Given A Chance (1D Version)

17.

For about five minutes, Louis has been pacing back and forth in the living room with his phone clutched in his hand, debating on what to do. There was a small emergency at work and they had called Louis to come in, which meant he needed someone for the girls right now but all of his friends and his family members were busy. All except for maybe Harry. That's something Louis didn't know and wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. He might have apologised to the girls but Louis was still a little bit reluctant to trust him with them again all alone. He knew he was being stupid.

So, he clicked on Harry's name and pressed call, his heart racing abnormally fast in his chest. After only two rings, Harry answered the phone. "Louis, hey. How are you?".

"Um .... good, good. And you, Haz?" Louis stopped his pacing and stared out of the window instead. "What are you up to?".

"I'm fine. I was just about to clean the flat a little bit. I feel like we let it slide one too many times" Harry responded casually.

"Oh".

"Why? What's wrong? Did you need something? I don't have to do this right now. It can wait" Harry sounded instantly alarmed.

"No, it's fine. Don't let me keep you from your chores. I'll find ...".

"Louis".

"Fine. I um ... one of my colleagues has a family emergency and they need me at the restaurant and I have no one to keep an eye on the girls, so um ..." Louis trailed off a little embarrassed.

"I'll be down in two minutes".

The deafening beeping of his phone signalled him that Harry had ended the call but Louis was frozen in place with his phone plastered to his ear, unable to process what just happened. When his doorbell rang, Louis jumped and almost got a heart attack. Completely out of it, he walked over to the door to open it and let Harry in, who looked way too eager right now but beautiful as always with his cheeks tinted lightly red and dimples out.

"I'm here" Harry sounded breathless, making Louis feel dizzy.

"You are" Louis definitely had a dopey smile on his face. "Come in. I was just um ... getting ready to leave. Thank you for ...".

"You don't need to thank me, Louis" Harry waved him off. "Of course, I help you out when you need me. I um ... I feel honoured that you even asked because I know you normally don't really do that and especially with ... after what happened I didn't expect it".

"Don't take this the wrong way but you're my last option" Louis scratched his neck awkwardly, letting him step inside.

"I'm just happy I am an option" Harry blushed beautifully.

"Of course, you are" Louis' tongue was faster than his brain. "I um ... You know, they called me because I live closest to the restaurant and Sam couldn't inform them earlier and ...".

"It's okay, Louis. You don't have to explain" Harry assured him calmly, probably sensing that he was about to panic. "So, it's Sam? He has the emergency? Is he alright?".

"Now he is, yeah. Why?" Louis eyed him suspiciously.

"No reason. You're just ... I know you two are close and I thought that you might be worried about him but if you say he is fine, then I guess that's good, mh?" Harry stumbled over his words.

"Mh" Louis hummed in confirmation. "Haz, what's going on?".

"Nothing, it's just ... I was wondering if you two might be ... you know ... I wouldn't know, which is my own fault but ...".

"Are you asking me if I'm dating Sam?" Louis bit down on his own tongue to contain his upcoming laughter. This was ridiculous.

"Guess I am. I mean, I know he was your plus one at your sister's wedding and I just thought you two might have given it a try. You look comfortable around him and ... I just ... I wanna know stuff like this because ... we're kinda friends, right? And due to this crap with Josh, I wouldn't know if you've gotten a boyfriend while we weren't talking to each other. Which is only on me but ... yeah ..." Harry rambled nervously, only fuelling Louis' urge to laugh.