Old Friends? (A Louis Tomlinson FanFic)

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

 I woke up. The sun streamed through the curtains. I turned over to see Louis, his chiseled torso glowing healthily in the morning sun. Just so you weren’t wondering, Louis isn’t pregnant. I know you get healthy glows when you’re pregnant, but Louis is a man. Don’t be so silly. I looked at the time. It was 11:30. We ought to get up, really. It had been a few days since Harry’s little frying pan outburst, and Celeste was arriving today to get her fitted into her bridesmaid dress and to get Emma, Celeste’s daughter, fitted in her Flower Girl dress. I turned back to Louis and prodded him hard in his bare side.

“Go away,” He mumbled.

“No, it’s time to get up. Celeste is coming over soon!” I said.

“Emma?” Suddenly Louis was wide awake.

“Yes!” I smiled.

He jumped out of bed. I laughed. His boxers said ‘Lovely Jubbly’ on them.

He pulled on some tracksuit bottoms and we went downstairs.

“Morning,” Liam said, “All ready for Emma’s arrival?”

“Yep!” I smiled.

“There are some ground rules, however.” Liam said.

“Great,” Zayn said, very unenthusiastically.

“What are they?” Louis asked.

“Number one: No swearing while she’s here. Number two: No fighting. Number three: No watching porn.” Liam said.

“Sounds pretty straight forward, do the opposite to everything Harry does,” Louis said.

“Speaking of Harry, Louis, we all know this, but Emma doesn’t know that Harry is her dad. She’s only three. She just assumes she hasn’t got a dad. So no mentioning Harry being her father. We all good?” Liam said.

“Yeah,” Louis smiled, “We’re good.”

The last time Louis had seen Emma was when she was about three weeks old, and then he left for America. Of course, we all saw Emma all the time, but we hadn’t seen her for a few weeks now.

I had some toast, showered and then came back downstairs. Louis had gone home to freshen up. Claudia bustled through the front door with two boxes.

“What are they?” I asked.

“Celeste’s bridesmaid dress and Emma’s flower girl dress,” Claudia sighed as she put the boxes down.

“Awesome!” I smiled.

“Yeah, heavy though.” She groaned.

“What’s the ASDA bag for?” I asked, again.

“The food for tonight,” She said.

“Tonight?” I cocked my head.

“Our karaoke competition, remember?”

“No…” I said, dazed.

“Well, I haven’t mentioned it before, so I doubt you would remember it… But yeah, I thought it would be fun.”

She lived in a world of her own. Literally.

Harry might live in HarryTown, but she lived on another planet.

I felt like asking her what the weather on Mars is like this time of year.

But she’d have no idea what I was on about.

Oh gosh, she was talking. I didn’t hear a word of it. Smile and nod Chloe, smile and nod.

There was a knock at the door. Saved by Celeste.

“I’LL GET IT!” I shouted.

I opened the door. Celeste was hauling a case behind her and Emma was stood, holding her mum’s hand, smiling up at me. Her curls and her dimples reminded me so much of her father. Her father who was currently at large. She was wearing a white dress with pink roses on it, and her hair was tied up in little pigtails.

“CHLOE!” Emma squealed and hugged my legs. I picked her up and she cuddled into me.

“How’s my favorite little girl?” I asked.

“Mummy bought me a rabbit.” Emma enthused.

“A rabbit? Wow! What’s its name?”

“Her name is Clover. Mummy got her for my birthday!” Emma chirped.

Everyone was coming to the door now.

“Zayn!” Emma cried. Emma and Zayn had always got on well. Zayn just had a way with kids. I put Emma down and she ran over to Zayn, talking about her rabbit. I walked over to Celeste and hugged her, as did everyone else. Liam took Celeste’s case into the games room, where the sofa bed was set up and then we all sat down and had some lunch.

We had sandwiches.

And then some shit went down.

Harry came back.

He just walked through the door, looking quite sheepish and sorry for himself. I guess he was guilty. He had mixed emotions, he’d broken up with his girlfriend of three years, his daughter was coming back and then I was with Louis. You can’t blame the kid for being upset really.

“I’m sorry,” He choked.

“HARRY!” Emma squealed. Celeste pulled Emma on to her lap and hushed her.

“I’m sorry for being…” He was choosing his words carefully, “an idiot and threatening to kill you Louis… I’m sorry for cheating on you Ellie, I’m sorry for loving you Chloe.”

I went over and hugged him. He cried into my shoulder. Louis’ turn was next. Then Ellie approached him.

“Ellie, I’m sorry, please forgive me.” He whispered.

Ellie didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Then she hugged him. He cried harder.

“We’re not getting back together yet, anyway. I can see how sorry you are. We’re on a break. I want you to think about your actions and what consequences they had on the rest of us. I want you to think about the strain that it put on mine and Chloe’s friendship, and yours and Louis’. And when you know what you want, I want you to come back to me, and tell me. Take your time, Harry. But I still love you.” Ellie kissed him on the cheek and walked away.

Emma looked at Celeste. Celeste nodded.

“HARRY!”

Harry looked up and smiled at his daughter.

“Hello Emma!” He beamed.

“HARRY I GOT A RABBIT!” Emma cried.

“Aw really?” Harry smiled.

“Yes. Her name is Clover. She’s black!” Emma laughed.

A child’s laughter is the best sound in the world.

After lunch, Zayn and Hannah took Emma swimming.

I washed up with Harry.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m proud of her.” Harry smiled, tears filling his eyes, “So incredibly proud.”