expect these moments. He's bubbly and loud one second and then pretents not to care or even gets aggressive the next. What am I missing here?

"I didn't want to be intrusive," I say to him when he doesn't react, "That's why I pushed the mattress back to its original spot. You put it there yourself. I thought you wanted it there."

"I did," Louis mumbles.

"There you go," I smile. When he doesn't smile back, I get a heavy feeling in my chest and I carefully push my bowl to the side. "Lou," I say quietly, "Do you remember telling me how I didn't have to get all flustered when it came to you? That I didn't have to try to say the right things when I was talking to you?"

Louis looks back at me, stunned. "Yes, of course I remember," he says, putting his cup down on the table.

I smile at him about his choice of words. "Good, and in return, you don't have to get like that either. You don't ever have to think about what you are saying when you talk to me. You can always say whatever you want without a filter. I won't judge you, I promise," I tell him honestly.