Pride {l.s.}

26- Brokeback Mountain

"Niall, what are you supposed to be?" Liam asks once Niall walks in. He's dressed in bright green with some old fashioned pants and shirt on. He also has a tall green hat on with black shoes.

"I'm a leprechaun!" Niall yells excitedly.

Liam rolls his eyes. "Why are you a leprechaun?"

"Because my family is Irish," Niall replies with a sure nod of his head.

"I thought that you were the hulk," Harry comments with a laugh. Niall finally looks up to see Harry and I. He looks surprised.

"Why didn't I get someone to dress up with?" Niall whines as he looks at the two cowboys and two superheroes.

"Oh, Harry and I didn't mean to match. It was a complete accident," I say as I gesture to our boots and cowboy hats.

"Are you serious? I thought you two were going as the dudes from Brokeback Mountain," Niall says bluntly. A blush instantly covers my face.

I've seen Brokeback Mountain. Harry and I watched it together a couple weeks ago. It wasn't like his usual romantic comedies. By the end of this one, I was in tears. We silently cried together with neither of saying anything. The two main characters, Ennis and Jack, who fall in love are also both guys. The movie didn't make me as uncomfortable as it should have. I liked the movie. Scratch that. I loved it. It's one of my favorites now, but it shouldn't be. I shouldn't have liked it.

When I look at Harry and I, we do somewhat resemble the two boys in our choice of clothing.

"Um, yeah I guess we kind of do," I mumble nervously. I look over to see Harry with a wide grin on his face.

"Well my Lou, shall we continue to the party?" Harry asks. The smile doesn't shrink as he calls me his. My heart beats faster the way he says it. I shouldn't want to be his, but I want it.

"We shall," I reply.

Harry and I sit in the back with Niall. Liam decides to drive with Zayn in the passenger seat since Harry always drives us. I sit in the middle seat, and all I can think about is Harry's side being pressed together with mine. I should probably move a little bit over towards Niall, but I don't. I don't want to. I like being so close to the cowboy.

"Um, you're not going to ditch me a at the party right?"

It should have been me saying that. I'm supposed to be the insecure one that can't handle life very well. I'm surprised when it's Harry who asks that. I look over to see how truly nervous he is. His knee jumps up and down slightly. I set my hand on it. He looks down and is finally aware of his knee moving. With a blush on his face, his knee stops bouncing.

"Of course I won't leave you," I confirm with a solid nod. "We can hang out the whole night."

"Okay good," Harry replies with a short smile. The second he looks away again, his knee begins to bounce again. I once again gently lay my hand onto his knee. His knee stops bouncing.

"Breathe, Haz. I'm not leaving your side," I reassure him.

"Thanks," Harry mumbles.

I don't leave my hand from his thigh the whole way to the Halloween party.

***

Zayn knew this guy named Josh in college. I met him a couple times. He's a party maniac. I don't even know if he graduated college. Josh still invites us to his parties, especially his Halloween. It's his favorite time of the year, so the house is full of people and alcohol.

"That's a lot of people," Harry observes as we walk up to the door of the house. You can hear the music pounding from out here. I can see through the windows to see a mash of bodies. Everyone is wearing a costume. It looks like a mess, but I kind of want to be a part of it.

Harry nervously glances down at me. He's still so scared. I take his hand in mine. I pull him after me as I follow Liam, Zayn, and Niall. Niall disappears through the door immediately. He's probably off to find the alcohol. Zayn and Liam's eyes don't leave each other as Liam drags Zayn to the dance floor.

I drop Harry's hand and look up at the tall boy. "Want a drink?"

Harry nods his head. "I'll lead the way. Hold my hand. I don't want you getting lost."

Harry grabs my hand and begins to pull me through the mass of people. If I close my eyes, I can almost imagine that this is the pride parade again. I can imagine his colorful flag flowing behind him as he pulls me through a crowd of color. When my eyes are open, I know that it's just a cowboy leading me for some drinks. Harry drops my hand once we reach the kitchen. It's a little bit emptier than the other room where there was crowds of people dancing, and it's slightly quieter.

"What do you want?" I ask as we observe the alcohol lying around. There's a lot of open bottles spread out on the counters. I see Niall sneak in and grab a whole pack of beer and some cups. He leaves quickly, probably to go play a game of beer pong in the next room. I reach out for a full  cup that sits on the counter that's full of crappy beer, but Harry stops my hand.

"Never have a beverage at a party like this that has already been open," Harry warns me. He doesn't look away from my eyes as he talks. "They could drug you, and I am not letting that happen to you."

I nod my head in understanding, but my heart flutters at his concern for me. My eyes drift away from Harry, and I see a guy standing in the corner of the room over. He's playing beer pong, and a cigarette dangles from his hand. He brings it to his lips and lets out the smoke. I immediately look away, but I can feel it. I can feel the twitching in my hand. I'm dying to reach for the pack in my pocket that is suddenly weighing me down. As Harry searches the kitchen for the best brand of beer, I find myself unable to contain this need. I wish I could ignore, but I'll drive myself insane.

"Harry, I'm going to go outside for a couple minutes," I tell him once he comes back with two cans.

"What? Why?" Harry asks with his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. His face relaxes into sadness when he realizes why. "Are you taking a smoke?"

I nod my head and look away in shame. I know that he doesn't like it, but it's a need now.

"Lou, please don't."

"It's an addiction," I say between gritted teeth. "I can't stop."

"But I can distract you." I look at Harry in confusion. "Skip the beer. We can go out on the dance floor, and I'll distract you from having to take a smoke."

I see the mischief in his eyes, but I doubt this could work. "People aren't going to like the look of two dudes dancing plus I'm straight."

Harry roles his eyes. "You don't even know anyone here. It'll be fine. Let's go have some fun."

After a moment of debate, I give in. I know that I want to dance. I like getting lost in the music and the bodies. I like having to not worry about anything else but what is there at that moment.

"Fine," I agree. "Just two normal cowboys dancing."

"Just two normal cowboys dancing," Harry repeats with a large smile on his face as he drags me into the next room to dance.

A/N

Next chapter is good...

xoxo raindropkiss1