A Change of Heart (Volume I)

Chapter 06.

Louis awoke the next morning, his legs somehow tangled back in Harry's. He smiled involuntarily, holding back a laugh at how Harry had completely knocked out, his cheek pushed up against the pillow and his eyebrows furrowed like he was concentrated on staying asleep. Louis slid out of bed, quietly, deciding to shower and freshen up before breakfast. Maybe he could tolerate this.

Harry woke up about half an hour later. He sat up and stretched, running his fingers through his hair. He turned his head toward the bathroom hearing the shower turn off.

Louis stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. He reached for his toothbrush and was brushing, when he walked out, expecting to have Harry be asleep while he grabbed his clothes from his suitcase, but seeing Harry well awake, Louis pointed to the pair of plaid pajamas and a striped jumper lying on the end of the bed. "Could you bring me my clothes, babe?" he said, as if 'babe' just rolled off his tongue. He froze at how married they already seemed.

Harry stretched again and nodded, shyly. "Sure." He got out of bed and grabbed Louis' clothes. As he walked closer to him he couldnt help but stare, Louis had the sexiest body he had ever seen. Outright. Tanned skin and a defined torso, and God, it was hot. The steam emerging from the shower door behind him wasn't making this any less arousing, either. He handed Louis the clothes, still not taking his eyes off his body

Louis was about to thank him, when he caught him staring. He smirked, taking the toothbrush out of his mouth. "Everything alright?" he asked, tilting his head.

Harry snapped his head up. "Y-yeah..." he stuttered.

"Don't get too attached," Louis warned, cheekily. "We're getting divorced soon, remember?" he said, as he headed back into the bathroom to rinse his mouth.

Harry frowned a little and looked down. "Yeah..." he whispered and laid back on the bed.

When Louis reemerged from the bathroom, he noticed Harry moping on the bed. "Don't tell me one glass of wine got you hungover," he joked, sitting down beside him. He stroked the stray curls of his bed head, and asked, "Why're you so frowny?"

"Nothing.....just thinking." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waving Louis's hand away. He'd only been with this boy for a day and was already beginning to do the one thing he swore he wouldn't. Fall. And it had seemed such an easier promise to keep when he and Louis were screaming at each other, not fucking cuddling and kissing and not making sense of anything of it.

Too much thinking.

Louis groaned. "You need to stop doing that. Just relax," he said, squeezing his arms and practically massaging him. "Honeymoons aren't for thinking."

"This isn't a normal honeymoon." He opened his eyes and looked up at Louis.

Louis noticed something different in Harry. Of course, it wasn't normal. They both knew that. "Well, yeah, but I thought we already covered what's happening, Harry. You don't have to be so sour about it, though."

"I'm not."

"You know the plan, so I don't get--"

"I know...." His eyes shifted around the room, trying to look at anything but Louis. But it really was his fault he was so sad and confused, whatever this feeling was. Yesterday, Louis admitted he liked him and now he was talking about divorce. What is in the wine in this country? Better yet, what is up with Louis?

"Harry, what's bothering you, just tell me.." Louis then asked, not wanting their little holiday to be ruined by undiscussed matters.

"It's nothing, really," Harry lied, restraining the truth--again. He stood up and went to his suitcase, grabbing his clothes and tooth brush heading to the bathroom and closing the door.

Louis looked down at the empty spot on the bed, where Harry was. He felt so confused and irritated and they were both young and naive and only a day ago hated each other and were now wanting to start off fresh, but that didn't mean it wasn't still incredibly complicated. Fuck!

While Louis spent this time mulling it over, he headed downstairs to the breakfast lounge, while Harry showered, where he met the waiter from the Eiffel Tower, who apparently worked two jobs to make ends meet as an art student. How original, Louis smirked. Still he spent some time chatting with him, as they ate breakfast, despite the waiter having made it obvious he was into Louis last night.

Harry made his way downstairs after getting dressed and brushing his teeth. He spotted Louis with the waiter from last night. An unexpected wave of jealousy instantly struck him. Jealousy? Or did he accidentally swallow some toothpaste and now his stomach was just bothering him....

Regardless, if that waiter thinks he's gonna get Louis, he is sadly mistaken. Harry decided since they're on their honeymoon, why not continue the bit of little fun. He denied how back and forth this was of him, because he didn't care. He didn't like the way that waiter was gazing at his husband. Legally binded husband. Meaning his. He walked over to the table and sat next to Louis.

"Hey, babe." He leaned over and kissed Louis' cheek. "Last night was amazing." He winked and bit his lip.

What the...? Louis looked up at him, confused, and then noticed within seconds, the waiter had excused himself, claiming he had to get back to work. Louis turned to Harry. "What was that?" he asked. "We were just talking."

"What was what?" he asked, feigning innocence. He picked a grape off Louis' plate and popped it into his mouth.

Louis watched him, narrowing his eyes. He blinked, finally catching on. "You're jealous."

Harry scoffed. "Keep telling yourself that." He grape another grape and ate it

Louis furrowed his eyebrows, realizing this was Harry becoming attached to him, this was Harry getting comfortable, and maybe even falling in love, and if there was one thing Louis was certain of in this whole mess was that despite Louis's own feelings for him, it was not a good idea to get mixed in with him. "So how much do you think university's going to even cost?" he asked, trying to revert the conversation back to what the real reason they got married was.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't really looked into any yet. I don't quite know what I wanna be." He leaned back in his chair, wondering why Louis brought it up so randomly.

"The sooner you set aside an amount, the sooner you're free to date a sexy and smart college boy," Louis said, speaking lightheartedly.

Harry shook his head, chuckling. "Oh, trust me, no sexy, smart college boy would want to date me." 

"Why's that?" Louis asked, curiously.

"Have you met me?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

 "Yes," Louis answered, flatly. "Why do you sell yourself short of what you deserve?" he asked, more aggressively.

He shrugged again. "Because it's not like I deserve much. Even with the money being settled, it's not...I don't know. I'm not worth much..."

"Says who?" Louis persisted. "Who could make you feel like that?" And Harry's answer felt like a dagger piercing through Louis's chest.

"You."