𝑺𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑶𝑶𝑳 » 𝑳𝑨𝑹𝑹𝒀

XXV

Louis' POV

We sit on the couch in the living room, watching television. I let Harry choose the channel, since it doesn't really matter to me anyways. I lay on the couch with my head on Harry's lap, and his left hand runs through my hair softly. I hear the sounds of Sherlock playing on the background. Harry could be staring at me at this very moment and see how dull and gross my eyes are, how rounded my eyebrows are and how thin my lips are, but I just can't bring myself to care anymore. Everyone has flaws, as Dr. Lecter told me. I just have to accept mine, and I will find peace. That's all I've ever wanted.

Eventually my mom and sister comes back with he food. I spring up from the couch, and follow them to the kitchen, Harry right behind me.

"What did you bring?" I ask excitedly. I am starving, the last time I ate was in school.

"All kinds of food, sausages, eggs, fruits, bread, vegetables, juices, milk and ice cream, etcetera, etcetera." my mom says. "Today we are having pizza, since Lottie insisted." she continues.

"Yay, pizza." I clap my hands like an excited kid.

"Why don't you kids go and occupy yourself while I make the food?" my mom ask, and I nod.

"Hey, could we try the boat if it still works? I mean, if it doesn't have any holes in it or anything." I ask my mom.

"Yeah, but remember put on life jackets, I don't want you kids drowning." she says and we walk to the hallway to get our shoes.

"Hey, can I come with you?" Lottie asks behind us.

"Yeah, sure, if it's okay with Harry." I shrug.

"I don't mind. We probably need help with carrying the boat to the water." Harry says, making me nod in agreement. The three of us walk over to the boat, and Lottie and Harry checks if it has any visible holes in it.

"It looks fine, I'll go to get the jackets." Lottie says and skips away to the garage we have in here. Soon she comes back with them, and we all shrug them on.

"It's probably pretty heavy. Are you sure Lou that you want to carry it with us? What if you fall over something?" Lottie asks, the concern clear in her voice but I flip her off.

"I'll be fine." I answer and the three of us lift the boat, grunts leaving from all of our mouths. It is quite heavy, but there is three of us and the water isn't that far away. Carefully, we walk over to the lake, and place it to the ground, this time on the right side up.

"Thank god it's just a small boat not like a motor boat or anything." I say, wiping my forehead.

"Yep. Where are the oars? And the bung?" Lottie says.

"Aren't they in the garage?" I ask, and she goes to check. I hear Lottie's steps coming back, and she hands me a brush.

"It's quite dirty, since we haven't used it in a while." Lottie says to me. "Clean it from the dirt while me and Harry put the oars and the bung in their places." she says.

After I have brushed the boat all clean and the oars and bung are in their rightful places, we start to push the boat towards the water.

"You guys can jump in already, I'll come after you." Harry says, and helps us to get situated in the boat. We jerk forward as Harry pushes us away from the coast, and jumps into the boat.

"So I'll row?" Harry asks.

"Yeah, if you don't mind." I answer.

I hear the water sloshing on the both side of us, as the oars slowly sink to the water, then come back to the surface, over and over again. I feel the boat swing a bit under us, and it makes me grip the edge of the boat even tighter. I suddenly feel anxious, being on an old boat with two kids who probably don't know what to do if we fall over with the boat.

"Should we go to the closest island there is or should we just go around it and go back?" Lottie asks and I shrug my shoulders, letting out a shaky breath.

"Hey, Lou, you okay?" Harry asks, and I give him the tiniest smile, nodding slowly.

"Yeah, just a bit afraid." I answer.

"Oh, Lou. Everything is gonna be fine, you can relax." Lottie says and I listen to her advice. As we keep going I feel the grip of my hands loosen around the edge, and my breathing evens out.

"Let's go around the island, Harry. You can see that island over there, right?" I hear Lottie say.

"Oh, that little one? Yeah I do." Harry answers.

After a while of a complete silence except for the birds chirping and the water sloshing, I hear a camera go off.

"Lottie, did you take a picture of me?" I turn my head to her, frowning.

"No I took a picture of the lake." she quips up. I know she is lying. I sigh and slump down on the seat, arms crossed.

"Lou, don't be mad." she whines and I turn to glare at her direction.

"I don't want you taking any ugly pictures of me, I've told this to you many times." I snap. There is an uncomfortable silence, the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"I- I'm sorry Lou. I'll delete it then, I just thought you looked nice with the nature and Harry behind you." Lottie says with an apologetical voice and I feel bad immediately.

"No, you can keep it, if you want. Just, warn me the next time when you're gonna take a picture of me." I say with a soft voice. "I'm sorry for snapping." I continue, sighing. I've been on edge for these past few days, and I know just the reason why.

"Okay, thanks Lou and it's fine, don't worry about it." she says with a much happier voice. "Let's head back to the cabin, the food is probably ready soon." she continues and I nod.

"Hey mom, is the pizza ready?!" I shout as soon as we step into the cabin. I take off my shoes and spring to the kitchen.

"Yes, I was just about to call Lottie. Could you kids set the table while I take it out of the oven?" she asks, and I nod. I help Lottie and Harry to set up the table, and go to the fridge.

"Do we have any Coca Cola?" I ask, feeling around the different foods and bottles on the fridge.

"Yes, on the top self." my mom answers, walking past me. I grab one big Coca Cola bottle, and take it to the table.

"So, do we have like two pizzas or?" I ask, sitting down.

"Yes, we have one salami-ham pizza and the other one is a hawaiian pizza, which one do you want to eat?" my mom ask.

"Can I have some of the salami pizza?" I ask, and hand her my plate. When she has loaded my plate with food, I take it back and start munching on the pizza with my hands.

"Which pizza do you want, Harry?" my mom asks an Harry chooses the hawaiian pizza. The table is silent except for the small clinking of plates and glasses as they pass food and drinks around.

"This is good, Johannah." Harry says, and I can hear that his mouth is full of food.

"Thank you dear." my mom beams. We eat in peace and they talk about random topics, but I don't really participate, my mind is somewhere else.

these cabin chapters are my favorite chapters from the fic

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