but the wait will be worth it

chapter fifteen

I had been watching Louis around Emma for the rest of the day.

Some part of me was a bit worried at first that he would eventually fall in love with her.

Of course, this thought was quickly pushed out of my head. Although Louis tended to keep barriers up around his feelings, so I didn't know too much about his deeper emotions, I knew in my heart that this was highly unlikely.

As what I know from being in a relationship with Louis, I was his first long term, serious relationship.

I knew he had hooked up with guys before me, and even dating a few girls along the road of figuring out who he was. But I didn't have to worry much with Emma.

The day had gone by painfully slow.

It had been just a lot of waiting around, just waiting for someone to rise up a conversation about this.

We had gone back to headquarters, not speaking of Louis' meltdown at the coffee shop. I could tell that he felt quite embarrassed, and I didn't want to make him feel any worse than he already did.

On the way back he remained anxious, tapping his fingers nervously on my dashboard until we finally arrived.

Sitting silently around the table, us and the rest of the boys, including Emma, waited for someone to start talking. Louis would awkwardly make eye contact with her, Emma giving a smile as he quickly looked away and back at his feet. This might've been the longest time I'd seen Louis go without a smile or laugh.

To be quite honest, I hadn't seen him smile in a long time.

Finally, after about 10 minutes of dreadful quietness, Zayn spoke up.

"So, Emma was telling us how she's gonna get paid to date you, Louis."

We all turned to him, annoyed with a sigh. Seriously? That's really what he had to bring up right now? He shrugged and stiffly looked back down to his feet.

Getting caught back in the silence, the only sound in the room was Louis's anxious fingers tapping, still.

"So.... Harry, where did you and Louis go out for lunch," Niall asked kindly, before turning a smirking face to Zayn.

I was not amused by their implied joke. Pursing my lips into a straight line, I shrugged. "I dunno. Just, went to a coffee shop." I had just now realized that we hadn't actually eaten a meal. Louis must be starving, as he tended to skip breakfast often.

"Did you get lunch or just coffee," Liam questioned shortly.

I looked over to Louis, who was still looking down. "Um... I guess we forgot to eat." While glancing at him, Louis eyes still remained on the floor. He seemed to have been in a dimension between reality and daydreaming.

Liam peered over at him. "Well, Louis, I have half of a cheeseburger left if you'd like it," Liam reached for a something in his bag.

"No," Louis said quickly and loudly, raising heads. He was still looking down into space, unfocused on everything.

Liam, confused, looked at him. "What do you mean? You have to eat, Louis."

He still didn't make eye contact with Liam, but just mumbled through gritted teeth, "no."

Emma began to pull out a plastic bag. She seemed to be hopelessly making efforts to become closer with him. That bitch, doesn't she know that he's not into girls?

Okay, I needed to calm down. She was probably a really sweet person. I barely even knew her.

But she was also probably a bitch.