No Strings Attached

Chapter One

 

“Shit,” Louis muttered under his breath when he realized that a slight burning odor now accompanied the sizzling from the pan on the stove. “Shit, shit.”

He wheeled around from his contact book sitting on the kitchen counter. This was how little spare time he had in life: he couldn’t even transfer his written contacts into his cell phone. It was the Stone Age in the Tomlinson household.

“Shit,” he whispered again when the eggs stuck to the pan. “Get off!”

The crisped eggs only hissed sinisterly in reply.

Realizing that this first attempt at breakfast was completely unsalvageable, he turned off the burner and threw the spatula onto the stove in frustration. He had turned away for two minutes to find a replacement babysitter because Paige or whatever-her-name-was had a family function to attend tonight. That would’ve been important information to know a week ago, before he agreed to take the busy Saturday night shift. But he saw an opportunity, and he needed the tips.

“Shit,” he sighed once more, leaning against the counter and rubbing his temples. Who could possibly be free tonight? A Saturday night, of all nights?

Today was one of those days that Louis would have appreciated the potential convenience of having his mum live nearby. But seeing as Doncaster wasn’t exactly nearby and seeing as his mum had his sisters to watch over, he didn’t even entertain the idea of having her as a built-in spare sitter. Per usual, he would have to work a miracle – but he wasn’t sure how many more of those he had left.

He picked up his cell phone and flipped through its opening menus before arriving at one of the only contacts he actually had saved on it. This was going to be a long shot; he hadn’t even considered calling his best mate in the first place. But he was going to try anyway.

The second ring had barely finished when the familiar voice popped up on the other end.

“Vas happenin’?” Zayn’s voice boomed into Louis’ ear.

“Hey mate,” Louis began awkwardly. “Er, listen. I’m in a bit of a tight spot. My sitter backed out tonight and I was wondering – ”

“Ah I see,” Zayn interrupted, his sentence ending with a light chuckle. “But I’m afraid I can’t help you, Lou.”

“Damn,” Louis said. “You’ve got a date, haven’t you?”

He could practically hear Zayn smiling on the other end. “Flattered you would think so. But again, no such luck. I’ve been roped into working tonight’s shift with you. Otherwise, I’d have watched over Rosie.”

Louis frowned. “Would you really have?”

That time, Zayn actually laughed.

“Probably not. Had to reschedule several dates when I remembered I was working tonight.”

“Several?” Louis knew that Zayn had a habit of scoring multiple dates in one week, but never in one night. He tried hiding how slightly impressed he was, but he realized he must have failed when Zayn chuckled again.

“Someone sounds jealous,” he replied, amused. “You can’t blame those of us who put ourselves out there.”

“Now that’s not fair,” Louis said defensively. “You know that I can’t just flit away night after night. I’ve got responsibilities, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, responsibility,” Zayn dismissed. “That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Seriously though, Lou, I’ve tried telling you this a million times: you’ve got to start – ”