Drunk Words, Sober Thoughts

6

"Life is hell."

"Well someone's in a cheery mood this morning." Liam chirped, sliding Louis a plate of breakfast.

Louis winced at Liam's loud voice, "How the hell do you not have a hangover, you literally drank more than me last night."

"Flower shop owners don't get hungover. Or drunk. All they do is flowers," Liam stated, "Apple cider vinegar."

Louis grunted, "I don't think that's a real remedy for hangovers Liam."

"It is!"

"Quieter pleaseee."

"This guy in my pilates class said it works like a charm, and clearly, it does! Don't knock it till you try it." Liam smiled, pouring Louis a tall glass of orange juice.

"Life is unfair. How do you feel like that while I feel like I was on the front lines of the revolutionary war last night?" Louis grumbled, though he was secretly glad Liam didn't have bad hangovers, because Liam knew exactly what Louis needed when he had one- ex; orange juice (why is still a mystery, but there had never been a hangover where Louis didn't want orange juice).

"And where's Niall then?" Louis asked, rubbing the bleary sleep out of his eyes.

"Still asleep. I reckon he'll wake up half an hour before his shift, and possibly throw up on someone's spaghetti at work." Liam smiled.

Louis groaned, "We should be more responsible. We're adults. With jobs. I thought this was the part where we get our lives together."

Liam shrugged, "I mean, we're still young, yeah? Gotta live it up while we can."

A beat of silence.

"So who was that girl you were out talking to?" Liam asked casually.

"Do you guys not understand gay? She was actually the birthday girl of the party we went to. Her 26th?"

"Oh shit." Liam said, pushing out a box of honey nut crunch.

"Yeah. She was actually really nice. I'm surprised you remember that though."

Liam shrugged, "I think alcohol just works differently for me. Hey, you wanna stop by the flower shop? Hang out, stop to smell the roses or whatever? You don't have work until the evening today, right?"

Louis hummed at the prospect.

The flower shop was Liam's pride and joy. It was easy to see why too, the shop itself was a work of art.

It provided more than just flowers, but an aesthetic experience Liam had worked so hard for.

Everything down to the soft music that played, to the tone of the light fixtures was hand picked by Liam when he had bought the place fresh out of uni.

The walls were littered with paintings for sale by local artists, and the break room for the four people that worked there was more of a book nook than anything else.

It was a peaceful environment amid London's regular police-siren-fashion-school-late-for-my-meeting pace.

"Sure, I'll come, but don't ask me to cover inventory for you, you know how much I dread math."

And so a quick half an hour later, the two were walking into the store, door bell jingling.

Liam went straight to work while Louis b-lined for the book nook break room.

"Hey Diana." Louis gave a quick wave to the girl at the cash register.

"Back again to mooch off our free wifi Tomlinson?"