~*~ Harry ~*~
Harry unlocks Louis’ phone, finds Gemma’s name in the contacts, and presses the connect button. She answers on the second ring, her frantic voice coming over the line. “Louis?”
“Hey, Gem. It’s me.” Harry greets her, finding comfort in hearing his sister’s voice for the first time in a month.
Gemma’s panic increases, and she begins firing off questions. “Harry? Why are you calling me from Louis’ phone? What’s going on? Are you alright? Where are you?”
“Calm down. Everything is fine,” Harry says softly.
“Start talking,” she demands sternly.
Harry really doesn’t want to go into the details over the phone, so he diverts the conversation and jumps in without preamble. “Are you going home for Christmas?”
“No. I thought we were having lunch tomorrow?” Gemma says, her questioning tone affirming her confusion.
Harry shakes his head, and then realizes she can’t see him. “Change of plans. Do you want to come over to Louis’ tonight and spend Christmas here?”
“You’re actually at Louis’ place?” Gemma pauses, uncertainty filling the silence. “I feel like I am missing something. How did this happen? When you emailed me earlier this week, you said you hadn’t talked to him.”
“It’s a long story,” Harry reluctantly provides with a sigh.
“One I expect to get all the details of as soon as I get there,” Gemma informs him.
He smiles as he imagines her shaking her finger at him. God, he misses his sister. “So, you’ll come?”
Harry can hear shuffling in the background before she answers. “Send me the address. I have a couple of things to do before I can leave, and I need to pack a bag. I should be able to be there in a couple of hours. Maybe 9:00 p.m. or so. Is that too late?”
“No. Sounds good. I’ll text you the address,” Harry readily responds, already excited to see his sister.
“See you soon, little brother.”
Harry hangs up and opens a text message before he realizes he isn’t sure of the address. He drops a pin for his current location and gets up to go look for Louis to get the address.
“Hey, Lou,” he calls out when he rounds the corner of the hallway. He reaches the doorway to Louis’ room, freezing when he sees Louis and Zayn wrapped around each other, Zayn’s mouth pressed to the side of Louis’ head. “Oh, um, sorry. I, uh, I’ll just go wait for you in the other room.” Harry spins on his heel only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his uninjured wrist.
“Wait, Haz. Don’t go,” Louis says pulling Harry into his room as Zayn slips past them.
Harry backs away from Louis, trying to exit the room. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t interrupt anything. He was only checking in on me,” Louis says by way of explanation for what Harry had walked in on.
Harry sighs and tries to ignore the bad feeling bubbling in his chest, “Okay.”
To Louis’ credit, he doesn’t appear upset at being caught in a compromising position with Zayn, but doubt still eats at Harry. “What did you need?” Louis asks him with a smile as he laces their fingers together.
