the treehouse | larry stylinson

six

"hey louis, are you okay?"

liam's voice woke me from my deep thoughts, which i was thankful for. i didn't think about the day my dad left a lot, but when i did, it would always turn into me blaming myself for it.

"mhm, yeah." i respond and grab the xbox controller. liam and zayn was sitting together in the sofa with me, both with controllers in their hands, ready to start the game. niall found himself sitting in an armchair with the snacks held tightly. no surprise there.

"watch it payno, cause i'm about to beat your ass in mario kart," zayn sassed, and liam raised an eyebrow smirkingly.

"oh yeah? i'd like to see you try zaynie," liam responded cheekily. niall, whom had practically dived in to the chips bag, literally, suddenly lifted his head up and frowned at the two boys.

"you guys should be glad i'm not playing with you. no one beats me, i'm the best," niall said with a cocky tone.

"yeah right. that's probably why you cried like a baby and demanded that we'd never play mario kart again, the last time we played." zayn sassed again and liam smirked at him.

"that was one time zayn! i lost one time! but it was because you cheated you bastard!" niall cried out, stuffing his mouth full of cheese balls. how he could fit that many cheese balls in his mouth at once will always be a mystery to me. zayn just chuckled and rolled his eyes, niall was such a sore loser.

"yeah and all those other times," liam chuckled and zayn joined in laughing. even i smiled a bit, but i didn't want to hurt niall's feelings by laughing, even though it was in a joking matter, so i decided not to laugh along.

"is it the 'everyone's attacking niall'-day today or what?" niall sighed dramatically, causing the two other boys to laugh even louder.

"but it's just the truth niall, you kinda suck at mario kart," zayn laughed, causing niall to roll his eyes dramatically. he was such a drama queen.

"nope. nopie, nopez. i will retreat to my beloved cheese balls now. this discussion is over." niall said sternly and continued to stuff his face with snacks.

seeing my best friends like this, bantering over some stupid game and laughing together was something i'd always wished for. i wasn't exactly jealous of them, no. i very much enjoyed just observing them, but still, i wanted someone to laugh like this with. someone i could connect with.

that was easier said than done, as this was probably the closest i would ever come to having that.

we played mario kart together for three hours. not as long as we usually did, but niall said he had to run some errands and the other two boys were both going to see a movie together.
i didn't exactly have anything to do, so i just decided to go for a walk.

the small town we lived in didn't have much, but it held a whole lot of memories. i walked past the ice cream parlor where my dad and i used to go every sunday to get ice cream together. the hair salon my mum used to work in, where i would get to hang out after school sometimes. i often wondered if it still looked the same, if the same nice ladies worked there.

however, i walked past it. too many memories, not all of them are good ones.

i decided to walk to the park where niall and i had met zayn and liam a year earlier. it was a nice park, i used to go there as a child with my mum sometimes, it was nice.

i walked past the old swing sets i had been on so many times, and decided to take a seat on a bench in front of the small pond there.

it was a bit cold outside, not extremely cold, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either. i inhaled the fresh air, and looked around. no one seemed to be around, so i decided to sing quietly.