Defenceless l.s

Eighteen

I unpacked the pasta and flour I haisley bought at the store, I had talked to Zayn way longer than I had planned and hurried to get back home. I realized that I accidentally bought gluten free flour which was more expensive. I sighed before putting it in the pantry and hoped Liam wouldn't notice. 

I took a seat at the kitchen table and took out my phone from my back pocket, I had turned it off after Zayn kept calling me. I had four missed calls and thirteen unread messages from him. Most of them are just him apologizing. He said he just wanted what's best for me but that he spoke out of line. I sighed and was about to write back when Liam walked into the room.

"Did you go to the store?"

"Yeah"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, just got an email from work about a meeting on monday," he nodded before taking a seat in front of me. 

He tentatively took my hand and gently brushed his thumb over my knuckles. "I'm sorry if you got upset yesterday but I just want to fix this, you know?" He said in a soft voice. "But I can't do that if you don't cooperate."

I looked down at my lap in shame, of course I knew that. I nodded my head cause I didn't know what to say. "Yeah, I know. But I don't know what to do," I told him. He sighed lightly and started playing with my fingers. "You just have to trust me when I tell you what's best. I love you, you know that, I just want to keep you safe, but I can't do that if you don't listen to me."

"I'm sorry. I know, I should have listened. I love you too," I told him quietly. He got up and walked around the table to me, pulling me out of my chair before engulfing me in a hug, his strong arms wrapped tightly around me. I buried my face in his chest, basking in his comforting scent as he placed light kisses on my head, lightly rocking us back and forth.  

The rest of the weekend was pretty pleasant, me and Liam ordered home some chinese and cuddled on the couch, while some movie played on the TV. It was great but I could tell that he was still mad about what happened because when we layed in bed, about to sleep he reminded me of what I did, also reminding me about how much of a fuck up I am. I sighed and cuddled closer to him, I always slept better like this, but I hadn't been this close to him in a long time. He carded his fingers through my hair, pulling slightly as they got stuck in my tousled hair. I winced and he immediately stopped and apologized and moved his hand to my back. 
He rubbed circles on by back until I fell asleep, content for the first time in months.

Harry's POV

I heard a knock on my door and Louis walked in with my coffee, just in time like always, "good morning sir" he greeted me like every morning. I looked up from my computer screen and noticed a small smile playing on his lips. He seemed to be in a good mood, I smiled a little at that. "Good morning," I said back, he seemed surprised if his wide eyes and raised eyebrows was anything to go by. I can't really blame him, I haven't exactly been friendly towards him. 

I told him to get to work and he immediately scurried away to his desk. 

When lunch time rolled around, I got up from my desk and headed out. I noticed Louis still sitting at his desk, typing something on his computer, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, maybe he lost track of time. I cleared my throat and he whipped his head up, eyes widening for a second before going back to normal again. "You can take your lunch break now," I told him. He nodded with a tight lipped smile, "yeah, I know. I just want to get this done first so I don't have to work from home tonight." 

"Oh, alright, see you later then," I told him and headed towards the elevators. I decided to order some sushi that I could take back to the office.

Twenty minutes later I passed Louis' desk again with my little paper bag in hand and saw him still working. I furrowed my eyebrows and walked over to him. "Have you eaten?" He looked up at me again and was quiet for a moment before he replied. "No, I'm almost done with this, then I'll get myself some coffee," he said. "Aren't you going to eat something?" I asked him. He shook his head, "no, I'm fine. I'm used to it, I'm not really hungry." Oh, what does he mean by that? Had he been skipping lunch?

"You're used to it?" 

"Yeah," he looked back at his computer screen, pretending to read something. "I've been working through lunch these past few weeks so I can get more work done," he explained, like it was no big deal. 

"You're not supposed to work on your break, Louis." I told him. He looked at me weirdly for a moment before averting his eyes to the screen once again. I realized that I called him by his first name again. Damn it! Why do I keep doing that?

He just shrugged and returned to typing on his keyboard, "I don't mind." Well you should, there is no way this can be healthy, I thought. I felt guilty for giving him so much work. I had reduced his work load a lot these past weeks, I didn't think he was this busy. But now that I think about it, he's always done way faster than he should, and that's why he always has time to ask for extra work. I mentally facepalmed for not noticing this before. 

"Well, do you want to have some sushi with me?" I offered.

He looked at me with wide eyes, "I- uh. Um, alright."