And Now A Piece Of Me Is A Piece Of The Beach || larry stylinson

13

True to his word, Louis did not breathe a word of the happenings to anyone. Even as Lou taunted them about the whole nurse/patient situation as they lounged around the campfire, Louis just lay peacefully and did not utter a word about it. Harry thought that maybe he was still a little drowsy and under the weather; after all, as much as Louis protested that a wank could do wonders, he did not think that it cured illnesses.

 Harry had straight out refused to let Louis go to the campfire that Friday night. Before Louis had even finished his sentence relating to gathering, Harry had cut him off with a resounding no. Louis whined and pouted for a little while, trying to waggle his way into Harry’s conscience and make him change his mind.

But Harry was supposed to be looking after him for the day, and the least he could do was make sure that the poor sod did not get even sicker.

Somehow, though, Louis and his wangling ways were too much for Harry to deal with, and he gave in to the pleas without even realising. When he sighed in defeat and muttered a, ‘fine, okay,’ Louis had looked positively ecstatic. Harry did not understand why Louis was so insistent about going. There were many more he gatherings he would go to, so why could he not just miss one of them? When Harry brought that up, Louis cowered away a little and his smile seemed to turn just a tad meek. He shrugged it off and started pleading with Harry once again, but Harry had definitely caught the look, and was definitely confused as to its origin.

Louis confused Harry quite a lot. That much was probably obvious. But recently, he would sneak out (well, sneaking out would assume he was always around Harry and he wasn’t, but he would have to go and do ‘things’ when he usually wouldn’t, that was all) randomly and come back a few hours later. Sometimes his expression was drawn afterwards, sometimes excited, sometimes just in between. It was hard to predict which one it would be, because one time he could have been having a right laugh with Harry and Lux, then when he returned, his demeanour would have changed entirely.

But Harry was not going to question it. He had no right to, and he was not sure whether he really wanted to know either. Asking would mean that he had been thinking about it, would mean that he took time out of the sea to think about something that was not his life. That, in turn, could possibly give the impression that something (someone) had made an impact on him, had made a splash that crashed loud enough to disrupt the calm.

Instead, Harry would just leave it be and pretend that it was just a figment of his imagination. It probably was, anyway, so he decided that there was no point even thinking about it. The pair of them was drifting along nicely, and Harry really did not want to force some kind of boulder in the middle of the straight path. He did not want to layer the flat road with rocks of complications that were carved by unnecessary thoughts. No, straight and simple, that was how it was and how it was going to stay.

So there Harry was, in the cold, on the beach, sitting around a burning campfire, in only a flimsy t-shirt and a pair of jeans because he had shed the other layers to give to Louis. Louis was all cosy beside him, warm with rosy blotches on his paled skin. He was tucked under Lou’s motherly arm, a soft smile on his face. Occasionally, Harry spotted her giving Louis a tight squeeze and a warm, caring smile. It was sweet to see that she had taken him under her wing just as she did with Harry. Harry could definitely see how they fit together, what with their quirky and flamboyant ways.

Beers and a joint were passed around the larger circle. Chatter passed through everyone’s lips, laughter bubbling up in places. They were in one big bubble. Even when the conversation did not include Harry, he still sat there feeling like he was included. Of course, he normally felt that because of their tight-knit community, but something felt different. Maybe it was the drops of alcohol he had consumed and the woolly feeling in his legs from that situation in the van, but either way, it felt nice.