Tell Me a Lie - L.S. English

~ Fourteenth Chapter ~

**Trigger warning - Homophobia**

"Dance with me." he demanded and held out his hand. I asked for my hand and looked into my eyes, a playful twinkle in his smile.

I wanted to refuse. Why should I dance with him?
But of course the reason was that everyone else was dancing, therefore we have to dance, too.

I rolled my eyes and placed my hand in his.
He smiled and led me to the dance floor.

"Everyone's staring at us, Louis." I said uncomfortably, and his smile fluttered and disappeared for a split second before turning into a sullen clench of his jaw as a forced smile.

"Fuck everyone." he hissed quietly through the fake smile plastered on his face and surprised me. I giggled in shock and stared into his eyes.
His eyes widened in amusement and his forced smile turned into laughter.

We both laughed, free, Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" playing in the background.
I rested my forehead on his shoulder in a fit of laughter and raised my head back up to gaze into his eyes.
Gold shimmered in the blue pools of his eyes, mesmerizing, calling me to him.

I looked away, not wanting to touch the forbidden gold. His laugh weakened.

"What?" he asked tenderly.
"I just...like this song. Yeah. It's nothing." I lied, and he didn't seem to buy it.
We kept dancing in silence. His head leaned on my chest and his hand on my shoulder. I interlocked my fingers with his other hand.

After a few more minutes of slow dancing, he said, "We don't have to dance if you're uncomfortable about it." his words slightly swallowed by the fabric of my suit.

My mouth curved into a soft smile. "I'm the most comfortable I've been in a long time". I said quietly and suppressed the urge to place a kiss on his hair that smelled of shampoo.

Louis looked up and stared at me. His eyes darting between mine, hopefully. I leaned towards him, closer to his face.  All he had to do was stretch his neck and press his lips to mine. If he wanted.

His gaze fell on my lips, and then he looked into my eyes again, asking for permission. I gave it to him.
Louis' gaze rested on my lips again, and suddenly, his eyes focused on something standing behind my head, and he turned pale.
He backed away from me in a panic, and I turned to see what he saw, confused.

A group of women were sitting there staring at us, whispering and giggling among themselves. Oh.
"Who are they?" I asked him.
"Emily's friends." Oh.

"I hope you won't hate me again." I said and turned around before Louis could respond.
They saw that I was moving towards them and stopped whispering.

"Hey!" I called out, and they looked surprised.
"No, Harry." Louis begged behind me, but I ignored him.
"What exactly are you looking at?" I asked, and Louis stood behind me.  Partially hidden by my right shoulder.  They exchanged glances.
"What does he want?" asked one of the girls dismissively, her hair was dyed blonde, and she was wearing a tight pink dress.

Louis moved closer to me while hiding behind my shoulder even more.
"I want you to take your eyes off my boyfriend." I said firmly and moved to hold his hand.

"Ew, who even wants to look at you?" another asked with a light turquoise dress with a deep neckline.
"Beware how you speak to me." I hissed at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Harry. They're just a bunch of parrots. All the toxic chemicals they put in their hair must have screwed up their brains anyway." Louis said with his usual disdain and pulled me by the hand back to the dance floor where I looked at him in shock.

"What?" He asked and grabbed my waist with his free hand, starting to lead the dance.
"Five seconds ago, you were paralyzed, and suddenly you went back to being you." I answered, and he shrugged.
"A few homophobes won't ruin my slow dance with my man, right?" he teased, and I rolled my eyes with a smile.

"Wait, when did you start leading? I thought I was leading." I said suddenly, confused. I held his shoulder, and he was holding my waist, leading the dance professionally.
"Babe," he chuckled, "of course I'm leading."

- - - - -

"I wanted to say thank you to all the guests here today. And now I want to invite all the bachelorettes to the bouquet throwing!" said Emily, the bride.
She turned with her back to the crowd, and women stood behind her.

We were standing behind the group of women with the other guests.

"Ready?" she asked, and a roar went up from the group of bachelorettes. "Yes!!"
She started the countdown, and the bachelorettes happily joined her. Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!

And the bouquet flew back from her hands.
It passed the crowd of disappointed bachelorettes and continued to drop in my direction. The bouquet fell right between my arms, which I quickly spread so it wouldn't fall to the floor. What?!
I exchanged confused looks with the bouquet and then with Louis, who began to shift uncomfortably next to me.

One of the bachelorettes who stood close to me came and grabbed the bouquet from me.
"It's for the bachelorettes, fag." She hissed quietly and no one but me seemed to hear it.

I looked at her in shock. She started walking towards the bride, what the hell????
"What did you call him?" Louis asked loudly, his voice cutting through the silence like a knife.

She turned slowly. "What?" she asked as if she was bored but it was clear to me that she didn't want to repeat what she had said.
"I asked," he said sharply. "What did you call him."

"You know, I don't appreciate anyone using that word, but I really don't appreciate it when it's directed at me or my boyfriend."  He said and the clench in my stomach fastened.

"Stop being dramatic, Lewis." Emily said.
"It was just a slip." Oh.
"Are you protecting her? I should have expected that.. Wow." he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You know what? You're protecting this disgusting homophobe because you may be marrying my stepfather, but you're not my family, and you're also a disgusting homophobe. So I'm going to protect my boyfriend, even if it means I'll fight with you." he said, and my surprised gaze was now directed at him.

"Get out." she said quietly. "Gladly." he said monotonically. "Get out!" she shouted this time.

"Come on, Harry. I don't want to be here another second." he said, turning and heading for the hall doors. I followed him, passing through the doors with him and entering the hall.

We took our coats and proceeded to the exit. "Are you okay?" he asked me, and I nodded in silence.

"Are you?" I asked quietly as we walked out into the parking lot.
I looked at his hunched shoulders and the clenched muscle in his jaw as he said, "I've had better days".

_________

(1198 words)

Ouchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sorry it took so long. A lot has happened, I'm in the middle of a school year, and I've lost my will to write anything, let alone Larry fanfiction.
There will be at least 2 chapters dedicated to Liam (20-21).

Enjoy😭❤️