flower crowns // l.s.

❁13❁

decided to give you guys another chapter bc its harry's birthday today!!! happy birthday harry, hope louis got you something nice. (-:

The night would've been perfect for Harry. It was a lovely evening and a lovely restaurant. They were seated by a window so he was able to see people walking around, couples holding hands, a boy racing down the sidewalk to quickly get to a destination. Harry's eyes blurred; he blinked, stared at the window, and then caught his reflection through it. He had a dull look on his face, and his lips were turned slightly downward. The reflection disturbed him so he cleared his throat, put his hands in his lap, and turned to look at his friends. The table even looked expensive, and the longer he thought, the harder it was for him to remember the last time he'd been somewhere so fancy. A white, silk cloth laid over the table, cushion-y chairs that made butts sink into them; there was a vase in the middle of the table with fresh calla lilies. Harry wondered how they got such pretty calla lilies when it wasn't the season they grew in. The dim lighting above him made it easier to conceal the uninterested look on his face and the times he dazed off in guilt, always thinking back to the way Louis reacted when Harry said he'd have to skip out on their milkshake time. He's confused. Was it a date? Did Louis ask him out for milkshakes? Did he skip a possible date from the boy he's been obsessing over for months?

"Someone looks distant," he heard his sister say.

Guilt hit him even harder. "Sorry," he exhaled with a shake of his head. "Sorry, gosh. Have a lot in my mind, I guess." Liam reached out to pat at Harry's shoulder.

"Does it have to do with that small boy?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows at Gemma, thinking over what she could mean, before Louis popped into his mind. "That sounded rude, but I suppose. I feel bad for saying I couldn't go out with him tonight," he honestly replied.

That made Niall sit up straighter and toss a breadstick back into the bowl it came in. "Louis! He asked you out, then?"

That made Harry frown. Gemma pressed her elbows onto the table and rested her chin atop her knuckles. "I think so. I'm not sure if it was a date, he just said to go meet him at a diner to drink milkshakes. I have to give him a vase for some flowers I'd given him, and he suggested we do it over milkshakes. Does that sound like a date?"

He saw Liam nod out of the corner of his eyes. "To me, it does."

Harry shrank back into his chair. Gemma sighed. "Well, soooorry I intruded on your date," she grumbled. "Thought you'd be happier to see me, considering we haven't seen one another in years."

"No!" Harry sat up. "Don't take it like that, that's not what I mean. I've just been . . . crushing on Louis for a while now, and I think I hurt him when I said I was going out with you instead of him."

"Surely it's not that big a deal, right? I mean, you explained that I'm your sister that you haven't seen in ages," Gemma said with a shrug, taking a sip of her wine. "Could've dragged him along, too. Wouldn't've minded."

Harry froze, heart beat pounding in his chest so quickly that it made him feel lightheaded. "I didn't—I didn't tell him that you were my sister. But he knows that . . . He knows that I don't go for, like, ladies. So I'm good," Harry says with a nod, trying to convince himself. But then he turns to Liam with a desperate look on his face. "I'm good, right?"

Liam grimaced, his face saying it all. "Um . . ."

"Oh, God," Harry gasped out, standing and nearly bumping his head on the overhead table lighting that dangled from the ceiling. He scooted his chair back that made a cringing squeaky noise, but he was too focused on getting out of the building so that he could call Louis. His phone was pulled out on his way out of the restaurant, accidentally knocking a waiter over during his rushed speed walk, and he didn't even stop to apologize, just kept going until he was outside in the cool April weather. Harry dialed Louis' number quickly, put his phone to his ear, and then leaned against a large, white column. "C'mon, Lou," Harry muttered when it kept ringing. He sighed, pulled the phone away, ended the call, before redialing and calling again. This time, it went straight to voicemail. Harry frowned. "Hi, Louis. It's—it's Harry. Um. I just needed to talk to you about—y'know. The thing...? Gosh, I don't even know what I wanted to say. I'm sorry, I messed up. I—you—well. Milkshake thing. I'm calling about that. And my sister. I should've thought about what I was going to say before I ran out to call you, oh no . . . Now you're going to listen to this and just hear my rambles, aren't you? I think I knocked over a waiter on my way out, at this place called Steamed Lobster. He had drinks in his hand and some of it got on me, I'm just now realizing this." Harry looked down at the wet spot on his shirt. "It's cold—ah!" He suddenly shouted when thunder boomed nearby, his head tilting up to look at the sky. It's going to rain soon. "I hate thunder, Jesus. I hate rain. I hate that look you had on your face. I hate myself for being the one that put that look on your face. I hate—" Harry paused, squinting his eyes across the street where he spotted a large silhouette. "Large bodies at nighttime that look frighting. I hate that you sent me to voicemail and now the large body is moving closer to me, so I—" Then the voicemail reached the capacity of how long his message could be and ended. Harry stared at the body moving towards him and ran inside the building as quickly as he could.

+ + +

"Did it go well?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and looked over to Liam, who was pointing at his dessert with the tip of his fork. 

"Did what go well?" Harry asked, grabbing his glass of tea and taking a sip of it. 

"The call. With Louis. Did it go well?" 

Harry looked around the circular table to find that they were all looking at him, waiting for his response. He didn't exactly know how to reply. Did it? Louis hadn't called back or messaged him after the call about twenty minutes ago. Harry doesn't think it went well. "Uh, I think—"

"Sir. Sir!" 

Harry turned around to find out who was shouting. The man at the front desk was, but the reason why had Harry's heart melting in his chest. There was Louis, trying to knock the man away so he could get to someone urgently. Louis was staring around the room, just before his eyes settled right onto Harry's. Harry released a gasp when Louis suddenly shoved the man out of the way and jogged over to the table he was sat at.

"You can't do that!" The man said, following after Louis. 

Louis reached Harry and puffed out air, slightly hunching over. Harry stood, the napkin in his lap falling to the floor. "It's all right, he's with me."

"But we have a dress code."

Harry made a noise out of annoyance, eyes trailing to Louis in confusion, before he stared back to the guy. When the guy grabbed Louis' forearm, that's when Harry stepped closer in alarm; Liam stood and discarded his suit jacket, tossing it to Louis and saying, "there. Problem solved," to the guy who was trying to escort Louis out of the restaurant.

Louis was quick to put it on, still restricted by the man who was reluctant to let him sit at the table. He kept his eyes on Harry, though, not even seeming to care that he was still unable to sit freely at the table. Finally, the man let Louis join, and as soon as he let him go, Louis flung himself straight at Harry and put his hands on his shoulders, eyes inspecting every inch of his body. "Are you okay?"

Harry was confused, but didn't do anything about Louis' hands roaming over his body. "I—yes. I am. Why? What is it?" 

"That voicemail, that's what's it!" He shouted, which resulted in people staring. 

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, did I anger you? I didn't mean to, I just needed to talk to you. I'm so sorry, Lou," he said with a frown, shoulders hunching slightly. 

"No, you idiot," Louis said, raising Harry's head up. Harry blinked quickly and gulped. "You said there was a body coming closer to you, a large one. And then it ended so I thought something happened to you." Louis' hands moved away from Harry's face to rest against his chest. "So you're all right?"

Harry couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. He thought his heart was going to explode. That was the sweetest thing; Louis journeyed out to find Harry just to see if he was okay, and if that didn't show that he cared about him, he didn't know what did. So he couldn't help himself when he threw his arms around Louis and pulled him into a tight hug, trying to bury his face in his neck and nosing at the soft, tan skin there. He smelled like cigarettes and rain, and God, he's wearing sweatpants and a bloody sports shirt. Harry felt the happiest he's been in a while. "I'm so good, Louis. So good," he muttered against his neck, feeling Louis' own arms wrap around the large boy clinging to him. Harry only grinned even more. He surprised himself when he left a tiny, innocent kiss a spot on his neck before pulling away. "Thank you for coming all this way just to see if I was okay, bear."

Louis looked up at Harry and dropped his hands to his sides, suddenly noticing the eyes everyone had on the pair. Harry could tell he knew what he wanted him to do, but Louis flushed and it was something Harry had only seen once. Louis was embarrassed. But then, he grabbed at the black button-up shirt Harry had on and tugged him down to his height, whispering, "anything for you, kitten."

Harry thought he was going to faint.