Your Addictive Heart || l.s

Lot of Trouble

Louis headed straight for the kitchen when he got home. He figured there had to be something in there that could help him combat the shit day he had had.

His sister was already in the kitchen rolling some sort of hors d'oeuvre that was beyond Louis' grasp. "What are you up to, Lot?" Louis squeezed past her to examine the contents of the fridge.

"Chemistry." She answered sarcastically. "I'm getting things ready for my cast party. You know the one I've only been telling you about for a week straight."

Louis stuck out his hip with an unenthusiastic huff as he realized nothing in his fridge would satisfy him. "You sure you're not hosting a little get together for your book club?" He teased her about the effort she was making for their schoolmates.

He walked over to examine what she was doing. He went to touch the piece of meat wrapped in dough but was met with a slap to the hand. "Can I help you with something, Louis? I have a lot to do."

Louis figured he should ask for his favor while his sister was in one of her less foul moods with him. "How would you feel if I went to your little party?" Louis asked.

"The one you just shit on? How come?" She took some plastic wrap and covered the finger food before putting in the fridge for later.

"I just think it could be fun. I know a lot of people will be there." Louis shrugged his shoulders.

"People like Harry." She raised a brow at him.

"That's...I mean..." He had a hard time fooling someone who could always see right through him.

She sighed exasperatedly before pursing her overly-glossed lips. "What are you up to, Louis? Tell me the truth."

"Anna and I want to go to your party." He started to open up. "She says she has a date for me."

Lottie fiddled with one of her baking utensils as she considered it. "Anna wants to go to my party?" Louis couldn't read the change in her face. Was she opposed or not?

"Yeah. We've gotten pretty close actually. We've got a little partnership thing going." Louis figured he could trust his sister with their secret operation.

"What do you mean?" She snapped her head back to face Louis.

"She's sort of got a thing for your lead. Diana. Lord knows why. She wants her for herself and you know if she's with her..."

Lottie chuckled wryly and she shook her head. "Then you can swoop in and steal Harry? That's your plan? Just going to discount the fact that he told you he was done and that he doesn't want you for the what? Millionth time? I thought you were done!" She raised her voice. "I thought you weren't going to mess with him anymore. I thought you were going to fix things with your friends and the fact that half the school plans to heckle my musical."

"I'm not messing with him. Not really..." Louis defended himself. "And I told you everything would be fine by the time your musical came around."

"Why should I help you, Louis? Why should I risk my party turning into a reality television show in our living room so you can fail to impress your ex-boyfriend for the hundredth time?" She crossed her arms as her face became redder and redder.

"Don't be that way! You know I'd do the same for you!" He took a step toward her.

"Well, great! Here's your chance. I like Anna." She stared at her brother searching for some sort of assurance. "I like her a lot. I have for a while." She looked down at her shoes feeling guilty for the words that came out of her mouth. "I don't want you to help her do this."

Louis was speechless. The thought had crossed his mind once or twice but he was always so sure about Lottie. "I didn't know." Was all he could say.

"Well, now you do." She eyed him up and down.

"I...I have to do this for her, Lot. I promised." He felt awful. He knew deep down he should have helped his sister after all that she'd done for him but he was scared of losing anyone else right now.

"Of course." She shook her head as her blue eyes watered. "Fine. You guys can come. Anna's my friend and I'm not going to tell her no. You live here so I can't exactly tell you not to be here can I?"

"I'm sorry-" Louis started to apologize.

"But listen good, I am done helping you. If you're not on my side then I am not on yours." Her words were sharp and cruel. "I will see to it personally, that Harry is reminded every day of how selfish and thoughtless you really are." She enunciated every syllable of her threat.

"You're being ridiculous." Louis scoffed at his younger sister. There's no way she meant those cruel words.

"Is that what it looks like when I stand up for myself?" She nodded. "Go to hell, Louis." She stormed off.

Louis looked around at his surroundings like they were foreign to him. Everything felt backward. He wasn't sure how he kept getting it wrong time after time. He was starting to feel like someone had placed a curse on him. At this point, he was starting to second guess every move he made.

Did Lottie really hate him enough to do what she said? She had always been the one he could count on. Through all of this. He had to fix this. Now.

He took out his phone and called Anna back. She answered after the second ring. "Hey! What did she say?"

Louis was doing his best not to spiral. He needed to breathe. He needed to keep his head on straight. "W-What's going on with you and my sister?"

"What do you mean?" Her voice got significantly softer.

"You know what I mean. I didn't ask you about it before but I'm asking now." Louis was stern with her but not in an accusatory way.

"I kissed her. Before she broke up with her boyfriend. She was freaking out about having to break up with him but didn't know if she could and I just...wanted to help. I don't even know why I did it! I didn't think anything of it...until the day she broke up with him. She came to me after it happened and said she had feelings for me and that's why she ended it. That's why she wanted to end it in the first place. I told her I didn't feel that way. That we were just friends and she said she understood. I told her she was probably just feeling vulnerable after ending things and she agreed! We agreed that nothing would change between us. I stupidly told Olivia and she took it the wrong way. I swear there is nothing between us. I would never mess with her." The way she pleaded with Louis to believe her sounded all too familiar.

"I believe you," Louis reassured her. "I just can't take this anymore." He didn't have the energy to project his voice the way he intended to. "We gotta make it right with those guys. I need to make it right with him. I'm not- I'm not doing so good." He ran his hands through his hair.

"Louis, it'll be okay. They need to see how much they miss us. That's how we're going to get them back. You can't leave me hanging." She was so sure of herself.

Louis bit the inside of his lip, unsure of how to get himself out of the hole he dug himself into. "I can't." His voice broke. "You have to do this without me. I can't help you with this." He apologized.

"You can't be serious. How am I supposed to do this without you, Lou?" She raised her voice.

"Please, just don't fucking hate me," Louis whispered.

"I don't." She assured him calmly. "I hate myself for making the same mistake everyone else makes; trusting you." She hung up on him swiftly.

That was it. Louis was alone in this. Everyone hated him. Everyone had given up on him and he wasn't so sure he could blame them.

***
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