Reticent (h.s fanfic, punk Harry)

Chapter 9

HARRY/PAST

"Harry," the voice caught me off guard.

I set the cup down and looked behind me to see her standing there with her other friends. All of them looked at me with small smiles and blushed cheeks.

"Hey," I replied to her, picking up my cup again and taking a small sip of the hot drink.

Louis and Niall sat across of me with their heads down, both looking at the tea in their cups. "What are you guys up to?" She spoke again.

I didn't know why but I thought she had already left. I looked back again. Her brown hair was straightened today with her bangs pulled behind her ears. Her makeup was light but still noticeable. I didn't understand why she had that shit on her face every day. I didn't understand the concept of makeup anyways.

"Just drinking tea." I shrugged her way.

She nodded, looking quite nervous. "Okay. I was just thinking if I could speak to you for a moment." Her voice sounded shaky.

Niall looked up now and a smile took over his thin lips. "Hi." He started.

Bailey only smiled at him. She didn't seem too taken with talking to him. "You can just tell me here." I turned my body slightly so I could look at her.

Bailey stepped from one foot to the other. "Well, I have a birthday party coming up in a week. If you all wanted to come."

Before I could say anything, Niall beat us to it. "Of course we want to come! Louis, Harry? Exciting isn't it?" 

Louis just frowned. With a soft voice he spoke while he stood. "I can't make it. Busy that day." With his cup in hand he stood and walked away from the girls. They always made him nervous. He seemed scared to be around any girl for that matter.

I watched him walk away. "yeah, sorry ladies. I'm busy. But happy birthday." I patted Bailey's arm.

She looked taken aback as she watched me walk away from them, but I could hear Niall. "Well just us then?" And they all walked away slowly.

Louis stood by the wall outside the cafe with a small cig hanging from in between his lips. "Everything alright?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah. Everything's cool. You should go if you want. Might even score." He had no emotion in his voice. There was no smirk with his statement, not even an angry glare. Just a straight face with dry eyes.

"I'll go if you go." I looked his way.

Louis shook his head. "Not really a party person."

I wondered what it was about girls that made him nervous. Those nights were nothing like this. The sweaty bodies of the women going to him made him no different, but he was getting scared now. "Louis," I pushed.

"Harry, we-I-we're not like them. Bailey-girls like them, we're not for them."

"Are you embarrassed to be with them?"

"More like the other way around. Look at us Harry. We can barely make enough money to buy a sandwich. We don't belong with them. You can go do whatever you want with her, but I'll just stay here. I'll just be here." He spoke quietly.

I looked away from him, keeping my attention on the busy street. I wondered if he was right, if there was anything right about his statement. Maybe we were too low in this food chain to imagine ourselves with them. "Perhaps," I shrugged.

"Harry." Louis looked at me through the smoke that escaped from his thin lips.

"Yeah?"

"You're better than them. You're better than George."