Louis awoke in an empty bed, but for some strange reason he wasn't cold like he always was when he slept alone in his bed. Now that he looked around, he realized he wasn't in his bed. The pale sheets and creamy white cushions were unfamiliar and the dark wooden floor that he could see also didn't belong in his bedroom. Maybe his headache and the memories of getting absolutely pissed last night explained a thing or two... Thank god he wasn't naked!

"Louis, are you up?" A blond mop of hair popped up and Louis snuggled back into the blankets.

"No," he grumbled, fully knowing that no one would reply if they were actually sleeping. Sue him for being a lazy actor in the morning.

"Oh, okay, tell me when you're awake, okay? Harry made breakfast."

The Irish lad disappeared and Louis gawked at the spot where his friend previously was standing. Did Niall really accept his lazy reply and just let him be? How come Zayn hadn't introduced them before?! If Zayn had done that, Louis would've roomed with Niall instead of the raven haired boy that likes to wake everyone at five a.m. because 'the early bird catches the worm', yeah and the early bird can go and suck his--

"Lewis, I know you're awake! Don't use Niall because he's too soft hearted to kick your lazy ass!" Zayn's voice was a torture for the blue eyed boy's headache and Louis whimpered.

"My ass isn't lazy, it's perfect," Louis mumbled, but he still rolled out of the unfamiliar bed and shuffled towards where the voices came from, "G'morning."

"'Morning sunshine," Harry replied and placed a plate full of eggs and bacon before the boy, which resulted to a smiling Louis and a fond looking Harry. How those two didn't know how the other felt was a true mystery.

"I'm gonna puke rainbows if they keep acting like this," Niall announced right before the two others send him a glare.

The five boys stayed together till Sunday afternoon. Nothing interested happened, really. They played some Fifa and Harry cooked because when Louis tried to make pancakes, he almost burnt the place down and the pancakes just didn't look edible. Niall even poked one to see if it was alive.

Liam dropped Louis off at his home and Louis let out a sigh of relief when he realized he was alone. The last thing he wanted was a questioning by his four sisters and his mum! He didn't even dare to think of the teasing that would happen afterwards... No, Louis was glad he had to place to himself for once. Privacy was rare when you had four siblings and a mum that loved to meddle with everything her children did.

****

Monday. Why did that hateful day haunt him? Louis vowed that a full week couldn't have passed yet, it was impossible that that was the case! But Louis is wrong about lots of things, and his wish of it not being Monday stayed just that. A wish.

"Louis!"

Louis turned his head and almost fell over when Niall tackled him into a hug, knocking the wind out of him. Liam and Harry were already a bit further, but they halted when they saw Zayn, Louis and Niall. It was weird and sudden, but Louis felt comfortable with the change. His expectations were a bit off thought, no one was really interested in him. The only time people talked to him was to get closer to one of the others, but Louis would sass them away or just plainly ignore them.

"Niall, you-- you're killing me!" The small boy squeaked and the other loosened his grip, but didn't let go.

"I think he's trying to steal my place as your best mate, Lou. Vicious little leprechaun disguised as an adorable bean... Who would've thought that? Although you can see his true colors when he drinks," Zayn laughed and Niall send him a glare.

"I think snatching your position away was a given? You don't deserve Louis, he's mine!" And with that Niall dragged Louis away, the latter saying 'goodby my old love' to Zayn with fake tears to finish his act perfectly.

"I think you just lost your kitten to an Irish midget," Liam laughed and patted Zayn's back.

"Only until he sees how messy Louis is and how irritating he can be if he can't drink his Thea. He can't even go to sleep without a cup... Maybe that's the reason that he talks in his sleep."

The boys went to their classes, met up four hours later for lunch and decided they would eat in one of the cafés nearby. When they came in, the oldest of the group bounced around together with Niall and the two of them attracted a lot of attention, but none of the people watching them had a scowl or looked irritating (and let's be real, who could ever get annoyed at those two adorable and precious souls?). The three others got into a booth and reserved two seats for when the two exited kids got enough of playing around.

"Zaynie," Louis fell into his seat and leaned his head on the taller lad's shoulder, "why didn't you introduce me to Niall earlier?"

Zayn looked at the two boys and sighed as if he was exhausted that he even had to explain such an obvious thing, "Haven't you seen yourself yet? You're so exited and childish that you can't even see that everyone's looking at you. And I thought you wanted to stay low?"

"Good point, mister Malik," Louis nodded in a serious manner before he picked up the menu and looked through it as if it was one of his schoolbooks.

Niall, on the contrary, leaned closer to whisper 'I'm stealing the hedgehog from you' in Zayn's ear -which resulted to a playful glare and a 'you won't get my husband' from the later.

[flashback]

Louis, Zayn, Aiden, Nick and Stan entered the café and went to their usual table. It was normal for them to sneak away and come to the café to get their lunch, but that didn't make it any more comfortable for the staff working there. The five boys were horrible costumer sand if they could ban them from the shop, they would. However; the customer is always right. God, that stupid rule was the reason seven servers quit. That and those despicable boys.

Louis looked around the shop, always a bit in awe and he had to contain himself or he would start jumping and running around to see everything it had to offer. Zayn's hand on his thigh was an incredible aid as it reminded him that no he could not act carefree. He had an image to uphold.
After ten minutes, a waiter came to take their orders and Aiden scoffed.

"What in the world took you so long? We should get a discount because you clearly suck at your job," A grin crept on the boy's lips and he gave the poor girl a filthy wink as he added: "But, don't worry, love. I won't give you any troubles if you suck on something else for me. I'm sure you have experience with that."

Louis wanted to puke. He was sure it was because of that Eleanor bitch and her freaky power to make him feel guilty. He shouldn't have asked the guys to eat in the cafeteria the day before because then he saw her eating alone because of him and-- Louis shook his head. It didn't matter. The weak were doomed to live like that, but he wasn't one of them. He would never be alone like that.

"Aiden, you're too much," Nick smirked and placed his hand on the waitress' bum, "Haven't you heard of sharing?"

While Nick and Aiden were harassing the girl, Stan, Zayn and Louis looked at each other. Surely their friends were joking? Zayn cleared his throat and Stan whispered an apology to the waitress. Louis just looked.

"Uhm, Becca? 'S that your name?" Zayn asked, eyeing the tag on her uniform and the girl -now identified as Becca- nodded, "Just ask the owner or one of the older staff. We always get the same, so they should know by now."

Becca left as fast as her feet could carry her and when she came back half an hour later, her face was grim. Louis wouldn't be surprised if she handed her registration letter in later that day. New record. He thought with a grimace and he rolled his eyes when he heard even more disgusting things leaving his friends' mouths. Louis would salute the girls that married them.

[end flashback]

A girl skipped towards them with her notepad and pen ready to take their order, but she froze when she looked at the boys' faces. When Louis looked up, all color was drained from her face and her expression made him believe she saw a ghost. At the same time, Zayn poked him with his elbow and silently pointed at the tag where the waitress' name could be seen. Becca. Oh. Shit.

For a horrible moment Louis thought the girl would confront them, but thank his luck, she didn't. Becca simply eyed the others with a suspicious glare and softened when she didn't see any other familiar face. Louis almost laughed because, yes, his group of friends had drastically changed. He wouldn't be surprised if he got called one day from prison and it was Aiden or Nick asking him to bail them out, but if one of the dorks he hang with now called him under the same circumstances, he'd ask them if they perhaps stepped on a flower and if they had decided to turn themselves in afterwards. Yup, such criminals.

"Are you okay?" Liam asked Becca and at the same time Harry stood up and waved his arms awkwardly around the girl because he clearly wanted to help but he didn't know how.

"Do you need some water? Or do you want to sit down? We can tell your boss we asked you to! Please don't faint, please don't faint, please don't faint!" Niall begged and Becca cracked a smile.

"No, thank you, I'm fine. I just thought I knew your friends, but it cant be them," Becca looked at them and a guilty feeling shot through Zayn and Louis.

"Yeah, you must've mistaken us for someone. It's our first time coming here," Zayn replied with a tight smile and he quickly ordered his coffee -adding a Yorkshire Thea and a Dame Blanche for Louis, because he knew the boy wouldn't be able to keep his voice from cracking. Thankfully, the other boys didn't notice and ordered their drinks too (still looking concerned when Becca left to get their orders).

****

Louis was just outside the liberal. He had texted Eleanor about the little thing that happened during lunch while he was studying, but the brunette had decided to annoy the boy and call him. After being ushered out and a lot of 'turn your phone off's, he answered the call with a very irritated tone.

"What?"

"Hello to you too, my dearest friend. No, I didn't worry at all because I know that you are the type to run when a problem irises instead of confronting it and no, of course I didn't almost cry out in frustration when I thought you would run from your bloody crush. Oh, and yes, my day was lovely... Before someone texted me and acted like a drama queen."

Louis huffed, Eleanor was right, "Yes, I'm indeed a queen."

"A perfect one," He could see her rolling her eyes, "Now, princess, please explain how you got in that situation? I swear, you're like a magnet for bad luck."

"First of all, I'm a queen. Not a princess," Eleanor huffed, but Louis continued. He wouldn't let a peasant interrupt his royal speech, "And I went out lunching with Harry and the others! You should be proud! I'm progressing."

"Were you seated next to each other?" Eleanor asked and Louis shook his head before realizing that she couldn't exactly see that.

"No..."

"Did you face each other then?"

"Not really..."

"And you're calling that progress, Tomlinson? My three year old niece gets her men faster than you!"

Louis snorted, "Your niece is a little minx and she could get anyone. You. Know. That."

"True, true, but you're just a special kind of hopeless. Do I need to call a toddler so she can give you advice? I'm sure she'd be willing to help you with your makeup too."

"As much as I like the idea, no. If her skills are anything like yours, it'll end horribly," Louis shuddered, "I'll never forget prom. It's burned in my memory... I'm sure even drinking bleach won't help."

"I was young and it wasn't that bad! You told me I looked okay!"

"Honey, I lied."

The two of them talked some more and Louis had to hang up after standing outside for two hours. He still had his homework to do and Eleanor wasn't exactly helping him. And no, talking about panties or which color would bring their eyes out wasn't homework even if Eleanor believed that. And yes, Louis would deny that he talked about all of that out of his free will until the day he died.

----------

Extra long chapter~
I hope it was okay? I feel like we're not moving at all 😂

I survived my cousins! Yay for me!
(And yay for all of you because I could write a chapter today and wasn't complaining about playing with 3 to 7 year olds)

Please Comment/vote/complain/fangirl/do whatever
Thanks for reading!💜💜