Before Christmas

Nine

Louis POV

As soon as Harry and Liam had left for the bar Zayn leaned across the table.

"Right, what is going on with you and Styles?" he asked.

"Yesterday I kissed him in the moment because we won a Fifa game and then all of sudden we were kissing on the couch and giving each other hand jobs." I said.

"Oh wow. Then what happened?" Zayn asked.

"Well that night was really awkward and then this morning I said that I was sorry and it was a mistake and that we should forget about it." I told him.

"Oh my god Louis whyyyy- hey babe." Zayn quickly changed what he was saying as Liam and Harry came back and sat down. 

I could tell Zayn wasn't happy with me though from the sharp kick to my shin under the table. I rubbed my leg with my other and shot Zayn a look. He shrugged and thanked Harry for the beer.

"So, how did you two get together?" Harry asked.

"Well, there was like a sort of energy between us since the beginning of uni but then at the end of term before we went back home Liam asked me out. We went on a date the day before the end of term and-"

"Hold on! Was it you two having sex that night before our last day? Zayn, you told me you hooked up with someone from a bar." I said, remembering the creaking of bedsprings coming from Zayn's bedroom.

"Yeah, sorry Lou, we just didn't want to tell people yet." Zayn said.

"And then we went back home with our families for a few days and then I drove to Bradford and stayed there for three days and Zayn asked me to be his boyfriend. We've been dancing between Wolverhampton and Bradford this last week, seeing family and each other." Liam finished the story.

"Aw you two are so cute." Harry said.

I watched Harry smiling at our two friends and then looked at Liam and Zayn, holding hands and grinning at each other, barely able to take their eyes off the other.

We ordered lunch and it arrived at our table around half past twelve. Zayn talked about his sisters and how his younger sister had a boyfriend as well. Liam told us that his older sister was engaged and that they were getting married in the summer of next year.

Harry and I talked about what we'd been up to the last week, Christmas shopping, watching movies and Harry explained the Christmas Eve fair that we were going to go to on my birthday.

"Shall we go for a walk?" Liam suggested, half an hour after we'd finished lunch.

We all agreed and finished the last of our beers, pulling on our coats again to face the cold. We split the bill and paid and then left the pub.

It wasn't snowing or raining but the grey clouds low in the sky didn't look very inviting. Zayn dragged me back slightly behind Harry and Liam as we started walking and continued to tell me how stupid I was in a low voice.

"You fucking like him Louis, you should have just told him." Zayn said.

"I can't Zayn. I'm staying with him until New Years, if we got into an argument things would be so awkward. This week has been great with him, he's so cute and funny and nice and I love his family as well, I just can't ruin it." I replied.

"Whatever Louis." Zayn said, obviously not agreeing with me. 

He hurried forwards and grabbed Liam's hand, walking with him instead of me. Harry glanced back at me and I grinned, hoping to get past the awkwardness between us the past two days. Harry smiled back and gestured for me to walk beside him while we talked about Niall and how he must be doing in Ireland.

We walked for about an hour and ended up back at Harry's house.

"Do you guys want to come in?" Harry asked.

"No thanks Harry, Liam's mum is making us dinner and we should probably get back to Wolverhampton." Zayn said, checking his watch.

"Ok, see you lads, it was nice catching up." I said, hugging Liam.

"Bye Louis, do what I told you." Zayn said, hugging me next.

Liam and Harry hugged then Zayn hugged Harry and grabbed Liam's hand again.

"Bye." Liam said, grinning at us as they turned to walk back to the pub where Zayn's car was parked.

"Happy fucking!" I called after them.

Zayn flipped me off without turning around and I laughed as Harry opened the front door and took his coat and shoes off.

"Do you want to watch some Friends or something?" Harry asked, closing the door behind me when I'd stepped into the warmth of the hall.

"Sure." I agreed, hanging my coat on the hook by the door and putting my shoes up beside the wall and out of the way.

Gemma was sitting on the couch on her phone but she agreed to watch Friends with us and we sat there watching episode after episode for the next two hours until dinner time.