Baby It's Cold Outside

"Grandma, why?" I brushed past her when she opened the door. Louis greeted her and introduced himself.
"Hello, I'm Louis Tomlinson, Sarah's best friend." he smiled. Grandma scowled and followed me, sitting down across the living room.
"I want you to take that money and move out of your mothers house." she smoothed her skirt.
"I like it there. I'm with my mom, I'm near shopping, so it's conveniently located, and I'm just across the way from Louis!" I pointed to him.
"Well, I'm sorry but you need to move out. Move into a bigger place, maybe somewhere in the hills, edge of town..."
"Grandma!" I exclaimed, standing up.
"Hmm?"
"I-" I waved my hands in the air, at a loss for words, and collapsed back on the couch, head in hands. "I cant leave." I mumbled.
"Oh sure you can. You need too." she reasoned.
"Why are you saying I need to go? What's wrong with living wit my mom?" I looked up, searching for Louis. He was standing behind the couch, right behind me.
"You need to grow up." Louis's hand began rubbing my back.
"I can't leave mom. You left her, dad left her, everyone's left her. I can't follow in everyone's footsteps."
"You mean you won't."
"Look, there is a shit load of money here, I don't want it." I threw the envelope down on the table.
"Take it. Buy a house. Do it, or I'll do it for you."
"You know what, fine. But I'm gonna need more, cause I'm gonna go big." I looked at her, waiting for the no.
"How much more?" she stood and looked for her purse, grabbing it and going back to her seat. "Thousand? Fifty? Hundred? Million?" I sat there, speechless. "I'll just- lets see- you'll have to provide food and such, so I don't want you ever working- I'll just- yes, this should do." she handed me the envelope and check. "Here you are. Call me when you've found a nice big house."
"I'm twenty!"
"Young man, how old are you?" she turned to Louis, immediately looking disgusted.
"Twenty two." he answered. She looked at me then him then me again.
"I don't like this, or him, but... Take him with you."
"I don't know if Louis would want to! Louis, would you wan-"
"Yes."
"See, there you go. You wouldn't reject your best friend living with you, would you?" I sighed, closing my eyes, then standing up.
"Fine." I walked to the door. "I'll call you when we've got a house. Till then, thanks grandma, merry Christmas. Tell grandpa I love him." I opened the door. "I love you too."
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"I can't believe that woman!" I slammed my hands against the steering wheel.
"Good god!" Louis jumped. "She just wants what's best for you."
"I'm twenty!"
"I'm twenty two, I left my mom when I was nineteen."
"I know you did, but I'm not ready to leave her."
"I'll be with you the whole time, I'll even tell her if you don't want too." he rubbed my arm.
"I'll tell mom, then WE are going house shopping. I'm not gonna sleep till a house is bought." I pull off the highway.
"Ok, sure, sure. I'll go back home, and-"
"Grab your laptop, a change of clothes, and your blue jacket. Then you're coming back over to hang with me, Kay?" I stopped at a light, looking at him.
"This really has you on edge doesn't it?" he asked.
"I can't help it. I'm sorry. You can stay home if you want."
"No, I'll be there I don't want to leave you alone. With your luck you'll have another panic attack." I groaned and hit the gas.
"I hate those attacks."
"And your mom has no clue what to do."
"Even worse." I whipped a tear away. "She doesn't even want to know."
"Yeah but I do know, and last night I was looking at a thing, like, classes, and they said to hold the person and reassure them in a way they find comforting and peaceful. So, like, yeah." he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.
"Singing."
"Huh?"
"Sing, your singing. It's nice."
"Oh. Thanks." he smiled.
"Where do you want the house to be?" I pulled into the driveway, turning the car off.
"Where ever." we opened the doors and got out, stopping in front of each other at the nose of the car.
"Go get your stuff, I'll meet you upstairs." I hugged him.
"Yeah." he wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close. I buried my head into his shoulder, and he put his head on mine.
"Thanks so much Lou."
"Why don't we stay at mine tonight? I have better snacks."
"Haha, ok. I'll just go get my stuff." I unwound myself from him and walked up to the door.
"I'll be over there." he pointed to his house.


"Hey mom. I'm staying at Lou's tonight."
"Get a good house. Big." she said sadly from the living room. She turned to look at me over the back of the couch. "Grandma called. She didn't want me getting mad at you for something she did."
"You're never going to actually lose me, you know that right?" she nodded.
"I know." she smiled with tears in her eyes. "I know that Sarah."
"Love you." she nodded. "Now go have fun house hunting." she pushed me away and smiled.
"Yeah. I'll let you know." I ran upstairs and gathered what I'd need, ran back down and across to Louis's house. I whipped the door open and closed it behind me.
"I'm in here!" he shouted from the kitchen. I marched in to him after dropping everything I held.
"Louis." he turned away from the laptop on the island and faced me.
"What, why are you crying?" he asked. I just shook my head and crashed myself to his chest. The tears came heavily and continually. "Shh, sh. Stop crying Sarah. You're ok." he rubbed my back, his head on top of mine. I turned my head to put my cheek on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "What's wrong?" I wiped some tears on his shirt, making room for fresh ones.
"My mom is so sad, I just- I don't know what to do!" he held me closer and gently rocked us side to side, allowing me to cry into him. "I don't know what to do Louis." I clung to his shirt, twisting my fingers into the fabric.
"We will figure it out together, okay?" he moved me into the stairwell and let go of me, waiting for me to get on his back. He hiked me up and put his hands under my thighs, walking up the stairs.
"I'm so scared Lou." I mumbled, burying my face into his neck. He placed me down on his bed, sitting beside me.
"Don't be." he said simply. I looked at him with wide eyes.
"I can't just not be scared! I'm leaving my mother because my grandmother told me to and gave me a shitload of money! She doesn't want me going alone so she's sending you with me! I don't know my dad, and his side of the family is a mystery to me! For all I know she's sending me away cause my dad found me and wants to kill me! LOUIS I DON'T KNOW AND IM SCARED!" I collapsed onto him once more, sobbing into his side.
"Please don't cry. I hate it when you cry." he lifted me onto his lap, pulling me down on his chest when he laid back. "Lord I hate it." he huffed, stroking my hair.
"I'm sorry Louis, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, you're okay." he pulled my tighter to him. "Please say you're okay." I rubbed my face into him, my fingers gripping his arms. "You are okay, aren't you?"
"Yeah." my voice shook as I tightened my grip on him.
"Are you hungry?"
"A bit."
"Do you want me to make you something?" I nodded. "Kay, let's get up and I'll-" I didn't move. "I kinda have to get up to-" he tried to stand again. My lip quivered.
"Don't leave me alone." I began to shake. "It's my worst fear: to be left completely alone."
"I don't think you could lose me if you tried." his chest vibrated as he laughed lightly. I nodded again before slowly and hesitantly climbing off him. He sat up, resting his elbows watching me. I pulled off his jacket and my shirt before looking at him. He got up and went to his closet, pulling out his light blue jacket and a gray shirt.
"Thanks." I mumbled, taking them from his hand. I pulled on the shirt and the jacket. Before I could fumble with the zipper, Louis had gotten on his knees and hooked it together, slowly dragging it up to my chin, standing as he did so. His eyes met mine.
"No problem." he said softly. His hands went to my hair, and my waist. His warm breath hit my neck, his head diving down to my neck as he squeezed me tight, holding me like I would disappear. "Promise you won't leave me. Cause I know I won't leave you." he said into my skin.
"I would never, ever even dream of leaving you." I wrapped my arms around him, enjoying the warmth he gave off. I heard him give out a sigh before pulling away. His eyes glistened.
"Well, what do you want to eat Sarah?"
"Anythings fine." I glanced out the window. "Oh man it's really coming down out there, I should go and get anything else I might or might not need, just in case." I stepped passed him.
"Do you want someone to go with you?"
"Umm. Nah, I'll just be a moment." I ran down the stairs, yanking the hood up as I flew out the door and across the street.
"Honey, I thought-"
"I'm just getting something I forgot momma, I'll just be a moment." I raced to my room and gathered more stuff. Dejavu. I crammed some underwear in the bag, along with some womanly products, socks, hair stuff, makeup, clothes, and my glasses. Ugh. I closed the bag and went back to Lou.

"Get everything?"
"Yeah I think so. I'm gonna drop everything in the spare room." I collected my bag from the first time and went to the spare. I put everything down and looked around. Everything was the same but one picture was new. I picked it up looked at it. Me, on a swing, being pushed by Louis. We looked like we were in middle school. "Hey when was this picture taken?" I asked, holding in front of his face while he cooked.
"Uh, seventh?" he looked at it a smile gracing his features.
"Who took it?"
"Kid named Harry. He came to me a while ago and said he took it cause we were cute, and he told me he found it in his photography album. He's a weird one." I looked at it again.
"Yeah. Weird."
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"How bout this one?" I pulled up a house online. "It's a ways out in the hills, electricity, plumbing, water, heat, air conditioning, insulation, double pane, nine bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, a massive kitchen, three big rooms for-"
"To big." Lou cut me off. "Go for about half that size." he looked at the pictures on the screen.
"Yes sir." I went back to the search engine.
"I like this one." he showed me a house that's a six bedroom, seven bath, three story country home. I looked closer.
"Hmm. I like it too. How much?"
"Cheap." he shrugged.
"I like cheap." he reached his arm around me to pick up the envelope grandma gave me. He kept me inbetween his arms as he pulled it apart and checked the amount.
"Holy-" He started. "How-"
"130-" I cut him off. "Oh my-"
"Million." he finished.
"And how much exactly is this house?" I clicked a few things over his arms. "Seventy thousand." I leaned back against him. "That leaves us with..."
"A lot." I nodded in agreement. "130 million dollars. I wonder what possessed her to give you that." he pulled his arms to him, in turn pulling me to his chest while his hands held my waist. "That's a lot of money." he looked at me.
"I know." I sighed, relaxing into him. He pushed the two laptops away.
"I'll send them a thing in the morning telling them we'll take it." he said into my hair. I closed my eyes.
"Lou, will you talk? I don't care about what, I just want to listen." I felt him shrug, and then he started talking. He talked about his childhood (even though I know everything), he talked about his sisters, mother, father, and family (whom I've known forever), his ex-girlfriend and how much he realized she was a meanie, then he started talking about me, and my family and childhood.
"And then that girl who lives across the street from me came over with her laptop and mother, and began to help me make all these arrangements for my living here. She's been my best friend since preschool. I think you know her." he rubbed my arms.
"Yeah." I whispered, "I know her."
"

Notes