Once In A Lifetime

21

Louis should've ran after him. He should've chased him down and told him about the butterflies living in his stomach. But, he didn't, and now he was dancing with the homecoming queen while his fake friends cheered him on in the background. Where was Niall? Because honestly Louis was ready to go home after this and overthink about all the things he could've done to get Harry back in the building. Maybe they could've danced together instead like some cheesy coming of age movie.

Louis held on to Gracelyn's, the homecoming queen's, waist but it felt weird to him. And, it was definitely more awkward than he had imagined for himself but he tried his best to hide that so at least she could have a good time but he was failing miserably. "I like your dress." Louis mumbled out.

"You do?" Gracelyn tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. The dress was nice, golden and sparkly. When she twirled it poofed out a little bit which made the girl feel like a princess and Gracelyn felt confident in it which was the most important part to wearing anything.

"Yeah, it's really pretty." The girl smiled in thankfulness instead of saying thank you. And, Louis didn't take that as rude, he took it more as 'this is really weird and every word I say to you is awkward so I might as well give into the silence.'

When the dance was finally over Louis ran out of the building and into his car. He didn't want to have to talk to anyone else. Or take any pictures. Louis just wanted to go home and think about how he ruined his relationship with Harry without even trying. Louis knew the boy was fragile and afraid of what would happen if he got involved with the 'popular group', even though Louis didn't even consider himself that. He just wanted Harry to know that he would keep him safe.

Harry came home to his parents fighting again, or bickering as they liked to call it and he immediately wished he had never left the dance. And the fact that it was over the phone made it even worse. Why couldn't they just leave each other alone? He tried to nonchalantly walk into the house but of course his mother had a secret sense and knew he was home. "I'll talk to you later Desmond, Harry is home." She left her phone on the counter and walked over to Harry, "hey, how was the dance? You're home pretty early. I thought you were going to an after party."

"I was but I got really tired." And I want to be left alone. Harry thought to himself. He felt bad for leaving Louis there, but then again he knew how high school worked and they could not be friends. It was really bad because the stupid insects in his stomach wouldn't go away. So, he would have to get rid of them himself by cutting Louis off. It made Harry feel really sad that it was the only solution because he liked Louis a lot. Sure, he had Liam, Zayn, and Nathan but there was something about Louis that was different. When he smiled his eyes shined a certain way that Harry had never seen before. It made him feel something almost like sunshine on a cloudy day.

Well, that was a little cheesy but still.

"Oh alright. I'll let you lay down then." She grabbed his face and kissed his cheek, "goodnight honey!" Harry ran up the stairs and into his bedroom to undress himself down to his boxers. He looked at himself in the mirror and wondered why he couldn't be popular. Not to brag but he had the body, and the green eyes, and the hair that everyone seemed to love on celebrities. So, why wasn't he as great as everyone else? And why weren't he and Louis a perfect match in this universe? Because everywhere else they would be. But, Harry reminded himself quickly that he needed to stop focusing on what could've happened and start focusing on the now. How was he going to remove himself from Louis when he was literal sunshine?

Harry needed a game plan.

When Louis got home all of the lights were off which meant everyone was asleep. That was good because he just wanted to be alone in his room for now. He tried to call Niall but it immediately went to voicemail which meant that his phone was dead. Louis decided to track him down in the morning and when his head hit the pillow it was like his head was spinning.