From Everything That Was (Till Everything That Will Be)

Louis (Present)

Sweetie, will you come home?
We're tracking your car
Who are you with?
What are you on?
Pick up the phone
- Don't Tell My Mom, Reneé Rapp

"Louis, darling, thank you for actually answering," sounded Jay's voice. "You haven't answered a single of my calls since you moved."

Louis exhaled. He could feel a headache coming. "Sorry, Mom, things have been very hectic around here," he semi-lied.

"Always hectic and busy," Jay sighed.

"Sorry, Mom." Louis sat down on his couch, and Clifford came over to place his head in Louis' lap.

"Don't apologise, darling," Jay said. "I just miss my son. But I'm proud of you, you're so hard-working."

Louis sucked his bottom lip into his mouth. "Still, I'm sorry. I should've answered your calls. That was not nice of me."

"That's okay. I was just calling to ask how Cambridge is. And Christmas. Are you coming to celebrate with us this year?"

Us.

Which us did she mean, Louis wondered, after his grandfather had passed away two years earlier.

Louis could only guess.

"Actually, I'm gonna celebrate with Zayn this year," lied Louis. "He asked me if he and I could just have a, and I quote, 'bro Christmas.'"

"Oh." She sounded defeated. "Well, I hope you'll have fun with that."

Louis could not have felt more bad even if he tried to. "But I was wondering, I could invite you here to my new apartment in Manchester soon? Just the two of us. Some Mother-son bonding time."

"I would like that, yeah," Jay said. "Now, tell me about this new job. And your colleagues. Have you met any nice people?"

Louis let out a breath of air. "Funny story actually, Mom, the teacher who I share class with is none other than Harry Styles."

Jay gasped. "No way."

"Yes way," Louis said, scratching Clifford behind the ear. "I couldn't believe it either when I first saw him."

It took a few seconds for Jay to respond. "So... are things good with you?"

A soft smile touched Louis' lips. "Yeah," he whispered. "It's really good."

* * *

Harry was wearing a tie with a pattern of watermelons. Louis had noticed Harry liked to wear unorthodox clothing paired with his otherwise quite classy style. And today he had paired his black slacks, white button-up, and blue blazer, with a watermelon tie.

Louis eyed him fondly as Harry worked on his preparation for his next double English class, and at first, he didn't even notice that Louis was looking at him. When he did, a blush coated his cheeks.

"Whatcha looking at, Tomlinson?"

"Your tie," Louis replied, stretching his legs. "It's watermelons. Why?"

Harry pursed his lips. "Because."

"That's not an answer."

"I like it, it's pretty."

Like you, Louis' brain thought for him. Louis mentally slapped himself.

"It is, yeah," Louis agreed, drumming his fingers on his desktop. He wet his lips. "The first student and parent aren't arriving before half an hour."