When I'm Gone

Louis' POV

It's been a few days since Niall and I went to visit Kate and Olivia. I was quite amazed at her house, I was not expecting it but at the same time she did own a Porsche SUV so that kind of gave me hints that her house would be on the nicer side of things.

We were working on recording our fifth studio album. It was crazy to think about how far we've come so I try not to. I try to just do it one day at a time, if I think about everything I'll just get into a frenzy.

“So she lives in Holland Park?” I hear Zayn talking to Niall.

“Yes, her house is massive. When Louis invited me to go swim with them I just assumed we'd be at an indoor pool, not an indoor pool in the basement of her house. Which by the way is gorgeous. She had a theater room, a gym, wine cellar that she says she'll never use, an upstairs drawing room, at at least six bedrooms. Her daughter has a swing in her room! We could all live there together and never see each other.” He gushes.

“What did you say her name was?” Liam asked searching on his phone.

“Kate Tayzen.” I answer before Niall gets to, almost like a non-verbal competition.

“I've heard of her!” Liam's eyes wide. “I remember the last time we were in the States on tour she was on the news or something, here let me see.” He pauses and pulls up information on his phone, and that's when I see it. No way.

“NO way!” Zayn speaks out loud and rips the phone out of Liam's hand studying the articles that have been pulled up. “Did you know about this?” He looks at me awestruck.

I shake my head no and listen as he reads.

“21 year old widow, Kate Tayzen, has received a lump sum of an undisclosed amount from the richest person in the United States. Why you ask? Sees that his son was the one who had gotten drunk one night and killed Tayzen's husband who was a police officer on duty at the time. Buffet's son will be facing time behind bars but his case has yet to go to trial. Tayzen and her one year old daughter will be right with money for quite a while..” The article continues on and Zayn switches to another one.

“Yet another heartbreak for widow Kate Tayzen, it seems as though her one year old daughter, Olivia, was recently diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a sometimes fatal childhood cancer. Things are not looking up for Ms. Tayzen.”

Jesus.

“Ms. Tayzen is at it again. Donating money to worthy causes, Tayzen had just recently donated millions of dollars to the Juvenal Diabetes Research Fund in honor of her sister, at Type 1 diabetic, when another organization had caught her eye, The Make-A-Wish Foundation, closely related to Tayzen's heart as her daughter and brother both suffer from the same form of sometimes fatal cancer...””

“Jeez, these articles about her are unreal, her husband's death, the money she got, her daughter being diagnosed with cancer, Kate's speeches, seems as though Kate's given quite a bit of money to family, friends, and organizations though. Her brother has cancer too?” His eyes still scanning.

I have no idea about Kate's brother. I don't know a lot about her personal life before James.

“Did she say why she moved to London Louis?” Liam asks me.

“She said that Olivia had a bone marrow match here and the doctors had exhausted all efforts on Olivia so she wanted a second opinion. And that the school system was better.” I shrug. I suddenly have the itch to pull my phone out and read everything I can about Kate.

“So what does Eleanor think of all of this?” Harry asks, finally speaking up.

“She doesn't really know.” I must make a face because they all stop in their tracks.

“She doesn't know?” Harry asks for clarification.

“She's wrapped up in getting engaged. Everything with Kate has been an accident, minus popping by her house with Niall for a swim.” I explain.

“What do you think she'll do when she finds out you've been hanging out with a beautiful, young, rich, widow?” He asks, eyebrows raised.

“Nothing, we're just friends, nothing more.” I shake my head. “Lets get back to the lyrics.” I tell them pushing the idea of Kate and I out of my head. I have Eleanor, a beautiful woman I love. I quick look at the date on my phone and realize I only have three weeks left as per Eleanor's ultimatum. I don't think she's actually going to leave me but she's never said anything like this before so it makes me a little nervous. But I'm only getting married once and as much as I love Eleanor, right now, I'm just not ready for that commitment.

“Hey!” I look behind my shoulder and see Liam catching up to me. I pause, not before looking around to see if anyone else is around. We're always being watched. He catches up to me and stops next to me. “So can I be honest with you?” He looks nervous.

“Sure Liam.” I humor him, he's always looking out for people.

“Can we sit in the car or something?” He points to his car, I understand him asking, we're always being watched so we have to be careful about what we say, people have sonic ears at times. I nod and follow him to his car sitting in the passenger seat.

“So what's up?” I turn to him ready for his possible verbal assault. Ever since that weed video of us surfaced things were never really the same. He was mad for a while. Things are better now but not how they used to be.

“Soph told me she talked to Eleanor about things and she brought up that El said she asked you to propose or she was leaving?” He takes a deep breath before meeting my gaze, unaffected by his words.

“Yeah, she did.” All I can give him to work with, it's the truth, I don't know if he's looking for more to the story, a confirmation, or something else.

“So are you going to do it?” His eyes question me and his face drops just a bit.

I try not to roll my eyes.

“I don't know. I'm not ready for marriage or being engaged, she knows this. Just all the sudden she's changed her mind and she wants it now.” I turn more towards the front, looking out the windshield.

“So you don't want to get married to Eleanor?” He asks.

“I didn't say that. I just can't get married to her right now. I'm only 24, I just don't understand the rush, marriage is a big deal Liam. Why does everyone keep asking me when were getting married?” I don't understand why people are so pushy.

“Just because you get engaged it doesn't mean you have to get married right away.” He tries to point it out.

“That's not the point. When I get engaged, I'm getting married. That's the whole point of getting engaged is to get married. I don't want to get married for years and I don't want a long engagement.”

“Well then just let Eleanor know, I'm sure she'll understand.” He tries to reason with me and all I can do is shake my head.

“She doesn't understand though, we've talked to no end about this and she still doesn't get it.” I'm so done with this conversation. I'm done talking about marriage. I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it. “It's whatever man.” I prepare to get out of the car as he grabs my arm and I turn back to him.

“Just think about things Lou. Don't let Eleanor walk out of your life, she loves you, she'll understand.” He seems to plead with me.

“I'll try, thanks Liam.” I fake a smile and step out of the car.

Notes

So we know a little bit more about Kate. The next chapter is a bit longer and will explain it more. Anyone notice Louis fighting his feelings slightly? I feeling the pressure people are putting on him to get engaged. Yikes.

Um...I was kind of excited yesterday, oddly enough all three of my stories were on the popular section. Made me a wee bit giddy. :)

Hope everyone enjoyed this update, I LOVE all the comments. Makes me happy. And thank you to everyone whose voted and subscribed!! Hope you all love this story as much as I do!


xoxoxo