another stupid hate song

Chapter 32

Christmas went well for both Louis and Harry. It was also a great distraction from each other and the last time they met.

Louis' birthday went really well. They ate, had fun, exchanged presents, talked, ate again, laughed and Louis had really missed that. Being with his whole family, even if his parents are still divorced.

At one point of his life Louis can't remember, he stopped hoping that his parents would get back together and started accepting that it was never going to happen.

Tonight, Louis wouldn't be able to forget about Harry and distract himself from him because it was New Year's party. Great. What could possibly be better than to see someone who rejected you?

"Are you okay there?" Lottie asked from the doorframe

Louis was sitting on his bed and staring blankly at one of the posters on his wall. He probably looked like a crazy guy whose main hobby was to stare at walls. He didn't know for how long Lottie stood there, but it was apparently enough for her to worry.

"Uh no" he said

Lottie walked into the room and sat next to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently

"I'm not sure I want to see Harry tonight but I will, because we have the same friends" he said

"Maybe you should talk it out with him" she suggested

Louis snorted and ducked his head, looking at where he was fiddling with his fingers on his laps.

"Yeah, I'm not sure there's something to discuss because, and I quote, 'we are nothing'"

Lottie was silent for a moment. Louis almost thought she left when she talked again.

"Maybe he didn't mean it"

Louis almost wanted to laugh. Of course, yeah, he hadn't meant it. It wasn't like Harry said that often. Oh, wait, he did. Louis had ignored it because it was going well between them and maybe something had changed. Apparently not.

"He said it often enough for me to think he meant it"

Lottie sighed and wrapped Louis in a side hug, head against head.

"Try to have fun tonight and not let him get to you, okay? Enjoy yourself and maybe find another guy"

"Yeah, another guy" he whispered

The thing was, he didn't want to find another guy.

...

"Man, you okay?" Niall asked when he climbed into Harry's car.

Okay, so Harry really had to look like shit if Niall noticed.

He picked him up so they could go to the party together and meet with Zayn, Liam and Louis. Louis.

"Yup" Harry nodded stiffly, driving out of Niall's driveway

"I'm not stupid" Niall deadpanned "We didn't even see each other during holidays"

"Yeah, sorry" Harry sighed, he hadn't moved from his flat after Gem went back to France four days ago. He stayed in his bed watching Brooklyn 99, which was one of the only things never failing to make him laugh, even when he felt like shit. Like since they came back from California. Harry hardly even ate in four days, or he ate unhealthy food. This was truly embarrassing to be this way for no reason.

"Sorry, I spent time with Gemma" he offered as an excuse, along with a weak smile

"It's okay" Niall smiled "So how was your trip? You didn't talk about it much when we texted"