Young & Beautiful

Louis’ thoughts are on overload.
He tries to absorb the information, tries to think of Rory and how he couldn’t find Niall, Zayn’s
fury at Harry and—Harry.
Fuck.
“Why the fuck did you leave? Why the fuck didn’t you talk to Zayn?” Louis asks, standing up as
well, but he’s not mad. He can’t be mad right now when everything else is so strong and it’s left
no room for anything else. “Niall, that was such a shit move. You’re better than that. He could’ve
died and you would’ve just hid??”
“I know.”
“Do you??”
“Yeah, I fuckin’ do,” Niall says louder, turning around. His face is pained and marked in lines,
ghostly illuminated. “I’m going to talk to Zayn.”
“Good,” Louis says, walking up to him. “I’ll go with you. First thing in the morning.”
“So. Like, an hour.”
Louis nods. “Like an hour.”
The air is tense.
And Louis is still confused.
“Harry told Zayn he did it,” he says, low and careful, watching Niall’s face.
Niall blinks at that, surprise alighting his expression.
“Wait, what?”
“Harry said he did it. Zayn almost killed him. Was he there, or…?” Louis asks, and his heart is
picking up pace because things are slotting into uneven places in his mind, coming together
jaggedly.
“No, no he wasn’t there,” Niall says, taken. “He was off in the corner, moping about you.”
Louis feels sick.
“What?”
“He was like that the whole night. Barely spoke to anyone. Just stared at his fuckin’ phone. He
wouldn’t even talk to Grimmy.”
Oh god.
“Then why did he…” Louis searches for answers. Comes up with nothing.
Fuck.
“I’ve got to talk to him.”
“I’ve got to talk to him,” Niall says, bewildered, but Louis stops him as he makes to leave.