C H A P T E R    T W O

Sisters and Scrooges

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                   THE TEXT MESSAGES began rolling in the morning Louis was certain he was going to quit his job before his lunch break. He already had a splitting headache, and it wasn't even ten o'clock yet.

                  "Lou, will you please please pretty please consider letting me move in with you?"

                  "I swear, as soon as I can afford/find my own place I'll leave."

                  "I'll pay for half the rent and get groceries every other week PLEASE Louis. If I stay at home any longer I'm going to go mad."

                   He decided to ignore Lottie until he could think properly about that. It isn't that he necessarily wants to share a flat with his younger sister, but he knew he still had responsibilities and obligations to his family and anyway, he'd be damned if he became that asshat of an older brother who didn't do all he could to take care of his baby siblings. It was just super unfortunate that he happened to have...well, many of those.

                  Six and a half hours, Louis thought to himself, running a hand over his face and through his hair. He knew this was his fault; he should have never gone out with the guys last night, should have never let them convince him he deserved it and that one night wouldn't hurt. No one deserved this, and one night can hurt a lot.

                  The next thing Louis knew, a student was standing beside his desk waiting patiently for him to return to Earth. The student – Aaron Aubrey – set his textbook and notebook in front of Louis once he knew he had his teacher's attention.

                  "I'm doing exactly what the book says to do and what you taught us yesterday, but I can't get this problem to work out right," the boy sighed, frustrated.

                  Despite how much Louis hated his life currently, he was unable to direct any of his own frustration, exhaustion, and irritability toward Aaron. He was simply confused about the homework Louis had assigned the class, and if Louis was going to throw a fit about it in front of anyone, it was going to be himself in a mirror later. Until then, he'd help the kid and he'd be happy to do it.

                  "Alright, let's take a look. Show me what you've done so far."

                  Louis was grateful he only had to teach one math class a day, or he'd surely have given up on his job a long time ago. He wouldn't have even tried to find another teaching job elsewhere; he'd have just quit. Moved back home, probably. Would have likely tried to get into contact with the old lads to see if they wanted to get the band back together. But he's got new lads now, so maybe he would have just devoted all of his time and energy to getting this one on its feet. Who knows? Not Louis. That's why he's grateful he only had to teach one math class a day.

                  Instead of using his prep period after lunch for, well, prep, Louis decided to take a long lunch and head home for a power nap. Before he could fall asleep, he received another text message from Lottie.

                   "Louis, I know you've seen my messages. Please get back to me, you have a lunch period at some point here."

                   He didn't answer. He turned on his alarm, swallowed the pills he found in his cupboard, set his phone on the coffee table, and allowed himself to crash quickly on his sofa.

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                  THE SECOND HALF of the day went by a lot faster, and the nap and aspirin combo seemed to be helping. He was in much better spirits by the last class period, which was a study hall. Figuring he'd be able to have an actual, mature conversation with his sister about her possible future living arrangements now that he didn't want to crush his own skull, he pulled out his phone after reminding the students in his room to get to work.

                  "Sorry, rough morning. Why, exactly, are you trying to escape Mum and the girls? And Ernie?"

                   Fifteen minutes of Louis pretending to grade papers (he was actually doodling very elaborate stuffed animals in a rock band having a laugh with each other after a bra was thrown on stage) went by before Lottie texted him back.

                    "I can't get a job round here, so I'm stuck home alllll the time and I can't deal anymore, Lou. I know you know what I'm talking about, you got out of here as soon as humanly possible."

                   As much as he hated to admit it, he did know what Lottie was talking about. It wasn't that he didn't like his sisters and Ernie (although at the time, Ernie and Doris weren't even thought of yet), but it became overwhelming after a while. Louis had been old enough that he'd felt as though all of his younger siblings were his own children, but at the same time he was young enough to know he didn't even want that many children total, let alone already at eighteen. He figured it was a bit ironic that he ended up a teacher, all things considered.

                  He responded to his sister after giving it some thought. "You're going to have to pay half the rent, Lot. Can you afford that without a job?"

                   It didn't take her nearly as long to reply this time. "Give me two months free and I'll have a job and be able to pay my half after that. I'll be employed by 1/11, I swear."

                   Louis knew he was going to give in eventually. He's always had a soft spot for Lottie, but he'd have probably given in had it been any of the other girls as well. If Fizzy comes to him with the same request in a few years, he'll likely take her in. He decided not to prolong the inevitable.

                  "Discuss it with Mum before you do anything, Lottie, I mean it. But as long as you're paying your half by November I suppose I've got myself a new flatmate."

                   He imagined she'd already discussed this with their mum in great detail several times and that Louis was the final obstacle she needed to tackle, had saved the most difficult task for last. It wouldn't surprise him. Louis could be a hardass at times; it's something he's been working on. Or, he's been insisting to Zayn that he's been working on it. If he lied about something enough it became the truth eventually.

                  When the bell finally rang, Louis stuffed his phone into his pocket. His classroom began to empty while he packed up his things, and about ten minutes after the parking lot cleared (Louis had spent that time in the teachers' lounge eating a bagel and gossiping about the new gym teacher with Principal Parker), Louis slid into his car and hurried off to the only place he'd been looking forward to arriving at all day: Gibson's.

                   Gibson's Diner was a fantastic hole-in-the-wall type of place in downtown London that Louis had never ever spotted a student or a member of the faculty at. It was his safe place. And it was conveniently located just three blocks away from his flat, too, so he really couldn't go wrong.

                   He ordered the same thing as always – tea, Yorkshire, no sugar – and retreated to the ratty-looking black sofa in the back corner. No one bothered him there. No one really bothered him anywhere at Gibson's, but there was something about that back corner and being obviously far away from everyone else that allowed him to properly relax. He was never productive until his second cup of tea as he was too busy during the first one pretending he wasn't a busy guy, that he didn't have two cats at him waiting to be fed and that he wasn't meeting the guys again tonight.

                   Louis liked meeting up with the guys, and he really enjoyed writing songs with them. They got a lot of work done every week, but God, it was so draining. Louis loved writing with them while they were doing it, but the hours leading up to their usual sessions he liked to spend dreading the evening to come.

                  To his slight disappointment, he noticed after half of his first cup that Gibson's was playing holiday music softly. He could faintly hear some rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and hoped it was possible to turn up the volume of his own thoughts to try and drown out the nuisance. Why were they playing that shit already, anyway? It was September.

                 When his first cup was gone, he pulled out those papers he never actually graded during that last class period. He spent the next two hours doing that, and the time flew by. He'd paid for five cups in that time and had to use the restroom before he left. Luckily, despite that impromptu restroom stop, he made it to Zayn's place on time.

                   "'Ello, Lou. How was school today?" Zayn asked, teasing and ruffling Louis' hair as he tried getting past him.

                    Louis shrugged his coat off and draped it over a chair at Zayn's kitchen table. "Long. Where're Li and Ni?"

                    "Niall's having a wee, and Liam's on his way last I heard, which was about...six or seven minutes ago, I think. 'M not sure. Something like that."

                    It might not have been his own flat, but the feeling of his feet finally being free from his Shoes From Hell, as he likes to call to them, was heavenly. He sunk into Zayn's recliner and propped his heels up on his friend's coffee table. "Ah," he sighed, closing his eyes and smiling. "Finally."

                   "If your nasty-ass feet are sweating, get them off my table, bitch."

                   "They're not sweating. They're breathing for the first time all day. Let them be."

                   "Let who be?" Niall asked, emerging from the bathroom.

                   "Zayn's panties," Louis responded without missing a beat. "He's gotten them into a twist."

                   "Again?"

                   "Shut up, you wankers," Zayn sighed. Louis heard the sound of a body dropping onto the leather sofa near him and assumed he was no longer alone in the tiny living room, though he wasn't sure if it was Zayn or Niall.

                   "What are we doing for food, Zaynie?" Niall asked from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen. Louis's confusion disappeared.

                   "I was just going to order takeout. You guys staying that long?"

                   "No," Louis said immediately. "I need at least three months of sleep to recover completely from last night, so I've got to hit the hay as soon as possible tonight."

                   "I'll probably stay," Niall said. "Can we get Chinese?"

                   "Sounds good to me."

                   A buzzing sound rang out, jolting Louis from a light doze that he may or may not have fallen into. He sat up straight, patting his own cheeks a couple times with his fingertips as Zayn went to let Liam in. Niall had a bowl of popcorn at this point and began tossing kernels at Louis, who opened his mouth to try catching them until he was hit in the eye and switched tactics, picking up the pieces he hadn't eaten and throwing them back at the blonde.

                   "Would you two cut it out," Zayn scolded when he returned, Liam in tow. "You're making a mess. We're doing this at your place tomorrow, Louis, goddamnit."

                   "I'm actually going to have to take a rain check tomorrow and maybe even Wednesday. Sorry, boys."

                   "Why's that?  Hi, lads." Liam asked, leaning against the kitchen entryway.

                   "My sister's moving in."

                   "Hey," Niall responded to Liam, tossing a popcorn kernel towards him.  He missed.

                   "Why?" Zayn asked Louis, sounding appalled. "Is everything okay?"

                   "Yeah," Louis shrugged, reaching for the backpack he'd set on the floor beside his recliner. "Alright, enough small talk. I've got places to be, beds to sleep on."

                   They got to work after that. Niall showed off a couple melodies he'd been working on, and Liam had a couple ideas for some lyrics. Louis contributed a bit there, but otherwise he felt like he was sort of useless all night. His brain just wasn't functioning well enough to produce anything worth showing the others. But he wasn't the only one suffering from the previous night's antics, and after just a few hours – an hour and a half shorter than usual – they called it quits and Zayn ordered takeout for himself and the others while Louis bid them all farewell.

                    "See you guys Thursday, I think."

                    "We might do some recording Friday, if you're up for it," Liam told him. "I talked to Richie, and he's going to get us a time slot in his brother's place for cheap, so we should probably take what we can get."

                    "I should be able to swing Friday. Okay, I'm out. Don't do anything stupid tonight so you lot can actually be productive members of society tomorrow." Louis shut Zayn's door quickly behind him before any of the guys could respond to that.

                    It wasn't as late as he thought it was, but Louis was grateful to be home. As soon as he peeked his head through the door, Charming came padding across the living room toward him, emitting his signature hungry meows. Dashing was quick to realize Louis had returned to them and appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, meowing as well. Louis was pretty sure Dashing slept in the bathtub when he was away.

                    "Hello, boys. How was your day? Mine was exhausting," Louis greeted them, hanging his jacket up and leaving his backpack on his kitchen table. "I bet you're hungry."

                    Charming weaved around Louis' legs so rapidly that he had to pick the cat up to avoid stepping on him or tripping over him as he went to refill their food bowl. Dashing hurried over to join his brother for their feast.

                    With his cats occupied, Louis shed his clothes, opting for just his boxers, and decided he'd shower in the morning. He brushed his teeth and traded his contacts for his glasses before exiting the bathroom to shut off all the lights he'd turned on just moments ago. And after making sure his alarm was set for tomorrow, he climbed into bed and wrapped himself around the body pillow his mum had gotten him for Christmas two years ago. He loved that thing. Hated Christmas, but loved that Christmas gift.

                     Ten minutes after getting into bed, Louis felt a furry creature maneuver itself onto the other side of his bed. He knew it was Dashing; he wasn't really sure where Charming slept.

                    "Goodnight, mate," Louis whispered, smiling a little in contentment.  "Sleep well."