Ready to Run

Chapter 38

During the next week, most of Louis' time is spent on the phone with Liam. Harry and Louis exchange a few texts, but they do not call much. Instead, Louis focuses on writing this song, which they actually finish pretty quickly, at the end of said week.

"Nice, mate! Aah it's so good!" Liam says happily once they finish it. Louis laughs and spins in his chair.

"Finally, I thought we wouldn't get through with it. Finding a melody is so tricky, sometimes." He groans and it is Liam's turn to laugh.

"Yeah, but hey, look. It's finished and it's good! We can be proud. Though it was hard to write a song when our only way to communicate is the phone. I can't even invite you to have a beer and celebrate." Liams says and Louis hums.

"Yeah, well. I come back to New York in three weeks. We'll hang out and make the band listen to our song." Louis suggests and Liam agrees.

They keep talking for a few, then hang up. Louis smiles and rereads the song again, so happy about the outcome. He hopes Harry will like it.

Speaking of, Harry is calling him. Louis' grin broadens as he picks up the phone and his boyfriend's face appears on the screen.

"Hey, my love. How are you?" Louis smiles, but his smile dims when he sees the look on Harry's face. "H, you alright?" He straightens up in his chair.

Harry's face is pale and his eyes are red and puffy. He looks like he has been crying. His lovely nose is also red, as if he had been in the cold for too long. Which Louis would believe if it was not the beginning of July.

"Hey." Harry says then sneezes. "I'm sick. I've been trying to call you for the past fifty minutes." Harry says.

"Have you seen a doctor?" Louis asks worriedly, his eyebrows creasing the more he looks at his sick boyfriend's face. "Have you been crying?"

"No, and yes." Sneeze. "Why haven't you talked to me this week?" He asks, his eyes barely open.

"What?" Louis frowns. "But- We've texted, and we were both busy, right?"

"You've barely sent anything, Lou. We can hardly call that texting. You leave me on read or delivered for hours." He complains. "And I kinda needed you, that's why I've been calling for the past hour. You haven't answered."

Louis feels bad. He did not really notice. He did not even see that Harry had tried to call him. He was on the phone with Liam.

"I- I'm sorry, baby. Sorry. I was on the phone with Liam," He starts explaining and Harry frowns. "I didn't notice. I'm sorry."

"Why were you on the phone with Liam? That's all you've been doing this past week. You call him more than you call me!" Harry says and sneezes, cursing.

"I'm sorry, but you were busy too." Louis defends.

Harry raises his eyebrows and sneezes again. "How would you know? You haven't sent a text since yesterday at two in the morning. Why were you even up so late with Liam? Because I guess you were with Liam." His voice is full of reproach and Louis huffs.

"Are you insinuating anything, by this?" Louis asks. "Because it feels like you are. You know Liam has a boyfriend, right? And mainly, I have a boyfriend."

Louis is starting to get a little worked up. He does not like the insinuation Harry is making. Does he not trust Louis?

"My ex-boyfriend had a boyfriend too." He retorts and to Louis, it feels like a fucking punch in the gut. As soon as he says it, Harry's face changes and softens. "Lou-" He starts but Louis cuts him off.

"Wow." Louis lets out a humorless laugh. "Thanks for comparing me to that bastard. I thought you trusted me, that we trusted each other. Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do?" Louis frowns.