shuffle | l.s

ii

lost in his train of thought,
louis' phone slipped away from his hands, the sudden movement stopped the song from blasting through the plugged speakers.
the boy curses himself before he crouched to reach the device.

his body freezes once he realized
that the green eyed boy already
had his hands on it.
harry was examining his features, trying to get a reaction out of him but louis failed to utter a single word.

"you should probably get a new one." harry chuckles.

his hands briefly touched louis'
as the blue eyed boy gladly took his iPhone back, cursing once again.

"what were you listening to? it must be so hardcore it made you want to break your phone."

his humor was surprisingly impressive, he had the voice of an angel, his eyes were one of the prettiest sights he have ever had the pleasure of seeing. maybe being stuck in an airport for
another night wouldn't be so bad after all.

"you have no idea, mate."

"what was it?"

louis couldn't tell whether harry was genuinely interested with his music taste or he was just making fun of him.

"coldplay."

"no way, i was listening to coldplay too."

"sick. you're a fan?"

"a massive fan, yeah."

harry tries to laugh it off,
but louis knew he was hiding
something behind those eyes
of his.

"i'm louis. drug mafia. teenage runaway. had quite a reputation."

he wanted to make a remarkable introduction as he stretched his hand out for the boy to shake.

"harry styles."

their hands lingered
longer than they thought
before harry broke the silence.

it felt weird.
louis was usually the loud one.
the outgoing one that makes the wittiest remarks but right now?
he was a stumbling, stuttering mess.

"the first time i made pot was when i baked brownies for my friend's birthday. they were so good everyone thought they had pot in them."

he laughed,
harry followed before they
finally managed to put theirselves
together and gasp for air.

"i was kidding about the whole drug mafia thing. i'd love to try your brownies though." now that louis said it out loud, he was already starting to regret it.

"maybe some other time when we're not stranded in an airport?" a dimpled smile was plastered on harry's face.

all that he managed to do
was shrug as the heat rose all
the way to his cheeks.

"so what brought you here?"
louis attempted to change the subject, diverting harry's attention away from his crimson cheeks as he rubbed his slightly stubbled chin.

"college. things didn't go as planned back home so i wanted to start over."

"would you mind elaborating?"
louis has never been a fan of vague responses.

"i do, actually."

"c'mon, mate. you can trust me on anything."

"well...home doesn't really feel like home anymore." harry's voice nearly cracks but he managed to regain his composure.

"what about you?"

their eyes met.
it stayed on eachother's
and for two people who just met,
it felt oddly comfortable.

"i guess we're both running
away from something."

"you mean flying?"

"was that supposed to be funny, man?"

their gaze lingered around
eachother for a while.
for some reason, the silence between them was beyond comforting, as if they knew
eachother for years.

"who hurt you so much you had to drag your ass across the pond?"
harry's choice of words reminds louis of how he spoke himself,
which made him chuckle.
it was the first genuine laugh that escaped his throat in months.

"someone that i dated, little did i know the relationship was one sided and my ex had other intentions."

harry nods,
he could hear the sadness
behind louis' voice.
it was the weight,
the burden of losing someone
that threathened to shatter louis and harry into pieces.
they were both experienced in that unfortunate aspect of life leaving them to believe that fate would never be in their favor.