The Divorce

10

Harry hurried home after work and immediately took a shower. He spent ages fixing his hair and was staring into his closet to find something to wear when Louis came home.
"Hazza? I'm home. I'll hit the shower." Louis shouted through the closed door.

"Okay." Harry replied.

It took him forever to get ready. He tried multiple outfits before he finally settled on something. When he opened the bedroom door Louis was leaning against the opposite wall with a flower in his hand. Harry halted.
"Oops!"

"Hi, here. A sunflower. I hope that's not too geeky or whatever." Louis said. He sounded nervous.

Harry popped his dimples in a happy smile and took the flower.
"No! I love it. No one has ever given me flowers before. Gosh! Thanks, Lou!"

He hurried to the kitchen and found a vase and filled it with water before he put the sunflower in it. He placed it on the table and admired it for a while.
"We should get going. Reservations." Louis said.

Harry nodded his head and they walked to the hallway and put on shoes and jackets before they left the apartment. They took Louis' car.
"Where are we going?"

"Ehm, this Italian place I found online. They have good ratings. I wanted to take you somewhere new, like, not a place I've visited with El. That would just be weird." Louis said and glanced at Harry.

"You were together for years. I'm sure you visited a lot of restaurants. Unless it's one of your special places I don't see a problem in visiting the same restaurant, Lou." Harry shrugged.

"Noted for future dates." Louis smirked.

Harry smiled. That sounded promising. They parked outside a restaurant fifteen minutes later and walked inside together. Louis stated his name and they were shown to a table and the waitress handed them menus. Harry looked around at the decor.
"Nice place."

"I'm glad. Going to a new place is always a gamble. I hope the food is tasty as well." Louis said.

They placed their orders as the waitress returned and settled for soft drinks since Louis was driving.
"You can have something stronger if you'd like." Louis said.

"Coke is fine." Harry replied.

It seemed like they had forgotten how to talk to each other. They were both relieved when the food arrived and they could discuss their dishes at least. Louis had ordered a pasta bolognese and Harry a seashell pasta. He hummed in appreciation.
"This is great!"

"Mine too. Wanna taste?" Louis asked and held out his fork with food on it.

Harry opened his mouth and tasted it. He returned the favor.
"Shrimp isn't me favorite but the sauce is nice." Louis said.

"You don't like shrimps?" Harry questioned.

"It's so chewy and it tastes like the ocean." Louis shrugged.

"Kind of the point." Harry chuckled.

They ate mostly in silence, struggling to make conversation. It was an awkward first date. Harry wanted to run home and cry. He was so disappointed.

He had imagined this so many times. Played different scenarios in his head over the years. Even made-up conversation. When Louis finally asked him out for real it felt like a dream come trough. This was a tough pill to swallow. Maybe he and Louis weren't meant to be more than friends?

He declined dessert and lied about having a headache. When the waitress had cleared the table and went to get the check Harry stared at the tablecloth. A deep sigh made him look up. Louis looked unhappy.
"Why is this so awkward?"

"I don't know." Harry mumbled.

Louis reached out a hand over the table and grabbed Harry's. He entwined their fingers.
"Look, maybe it will take some time to adjust from a platonic friendship to dating, but I really want this. We know each other. We've always been able to talk. I think we're putting too much pressure on ourselves, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Harry smiled.

"Well, isn't this cute." Someone snorted beside them and they turned their heads at the same time just to find Eleanor staring at them. Louis let go of Harry's hand quickly.

"El." Louis said.

She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't look pleased.
"I was right all along. You cheated on me, didn't you?"

"No!" Louis said. He got up and took hold of Eleanor's arm and led her outside.
"I'll be right back, Harry."

Ten minutes later he hadn't returned. The waitress had brought the check so Harry paid it and left the restaurant. He spotted Louis and Eleanor outside. Louis saw him and came over. He handed him the car keys.
"I'm sorry. I'm gonna go with El. We need to talk. Can you drive yourself home?"

Harry stared at him. He was absolutely baffled. He grabbed the car keys and turned around without a word and headed toward Louis' car. He got in and drove off.

Of all the scenarios he had made me up in his head about their first date, this hadn't been one of them. Left at a restaurant while Louis chatted up his wife. He should have never gone on this date. This awful, awkward date. Harry hit the steering wheel in frustration. Damn it!

How could he leave with Eleanor like that? Harry was all on board that they might have things to discuss, but couldn't it have waited a day or so? They had two ducking months to talk but Louis thought that the night he asked him out on a date was the right time? That was humiliating.

He arrived at his apartment and stumbled over a pair of Louis' shoes in the hallway. He kicked them off everywhere instead of placing them on the shoe rack. Usually, Harry couldn't care less but this time he let out a bunch of swearing words and kicked them to the side.

He waited for Louis to return but hour after hour went and there was no sight of Louis. At midnight he gave up and headed to bed. He didn't get any sleep. Louis didn't come home.