~*~ Harry ~*~
Harry bites his bottom lip and watches with uncertainty as Louis walks over, stopping directly in front of him. Louis stares at him, remaining silent. With a frustrated sigh and a shake of his head, he continues walking down the sidewalk, putting more and more distance between them.
“How did you know?” Harry calls out, voice abnormally loud in the silence of the early morning.
Louis stops walking but doesn’t turn around. “You’re going to have to be a bit more specific, mate.”
“How did you know that girl had been…” Harry chokes, a single tear falling from his eye. “That she had been raped?”
Louis groans softly and pivots to face Harry. “She ordered an angel shot.”
Harry shakes his head back and forth, his incomprehension unmistakable. “I don’t understand.”
“I heard her order the drink when I was down the bar by you. I didn’t know at that point that she had been raped. I just knew she needed assistance. This bar is a safe place for people, and under no circumstances will I ever hesitate when it comes to a situation like tonight, no matter who I am talking to or what I am doing,” Louis explains. “I know I shouldn’t have left without saying anything, and for that, I am truly sorry.”
Harry drops his gaze to his hands in his lap where his fingers worry the edge of his shirt. “I’m sorry I lashed out at you. I should have just grown a pair and asked.”
“You’re right. You should have,” Louis agrees, his voice harsh and uncompromising. Running a hand over his face, he loudly exhales and tugs at one of the rings at the top of his ear. “Look, I’m exhausted. It’s been a shit night, and I need to sleep. If you want to continue this conversation further, you’re going to have do it while walking with me to my flat. I’m dead on my feet right now, and I don’t have much longer before I pass out.”
Harry perks up and blurts, “I can give you a ride.”
“Are you sure you want to invite a bad man like me into your car?” Louis’ lips twitch in fatigued amusement.
Harry nods without hesitation, “Yes. If the bad man is you, then definitely, yes. I’d like nothing more.”
Harry scrambles to his feet, unwinding his body and stretching to loosen up the tight muscles from sitting on the sidewalk so long. He has been outside the bar since Louis had left him earlier. Sometime after last call, he had put Niall in a taxi with a promise to text if he needed anything.
When Louis falls into step beside him, Harry notices how he towers over him. He hadn’t paid much attention to it earlier, partially due to how he was leaning against the bar and partially due to his nerves. “I feel like a giant next to you.”
Louis cuts his eyes over at him, “Is that a remark about my height?”
Harry is alarmed that he may have slighted Louis, and he begins to recant his words. “No. Not at all. I was just saying you were short compared to me, well, I mean, not short, but more like small, tiny.” He chances a look at Louis and sees the flutter of a smile crossing his mouth. A light huff of laughter escapes Harry’s lips. “You, twat. I thought I had offended you. Again.” He lets his eyes drift down Louis’ body from head to toe and back in a slow perusal before stopping his gaze to meet his. “You know, you are kind of little. Not that there is anything wrong with being little, but little nonetheless.”
