Defenceless l.s

Twenty One

It had been two weeks since Louis' lunch with Niall, and since then they had talked regularly when they passed, mostly when Niall was on his way to Mr.Styles' office. He would often stop by his desk to have a chat and they had become pretty good friends, so they decided to have lunch again today. 

Of Course he hadn't told Liam about that, yet, but he figured that it would be best if he didn't know. They didn't text each other outside of work like he did with Chloe so there wasn't a chance that Liam was going to find out. He thought it was for the best that he didn't, he didn't want to upset him again and what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. And Louis was really enjoying having a friend at work, it was nice to finally have someone to talk to and not worry about saying the wrong thing or talking about his relationship. 

Niall hadn't brought up that conversation since then which Louis was very grateful for. Niall had even talked to Chloe like he said he would but they still didn't talk. They would smile at each other if they ever crossed paths but that was about it. But Louis wasn't complaining though, at least she wasn't mad at him anymore and things were actually going pretty good with Liam.

They hadn't fought once in over a week. And it wasn't just that, they had been getting along great lately and Liam seemed to always be in a good mood, he even offered to cook dinner yesterday, though Louis refused, arguing that Liam would be way too tired when he got home from work, and eventually he gave in. But not before a very long argument over the phone.

So, Louis was now waiting for Niall to wrap up his work so they could leave for the restaurant. He knew he wouldn't get as much work done if he kept going to lunch but a couple of days couldn't harm anyone. He also knew that if he started to eat lunch regularly again, he would stop losing weight, which was something he absolutely didn't want. He wasn't sure if Liam had noticed a change which just meant that there wasn't enough of a difference. But that was fine, he wasn't planning on eating so much anyways and Niall sure wouldn't notice with how much he talks, he thought just as he saw Niall approaching. 

As he was backing out of the parking lot, he suddenly heard his phone go off, without looking at the caller ID, he answered the call, already knowing who it was. He turned the speaker on and tossed his phone to the passenger seat. 

"Hello"

"Hey Lou" Zayn's voice said through the phone. They had been talking everyday this week. Well, except for wednesday because Louis had to stay late for a meeting. He talked to him on his way home from work because that was his free time and Liam wouldn't find out. Afterwards he always deleted the calls from his call history. He realized he could've done the same with Chloe's messages but he didn't really think of it at the time.

He really enjoyed this time of the day, it was just like old times, like nothing had changed, though he knew that Zayn still hated Liam with a passion, but he always tried to ignore that fact when they talked, just trying to have a good time. They hadn't met since that time in the café but Zayn kept saying that they should meet up. He suggested that they go to dinner this weekend, he even invited Liam, but Louis obviously couldn't do that cause then Liam would find out, and it wasn't like he had other friends he could lie about going with. He really hated lying to him, but he also didn't want to lose Zayn again and he didn't know what to do. 

He hadn't told Zayn that Liam still doesn't want them to be friends cause he knew Zayn wouldn't take that well. So he just made up an excuse to why they couldn't make it to dinner. But he sounded so disappointed and pointed out how they don't hang out like they used to, so Louis suggested they had lunch together tomorrow. Zayn happily agreed and they decided on a little chinese place. It wasn't anything fancy but they used to go there all the time back in college, so they chose that place for old times sake. 
And Liam didn't like that place, said it was too greasy so they wouldn't run into him there.

He considered asking Niall about what to do, but didn't think they were close enough quite yet for him to ask him about something like that. So he decided against it; for now at least. He told Zayn goodbye as he walked up to his apartment. He washed out the gel in his hair and changed out of his suit and decided that it was probably time to do their laundry, considering that their hamper was overflowing with dirty clothes.

He quickly divided the clothes into piles and put them in different bags before heading to the laundry room, which was in the basement. Fortunately, no one was using the machines so he didn't have to wait in line. He loaded everything in and started the machines before heading back up to start working on dinner. He decided to set an alarm on his phone for when the laundry was done, just in case. 

Louis washed his hands in the sink and started chopping up some vegetables for his chicken soup. 

When he was almost done, he heard his alarm go off so he left the stove on low to let the soup simmer and slipped on his slippers before heading downstairs, not bothering to lock the door, to put the laundry in the dryer. 

When he came back up he found the door locked. He frowned when he realized that he didn't bring his keys,  but then he remembered that Liam must've gotten home, so he ringed the doorbell. Not even a minute later Liam opened the door and Louis  greeted him with a smile on his face. He slipped off his slippers to head to the kitchen to turn the stove off, the soup was probably done by now. What he didn't expect was to find Lindsey sitting at the dining table, mindlessly texting on her phone. She was sitting with her back facing him and her leg propped up on one of the chairs. His smile immediately dropped to a frown and he had to try his best to not scream at her to leave.