Re: The woods
Neil barely paid attention to her demand that he 'wait there'. Fuck that. He was too distracted by Louis, who was apparently thrilled that he knew his name, and he was torn between shaking some sense into him and just turning right around and getting the hell out of there. "Yeah, of course I do," he managed, but then Louis was giving him that look, and oh god, it was so hard not to flinch back in disgust. They might not have been related by blood, but he still thought of Lou as his brother, as family, and family didn't look at each other like that. It was really, really fucking weird, and he could feel the heat start to creep up his neck, a prickling, uncomfortable warmth, but despite all that he probably would have grabbed Louis anyway and gotten the fuck out of there if the blonde guy hadn't shown up.
The temptation to tell the guy to go fuck himself was pretty strong, because he was treating Louis like a piece of meat, or a pet, and it was only the pitifully hopeful look on the younger man's face that made him allow himself to be ushered inside. "Sure," was his response to the question of whether or not he liked Louis, but he felt sick just saying it, and he scanned the small apartment for Sam. He wanted to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, even if he had to drag Lou out and make a run for it.
He paused, gaze lingering on Iris, and that didn't make any sense either, because what the fuck was she doing here? "Iris," he repeated quietly. "But--" Whatever he'd intended to say was cit off by Sam's cursing, which he didn't understand how no one else could seem to not hear, and he felt like something had gone right over his head as he stood, utterly confused, watching some old Spanish guy follow Tess around the living room. Maybe it was some sort of joint hallucination, but no, these were people they recognized, people she knew, so why would he be hallucinating people he'd never met?
Her husband. Her parents. Neil would have asked a dozen questions if talking to thin air wasn't something crazy people did, since he'd figured out by then that, for some reason, no one else could see Sam. No one but him. So he simply looked at her, and then he looked back at Louis, who broke his fucking heart as much as he made him want to be anywhere but here. Yeah, his parents hadn't won any awards, and they had been pretty fucking distant, but at least they'd never sell off any of their kids or try to whore them out to strangers.
Goddammit. "I'll stay for dinner," he agreed, and he let Louis take his hand, because fuck if he was going to be responsible for some brokenhearted puppy dog look, and besides, he still needed to get him out of here somehow.