The Boy Across The Bay

Chapter 11

"What are you doing here? Is everything okay? Did everything go well with your mother?" Louis asks, sounding worried.

"Everything went surprisingly well, actually. Better than I had imagined." Harry reassured him. "But I do need to speak with you."

Louis and Zayn share a knowing look. Zayn gets the idea and excuses himself from the drawing room. "Alright lads, well I'm off to bed. I'm completely knackered and a little tipsy, so it's best I retire now and let the two of you talk. G'night."

"As much as I love seeing you, you are making me nervous with your obscurity" Louis confesses.

Harry walks over to where Louis is seated on a leather sofa and sits beside him. He turns to face Louis and gives a quick glance around the room, then takes his hands into his lap. He then begins to give Louis a brief recap of how his conversation—more like confrontation—between him and his mother went.

"So, we can continue to see each other—in ways your mother is not aware of—if your mother and I meet?" Louis asks, trying to clarify and process what Harry had just told him.

"Correct. Which is why Ellie and I are going to organize a dinner party and we are inviting you—and Zayn, because I know he is your best friend and in some ways, a brother—to our little soirée. I spoke with her before I came over here, just after I spoke with my mother, and she is inviting Niall—who is my best friend­­. So, it would mean a lot for you to come and meet my whole family." Harry started to worry, thinking he was starting to sound too needy or clingy and coming off too strong, so he started backpedalling. He looked down at his feet and started to let go of Louis' hands. "What am I thinking? It's too short of notice, it just needs to happen before my coronation. But you are probably busy—I mean it's not Friday, which is your usual party time. So, this is off schedule for you. Don't worry about it! You have a kingdom to rule. You obviously don't have time for dinner with someone who ranks lower than you—"

"Harry!" Louis cut him off before he could insult himself any further. He grabbed Harry's hands firmly. "Hazza. I would love to go to your dinner party. I'd be honoured in fact." Louis said with a smile. He'd never called Harry 'Hazza' before. He only called him 'H', but 'Hazza' seemed like more of a term of endearment, whereas 'H' was just a nickname. He liked it. Hopefully Harry did too.

Harry smiled at him, "really, Lou?"

Louis nodded. "I could never be too busy for you. There's no such thing. If it were up to me, I would never leave your side, I would renounce my throne and spend every waking moment making you smile." Harry blushed and smiled at that comment. "That right there! That is why it is impossible for me to be too busy; because who wouldn't want to see that every chance they can get?"

At this point, Harry's eyes were watering, staring right back into Louis', who were also tearing up. Louis leaned in and kissed Harry. It was short and sweet—literally. Louis thought Harry tasted like lemon drops, sweet, a little sour, but the kind of sour that makes you come back for more, the addictive kind.

The two boys giggled with their foreheads resting on the others. Until Harry pulled away and stood up from the sofa. "I better get back," he sighed.

Louis frowned at the loss of Harry's body heat and his sudden urge to leave Louis. "Oh. Is your mother waiting for you?" Louis said, words dripping with disappointment.

Harry tilts his head and says, "actually, she doesn't even know that I left. She went to bed before I came here."

"So, she won't be expecting you for the rest of the night?" Louis asks, eyebrows raised.

"I suppose not, no. Why?" Harry asked, cautiously yet curiously.

"Well, that means that you don't have to leave right away. Maybe you could stay for the night? I mean—you can leave early in the morning before your parents get up for the day; that way, we won't put any more attention on us." Louis suggests.