nobody shines the way you do » l.s.

part seventeen

Louis sipped his coffee and crossed his legs while looking at all the people walking past him. Liam, who was sitting beside him, had just pocketed his phone after a quick phone call from Sophia and picked up his own cup of coffee that was sitting on the bench beside him. The two of them had just walked Harry to his class that morning since Louis stayed over the night before. When they realized they had more time before their shifts at work, they decided to grab a cup of coffee and sit at Washington Square Park for a while.

"Sorry I knocked out so soon during the movie," Liam said, looking at him after setting his cup down again. "I didn't mean to. I was so tired from work and everything that I couldn't help it."

Louis shrugged with a small smile. "No biggie. I could tell you what happens if you like." Truth was, Louis probably couldn't. Last night, they'd all sat down in the living room and decided to pop in World War Z since Harry got the DVD. And then Liam fell asleep twenty minutes in and while the movie was really interesting, Harry decided he'd much rather like to crawl into Louis' lap and make out with him, instead.

"Nah, it's alright," Liam said. "I think I'll give it another shot. Brad Pitt movies are always worth it."

"True that," Louis agreed with a nod.

"Hey, Barbara's fashion show is soon," Liam smiled, reminding him. "I'm a bit nervous to go because I realized a few days ago that the girls will all be modeling half-naked. And Sophia will be with me so where am I meant to look, you know?"

Louis laughed and patted him on the back. "Just assure her that she is still the most beautiful girl in the room to you."

"Good idea! I'll do that," Liam exclaimed. "Should be fun that we're all going. Niall wants to do an early celebratory dinner before the event because there will be a small after-party at the venue with drinks and stuff."

"Sound fancy," Louis commented, mentally thinking up what he could wear to a fashion show. "Is Perrie coming, too? She's great."

"Yeah, she's really funny. And I'm pretty sure Zayn's bringing her. Harry's bringing Peter, too," Liam said, casually, like he didn't just drop the biggest bomb on Louis. Louis paused and blanked out for a second, just staring at Liam, who looked a bit wary. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Harry's bringing Peter?" Louis asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Liam nodded slowly. "Didn't he tell you? Peter came over a few days ago and Sophia was there, too. And she mentioned something about the fashion show to me, but then Peter overheard and then Harry invited him to come with us. They seem to be a lot better, lately. No fights or breakups, which is great."

Yeah, because Harry was too busy getting fucked by Louis.

He really shouldn't be this bitter because the thing was, Louis knew that Harry hadn't completely broken things off with Peter. He never told him that they broke up, just that they were fighting over Louis and that was before they started having sex. Since then, it seemed Harry spent all his free time with Louis. And if Louis really thought about it, he had no idea when Harry had the chance to even date Peter with all the sex the two of them were having.

If Harry and Peter were in fact together, would that mean Harry was cheating and Louis was essentially the mistress of some sort? The whole thought of it brought a bout of nausea into Louis. It wasn't much different from what Louis was doing with Greg, though. The two of them had lunch dates quite frequently in between their work shifts and Greg kissed him once or twice, even though it never went beyond that.

Did that mean Louis was a cheater, too, if neither Harry nor Greg knew about the other?

"What are you thinking about?" Liam asked Louis, snapping him out of his thoughts. Louis turned to look at him and gave a small smile.