A Change of Heart (Volume I)

Chapter 01.

You know when you hate someone? Like really really hate someone to the point that every time you see them you just want to gauge your eyes out? Well, that’s how Harry and Louis felt towards each other. So you can imagine how they felt when they were told that they had to marry each other. That’s right--an arranged marriage. You see, the two families have been friends for years and when Harry’s parents got a divorce, Anne lost her job not long after. With no money for Harry to go to college and the house about to be foreclosed on, the Tomlinsons offered a solution. Their sons would marry; this way Harry and Anne would have money and Louis would get a change in perspective by learning from Harry. Louis was known as the reckless rough-houser while Harry was more of a sensible and considerate type. Right now, both of the families were at Harry’s house for dinner and the boys were just told about the news.

“You're joking right? There is no way in hell I'm marrying that douche!” Harry said, pointing at Louis, a reaction that was quite out of character for him. Anne placed a hand on her son's arm, scoldingly.

Louis scoffed, raising his eyebrows at Harry. "The feeling's mutual. I'd be doing you a favor by going through with this," he shot back, and his mum glared at him. Anne squeezed Harry's hand, trying to get him to calm down.

"I'm sorry, Jay. Maybe this isn't such a good idea..." she said, and Louis was about to agree when his mother cut him off.

"Anne, I insist. It'll be a good decision for all of us, I just have a good feeling about this." Louis stared at Jay.

"But it's my life!" he argued. "You expect me to settle down with that for the rest of my life?!" he asked, gesturing violently at Harry.

"Oh, trust me, you're not that all that." Harry rolled his eyes and started to tear up. "I hate this! Why do I have to marry him! He's an asshole, douche, he sleeps with anything that walks and he doesn't even have a heart." He looked at his mom. "I hate this and I hate you!" He got up and ran up stairs, slamming the door behind him.

The room fell into a shocked silence at Harry's outburst. Jay suggested Anne go up and talk to him and she shook her head.

"I'm not going to ruin my relationship with my son just because we're in a bad financial situation," she argued, getting teary-eyed, and Jay sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. We were just trying to help." Louis saw Anne crying and the words 'he doesn't even have a heart' echoed in his mind. He sighed, getting up.

"I'll go talk to him," he said, and the two mothers looked at him in surprise. "Nobody needs to be sacrificing anything, just let me fix this," he explained, speaking calmly. He headed upstairs to Harry's room, knocking lightly on the door.

"Go away, Mom!" he shouted as he buried his face in his pillow. This wasn't fair; why did he have to marry that nasty douche bag! All Louis ever did was bully him and call him names and just be a complete asshole. If he had to marry, why couldn't it have been someone nicer or someone he actually liked...or loved, like it's supposed to be.

 Louis turned the doorknob, slightly, entering anyways. "It's me," he said, poking his head through the door. "I just want to talk."

Harry looked up and glared at him "You are the last person on this planet that I wanna talk to," he said through his teeth.

Louis held back a snarky reply. "Look, I'm not your biggest fan either, okay? But our families are best friends, and my parents just want to help you. We don't have to get along, but you know your mum is struggling and you need to go to university and get a job and support yourself. Once that happens, we can get a divorce and we won't have to look at each other ever again," he negotiated.