20 All Over Again

Washed Up

Louis rose out of bed, a sullen look on his face. He rose silently and let his feet lead himself to the bathroom, down the hall.

The lights flickered on as he entered the bathroom, the motion detector sensing his steps into the room.

Louis looked into the large, wall size mirror, inspecting his looks.

His five o'clock shadow gave the thirty-eight year old a dark and older look to him. The man's piercing blue eyes stared back at him through the mirror, although squinted from exhaustion. "Uhhh.." he groaned aloud throughout the empty house.

He left the bathroom, down the hall, stopping a moment at the plaque hung on the wall. He turned to it and studied it.

One Direction 'What Makes You Beautiful- Single' DOUBLE PLATINUM.

Louis sighed, reminiscing the days when he was young and in the boyband One Direction. But that was 18 years ago. He had to forget.

But it was impossible.

Although none of the younger people knew who he was, he did get stopped often to take a picture with a grown woman, an old 'directioner'. These directioners had since forgotten their twitters, tumblrs, and teen magazines for their 2, 3, and sometimes 4 kids. Louis however, only was recognized when he went out, which was rare.

Ever since One Direction broke up, Louis' life had been in a downward spiral. The love of his life, Eleanor, or so he thought, left him when the money stopped flowing as fast as it had been. The rest of the boys lost touch, although the fighting is what drove them apart, no one really wanted to talk, except for Liam, who tried to fix the problems in the group, but failed.

Although Louis had a beautiful mansion, tons of money to waste, disposable women who would do anything for a one night stand with their former idol, and almost anything he could possibly want in the world, Louis still felt alone. He felt that alcohol was the only thing he could turn to, the only thing that was consistently there for him.

He suddenly snapped out of his trance and realized he was still standing in the middle of the hallway, all alone in the large house.

Slowly, he approached the liqueur cabinet, reached in and retrieved a bottle, and began to drink from it without even caring to glance at the label.

He sat down at the spotless kitchen counter, and sipped the sweet liquid, letting it burn his throat before proceeding to his stomach. Setting down the bottle, he let his head drop into his arms which had made a pillow for his head.

Louis, suddenly realizing what time it was, jumped up from the bar stool he sat in and ran back towards the bathroom to shower.

The VIP section of the club would be full after 9 o'clock, and it was 8:30 pm.

He jumped out of the shower, grabbing a white v-neck and black jeans out of the closet.

Louis then realized that he needed two more things.

He proceeded to his dresser where he retrieved a wad of cash and a single condom.

Grabbing his keys from the table beside the door, he ran to his car and got in.

Louis jammed the key into the ignition and turned it to start the engine. The car made a noise that signaled an effort to start, but the car did not start.

After several more tries, Louis gave up, and began to walk to the club.

Since it was only a two minute drive, he figured he would be there in about ten minutes.

Under the darkening cover of night, Louis was able to get to the club, unnoticed. The flashing lights of the club's name, Mystique, glowed on just down the street. He looked down at the sidewalk in front of him, attempting to walk in a straight line since he was already quite drunk, when another larger figure ran into him.

"Hey! Watch where you're- Paul?" Louis blinked to make sure he had identified the man in front of him correctly.

"Hey Louis, long time no see. How've you been?" Paul, Louis was sure, replied.

"Same old, same old." was his simple response.

"Wow, I feel hold, how old are you now?"

"38"

"Jesus, I remember your 20th birthday like it was yesterday! Those were some good times back then."

"Yeah, they were," Louis said, his face turning to a frown.

"I think I have a picture in my wallet, hold on" Paul reached around to his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. He pulled out an old, torn up picture and handed it to Louis.

He looked down at the picture.

Five boys stood there, young and ignorant, not knowing what would happen next. He named them off in his head. Niall, Zayn, Harry, Louis, Liam. They looked so young. Louis couldn't remember for himself when the picture was taken, but he guess it was when he was around 20, he could recognize the pair of Toms he was wearing. Louis' eyes wandered from his own self to Harry, his best friend. Louis had always had a special place for Harry in his heart, but all good things come to an end as it ended up to Harry and Louis that had been fighting the worst.

As his eyes scanned the boys a final time, Louis felt a smile flicker across his face. He suddenly remembered all the good times, something special about each boy.

Then, however, he remembered the bad times, the drama, the fighting. why they broke up.

Louis plastered a fake smile on his face, and said, "Wow Paul, this is crazy"

"You bet"

Louis looked up to Paul, and gave a quick smile, then looked back down at the photo.

"I just can't believe-" Louis looked up, but there was no one there. Paul had disappeared.

He looked around for his ex-manager, but couldn't find him anywhere.

Louis shrugged, folded the photograph into his wallet and entered the club, music pounding into his ear drums.