Misadventure

38

A/N: Hey y'all :) Just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who is reading this. It means a lot to me that after clicking on my book for the first time, you've decided to stick around for 38 whole chapters, and hopeful for more to come! Lyrics mentioned in this chapter are not my own, nor are they Louis or Harry's. I just felt they fit this story well.
Please enjoy this long chapter. Love you all.

Harry's POV:

"I cannot believe we have to sit in here for three hours," I complained. "How long has it been?"

Louis checked his phone. "Six minutes."

"Fudge."

It was orientation day for second semester. That meant we were stuck in the dark auditorium in red polyester theater seats, while a bunch of professors took turns giving the same speeches and reading the same rules that we already heard back in September.

I could already tell, this week was going to be particularly stressful. The new classes were starting up, but semester one's grades still weren't finalized. We had to have one final recital this Friday, playing the same songs we played right before break.

On the bright side, it was safe to say Louis' Mum wouldn't be turning up to this one. But on the not-so-bright side, Louis was crushed by the falling out they'd had.

He expressed that he was unsure whether her bringing him back to campus early was just because she felt they needed some time apart, or if it meant she was disowning him. He wanted to call her, but was afraid to.

I had mixed feelings to be honest.

Because as much as I wished for him to cut ties with her, I wanted him to be the one to do it. For it to be the other way around, for her to disown him would be physiologically devastating. He'd probably forever be left wondering if he could have done more to keep her. I knew what that was like, and I never wanted him to have to go through that.

Louis started playing footsie with me in an attempt to gain back my attention. "Harry, I'm bored," he whispered. "And I'm hungry."

"I'm sorry, love," I whispered back. "How long has it been now?"

He looked at his phone. "Seven minutes."

"Fudge."

"Stop saying fudge," he groaned. "It's so cringe. And you're making me even hungrier." A few seconds passed, then he asked, "Do you want to sneak out the backdoor and get something to eat?"

"Won't we get in trouble?"

"Haz, there's like, a hundred students in here. Nobody will even notice."

"I'm pretty sure they'd notice if two people suddenly stood up and walked out the back door." Sure, we were sat near the back, but we weren't all close to the exit at all.

"Hmm." He frowned. I couldn't see his face very well in the dark, but would I could see if it was very cute.

"Here's what I propose..." he began. "The side door to the main hall is already propped open. I say we army crawl out of the auditorium and sprint to the vending machines."

"But I'm wearing dark wash jeans. And I really like them..." I stared down at my knees. I didn't love the idea of getting dust from the floor all over them. When I glanced back over at Louis, he was sticking his bottom lip out, and I was powerless to say no to him. "Fine, but you're buying me a Mars Bar."

"I'll buy you two if you ditch the rest of orientation with you all together."

The hardest part was not laughing and drawing attention to ourselves as we essentially slithered down the aisle towards the door. For once I didn't have to wonder why people were staring at me.