not in love || l.s. ✔︎

CHAPTER ONE

HARRY / PRESENT

We lived in Darby's re-purposed factory loft in Greenpoint. The floor was littered with books and magazines. Darby's desk was the center of the room, the center of the universe you might say. She sat there with her glasses atop her blonde head like a geeky tiara. She was a staff writer for Rolling Stone. That's how we fell for each other. She'd done a major profile on the breakup of the band. Or what I used to call the end of my life.

"Every one on my side has RSVP'd," she said fanning herself with the invite--a postcard with a newsprint motif and twine that she designed herself.

"Everyone on my side has RSVP'd," I countered, kissing the tip of her nose.

"What about Zayn?"

I smirked. "He's not RSVP'ing kind. Don't worry he'll wander in at some point. He wouldn't miss the stag and doe for anything."

I could almost hear Darby's type A brain in overdrive, trying to compute this information. She was too high strung to deal with Zayn, hell she could barely deal with me.

"I'll leave it to Liam to wrangle all you hooligans."

Thankfully, it was Liam who lived in the same city, close by, with his wife Sophia and their twins, Cordelia and Bedelia. He and Darby were both OCD about event planning, so he was more than happy to volunteer his services and help organize the stag and doe, which would be a bonfire, outside, in the same park where we were marrying.

The date of the wedding was midsummer's eve. The theme was European Folk Festival. There would be a maypole and the women and men would all be asked to wear flowers in their hair. My dad would get a kick out of that.

"What about Louis?" she asked tentatively. "Have you heard from him?"

I held my breath.

"Um, in a way."

"Well, what did he say?" She was smiling, which was surprisingly diplomatic considering he'd only ever been rude to her.

I pulled out the RSVP response card Louis sent back. He hadn't checked the yes or the no box. In Louis' unmistakable scrawl, all it said was: Are you fucking serious?!

I turned to Darby. "No. He's not coming."

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