The Boy At The Club

The Two Curious Boys

"Hi."

Louis felt relief coursing through him as he heard the boy return the greeting. He was about to introduce himself when the boy spoke first.

"You're not from around here," the boy said softly as his eyes never left Louis. "Are you?"

The boy held Louis' gaze, narrowing his eyes at him, and refusing to let his eyes linger away.

"No." Louis shook his head. He buried both of his hands deep within his pockets and leaned against the door frame. "Just, uh," Louis shrugged, "having fun, I guess."

The boy raised an eyebrow.

"Right," the boy said under his breath before he cleared his throat. It was as if he didn't believe what Louis had told him. Apparently, Louis didn't blame him.

He just watched the boy's curly brown hair fall perfectly against the side of his face when he looked down and smiled at the ground. When the boy looked right back up again, he extended his right hand.

"I'm Harry. Nice to meet you."

The boy smiled, so wide that dimples appeared on his cheeks.

Louis gulped.

He wanted to know why he felt so shy all of a sudden. Oh, where has his composure gone? He shrugged and chuckled at how ridiculous he was before he extended his hand and took the boy's-Harry's-hand in his. He shook it lightly.

"I -- I'm Louis," he stuttered. "Nice to meet you, too."

Harry beamed at the sound of Louis' name.

"Louis," Harry said, testing Louis' name with his voice. Louis stiffened at the sound of his name as it had come out of Harry's lips.

"Yeah," Louis said. In the need to say something more, he continued. "You know, it's spelled L-O-U-I-S."

Harry nodded and tightened Louis hand in his before letting go.

Not a second later, Louis could already admit to himself that he felt a sudden emptiness in his hand, wanting to steal Harry's hand again and feel it against his once again.

"So, where are you from, then?" Harry abruptly went to Louis and hooked his arm around his shoulders. Louis began to feel the tension take over his entire body as Harry led him to the mirror.

When they could see both of their reflections staring back at them, Harry gave Louis' shoulder a tight squeeze before letting go.

"Well, I live in the city," Louis answered. "If that's what you're asking."

"Close enough," Harry said as he whipped his head forward, his hair covering his face. He batted his head sideways and shuffled his hair with his fingers. He whipped his head back up, and instead of him checking out his own appearance in the mirror, his eyes darted to Louis'. "I guess I was just curious."

After a while, Louis found his voice. When it came out, it was sounded like nothing but a squeak. "Curious?"

"I was following you."

"You were following me?"

Harry beamed and held back a laugh.

Louis realized that he sounded stupid over the way he repeated what Harry said. But the tables are turned. Now, it was Louis' turn to be curious.

Harry looked away and his smile faded slightly before he said, "Yeah, I was following you."

He looked down at his hands and removed his rings from his fingers. He placed them down near the sink before he bent down and opened the faucet to wash his hands. Louis couldn't bear to look away from Harry's every move.