Baby Boy ; larry

Seventeen

➳ Seventeen

The next morning, Harry rose out of bed and rubbed his eyes. He suddenly remembered Gemma calling him last night and sighed, then immediately remembered his angry boyfriend and sighed even heavier. But he was calmer now and wanted to hear what Louis had to say about the situation, so he took a quick shower and walked the short distance across the hall to his boyfriend's apartment.

Louis opened the door, a cup of tea in his hand, and smiled warmly at Harry. "Hey, baby boy. Are you feeling better?" He stepped aside and motioned for Harry to come in.

"I think so, yeah," Harry smiled back. "Can I have a cup of tea? And can we talk about the Gemma thing?"

"Absolutely. Let me get you your tea then we can talk."

Within just a few minutes, Louis and Harry were both on the sofa facing each other, cups of tea in their hands. "Thank you, Lou, this is delicious." Harry sipped the steaming hot drink. "I'm sorry for being so rude last night... I should've listened to what you had to say. I'm ready now... to hear what you have to say."

"I accept your apology, Harry," Louis said. "I just didn't appreciate the way you were speaking to me. Thank you for apologizing though. You're right, you know, I don't understand what it's like to have Gemma as a sister. But hear me out baby, you just lost your father. If Gemma is seriously in trouble and something were to happen to her, you would never forgive yourself. You don't need the pain of another loss in your life."

Harry bit his lip and nodded slowly. "I just don't want to get hurt all over again. After she moved out, she never spoke to me or my parents. I feel like I already lost her."

"Well," Louis let out a breath, reaching over to grab Harry's hand, squeezing tightly. "Maybe this is your chance to get her back."

*****

Louis's soft words of advice might as well have been magic, because there Harry was, sitting at a nearby Starbucks, waiting for Gemma. Louis went too, of course, but sat away from them in a corner. He just wanted to keep an eye on things.

Harry sat nervously, his leg bouncing up and down as he fiddled his thumbs. The door opened and his head shot up, eyes widening when he saw his sister walk through the door. She had a gray sweatshirt on with the hood over her face, blue jeans, and black sunglasses. She glanced up and walked over, taking the seat across from Harry.

"Hey, Harry."

"Hi, Gemma."

"How have you been? How's Louis? Why is he sitting in the corner?"

"How did you..." Harry scrunched his eyebrows, confused. Gemma hadn't even looked in the corner. "It doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about me right now. What's going on?"

Gemma took off her sunglasses and laid them on the table, but left her hood on over her head, hiding her side profile. "I'm in a lot of trouble. After I left home, I needed to make some extra money. So I started dancing at the nightclub downtown... started having private sessions. You get it, right?" Harry just nodded. The thought made him sick, that was his sister. "Well one of the guys offered me another way to make some money. I was desperate, the nightclub wasn't covering my rent and so I said yes. He needed help... overseeing some of his, mistresses, I guess. He also sold hard drugs."

"So you're telling me you're not only a stripper, but a pimp and a drug dealer? What the f – "

"Harry, just shut the hell up and listen. I don't want to be in this business, believe me. It all went downhill about two months ago. There's this guy who bought a bunch of drugs from me, but he gave me counterfeit money. So my boss is all over me on getting the real money and for wasting half of his supply... on top of that, my boss is also pimping me out to this cop or judge or something who is blackmailing me saying that if I tell anyone about his job he'll kill me and anyone I love and oh my god..." Tears quickly started falling down her cheeks.

"Gemma, I... I'm so sorry, I wish I would have known, I would've tried to get you out of all this before it got so crazy," Harry gushed, passing her napkins to wipe her tears and blow her nose. "What can I do to help you?"

She paused to use the napkins and sighed. "I-I don't know, to be honest. I need money to pay my boss back and I need to find a way to get that cop guy off my ass and hopefully in jail or something. I don't want him doing that shit to anyone else."

Harry thought about the money he was saving up for him and Louis to go on vacation. "How much money do you need?"

"... $900."

He had about $2000 saved up. If he helped Gemma, he would still have $1100 for him and Louis to go somewhere nice. Maybe it wouldn't be the romantic cruise he had in mind, but it would still be amazing. "Let me talk to Louis and I'll let you know... where are you staying right now?"

"With the girls... at my boss's extra house." Gemma mumbled. "It isn't the best living situation – I mean 20 girls cramped in a shitty apartment without hot water – but it's something."

"Can't you come stay with me?" Harry frowned, squeezing her hand across the table.

She shook her head. "Not unless you want both you and Louis to be targets. Look, I gotta go. But call me if you think you can help. Anything helps, Harry. Please be careful. Now that you know, you could be in danger too. I love you. Thank you for meeting me."

With that, she got up and walked out. Harry watched her until she was out of sight.

Louis immediately rushed over and took her seat, staring at Harry. "So? What did she say?"

"We should talk about this at home."

*****

"$900?"

"Yeah," Harry rubbed the back of his neck and paced the living room. "I know it's a lot, but I have some money saved up. The only problem is... I was saving it so we could go somewhere nice. If I gave her the money, we'd still have enough left over to go away for a weekend. You can say no, Louis, you don't have to say yes, it's whatever you want and I'm sorry for – "

Louis stood up and stopped Harry in his tracks, grabbing his shoulders gently. "Harry, you are the most selfless person I know. Of course we are going to help her. Honestly, I don't care if you give her all of it. I want a vacation but I want to you and your sister to be safe. If that means we don't get to go stay in a fancy, over-priced hotel somewhere, then that's okay. My favorite days are spent here with you."

Harry's eyes welled with tears as he gazed lovingly at his boyfriend, amazed that he was just totally fine with them blowing their savings. "I love you, Louis. You don't know how much this means to me."

"You could... show me," Louis kissed Harry sweetly and pulled away, smirking. "Besides, I think we could both use something to take our minds off of all of this. What do you say, baby boy?"

Harry knew exactly what he meant, images of bruised knees and yet another day of waddling flashed through his mind. "Anything for you." He grinned and followed Louis to the bedroom.

It was going to be a long night.

What do you guys think of Gemma's backstory?

It sounds a lot like all of the Law & Order episodes ever.

Please vote, comment, and share. I appreciate the love! Thank you for reading!

Jordan :)