Chapter Seventeen

                                    

                                          
I left the pizzeria that afternoon with a sudden happiness. Who knew some seventeen year old Australian punk could put me in such a great mood? I pulled out my phone not long after Michael had left and entered his number shooting him a quick text.
                          
To Kiddo: 'thanks for this afternoon...I might take you up on your offer :)'
                          
From Kiddo: 'I look forward to it, Curly! :)x'
                          
I slipped my phone back in my pocket with an undeniable smile on my face before walking back into my room.
                          
"Hey." Louis smiled sympathetically from his bed. "Hi, how'd things with Eleanor go?" I asked. "Good. Really good." Louis sighed. "Good." I replied awkwardly sitting on my bed.
                          
"Listen Haz, I can't lose you as my friend. I don't want this to be awkward." Louis pleaded. I walked over and sat next to him intertwining our fingers. "Lou, I already told you, you're not going to lose me okay? You're my best friend in the world, and you always have been. Plus, that kid of yours is going to need his Uncle Harry to spoil him." I squeezed his hand reassuringly.
                          
"Oh! Speaking of.." Louis let go of my hand a grabbed a piece of paper from his desk, handing it to me. I looked over the small black square, skimming my fingertips over Eleanor's sonogram. "Wow." I whispered. "I know. El got me a copy when she found out. It's amazing huh?" Louis smiled adoringly at the pea sized blob on the paper. "Amazing? Lou, this is your baby! I've never seen anything more incredible in my life." I awed, trying to hold back my tears.
                          
"Thank you so much. Really, Harry." Louis patted my knee. "How about movie night!" He then exclaimed trying to lighten the mood. "Sounds great, what should we watch?" I asked him. After pondering for a moment, Louis grabbed his laptop and pulled up Netflix. "Close your eyes." He commanded me as a lay next to him on the small bed. "Ok, open." Louis spoke. I peeked at the laptop screen to find 'The Notebook' playing.
                          
"You remembered!" I exclaimed in excitement. "Duh Haz, it's only like one of your favorite movies." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
                          
Halfway through the movie Louis and I started to make conversation. "So where'd you run off to today?" Louis asked. "Oh, well I went for a walk, then grabbed some lunch with...a friend." I shifted awkwardly. "Oh Niall?" Louis pursued. "No, actually this guy Michael I met today." I answered honestly. "Oh." Louis shied.
                          
"What about Liam?" Louis pressed on. "I'm breaking up with him, obviously." I said. "Finally." Louis sighed a breath of relief. "Lou, can you please just tell me what happened? I thought we were being honest with each other." I begged. Louis looked at me with sad eyes before telling me his story.
                          
"Last year Liam and I were roommates. One night Liam kissed me out of nowhere, and I didn't fight him off like I should've. I gave into my urges and had sex with him. We went on like that for a while, but when I told Liam I wanted more than sex, that I would come out with him, he flipped. He beat me to the point of hospitalization and told me I was 'a worthless twink, not even a great shag', and that 'he'd never want to go public with someone as disgusting as me'. He broke two of my ribs, my nose, and caused internal bleeding in my brain. I was in the hospital for a month." Louis finished.
                          
Um, no.
                          
I shot up as fast as I could and sprinted towards Liam's room. I barged in without knocking. "Hey babe-" Liam began before I punched him as hard as I possibly could. I couldn't stop. One punch for Louis, one punch for me, and after that, they just kept coming.
                          
Louis barged in after, pulling me off Liam. "What the fuck!" Liam groaned, blood pouring out of his face. "If you ever go near Louis or me again, I will end you. We are over, you disgusting prick!" I shouted, my face fiery with anger. "Whatever faggot." Liam hissed. Before I could stop him, Louis delivered one last blow to Liam's already demolished face. "Fuck you." Louis spat in his face before dragging me out of the room.