Spring break was coming slow. The last week before school let out, Louis, Harry, Niall, and Liam spent the whole week planning a mini vacation.

They wanted to go to the beach for the week, Whitby, North Yorkshire specifically. The only challenge: convincing Louis to go.

Louis liked the beach, yes, but he was nervous. He was the fattest of all the boys and he didn't want Harry to leave him because of the way he looked without a shirt on. Seeing Louis naked in bed was different, that was just for Harry. That wasn't around a beach full of people. He would be such an embarrassment.

"Lou, come on! It'll be fun!" Niall tried to encourage him. Niall and Louis had gotten close since Liam and Niall got together.

"No, why don't we go to the mountains? Or an amusement park?" Louis tried to compromise. He was petrified. He didn't want to show everyone his body; he would be made fun of because of his pudge and thick thighs.

"But Louis, we leave in 3 days, we can't change the whole plan! Plus, I think your parents already bought the beach house. Harry would really like if you went!"

3 days.

Louis had an idea.

He could lose weight in 3 days. If he worked enough, he could lose the embarrassing weight; he was sure of it.

"Fine, I'll go. We go Sunday, right?"

"Yes! Yes! I'm so excited, Lou. We can finally spend time with everyone," Niall squealed.

When Louis got home, he immediately logged into his Pinterest account. He typed in "how to lose 15 pounds in 3 days." Thousands of exercises and diet plans came up. He found a 3 day diet and committed it to memory, preparing to lose all of his belly fat.

--

When Louis got up at 5am on Friday, he got dressed before going downstairs to make his breakfast. He got half an orange, a piece of toast, and a small cup of tea, keeping his calories under 300. After eating, Louis put on his tennis shoes, running around his neighborhood six times. He did crunches, jumping jacks, and push up, before returning home at around 6.

Louis didn't expect for Liam to be awake when he arrived home.

"Lou? Why are you up so early?"

Louis smiled, feeling good for accomplishing the first step to being skinny, like Niall. "I just wanted to go on a run."

"Why, Louis?" Liam could tell something was wrong. Louis was acting weird: too timid.

"Because, I just want to lose some weight, nothing crazy, Li," Louis reassured.

Liam scowled. He hated that Louis was so self-conscious. Stan had drilled into his head that he was so much bigger than he truly was. That was Stan's fault but everyone but Stan actually had to deal with it. "What did you have for breakfast, Louis William?"

"Toast and tea and half an orange," Louis smiled, clearly proud of himself, "and today for lunch I'll have tea and toast and grilled chicken. I'm going to lose weight, Li, and Harry won't break up with me because I won't be the fattest one on the beach anymore. It'll be fun!"

Liam's mouth dropped open. Louis had genuinely thought this through. He shook his head at his younger brother. "Louis, you're not fat. You don't need to lose weight and Harry won't break up with you!"

"But, Liam!"

"No. No, Louis. Come with me, now," Liam's teeth gritted, he stood, immediately expecting Louis to follow. He led him into his bathroom and pulled a scale from behind the door. "Stand on it. Now."

Louis was shaking as he stood on the cold metal scale.

It blinked twice before three numbers showed up.

137 pounds.

"Louis. If you lost 20 pounds in three days, you'd be the size of a 5th grader. You cannot believe that you're not enough because, baby boy, you're so much more than enough for everyone you meet. Niall loves you, Harry is in love with you, and I'm your biggest fan. Never will anyone believe you're too big or too small, because, Lou, you're just right. We're not taking this trip with the intent to hurt your feelings or rub anything in your face. We love you and we want to have a good time. That's all. If you don't want to go, we won't go, but Louis, you're an amazing human being. You're an amazing brother and I love you too much to let you convince yourself that you're not enough."

Louis kept his head down, ashamed. "I love you, Li. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, love, I'm going to call Harry. Why don't we leave tomorrow, instead of Sunday, and we'll check in early. You'll even get cute little freckles with so much sun, isn't that exciting?" Liam was trying his hardest to slip Louis into headspace.

"Yes, please call my daddy."