Speak Now (Larry Stylinson)

Twenty Three-Twenty Days

Since Harry was little, his mum had always told him to follow his heart. If it felt right, act on it. Leaning in closer to Louis felt right, so he did it. They were so close to kissing but then something in Louis's mind snapped. Harry knew what made Louis snap awake. Eleanor. Maybe Louis wasn't entirely on how much he loved her but more of the fact that he was suppose to be moving out, moving on and getting married.

As he sat on the couch, he thought about it. Louis could have just left it. All fucked up, but he didn't. For moment, both of them thought he would. Harry could tell Louis was fighting with himself and right now, his brain was winning over his heart. Harry analyzed it in his head. He had turned around to leave, but Louis had grabbed his wrist, made him stop walking away and hugged him. Harry remembered the feeling, the relieving feeling that his best friend was back. It was thirty seconds of it, but then Louis changed again. Not a big change but the slightest bit to hold himself back.

For some reason, Harry felt all right about it, even though Louis had basically rejected him.

The first day was okay. It hadn't really sunk in his head that Louis had moved out, to him it seemed like Louis was just out for the whole day. Instead of being sad about it, Harry enjoyed having the whole apartment to himself. He was glad that he didn't have to care about how it looked because he was the only who would see it. He didn't have to wait for Louis to finish his shower before he could had his. All the food was his. He could watch whatever TV show he wanted without Louis nagging him to change the channel.

Liam texted him saying they had another dance practice but neither Monique or Daisy could make it. Harry didn't feel that up for it anyway so he didn't go. Even if he had went, he would've had no one to dance with and he didn't particularly find the idea of dancing with the dance instructor very flattering. He wasn't sure what going to the practice would do to him mentally. It would probably make him feel a million times worse if he had fun and had come to his boring apartment. Plus he didn't want to see Louis being all icky with Eleanor anyway. He wasn't over that yet.

The next evening Liam somehow ended up coming over to his place. Harry hadn't spend a lot of alone time with Liam in a while. Liam was always with Niall or Zayn since they lived closer to each other. He was sensible about everything but he was always a funny person. Unlike the other boys, Liam had been through a lot and when there was a problem, he would give them advice.

While they sat in front of the TV playing video games, Liam's phone went off. He paused the game and dug his phone out of his pocket to answer it. While Liam talked, Harry looked around trying not to tune into the conversation which failed miserably. By the way that Liam talked, Harry could tell it was either Zayn, Niall or Louis that he was talking to. The older boy's eyes darted to Harry and lingered on him as he listened to the person on the other side of the phone. After a few seconds Liam got up and walked slowly out of the room to speak with the person on the phone. Even though Liam wasn't in the same room as him, Harry heard his name being said somewhere along the line but though nothing of it. It was probably just Niall or Zayn asking why he didn't go to the dance thing.

Harry enjoyed Liam's company, it made him feel happier and less lonely. When Liam left, it all felt worse than it had been before. It just made him feel extra empty, everything became duller.

The quietness of the freedom soon turned into a quietness that was dull and incomplete. The fact that Louis was never coming back finally found its way into Harry's head. This wasn't a faze. This wasn't a temporary change. Louis wasn't taking a one week break to his parents house and would be coming back. This was permanent. It was all set in the cement. Soon to Harry, it felt like he'd lost Louis. He didn't have a mark of best friend territory on Louis anymore. Louis was Eleanor's now and he hated it just thinking about it.