The Love Letters (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 1

"I did it", I say.

My friends don't reply. They just look at me.

"What did you exactly do?", Zayn, one of the boys in my theatre group, asks.

"Yeah? What did you do?", my best mate, Nick, looks quite worried.

"I came out to them."

"To your... to your parents?"

"To my family. Actually, to everyone. I even put it in my bios on social media."

The three of them, Zayn, Nick and Roman are speechless. They stare at me in disbelief.

"No!", Zayn exclaims, "Are you kidding?! No!"

"Yes. I did it."

"Oh my god! How did your family take it?"

"Well... my mum hugged and kissed me and said that she would always be there for me, my dad made jokes about it, Gemma thought that it was cool, and my grandparents and uncles and aunts didn't really made a big deal about it, they just nodded and said they were proud of me."

"Wow. That's awesome", Roman mumbles.

"I know, right? I'm still in the closet 'cause I'm afraid of their reaction", Zayn sighs.

I smile at him. "Well, at some point, you have to do it. Maybe you're going to marry a man later. Are you just going to not invite them to your wedding?"

"Who says that I'm going to be married? And I like women too. There's a girl on this school, she's so hot..."

I shrug my shoulders. "Alright, do, what you want to do. Just know that it is a wonderful feeling when you're finally out. I mean, look, there are cute little rainbows on my shoes. I would never wear those before."

Then the bell rings for the end of the lunch break. Me and Nick rush for maths, while Zayn joins some friends of his to skip the period. Roman has biology, now.

"Hey, Harry!"

A piece of paper hits my head. "Ouch!" I turn around and face Jonathan, one of the "cool ones" of the school.

"What do you want?"

"Your number."

"Oh." I blush a little. I don't like him, but he has a pretty face. And nice eyes. Grey eyes.

"Not that number. The number of the boys you snogged. Oh, and tell me their names, too, I want to know who doesn't deserve to be my friend anymore."

I bite my lip and turn around. Of course. Now, that I'm out, I'm a good victim for them. They just play with me. Trying to make me insecure.

But I am stronger than that. I know how to react. Zayn taught me a little. Yes, he isn't out yet, but he told his closest friends that he's bisexual, and apparently, some of them didn't take it so well, excluding Nick, Roman and me, obviously. He was the first person I told I'm gay, so he tried to help me a little.

And the prettiest boys are all an asshole anyway. Or straight. Or both. Or they're Zayn... but I'd never date him.

One of Zayn's friends, Jared, for example, is unlabelled, but he's an asshole. Before he became Zayns friend, he used to hurt him. He's still mean to Roman and to me. I don't like him.

Then there's Louis. He's in my theatre group. He's beautiful, funny, kind and lovely, and a great actor by the way, but he's straight. Well at least I think he is.

And then there's Jonathan. He's both. Straight and an asshole. And the three of them just look stunning.

I used to have a huge crush on Louis, two years ago. Back then, he was a taller than me, and since I preferred tall men, it just fit perfect. He was the reason I joined the theatre group; since he is older than me, there was no way we could end up in the same class or something, so the only way I got to talk to him was by joining the theatre group. But now, I really enjoy being in the group, it was the right decision joining it, even if Louis weren't there.

But then, I found out he had a girlfriend. Her name is Hannah. She's the typical blonde girl on your school.

I was heartbroken and forced myself to not like him anymore. Then, I started to grow taller than him. Now I'm 15-20 centimetres taller than him.

I don't know if I'd still have a crush on him if he was queer. He's more mature now than how he used to be, but he still looks absolutely stunning. One thing is weird about him; his body looks like the one of a woman; so do his facial features. I mean, he's pretty, there's no doubt, but not really my type. It's sad that he's straight; I don't think many women like short, curvy boys. However, I know for a fact that tall, masculine boys love short boys. But yeah. It's none of my business.

After the math period ended, Nick asks me: "Do you have theatre today?"

"Yes. I'll go home later with Zayn."

"Alright, see you later!"

"Bye!", I wave him, then I hurry for the theatre group.

Zayn waits before the room. "Hey, mate." It's funny how he skips the last periods to join me again after school for the theatre group. He's really passionate by acting. I'm really glad I met him.

"Hi, Zayn! Hi, Harry!", Mr. Rickman, our teacher, smiles as he sees us walking in. All the other people already sit on the stage.

"Hello!", Zayn and I join our friends.

"Alright, so we'll start in ten minutes, yeah? I prepared an exercise for today and I forgot it in the conference... I'll be back soon", Mr. Rickman says.

"Woah, Harry, so you're out now?", Alex, a very friendly boy of the group exclaims. "That's big news! Didn't think you were gay. But the gay ones always have hot best friends, so you'll introduce me, yeah?"

I smile. "Of course." I grab Zayns hand and pull him next to me. "That's Zayn, one of my best friends, nineteen years old, bisexual."

He shakes his head.  "Oh shut up. You know that I'm not queer. Do you have any other hot best friends?"

"There's Nick and Ro-"

"Females."

"Oh. No, I don't think so."

"I thought all people in the theatre group were queer", Zayn mumbles.

"I know, right? Literally everyone here is so fruity", Pam, a chubby, cute girl with blue hair says.

"I'm straight!", Alex screams. I look at Louis, expecting him to say something. But he stays quiet, looking down at his hands. He seems lost in thought. I leave Zayn, Pam and Alex alone and sit down next to him.

"Hi", I say. He looks up to me quite shocked, but when he notices that it is me he is talking to, he calms down a little.

"Oh, hey Harold!" A nervous smile decorates his face.

"How are you? You seem quite... Jumpy."

"Oh, no. It's just... I..." The expression on his face becomes desperate. Then he shakes his head and pulls me into a tight hug. I swear, two years ago, I would be dead right now. But I only put my arms around him. It's weird hugging him. I mean, it's not the first time, but we're not really close, and there isn't a reason. We only hugged two times before, both times were after a performance, where everyone hugged everyone.

"Are you okay?", I ask as I caress his back.

"I'm proud of you", he blurts out.

Alright. Now that's really unexpected. "Wh-...what?"

"I'm proud of you. So fucking proud." He squeezes his face into my neck.

"Err... thank you?"

Louis pulls away. He wipes over his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm probably overreacting. Sorry for bothering you."

"No, it's okay, honestly, it doesn't bother me at all-"

"Shh." He puts his finger on my lip. "Stop lying to me because you feel bad. I know that I'm being weird lately. Just... just know that I really admire you for your courage and that I'm proud." Then he stands up and goes over to Zayn.

During the whole class, I could feel his finger on my lip.