Rules [Zainourry] (Louis-centric) *Editing & Updating*

Chapter 5

"Where is he?" Niall questioned looking at his phone's screen. "Louis was suppose to be here 7 minutes ago."
"I'm sure he'll be here," Harry reassured with a pat rub at the other's lower back.

 "Just give him a minute."

 A few seconds later the four fiancés heard a voice unheard for 3 years.

"Sorry, I'm late. The traffic was crazy on the freeway." Louis said as he jogged up the four of them with his keys in hand and slightly short of breath. 
_____

They all noticed the changes in Louis. He changed his wardrobe from colorful and bubbly to dark and casual. 
Even though Louis seemed to have changed a significant amount since the last time they were together it was the small similarities that spoke volume to them.
Louis' light feathery brown hair effortlessly swooped to the side and each strand seemed as if it was placed and placed exactly where it fell. Or his two green emerald stones in pools of white that never seemed to chip or lose their natural polish.

"Long time, no see," Louis said as he halted in his track to catch his breath.

Louis noticed the boys are just staring at him so he decided to say "We should start heading in shouldn't we?" This seems to spring the fiancés into action. 

"Hey, Lou it's been a while. Glad you could make it." Zayn added as he went in for a hug. 

{#1. Try to stand arm's length away from them whenever possible.}

His first rule rung loudly in his mind like a fire alarm telling him to abort immediately and find an exit. He panicked and started coughing suddenly. He sidestepped Zayn to finish his fake coughing attack. 

"Sorry lads not feeling my best today," Louis said hoping they believe him. 

"Oh, do you want to meet at a different time? When you're feeling better?" Harry asked, his face full of concern. 

"No it's fine, I'm fine. Just making sure you guys know not to get to close don't want you suffering from a runny nose while cake tasting, right? It might taste a bit salty." Louis countered with a smile relief that he didn't have to break rule #1.

Niall looked at his phone, "We have to go inside. Do you know how long it takes to get an appointment here? Now can we please go inside?"

With that, the 5 of them head inside. While entering Louis immediately felt the swoop of wind that rolled at them when people started to crowd them in greeting. He's heard this place is the best at client satisfaction and it's pretty exclusive, you need to be on a long wait list for years, but I guess since the wedding between Harry, Zayn, Niall, and Liam is the biggest event of the century; they made a small exception.
"Hello" and "what you like a glass of wine" rang through the scarce room as they greeted the soon to be newlyweds. Louis had to admit he was a little irritated as he noticed that no one in the parlor was aware of his existence until Liam said, "-and this is our friend, Louis Tomlinson." 

The woman who fussed over them as soon as they entered finally acknowledged his presence with a glance before she said, "Oh, well, it's a pleasure to meet you" and shook Louis' hand. 

Louis gave the woman a small shake before letting go as soon as possible without seeming rude. 

And with that awkward greeting, Liam decided to ask for the tuxes. As if a switch was turned the lady who was staring at Louis indifferently suddenly smiled widely at the mention of tuxes.
"Oh! Yes! It must have slipped my mind. Follow me this way please." She showed them the way to the fitting rooms.

As the four others were lead away for their fittings Louis was told he could sit in the waiting area until they were done with measurements. It was going to be a long day. 

_____

When the boys were finally finished, Louis was at the point of boredom where he was calculating how many glasses of expensive wine could get him drunk to the point where he forgets where he is and who he is. 

But before he could find out the four boys walk towards him. 

"Hey, Louis." Louis' head snapped up and he almost dropped the bottle of wine he had cradled in his hands. When he came back to his senses it was Liam in front of him. He cleared his throat before trying to brush off his embarrassment casually. He stood up before placing the bottle back into the ice to chill once more. 

Liam chuckled a bit, "Sorry it took us so long to finish. If you're not doing anything after this, how about some pizza at our place, huh? For old time's sake?" 

Louis was so close to refusing. Just a gentle "I'm busy" is all that's needed, but he couldn't. Seeing the hope in Liam's eyes the slight fear of rejection illuminating in them startled Lous all the way to his bones that felt the crumbling of a wall he built around his heart and it was unbearable. 

"That sounds great, Liam." And the beautiful smile he received back was worth the ache he felt in his heart.