Forbidden {L.S.}

Three(H)

I had fallen asleep not long after the conversation with Louis. I didn't mean to sleep all day, but when I woke up, Louis was setting his stuff down on the desk. I sat up and went to stand, but Louis moved in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

"Hi," I said sleepily, leaning into him, my head right between his chest and stomach.

"Hey, love," Louis said back, his fingers playing with my hair. I still hadn't cut it in a while, and it was probably long overdue. "Sleep well?"

I nodded. "Probably won't sleep tonight now." I moved my arms around his waist and sighed. "I shouldn't have walked out-"

"Hey, it's fine. You were overwhelmed. I don't blame you." Louis kept moving his fingers in my hair, making me sigh contently. "Hungry?"

I nodded, so he pulled me to my feet, then tilted my chin up and kissed me. I kissed him back, putting my hands on his shoulders. "Love you," I mumbled.

"I love you," he said back, pecking my lips again. "Want me to cook or just order something?"

"Order."

"Chinese sound good?" I nodded again, then we moved to the living room and I picked out a movie while Louis ordered the food. I honestly didn’t want to ask him about anything related to today. I wanted to move on and pretend that Zayn hadn’t caught us. Now, now I could just relax with Louis, watch the movie and pretend that everything was, in fact, all right.

We started the movie, and about twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I paused the movie and raised an eyebrow at my boyfriend. "Isn't it early for Chinese?" I questioned.

"Maybe they got it done early?" Louis questioned as he untangled himself from me. It didn’t seem likely to me, though, and I wasn’t expecting Niall to come over, and I doubt Louis invited anyone, either.

I followed him to the door and stood back slightly. Zayn and Liam stood there. I had the thought of literally leaving and going to Niall's because I didn't think I would be able to handle a conversation about this yet. Everything happened today. I wasn’t even sure how I felt about Zayn, but seeing him made me mad and scared. He could end Louis and I with just a few words to the right person, which was horrifying. 

"Hey," Louis greeted, looking back at me. When he turned back around he asked "What's up?"

I chewed on my lip and looked away from Zayn. I walked towards the bedroom silently, closing the door and running my fingers through my hair. I could hear them talking and Louis saying I wasn't up for talking about anything related to the situation.

Zayn's voice sounded muffled and Liam added in while Louis stayed quiet for a few seconds, then I heard multiple sets of footsteps. Louis popped into the room and walked over to me, grabbing my hands. "They just want to hang out, okay? Don't worry about-"

"It can't change, Lou," I whispered while looking right behind him. "If we start hanging out with them like it's not a big deal, it's easier to think no one will think it's a big deal and-"

"Love," Louis whispered, moving to his knees, "look at me."

I kept my gaze locked on the wall until he poked at my sides. "It's not a good idea," I insisted.

"Wanna know what Liam just told me?" He asked quietly, his fingers moving back and forth against my thigh. I nodded, not because I did, but because I knew Louis wanted me to. "Zayn told him about us, and Liam told him that if he does anything that makes it where we can't be together, it's going to cause problems between them. He's never seen me this happy before. He doesn't care. He sees its not affecting either of us in a bad way."

I stared at him for a few seconds. "He… I'm not-"

"Don't you fucking say you're not worth my job, Harry."

"I'm not!" I yelled. I’ve always known the trouble that Louis could get into with this, but it suddenly hit hard. A lot harder than it had before. Someone actually knew. It could get Louis arrested at any time. "It's more than your job if we get caught! You're gonna go to jail!"

"Nothing is going to happen! Everything is going to be fine!" he snapped at me.

I shook my head, taking a deep breath while squeezing my eyes shut. "I'm not fighting with you." I refused to get into fights with him over things that don't need to be fought over. I wasn't losing him again, especially about something stupid.

"Harry-" Louis tried, but I shook my head and sniffled.

"I'm not fighting," I repeated, standing up and moving past him. I grabbed my backpack and kept walking towards the door.

"Harry." He grabbed my wrist, stopping me from reaching for the door. "Stop, we're not fighting."

"That's exactly what we're doing! You can't just say it's not a fight, then it's magically not!" I needed to stop yelling but I was too worked up. I needed to be by myself for a while, but at the same time I wanted to stay glued to Louis’ side.

Louis closed his eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath, letting it out a few seconds later. "We're not fighting. We both got worked up, but we're fine. It's okay. Don't leave, please." He whispered the last part, pulling me closer to him. "It's okay."

"More people are going to find out and-" I started to ramble, but Louis put his finger against my lips.

"We're overthinking it. We just need to calm down, okay?" I nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. "It's going to be okay."

He pulled me to his chest, and I hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay," he whispered into my hair. "No reason to be sorry."

When we both were calm, we went into the living room. I glanced at Zayn and looked down, moving to pull my hand away from Louis', but he held on. He pulled me down next to him and tangled our legs together. It shouldn’t feel like a crime to touch my boyfriend, but with Zayn across from us, it seemed like even knowing we existed was punishable by death.

It was quiet for a few seconds, then I looked up. Zayn looked away from me when I looked to him. "Say it."

"Say what?" Zayn asked immediately, making me roll my eyes. There was no confusion on what I could have meant like with Liam and Louis, who both gave me a weird look until Zayn answered.

"Whatever you're thinking. It's obviously something or you wouldn't have responded so quickly."

Zayn pushed his lips together. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have reacted like that, especially without hearing either of your sides. Just, that is such a big thing and the first thing that comes to mind in that situation isn't good."

I nodded without speaking. I get that he would assume that at first, but all he had to do was look at both of our behaviors from last year to see how happy we were. Zayn had me my sophomore year, he saw that I wasn't the happy go lucky kid I was last year. It was so obvious, just like Niall said that one time a while ago. I was still worried that Zayn would report it. Or he would make it miserable for Louis.

The air was tense and I knew it was because of me. No one quite knew how to handle the fact I was there. I leaned to Louis and whispered, "Are you sure I shouldn't go to Niall's?"

"Only if you want to. Don't feel like you have to." I nodded and pulled away, but Louis kissed me first. "I'm serious. This is your house too, H, not just mine."

"When did you move in?" Liam asked, wrapping an arm around Zayn's waist.

"Um…" I picked at my nails for a few seconds before letting my hands drop to my lap again. "Late February."

Liam nodded. Zayn looked like he was trying to fact check things based on his memory. If he wasn’t, then I wasn’t sure why he was thinking so hard after I said it. "You guys are really good for each other," Liam added on.

I smiled and ducked my head. Louis squeezed my hand, almost saying see, it's okay.