Barricade Bunny

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: TRAVEL BEGINS

Hungover and feeling sorry for himself, Louis walks onto the plane for the short trip from London to Glasgow with no feeling of excitement present. Harry has reached out every hour for the past two days, and Louis has yet to reply or even open the message thread. Louis wants to start this adventure on a positive note. Nothing good can come from talking to Harry and seeing him almost daily prance around the stage in raunchy outfits singing about a lover that doesn't exist. Louis's focus is Michael, clubs in different towns, sending Lottie photos of all his locations and enjoying himself. He still has Harry's black card securely in his wallet and the key on his key ring, but as far as Louis is concerned, that chapter of his adventure is over. If he can avoid Harry Styles for the entirety of Love on tour, that wouldn't be long enough to not speak to him. Louis did sneak in Harry's hoodie, though, not because he wanted to but because it's the comfiest hoodie he has. Many places he will be flying will be cold, and why not pretend he is rich by wearing a Gucci hoodie and having a black card, even if neither of them belongs to him.

After a power nap on the hour flight, Louis is feeling much better. Walking from the airport, he loads himself into an Uber that drops him at his hotel. He chose a reasonably lovely hotel only two minutes from the venue. All he needs for the rest of the day is a beer, a bath, and a bed. The tour starts tomorrow night, and from then on, it travels with only small breaks in between. The checking-in process is easy as Louis had booked everything for the tour in advance. Clambering out of the elevator, rolling his heavy suitcase behind him, Louis sees what suspiciously looks like the man he came to see. There are hundreds of hotels in Glasgow, the love band should be staying in a different place than Louis on the tour's first stop. It would be just Louis' luck to run into them before the tour even starts and probably make a fool of himself.

Louis changes into the Gucci hoodie, black skinny jeans, and baby blue vans. He does not want to stand out tonight. Hoping that for a Friday night, the hotel restaurant and bar would be quiet, and he won't have to fend off possible suitors. Louis needs one night to clear his head. Checking his phone, he sees yet another slew of messages from Harry. Deciding to open the thread while waiting for the elevator. Scoffing at the sheer number of messages, he almost throws his phone. Harry doesn't seem to understand that if someone doesn't reply to the first 3 texts, he isn't going to respond after 6 or 9 or 28. Louis guesses that Harry is lucky he can sing because he's too bloody dumb to do anything else if he can't even grasp the concept of how to be a decent human and not harass others.

"Are you coming?"

Looking up at the voice, Louis squeaks; none other than Michael Blackwell is talking to him.

"Um, yeah, sorry."

"No problem, mate."

Louis sways his hips a little bit extra as he walks into the elevator keeping his head slightly towards the floor to elongate his lashes and extenuate his cheekbones. It's only night one, and the mission Michael is mine has started. He stands directly in the middle of the elevator, meaning Michael has to stand close to him. Louis steps slightly to the left, away from Michael, to not seem creepy by standing too close. Glancing down at his phone again, Louis notices another message from Harry, causing him to groan out loud. Realising who he's standing next to, he clamps a hand over his mouth, pocketing his phone with the other in embarrassment. Fucken Harry.

"Are you okay, mate? You seem to be having a rough night."

Smiling at Michael coyly, Louis puts on his work voice.

"I'm okay, just someone who can't take no reply as an answer."

Michael tilts his head contemplatively before nodding and turning towards Louis; he stretches his hand out to introduce himself.

"I'm Michael. Here for a good time, not a long time."

"I'm Louis, here for whatever you'll give me."

Michael laughs, "Well, Louis, will you join me at the bar for a drink? I can definitely give you a few of those."

Louis giggles into his wrist, looking at Michael through his eyelashes,

"Sure, some company and a stiff drink would be golden."