If Walls Could Talk

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Things were different. Louis wasn't sure if it was because he had shown another side of himself to the school and they thought he was cool now, or if they were scared of him. Either way, as soon as he walked onto the school grounds with Sarah on Monday, he knew something was different.

Some people purposely veered wide around him, trying to stay as far away from him as possible. Others though gave him a smile and a small wave. That was new. He was used to people avoiding him, but having them wave hello? The only people who wanted to come up and talk to him before were Kara, Sam, and Sarah, but, now, almost half the school wanted to say hello.

On top of that, Sam hadn't been wrong when he said that some rumours were going around about Louis. Of course, to no surprise of Louis', there were still the usual bad ones. But just as Sam had said, some good rumours were going around too. Louis had no idea that rumours could be a good thing, but it seemed he had been mistaken.

One rumour in particular that had caught his attention was that Louis had practised all kind of martial arts and was a master at self-defence. This, of course, wasn't true, but it made Louis smile. He didn't know how to feel about what was happening at school. He had come to terms with people talking about him, but so many people being kind to him made him uncomfortable.

Throughout the week, Louis noticed himself holding his tongue more and more, not saying the things he would normally say, and keeping his head down. He wasn't quite sure why he was doing it, but a part of him told him to keep it up. If Louis didn't know any better, his subconscious was telling him to try not to offend people while they were treating him like an actual human being.

It was weird, no doubt, new, and uncomfortable for Louis. He couldn't help but enjoy the fact that he wasn't constantly insulted or listening to the continuous stream of horrible stories about himself. It eased his mind. He didn't want it to stop so soon. Even with his teachers, Louis found himself paying a bit more attention and not talking back to them, and he thought they were just as surprised as he was at his actions.

Of course, there was still Jonathan; his goons were nowhere in sight whenever Louis was around. Jonathan, however, didn't seem to be too fazed by what Louis had done. It was almost like he had expected him to snap one day and hurt someone. If anything, Jonathan looked smug about it, and still, occasionally, whenever he saw Louis, he would throw a smart remark his way, or what he considered a witty insult. It wasn't. It never was, and Louis always found it funny that Jonathan could never come up with an insult worthy of Louis' time.

Louis didn't know if it was the fact that school wasn't so much of a hell hole at the moment or that the prospect of what loomed ahead, but the week seemed to fly by. Louis felt like he hadn't had a chance to breathe between the days or collect himself enough before Friday arrived. He had still been talking to Isaac through the wall whenever he got the chance.

Louis very much enjoyed their talks, and the strange feeling in his stomach came, even grew, every time Isaac's voice floated through the wall. He decided not to tell Isaac about his date with Shawn. The topic hadn't come up, and Louis didn't feel the need to share it with him.

Louis still wasn't too sure about the relationship between Isaac and himself, so he kept a lot of his personal life out of the conversations they had. He didn't want to let Isaac in too much, at least not until the feelings he kept getting went away.

Isaac seemed to have the same idea as Louis, avoiding to talk about personal stuff too much. Occasionally, he would mention members of his family, but most of the time, all he and Louis talked about was school and friends, along with telling ridiculous stories and jokes.

Names very rarely, if ever, came up in their conversations. Louis wasn't sure why, but he didn't question it too much. To him, it added to the mystery, and that intrigued him. While Louis wanted to know more about Isaac, there was a part of him, however small it was, that wanted Isaac to remain shrouded in mystery.

Louis still wasn't sleeping, or at least not well. He had only gotten two nights of decent sleep recently, and one of those nights was due to the soothing voice of Isaac, slowly lulling him to sleep. That sleep had been short-lived, due to his alarm telling him to wake up and get ready for school.

Louis sat on his tiny bed, looking down at his phone. It was Friday afternoon, and he had just gotten home from school. He and Shawn had been texting all day, trying to figure out a good place to go.

The conversation would sometimes slide away from the topic of the date, and they'd begin chatting about something else before making their way back to the topic at hand. The conversation they had seemed effortless, and Louis couldn't help himself from smiling at some of the things Shawn had said. But it wasn't the same as talking to Isaac.

Louis looked up from his phone to his open wardrobe. The white shirt Sam had bought him hung neatly, looking back at Louis. It wouldn't be long before he put that shirt on with his best pair of black jeans and boots, and headed out to meet Shawn, who had said he would pick Louis up. Louis had decided that he would get Shawn to pick him up around the corner, so he wouldn't see the building Louis resided in, thinking that it wouldn't make a good impression.

Sam had also told Louis that he would be coming over to his apartment to help him get ready after he finished football practice. Louis knew that "helping him get ready" was just code for "I'm going to tease you constantly", but he couldn't complain. Louis was still excited about his date, albeit a bit nervous. So, some teasing from Sam shouldn't dampen his mood. If anything, it would make him even more excited.

But what if it was wrong to go on a date with Shawn when he had feelings for Isaac? Louis kept trying to tell himself he didn't have any feelings for the boy next door, but he couldn't help feeling something different every time they spoke.

He didn't want to lead Shawn on at all, but he knew that nothing would happen between him and Isaac either, so why not take the chance with Shawn? It all seemed very confusing to Louis, and he didn't understand why it had to be so complicated, but it seemed like it was.

To cut down on the things he had to worry about, he had saved up a bit of money throughout the week, picking up more shifts at the café after school, so he didn't have to worry about the cost of the date. If he wanted to, he could even pay for Shawn too, though he didn't know if that was how it worked. Sure, he'd seen romantic movies where the male role would insist on paying for the date, and he'd heard from Sam that it was only natural for the man to pay. But this was a gay date. A gay date between two men. Somehow, Louis didn't think the same rules applied.

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A/N: Not too much happening in this part, but we are closing in on Louis' first ever date... Personally, I'm a little sad it isn't with Isaac.

Here's a related question:

Are you excited about Louis' date with Shawn, or are you upset it isn't with Isaac?