Vacation flew by way too fast. Louis was packing his bags on New Years Day, getting ready to leave tomorrow because school starts on the third. As the time grew closer to having to leave, Louis felt anxious, sad and scared. Louis really didn’t want to go back and face Harry.
Harry hadn’t texted Louis since Christmas, but still Louis worried that Harry would find him during school and insist on talking, on staying friends, and Louis didn’t want that. Louis knew he was being stubborn but he couldn’t deal with his strong feelings for Harry and not being able to act on them, so it was all in or all out.
Louis decided that even though it was midnight, he’d pack the car so all he had to do in the morning was get up and drive back to London. Louis tiptoed quietly out to his car, threw stuff in the trunk and went back inside. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but when he started back up the stairs he heard his mum whisper, “Louis?”
Louis slowly turned around, seeing his mum who must’ve fallen asleep on the couch. “Sorry, mum, go back to sleep.”
“Come sit with me for a minute. What were you doing boo?”
Louis smiled softly, going and sitting next to his mum. “I was putting stuff in my car so I’ll be ready to go home tomorrow.”
“Aw,” Jay put her arm around Louis for a hug, “I’m going to miss you, it was so lovely seeing you. I had fun.”
“Me too,” Louis chuckled at his mother for being cheesy.
“Are you sure? You seemed a bit distracted.”
“Really? Great, guess I’m not a good actor then!”
“Oh, Lou!” Jay playfully hit her sons arm, making both of them giggle. “Why are you distracted, love? The play? Cause I know you’ll do perfect.”
“Well, not completely about the play,” Honestly, Louis hadn’t really thought of that until today, “It’s because of a boy.”
“Ooh, a boy! Tell me about him!”
Louis shook his head, “There’s nothing to tell anymore. We were just friends, and I probably screwed everything up. Guess he didn’t like me, though I thought he maybe did.” Louis was now hugging Jay tightly for comfort.
The way Jay comforted Louis always made him happy, but this time it just made him sad. He didn’t want to go back to London; not just because of Harry but because he felt like he wasn’t as good as the other actors, and because being home just made him want to stay there. For a split second he began to consider staying home; leaving the school in London and just going back to his old school. He pushed that thought out of his mind quickly, though, because Louis thought the only thing more pathetic than crying over his problems would be running away from them. So Louis dragged himself up to bed, letting himself cry a bit, eventually falling asleep.
Harry woke up ready to go. Of course he didn’t want to leave Anne and Gemma, but he was ready to go back to school, and see what was up with Louis. Harry was basically angry now. How could Louis do that to him? Who kisses someone, runs off and then ignores them?
Harry also couldn’t wait to get back and start dancing. Even though he didn’t have a performance until April, he was just going to focus on what he was used to focusing on. He knew he was stupid for trying to give relationships a try again.
Louis had a tough morning; sad again because he was hugging his sisters and mum, saying goodbye and telling them he couldn’t wait until they came to see him for the play at the end of the month.
The ride back to London felt longer than three hours. He thought about turning back, going home, but he decided that it shouldn’t be an option.
Louis started to feel happy when he got to his flat and saw Niall. Louis set down his bags, saying he’d unpack everything later, hugged Niall and then they sat, ate and talked about their vacation. Niall’s sounded perfect; he was asked to perform Christmas songs somewhere fancy and he made money. Louis told Niall that he had a nice vacation too, which wasn’t a complete lie because he did really enjoy it, minus the stress.
When Harry got back, he felt empty and lonely, the only way he could cheer himself up was to tell Zayn and Liam to come over, even though he didn’t exactly want to be around a happy couple. But, loneliness would be worse, so he invited them over and dealt with it.

Notes

c: a few more chapters left!