Soulmate Search // larry

Day 21

Harry is crying again.

He's standing in the hotel lobby. Children are running past him to the elevator with their luggage, or jumping and tugging on their parents' sleeves as they sign in. Some give him weird glances as they dash past, probably wondering why there is a crying 20 year old in the lobby.

Kat and Niall are supposed to come pick him and Eloise up and bring them to the airport, then say their last goodbyes. Harry's isn't crying because of that, though he is definitely going to miss his new friends.

It's just that his flight leaves in three hours, and Louis has failed to acknowledge that Harry is leaving today. He hasn't received a single text, or phone call, or spotted the top of his head in this crowd of people. Harry is going home, not knowing when he will see his soulmate again, or knowing if he will even get to say goodbye.

And that has to be the worst part, not knowing if he'll be able to say goodbye. He screwed everything up because he was scared. He was scared to be gay, or bi, or whatever he is. He was scared to love another boy. But mostly he was scared to love. Although he came looking for the one he would love for the rest of his life, he was still scared to fall.

He isn't anymore. Now he just wants Louis in his arms, holding him close and feeling the warmth radiating off of him. He wants to hide in the back of the car with him on the way to the airport, with interlocked fingers and whispered conversations and kisses. He has to kiss Louis, just one more time before he goes home. He has to.

"Alright, Harry," Eloise murmurs, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "We can't wait any longer. Kat and Niall are here, so we've got to go."

"No!" he cries. "He's coming, I know he is! We can't go yet. We can't go."

"Harry," she sighs. His fingers are holding the handle of his suitcase in a death grip, his knuckles white. She carefully unwraps them and takes his bag along with her own. "Let's go."

Eloise leads the broken hearted boy to the car outside. The cold air is harsh, whipping their hair around, and a few rain drops splash against their skin. It's bleak, wavering between what could be a storm or simply a cloudy day. That's how Harry feels at the moment, like he's swimming in uncertainty, but at the same time he knows exactly what is going to happen.

Louis isn't going to show up. He knows that. He knows it, and the pain of realizing that cuts deep inside. Because he screwed up, because he didn't take Louis' feelings into consideration, because he was scared, Harry may have lost the beautiful boy.

The suitcases are shoved into the trunk, and the two slide into the back seat. Neither Kat nor Niall say a word upon seeing Harry's melancholy face. They seem rather glum themselves. The four will be at the airport in an hour, and then it will be time to say goodbye.

Harry just prays that Louis will be at the airport, that he'll get to see him one last time.

+++

"I'm going to miss you guys so much!" Niall exclaims, wrapping Eloise in a big embrace. Eloise chuckles lightly, but hugs him back just as fiercely.

"We'll see you soon, right?" she says quietly, her voice muffled by Niall's shirt. "This is just a 'see you later' kinda thing."

The four are standing in front of security. Kat and Niall won't be able to go any farther, so amid the chaos and noise around them they are saying goodbye. They've been dreading this moment all morning, and now that it's here it doesn't quite seem real.

Harry is holding Kat's body close to his own, biting his lip. She really has become a sister to him, and he is going to miss her more than he probably cares to admit. They switch then, Niall pulling Harry into what he calls a 'bro hug', and Kat and Eloise embracing each other with tears in their eyes. Eloise has a fistful of Kat's shirt clenched in her hand and her head buried in the crook of her neck. Neither seems ready to let go of the other anytime soon.