rupture - l.s.

Chapter 9

After finding Louis so broken in the bar, there was absolute silence between us both for a few days. I feel like he is embarrassed to know that I saw him like that. He has never been a fan of showing emotions.

He told me that people who showed their feelings were more vulnerable. They show a weak side, they are faster to get hurt. And that's exactly what he wanted to avoid.

To get hurt.

So he rather hurt me instead of waiting and seeing if I was going to be the one to leave.

At that time, I would've never hurt him. I loved him more than myself. My parents hated him, but that did not matter to me. My favorite romance has always been Romeo and Juliet. And the fact that our parents hated each other so badly, made it even more romantic for my young teenage self.

It may sound cheesy, but Romeo and Juliet is indeed the most romantic story I've ever heard of. Two lovers who are separated by the everlasting conflict of their families. They can not see each other, but their fathomless love glues their broken pieces together.

I know the two fools are ending up killing themselves in the end, and that's sort of romantic, but-

"Harry, have you seen Louis?", Robert asks as he comes in after his little smoking pause outside of the bar. I look at him confusedly and furrowed my eyebrows. "No, why? I thought he'd gone over to flirt with the young flower girl again. '', I say, laughing softly. Robert, however, does not seem amused at all.

"I'm worried about him. He has not talked to you or me for a few days. And he's always at least texting me in case something's wrong.", Robert says, sighing.''And he's not over there with Bella, either. I asked her. Maybe I'll visit him and ask him what's going on with him.'' I nod in agreement. "Sounds like a plan," I say.

Interesting. Her name is Bella... I had a doll that was named Bella once. Louis gifted it to me...

.

'''Cause what about all these children and what about all their parents? '', I sing my new favorite song loudly as I clean my apartment. It looked like an absolute mess when I came in.

I let the vacuum cleaner slide over the floor as I suddenly hear a loud bang. I turn off the vacuum cleaner and look around in confusion. What was that?

I look around and then I see... - an old picture of me and Louis. As I focus on what I see in this picture, a scene jumps to my inner eye.

"All my ducklings ... are swimming on the lake.", I sing to myself as I built a sandcastle. My eight-year-old self spent at least half of my free time on the beach. Probably because I was absolutely convinced at that time that I was going to be a mermaid later on, when I'm big.

I was going to finish the castle when a big wave came up. I looked at the water and thankfully, I was safe from the monster wave, but my sandcastle did not survive.

I pouted as I looked at the wet, massive lump in front of me, which was still my beautiful masterpiece a few seconds ago.

I sighed loudly as I suddenly realized that someone had sat down behind me. I stroked my curls out of my face and turned to look directly at the ocean.

To be precise, at ocean blue eyes. I swallowed and was only speechless because those mesmerizing eyes came closer to me, but also because the mouth a few inches underneath them was immediately beginning to move as they spoke.

"Your poor castle!", said the strange little boy, who now broke the intense eye contact with me and now pointed to the sand hill in front of my small body.

I nodded and pouted even more.

"If you like, I'll help you, we can build a new-''."Harry, darling!", I hear my mother's voice from afar. Immediately, I look at her as she runs towards me and waves at me.

"Who do you have there? A new friend?'', she asked me and smiled. I was red, I would not count the stranger directly as one of my friends.

"I'm Louis!", he said with a smile. My mother gave us both a loving smile."Then sit together, please, so I can make a great photo of you. As a memory.'', she said.

It was a little unpleasant for me that she had to take a photo of us, but Louis did not have a problem with that. He pressed his body against me and smiled at the camera. She took a photo and giggled, then went back to her towel.

Louis looked up at me curiously."And what's your name?", he asked me. I looked at him and smiled shyly."I'm Harry," I said.

We both smiled at each other. And it was the beginning of the end.

I sigh and put the picture from us at the beach down on a table and continue with cleaning my flat.

These memories still haven't faded... and I wonder if they will ever do that.