Nothing Without Love

Louis' POV


“Louis! What are you doing here?” Niall asks as he answers the door.

“Well that's quite a way to greet an old friend.” I don't wait for a welcome before I decide to just walk past him, into his house.

“I just wasn't expecting you.” He shoves his hands in his pockets. I've always enjoyed their house. It's quite simple, Niall has always been a fan of easy decorations, nothing over the top and I know Erica is too.

“Well I've got good news!” I rub my hands together, probably looks like an evil plot but my fingers are just cold.

“Whats that?” He asks as I follow him into the kitchen. He hops up on the island counter and reaches for a banana, offering me one but I politely decline.

“I've made the move, officially.” I've been planning this trip for what seems like a year and I finally found a place to live, got it set to my liking and my paperwork has all been filled out. The last step was to actually move and that's done.

“No shit! That's exciting!” He hops off the counter and gives me a hug. “Where are you living at then? Have to make it to see your new place!” He tosses his banana peel in the trash and waits for me to respond.

“Studio City, just like fifteen minutes up the road.” I lean against the counter across from him, crossing my arms. I'm proud of this accomplishment. I've been going back and forth for the last few years, working with different producers and singers and it's just exhausting. “Nice house by the north side of the lake, lots of windows.” I explain as I hear Erica come into the kitchen. I start to sigh as I realize they'll be lovey-dovey like usual.

“Oh, hi Louis, sorry I didn't know you were here.” She opens her arms and gives me a hug, it's always difficult to hug extremely pregnant women. If I remember correctly she's due anytime.

“Just popped by to tell you both that I'm officially a California resident, moved just north in Studio City.” I explain.

“Awesome! Oh, Louis, this is our new nanny, Josie.” I see her come in from the foyer, slipping on her jacket when I realize its that woman. That woman that I preformed terribly with and she actually left in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night.

“Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Louis.” I try to play it off like I might not remember her, or like her hook up wasn't really important.

“Nice to meet you Louis, Josie.” She smiles and returns to Erica to discuss a few more things. I'm trying to carry on a conversation with Niall but I keep slipping glances at Josie. I looked a few times but every time she wasn't looking at me. I thought I caught her once but she didn't act like it. “All right, by Niall, nice to meet you Louis.” Josie waves to us as her and Erica walk towards the entrance to leave.

“Don't even think about it.” Niall warns me in that tone of his.

“What are you talking about?” I try to play innocent.

“Josephine. I saw you looking at her and trying to get her attention. Don't do it.” He warns again.

“Do what?” I ask.

“Sleep with her! You'll sleep with her, she'll think it might be something more, it won't be, then it will be awkward and she'll quit then Erica will be pissed at me.” He explains as he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, offering me one.

“I'm not going to sleep with her! She's not even attractive!” I mutter, trying to convince myself as to what I said was true.

“Excuse me, forgot my purse.” Josie comes from the exact door she had just left from. Shit, I'm pretty sure she just heard that I said she wasn't attractive. Ah, fuck. Time machine anyone? “See you next week Niall.” She smiles warmly as she leaves and I almost wait until the front door shuts before I speak again.

“You let her call you Niall?” I ask.

“Why can't she call me Niall?” He puts his hands up, still confused.

“Because you're her boss. She should be professional.” I try to explain. I don't know why I even care, maybe I just want to keep talking to her.

“Dude, relax. Erica and I call her Josie, she can call us Erica and Niall.” He's been wondering around the kitchen when he decides to settle and sit at the island, pulling out a chair carefully.

“Don't sleep with her.” Erica comes in and leans next to Niall.

“Seriously? You too?” I ask. She looks at Niall and they share one of those couple moments and laugh. “Aren't you afraid Erica?” I kind of just want to wile her up. If my mum was here she'd probably kill me, she always hated when I tried to mess with her when she was just about to give birth.

“Afraid of what?” She takes a sip of Niall's water, looking at me.

“Josie is attractive. Aren't you afraid of her and Niall being alone together?” She starts laughing, almost spitting out her drink in my face as soon as the words leave my lips.

“You can't be serious.” She begins, wiping the water running down her lips.

“You don't think she's pretty? Niall?” I ask both of them, watching for their reactions.

“Oh no, she's gorgeous. Even Niall has admitted that.” Erica elbows Niall just slightly as he smiles and nods in agreement. “But I have nothing to be worried about.” She shakes her head. “I love Niall, he loves me, I trust him, he trusts me, that's that. Plus Josie works for us, she's a professional.” Erica assures me. I don't know why I feel the need to push this but maybe I'm just finding a reason to plant a seed and maybe they won't employ her. I don't want to have to see her every time I come over, all I'll think about is how terrible I did when we slept together. Still fucking embarrassing.

“Let it go mate. She's our nanny. And you can't sleep with her. It's like unwritten bro-code.” Niall laughs at what I'm assuming is just me in general. If he only knew. Last thing I want to do is tell Niall about my sub-par night with her.

“All right, I'm going to go finish up in the baby's room. Packing the bag to take to the hospital.” She kisses the side of Niall's mouth and gives me a quick hug. “Let us know if you need any help Louis.” She all but skips out. She's all belly, when some women when get pregnant they get bigger all over, hips get a little wider but Erica, just looks like she swallowed a basketball.

“Why do you do that shit?” Niall asks when I can assume Erica is out of ear shot.

“Do what?” I pretend like I don't know what I just did.

“Get Erica all worked up. She's having my baby in like two weeks, she doesn't need to be worked up for no reason.” Niall kicks up his feet on the counter.

“I don't know, I just wanted to make sure that she thought about it.” I shrug, trying to play it off like usual.

“Just don't do that shit.” he tells me, finishing up his water bottle and tossing it in the recycling bin. “Want to look at the studio?” He and Erica have lived here for a while, I've come to visit plenty but this is a new addition to their basement. “Maybe we can mess around, create some things.”

“You don't have to help Erica?” I ask. He's so in love it makes everyone sick. But at the same time I'm jealous of it. I'll never admit it because that's just not what I do but I've always wanted that. I used to want what Zayn and Perrie had but we never saw the cracks that they did. Niall and Erica are like rocks. People might give them shit but they don't care, they're still going strong.

“You coming or what?” He asks, I've been lost in thought a little bit, haven't noticed he's all but left the room.

“Yeah, yeah.” I quickly jog up to his side. Maybe I can slip in some questions about Josie here and there.

Notes

Doing things a little backwards today, chapter first then I'll respond to comments. Can't have a Louis story without him trying to get a rise out of people!!

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