Chapter Text
At this point, Louis would take any job.
Really and truly, any job that paid him enough to survive. Any inborn snobbery left in him had died a long time ago. He’d already been waiting tables to supplement his income towards the end of his stint as a public school teacher, before the layoffs. But the shifts they were giving him were no longer cutting it, not even close, and he was in real danger of not making rent this month.
He’d been telling Grace about it on the way home from a job interview at a private school. Louis had actually been a little excited. They seemed to like him. The pay was abysmal, worse than public school, but he could scrape by, keep his apartment.
“Louis, is this really worth all this? Why don’t you just come home?” Grace asked.
He’d gone silent, standing next to his car, looking down at his feet.
“Can’t do that,” He said softly.
“Why not?” Grace said, “I miss you, Paul misses you.”
Louis closed his eyes, “Yeah.”
“And I know you don’t believe it but Mama misses you too.”
Louis scoffed, “She miss her whipping boy you mean.”
“Now, Louis—“
“I gotta go, Grace. Love you.”
He drove back to his apartment, thinking about the only thing he could these days. A way out. A way to avoid going home.
Ridiculously, he’d thought getting into Berkeley had been his ticket to freedom. He’d had to fight his mama on it something fierce. She wanted him at Tulane, or Loyola, something in Louisiana. She’d even entertain Alabama, or Ole Miss, even UGA. Something in the South. But she was not sending her eldest son out to California for liberal indoctrination, no way.
It was the prestige that sold her eventually. He got her to think of the bragging she could do to her friends. Showed her all the rankings, the alumni. Hadn’t daddy wanted them to get the best education that money could buy?
Naive, to think distance would free him. But he’d only been eighteen, he didn’t know shit about money, how completely it could be used to control. Who's paying your tuition? That’s right, me, and I say you need to pick a more useful degree.
Except Louis didn’t want a more useful degree. He wanted to major in English and minor in education. Once more, naive. Naive and high on his first taste of freedom. In a rush of defiance, he told his mother no, he wasn’t going to choose engineering or legal studies or any other degree she wanted him to choose.
Retribution had been swift. He’d been completely cut off and had to scramble to find his first ever job. Seeing as he had no qualifications save desperation, that had been somewhat difficult. He was lucky his dorm and food plan were paid for through the rest of the semester, and that’d he’d put off declaring a major for so long. The next two years were a constant balancing act of keeping his grades up and keeping himself alive. And when he graduated, Louis was the proud owner of large amount of student loan debt, trying to find work in a field not known for handsome compensation.
But he’d found work, and he’d loved it. For a little while, it had all seemed worth it. He’d been a high school English teacher, the kind he’d always loved. The kind that had students asking to eat lunch in his room, or coming to talk to him after class about books they liked, who weren’t afraid to tell him when they were struggling.
And then the layoffs. They were prioritizing seniority, and he’d only been there two years. His principal, Mr. Wright, had been so upset when he told him. That was kind of edifying at least.
“You’re one of the brightest young teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with Louis,” the older man sighed wearily, “I wish there was something I could do.”
In the six months since he’d lost his job, Louis had been subsisting on tutoring work and what he made waiting tables. He was behind on everything he could be behind on. The weight of it all, the bills, the loans, his shitty car always threatening to break down, and the constant disappointment of the job hunt, was grinding him down.
For a brief moment today, when Grace said, “come home,” Louis had actually considered it. Going back to that big old Victorian in the Garden District, with its antiques, freezing air conditioning, and ever present gloom. He considered making his apologies to his mama, who’d welcome him back. She hated that she didn’t have him under her thumb. Because whatever Du Lacs lacked, which in Louis’s opinion was plenty, they had never lacked for money.
It terrified him, that moment of consideration. Was he really that weak? Go home and what? Go to mass on Sunday? Get a job with one of his late father’s business buddies? Date some poor girl to convince his mama he was “fixed”?
No. Hell no. Louis was struggling right now, like a lot of other people. But he was alive. Going back to that house would be like sealing himself in a tomb.
Louis pushed inside his apartment, loosening his tie. Liam, his Craigslist roommate who was always at his girlfriend's, was actually home. Liam was eating over the kitchen sink, which Louis always found so odd.
“Hey dude,” Liam called.
“Hi,” Louis kicked off his shoes.
“Listen,” Liam turned to him, and gestured at Louis with his sandwich, “You aren’t gonna be as late with the rent this month are you?”
Louis stifled a sigh, “I’m trying not to be.”
He had a shift at the restaurant in an hour. Maybe he’d get lucky and get tables of old ladies all night. Old ladies loved his smile and tipped well.
“Okay. It’s just cause it’s my name on the lease ya know?” Liam said, turning around to take another bite of his sandwich.
“I do know,” Louis said, walking past Liam and pushing into his room.
This apartment may be falling apart, but Louis did like his room. There was a built-in bookshelf running under the big windows on the left wall. He could sit on top of the shelf and read in the sunshine. Off course, not all his books fit on the shelf. They littered the room, in neat stacks and haphazard piles. He shoved some out of the way and collapsed on his bed.
They’d have the decision in a week, and they’d call to let him know either way. That’s what the private school told him. Every time his phone so much as buzzed he’d snapped to attention.
It was early evening, but they were in the weeds anyway. His manager had some sort of aversion to scheduling enough staff to actually work the restaurant effectively. Louis shoved his way into the kitchen.
“They don’t want cheese on this,” he yelled to the line cook, holding up a burger.
“You didn’t tell me that!” The cook yelled back.
Louis knew better than to argue, “I’m sure you're right, but they don’t. So.”
The cook grumbled and turned away.
His phone started to go off. A call, not a text. He put down the plate, winding his way through the kitchen, hoping no one noticed him slip into the alley.
Louis pulled his phone out of his pocket hurriedly. It was the school. He took a deep breath.
“Hello,” he tried to sound normal.
“Hi, is this Mr. Du Lac? This is Kathrine from Westlynn Academy.”
“Hi, yes, it's me.”
“We just wanted to call and let you know we did end up going with someone else, who’s a better fit for our current job opening. But we really enjoyed meeting you and will definitely keep you in mind for future positions.”
Louis deflated, letting his back collapse against the cool brick of the building.
“Alright, well. I appreciate you letting me know.”
“Of course.”
She hung up. Louis gave himself a moment to be truly miserable, to stare up at the fading orange sky and wonder what the hell he was gonna do. Then he went back to work.
“Uhhh. Louis? You in there dude?”
Liam was knocking at his door. Since not getting the private school job two weeks ago, Louis had not successfully landed another interview. His tutoring clients had dried up. Even the Amazon warehouse hadn’t gotten back to him yet.
Louis was laying on his bed, staring blankly out the window. He knew he should be doing…something. Anything really. But he couldn’t bring himself to move.
“What is it, Liam?” He called.
Liam opened the door and stuck his head in. Louis didn’t look at him, just kept staring outside.
“Uh. Sorry man, but I think I’m going to have to ask you to kind of…move out? Maybe?”
Louis absorbed this silently.
“Cause this is the fourth month you’ve been late on rent so…”
Louis closed his eyes. Released a long breath, “Alright.”
Liam seemed like he didn’t know what to do with that, “Uh. Alright. Alright then.”
Liam left, shutting the door.
Did Louis have friends he could crash with? Not really. He wasn’t that close to his college friends anymore. Only saw them occasionally. He’d had a lot of amazing teacher friends, but they’d fallen out of touch too. In fact, he’d been trying so hard to dig himself out of this mess he hadn’t really talked to much of anyone in the past six months.
Louis sat up and looked around his room. Moving all these books would be hell. But where was he moving them to? It’d be hard to find a place cheaper than this. Would he have to get rid of his books?
He didn’t have time to cry about it. He had to go to work.