◣ 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞... ◥

❝ 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁. ❞

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- [✩] ; AFTER CHANGING, CORA SHOVED her phone into the pockets of her sweatpants, or also known as joggers by Issie and everyone in Britain. Then when she left the bathroom, she ventured down the hallway that was filled with family pictures and a lot of baby pictures of Louis (which were way too fucking cute) before making her way to the kitchen where Louis was sitting by the island, scrolling through his phone. He didn't notice Cora, so she used this to her advantage.

She crept up behind him, careful to make sure she wouldn't step on any creaky floorboards. Then Cora got on her tippy toes so she would be able to get real close to his ear before saying in a sing-song voice, "Whatcha doin'?"

Louis jumped, nearly hitting Cora if she didn't step back to laugh loudly. "What the fuck?!"

"Your face!" Cora wheeze, pointing her pointer finger at him as she held her stomach whilst she laughed.

Louis's lips curled into a scowl as he glared at her. "Well, that was awfully rude of you, Corazon."

After she calmed down a bit, Cora couldn't wipe a big smile off of her face. He looks cute like that, she thought to herself. "I couldn't help myself. You're such an easy target, Lou."

He shook his head and huffed. "Whatever," then his face turned neutral and somewhat serious. This made Cora confused. "Are you okay though? I saw your face when you received your mum's text and..." he shifted the weight on one leg to another.

Cora shrugged and shoved her hands into the pockets of her joggers. "It's nothing new, Serena's never home anyway." she did her best to keep her voice calm and playful as she ignored the pang in her chest. "Like I see her from time to time in the morning when she leaves for work and gets back, but it's whatever honestly."

Louis gave Cora a worried look as he tilted his head to the side and took into account that she called her mum by her first name. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely not," she laughed sourly and sniffed as she felt her eyes suddenly begin to water. "I don't know, maybe she's finally tired of me."

The corner of Louis' lips fell into a frown. "I don't think that's true-"

"-Then why the fuck is she never home?" her voice was small now as she sniffled, her arms wrapped around herself.

The teenage boy before her hated the sight he was seeing and felt his heart crack inside of his ribcage. By his side, his hands were curled into fists. He honestly didn't know what was going on with Cora's mum, maybe she was just so genuinely busy with work that she couldn't spend time with her daughter. After all, Serena Valencia is a single mother, but Louis couldn't grasp why she would neglect her only daughter so much. Clearly, it was affecting Cora a lot more than she was leading on. She's been trying her very best not to cry in front of him, and he felt like his words wouldn't do much to help in this current situation.

So Louis stepped forward, noticing how Cora's lips were trembling between her teeth and then carefully wrapped his arms around her. This was the first time they've actually ever hugged, but the teen couldn't help but notice how right it felt. Like puzzle pieces connecting. Seeing that Cora wasn't pulling away, Louis decided to pull her closer to him. He was careful, making sure his movements were gentle as her face landed on his chest whilst Louis rested his cheek on the top of her head.

After some seconds passed, Cora then snaked her arms around Louis's torso and sniffled into his shirt. She could feel the well of tears forming at the edge of her eyes as she gripped onto the back of Louis' shirt with her fingers. Cora didn't want to cry, it was stupid to cry right now, she told herself. She liked to think it was because of her period, yet deep down she knew she couldn't blame her uterus. As she continued to bottle up her emotions, they slowly started to spill out.

Whilst Cora cried into Louis's chest, he helped transfer the two of them to the couch and sat them down. She didn't budge against him and continued to cling onto his shirt and completely melted into him, something which he easily complied with and kept holding her close. Louis kept one arm slung over her body whilst the other hand played with her hair in an effort to help calm her down.

"I...I got your shirt wet," Cora whispered in a small voice. "I'm-"

"Don't you dare say sorry." Louis quickly responded in a soft tone, as the hand that was in her hair started to rub her back in small circular motions. "I have plenty of shirts to chose from."

Cora stayed quiet and she sniffled as she turned her head to the side, her ear now pressed against his chest. She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hand and hiccuped. "You must think I'm being overdramatic."

He frowned. "Why are you gaslighting yourself?"

"Because it's true..." her voice was still small as she curled her legs up onto the couch and closer to her body.

"It's really not." Louis felt as if his worried frown was permanently imprinted on his face at this point. "You're upset so you're crying about it. There's no shame in crying." he couldn't believe that Cora would actually believe that crying over her mother's neglect was dramatic. "I think you've been keeping this all up inside and just needed a good cry."

"I guess," she shrugged and moved away for a moment, causing Louis' arms to loosen as she untangled herself from him and fall onto his lap. "I just don't like crying, yanno? I know crying isn't a weakness but it just makes me feel so... vulnerable."

"It's scary to be vulnerable in front of someone," he nodded, watching Cora with concerned eyes. "Especially in front of someone you haven't known for a while."

"I don't remember the last time I cried like that. Like, I've had my fair share of breakdowns and stuff but..."

"Nothing about your mum?"

Cora nodded curtly.

"Does she know how her constant absence makes you feel?"

Cora shook her head quickly. "I mean, it was never really a problem before back in Cape Cod because I had all my friends and we lived close to one another so I was always with them..." she paused for a second, looking thoughtful as she bit her thumb. "But I guess after moving to a whole new continent made me realize how lonely it really was at home."

A beat of silence passed whilst Louis' dark eyes softened on Cora's face as he slowly reached for her hand. "Are you okay now? Do you still want to talk about it?"

"I'm alright," she sent him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Then she met his hand halfway and squeezed it gently. "Thank you for listening, it means a lot."

"Of course, I'm always here for you, Cora," he said with a soft grin slowly appearing on his lips. "I may be shit at taking the initiative, but I'm here for you."

Cora felt those movie-like butterflies in her stomach and at the same time her heart flutter at Louis' words. I'm galactically fucked, she silently thought as she smiled softly, her grip on his hand tightening slightly. "Well, that's awfully cheesy of you, Lou."

Louis chuckled as his thumb stroked the back of her hand. "It may be cheesy, but it's true,"

"The same goes for you, yanno." she carefully interlocked their fingers with a shy smile. "I'm here for you too, piano boy."

"Good to know, kneecap stealer," he laughed softly before earning a playful punch (luckily this time it was actually playful) to his arm. "Awe, c'mon, Corazon, I thought we were having a moment."

"I ruin moments like that for fun," Cora grinned brazenly causing Louis to send her that boyish smile that she liked a little too much. "Now, how about I show you Criminal Minds and then we watch some New Girl?" she offered, seeing that there was a pretty nice sized tv, or telly, in front of them.

"Criminal Minds isn't on Netlfix over here though-"

"-I bought my favorite seasons on Amazon Prime,"

"Of course you would."

"Ah, ah, less judging me and more cuddling!"

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author's note.

y'all, my heart only looks like <louzon3, is this happening to anyone else?

also, hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter! it's more "serious" than previous chapters, but i felt like we needed a chapter with cora just venting about her issues with her mom. tell me your thoughts on this too!