Flashlight (You're Getting Me Through The Night)

Chapter 11

A/N: Here we are! Another chapter the day after (ish) just like I promised. I hope you like this chapter, it's a generally happy one, so that's great. We are getting to the plot twisty stuff soon, though, so be prepared. hope you keep reading, comment if you'd like. All the love, as always xx

~L

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Louis' POV:

 I was such a fucking idiot. Why had I even done it? What had possessed me to do it? Who in their right mind would kiss the guy they like the day after they finally figured it out and then runaway? Oh, right. Me. I curled farther under the covers of my bed and hugged Harry's shirt to me. His scent had left it for the most part,but it still felt like a part of him was with me. Fuck, I was such a creep. I wanted to be with him, I wanted him to hold me when I was upset, I wanted to be happy. But I couldn't do this. I couldn't like him. I couldn't kiss him. Definitely couldn't date him or do anything else. If Mark ever found out, not only would he hurt me, he might hurt Harry, and I wasn't about to let that happen.

I needed to stay away from Harry. He was too much. I couldn't control myself around him, as the events of a few hours ago had proven very well. Which is probably why I was avoiding texting him back right now. I wanted to say something like 'I'm sorry, I really like you but we can't', but for the life of me I couldn't get myself to send that message, even if I had already typed it out and deleted it at least twice. If I needed to stay away from him, and I couldn't do that myself, I needed to do something to make him hate me. To make him stay away. Yeah, that would have to do. I gulped and typed out a new message, hitting send before I could lose the nerve. The moment it went through, my eyes welled up with tears, something that I was still not accustomed to, and I buried my face in my duvet, biting down hard on my arm to keep myself from making any noise aloud. I hated myself for being so horrible to Harry, but this would definitely make him hate me, if he didn't already. Fuck, I needed to collect myself, Mark would be home any minute and if he saw me like this, he would get mad, and I didn't want him taking it out on the rest of the family. He was already going to be pissed when he found out that I ditched school, I didn't need anything else making him worked up.

I stayed in my bed, curled under the covers and trying in vain to keep my tears in my eyes. Niall had texted me several times, but I was ignoring him too. I loved him to death, but there was no way I could explain what was going on in my brain to him. He couldn't know about Mark. No one could.

I pulled myself into a tighter ball and caught a faint whiff of Harry's smell. It immediately took me back to when we had been under the stairs, how his eyes had filled with concern, how he just wanted to help. I remembered the shocked little noise he had made when I crashed my lips onto his. I remembered the feeling of just...peace and happiness I had felt when we were kissing, standing close and being with each other...and I knew at that moment that I never wanted to let him go. But I had to...we would never work.

My phone buzzed for a lengthy period of time...someone was calling me. I reached a hand out of my cocoon of blankets, my head poking out for some fresh air as well, and turned my phone over, seeing Niall's face flashing on the display. I rejected the call but texted him instead, telling him that if he wanted to come over, he could. Two minutes later, the front door opened, and I could hear footsteps climbing the stairs quickly...although it sounded like more than one person.

The door flew open and all I heard was Liam's voice, ranting and raving at me.

"You're such a fucking prick, you know that? Kissing my best friend and basically leaving him to rot and then telling him he was a fuck up and to leave you alone, AFTER YOU FUCKING KISSED HIM AND LEAD HIM ON!!! How do you even live with yourself, you little piece of...oh, god, are you alright?" Liam's voice changed immediately as he caught sight of me, and I tried, I really did, but it was too late. Hot tears spilled onto my cheeks and my chest hurt from trying to hold them back. Niall came running in behind Liam, and when he saw me, he hurried around the bed to my side and crawled in next to me, pulling me into his arms. My body shook with the suppressed sobs and my breath hitched as I tried to calm myself down.