DO YOU KNOW THE REASONS WHY?

[4:30 pm, 1st August]

"... and all Jade ever wants in her life is love. She has all the riches and friends and family and good looks and she's a good dancer, but she doesn't have a man to call him her lover. So that's when this 'Lover Boy' comes into the scene. He had been crushing over Jade for over five years and when Jade invited him to her birthday party, he decided to risk it and make a move. And that's when comes the cheesy stuff. Got it?" Louis asks when he finishes explaining about the new animated story he's working on.

"That's kinda cliché.." Liam comments and Louis nods.

"Yeah, I know, but that's not my plot. My work is to create the characters and animate the story with a little bit of fill-ups." Louis shrugs.

"Well then, what's the name of this... Loverboy?" Niall asks, laying his head on Zayn's lap who instantly starts carding his fingers through his blond locks.

"Well, that's something I haven't figured out yet. I had tried to start writing about him today, only to see that my journal is full and I'll have to get a new one." Louis explains and rubs his forehead before looking at all three of his friends who are sprawled on the floor of Louis' balcony.

"Anyway," He starts and the boys look at him, giving him the attention he wants. "If you guys remember, Lottie's birthday is coming and she'll kill me if I miss it this year too." He announces.

Louis had been living in London since he had moved here for college five years ago when he was eighteen. He has gone back to Doncaster a few times, but he couldn't make it on his younger sister- Lottie's birthday last year.

"Well, she's your sister, you should be there with her on her birthdays." Niall states.

"If I were your sister, I would've already murdered you for not attending last year." Zayn comments and Louis purses his lips in a straight line while clapping sarcastically.

"Oh! I see you do have a tongue, huh? Wow, never knew you could even talk!" Louis says, glaring at the raven-haired boy. "Anyway, the problem is, as you guys know, I have to complete this project on time and if I go home, I'm going to miss a lot of work." He explains with a sigh.

"Bro, family comes first, then your job." Liam presses, seriously.

"Plus, you won the best animator last year for a reason. You know your job damn well, you're good at it and I know you'll do it on time. Don't worry, go see your family." Zayn says and Louis smiles at him.

"Yeah, I guess." Louis gives in before letting out another big exaggerated sigh.

"Now what?" Niall asks, getting annoyed by Louis behaving like a girl on her period.

"What the fuck do I gift her? What do even girls like nowadays?" He groans in frustration.

"Um.. makeup?" Niall asks.

"She already has a cupboard full of it." Louis shoots back.

"Clothes?" Liam contributes.

"A wardrobe full." Louis waves off.

"A phone?" Zayn questions.

"She got a new one just a month ago." Louis sighs.

"I know a person who can answer that and clear our doubts," Niall says, quite proud of himself before he pulls out his phone and starts scanning through his contact list.

"Who are you calling?" Zayn asks, quizzically.

"Miss Charlotte Tomlinson." Niall smiles innocently and presses the 'call' button as he finds the girl's name.

"Oh no, Niall!" Liam exclaims.

"Oh yes, Niall." Niall smiles and puts the phone on speaker when Lottie answers the phone.

"Aye, aye, Captain Niall! How are we this fine afternoon?" The girl on the other line asks.

"We're good, we're good." Niall cheers. "Tell me about you. How are you?" He inquires.

"Better than I ever was." Lottie says and they can all hear the happiness in her voice.

"That's good. By the way, I was just wondering, what would you like me to gift you on your birthday? You can ask for something expensive because Louis is gonna buy it, I'm just gonna put my name on the card." Niall says and Louis hits his arm as the boys and Lottie laugh.

"Hmm.. let me guess, you called me to ask that because Louis can't decide what to gift me, am I right?" Lottie asks smugly.

"Well.. yeah." Niall sighs, giving up on trying an excuse.

"Knew it." The girl laughs. "Is he there?" She asks.

"Yup. He's right here along with Zayn and Liam. You are on speaker, by the way." Niall informs and Lottie hums.

"Well Lou, you can bring a piece of blank paper and I'd still love it, as long as you come home." Says Lottie and Louis places his hand on his chest.

"Aww! Lots, that's really sweet." He says, touched by his sister's words.

"Yeah.. but don't get something that cheap though, it's my twentieth birthday." She sasses and Louis rolls his eyes.

"Well then, Sister, help me out and tell me what you want." Louis sneers at Lottie while glaring at the phone.

"Hmm... let me think... how about.. something.. something magical! Yeah, something magical, that's it!" The girl exclaims and finalizes her choice.

".. And where are we supposed to find this magical shit?" Niall asks in bewilderment and the girl laughs.

"I don't know, that's on you guys. Find me something magical." She says mischievously.

"How about a magic broom, Witch?" Zayn offers, his words dripping with annoyance.

"That'll be perfect. Or you can get me your magic carpet, Aladdin?" Lottie shoots back and Zayn rolls his eyes.

"Come on, Lottie! Yeah, it's funny and stuff, but please now tell me what you want, yeah? I don't want to bring you something that you won't like or need." Louis requests, getting frustrated at the same time.

"Lou, I'm serious. Like.. remember that Natasha girl used to have that charm that would change color in every season? Something like that. But not that charm thingy, I don't want to wait three to four months to see the thing change its color." She explains and Louis nods, now understanding what his sister wants.

"Alright! I got it now." Louis grins at the phone and the boys look at him, their eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Alright cool. Listen, Mom's calling me, I'll talk to you later. Bye! Love you!" Lottie rushes and hangs up when the boys say their goodbyes.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Niall asks, his face showing pure bewilderment.

"I know a place where I can find her the perfect gift... The magical gift." Louis announces and smirks.

"Okay.." Liam trails off and Louis nods, feeling determined to find the perfect gift for his sister.

The boys chat for a while before work, and once again, sneaks into their conversation.

"By the way, have you like sketched this Jade character?" Liam asks and Louis shakes his head.

"I want to finish with their descriptions first." Louis shrugs.

He had been pursuing his dream of becoming a famous animator since he was like thirteen. He had begun creating characters when he was fifteen or something and he did it all in his school books. He hated studying, so instead of schoolwork, his books would be filled with cartoon characters. To this day, he has the habit of drawing his characters on pages first before animating them, but now he has separate sketchbooks to do so. He also has a habit of writing a lengthy description of his character before drawing it, so that's what he has his journals for.

"But like.. you can directly do it on your laptop or computer or even your phone." Zayn says and Louis shrugs again.

"I don't wholly trust technology with my work.. plus it's kind of a childhood habit to use paper, pencils, and pens." He explains and the boys nod in understanding.

"By the way.." Zayn speaks up. "Would you like to work with me and make an animation for my channel?" He asks.

The raven-haired boy is a YouTuber and he does several kinds of entertaining things on his channel and his subscribers are very familiar with Louis, Niall, and Liam as Zayn would usually include them in his vlogs, pranks, and reaction videos and they also make song covers to upload on his channel.

"Is that a business proposal or a friendly favor, Malik?" Louis wonders out loud and Zayn answers instantly.

"It's pure business, Tomlinson. I'll pay you for it." He says and Louis tilts his head up, thinking about it.

"But will you wait until I'm done with this project?" Asks Louis and Zayn nods. "Okay, then I'll do it." He grins and gives Zayn a high five.

They talk for another hour before the doorbell rings. Niall goes to open the door and all the boys walk out, into the living room as well. They had been downstairs since the boys don't like hanging out upstairs. Sure, it was an apartment, but the owner had bought two apartments, one on the seventh floor and the other right above it on the eighth. They had merged both the apartments and made a sort of a two-story house. Soon enough, Niall comes back, a girl following behind him.

"Baby!" The girl yells in excitement before coming to hug Louis, her boyfriend. "I missed you so much." She whispers near his ear.

"Hey, love. Didn't know you were coming." Louis says. "Missed you too." He adds and the girl holds his face in her hands before connecting their lips.

"Ew!" Zayn gags, making Liam and Niall cackle. "Emma, you do realize that we're here, right?" He asks and Emma pulls away from Louis to give Zayn a look.

"Zayn, you do realize that I don't care, right?" Emma smirks, pushing her straight, long hair off of her shoulder before collecting all of the red hair and putting it up in a bun. It's then that Louis sees her back that gets exposed without the hair covering it since she's wearing a backless dress.

"Why so dolled up tonight? Were you at a party or something?" Louis asks, gently running his fingertips along the girl's spine and stopping right above the curve of her lower back.

"It was a family dinner... just make it fancy." Emma says and tilts her head to look at her boyfriend, her deep blue eyes looking into Louis'. Honestly, the boy feels like her eyes are the same as his and he never really finds himself getting lost in them or anything since he's used to seeing that shade of blue, his sisters have the same kind too, but they're beautiful and he loves them nonetheless.

"Did anyone tell you that you look absolutely stunning tonight though?" Louis asks, letting his hand glide a little lower on his girlfriend's back.

"I don't think anyone did." Zayn snarkily comments with a snort and Emma turns around before throwing her silver-glittered purse at the raven-haired boy.

"Fuck off, would you?" She glares at him and he just puts his middle finger up for her before plopping down on the couch.

Louis rolls his eyes at the two as he takes a seat beside Zayn and pulls Emma on his lap. He is used to their banter and even their fights. The two never got along for some reason and are always ready to bite each other's head off. Louis never understood them though, They all have been friends for over five years now and Zayn is basically not the kind of a guy who goes around throwing at people. He surely does that sometimes when someone is being absolutely rude to him, but you wouldn't find him making bitchy comments about anyone's life. Except Emma's. Even when he hates a person, he would just ignore them and never even bother sparing them a single glance. But when it came to Emma, he made sure to remind the girl after every five minutes that he absolutely loathed the girl.

"How does pizza sound, guys?" Liam asks and everyone agrees to order it before putting in a movie after deciding on one, which was a total mess. Emma wanted to watch some romantic comedy while Louis said they were watching Greece or nothing. As Zayn demanded for any of the Marvel series, Liam objected saying a DC movie would be so much better. Finally when Naill joins in and suggests a Disney movie marathon, Louis' living room turns into a warzone, a chaotic mess. And just like that, after over twenty-five minutes of battle, they all agreed on Jurassic Park.

"So, anything new?" Emma asks, snuggling into Louis' chest while the boys pay no mind to the couple, too invested in the movie.

"I'm going home for Lottie's birthday," Louis informs and sees as the girl in his arms frowns.

"Why didn't you tell me that? You promised to introduce me to your family the next time you go home, remember?" She says, sounding extremely upset that Louis forgot.

The truth is, Louis remembers, but he was hoping that the girl might've forgotten. They have been dating for two years now and Louis loves her a lot, but he isn't sure if he's in love with her. Yes, he finds her to be gorgeous and she does turns him on, but that's it. At some point, it's mostly about their bodies and appearances. Louis doesn't feel it in his bones or in his heart and that's the reason why he doesn't really want to take Emma to his mother. That would be a commitment and he's not ready for one.

"I'm sorry, love. I forgot." He lies, giving his girlfriend an apologetic look.

"Of course, you did." Emma rolls her eyes. "Anyway, now that you remember, I am coming with you." She says and Louis nods reluctantly, which makes the girl smile wide at him and lean in to capture his lips. Louis kisses her back lazily as she sticks her tongue out and into his mouth, dominating the kiss. She only pulls back when the doorbell rings and Niall jumps up to get the pizzas.

After paying the delivery girl, the Irish boy shuts the door behind her and skips towards his friends with the pizzas. He rubs both his hands together, making the boys laugh, before opening one of the boxes and immediately digging in for the first slice.

"Always so hungry." Liam comments fondly before picking up a slice for himself, followed by his friends. "So, Ems, what's up? How's everything going?" He asks the only girl in the room and takes a big bite out of his pizza.

"Nothing much, just the work at the bakery." She shrugs and Zayn rolls his eyes.

"Of course." He mutters and Emma glares at him. "Why do you even need that job, by the way? Aren't you like hella rich?" He asks snarkily.

"I am. I work at the bakery because I don't want to sit on my ass all day. Sure I'm wealthy enough and I don't need to work but I do it because I want to. Plus I get to earn by myself, so why would I leave the chance to have my own money?" The girl says proudly before turning to Louis, flashing him a beaming smile and cuddling into him. "Can I sleep over tonight?" She whispers in his ear before softly biting at his earlobe.

"Sure, babe." He smirks at her when she very subtle grinds down on him.

__________

WC: 2,621 words
DOP: 12/12/21

FOTC: Emma Donelle Lee is my original character that I have been working on lately and even though she's not complete yet, I decided to give her a debut in this book anyway. She is supposed to be the kind of a bitch she is, that is how I made her. Appearance-wise, she is drop-dead gorgeous but her personality is ugly asf. I wanted to make a negative character with a beautiful face.. so there she is! Gonna use Sadie Sink for faceclaim.

WOTC📗: I wish to learn to fall out of love 🙃

Author's note: I don't know much about how the whole profession of animations works, so there could be a few information that are not certainly correct. Do let me know if y'all have any idea about it <3

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Emma: *enter*

Zayn:

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Emma: *kisses Louis*

Zayn: Louis, bro come 'ere lemme wipe-

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Emma: Can I stay the night? *grinds on Louis*

Zayn:

XD
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💕

Last edited: 09/05/2023