Young & Beautiful

“It’s your fucking father, isn’t it?” she all but screeches, and Louis winces, pulling the phone away
from him momentarily.
“What are you on about? I haven’t even—“
“He sends you to that bloody school and now you think you’re too good for us." She's such a
mess.
Louis’ fists clench. Yep. This is exactly what he’d been fearing. And expecting.
“Where are you?” he grits out.
“I’ve been a mess, Lou,” she admits quietly, and he can hear the sniffles. “I can’t do this on my
own, I can’t.”
“Where are you?” he repeats, louder, keeping his voice steady.
“I’m in the park.”
“Alone?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Of course? He sees red. “Where are the girls?”
“Margaret’s watching them, she’s old enough now, love.”
“She’s only eleven. Go home.”
“I can’t right now. I can’t do it, Louis—“
“Go. Home.”
There’s a pause as Louis rubs at his forehead, and all he hears is his mother’s quiet breath and the
static of a breeze on the other end of the line.
“What’s gotten into you?” she suddenly asks, voice quivering. “You used to be here, you used to
care for us. Now you’ve gone and left—you’re just like your bloody father.”
His blood boils at the accusation. It shouldn’t, really, not when he’s heard it before, but it still
stings and his jaw clenches as he focuses his attentions on a particularly soothing painting of
Zayn’s before him—an ocean. It’s filled with blues that swirl. Just like real water. “I won’t have it,
Lou, I won’t have it!” she continues, shouting through the receiver. “I’ve raised you better!”
There are greens in the water, too. Greens mixing with the blues.
Louis rises, fisting his jumper in his free hand as he grips onto the phone, white-knuckled, and
stands directly in front of the painting, immersing himself in it, his back to Harry whose scribbles
have now ceased entirely.
“Just stop it. Please. Stop this and go home. Go now. You can’t leave the girls on their own. You
know this. You can’t do that shit anymore—I’m not going to be there to fix it this time. I’m not.”
As Louis waits, his nerves grating, he hears her faint whisper. “Come home.”
“What?”