Back To December

twenty-two

Louis' POV

"Hazza," I smirked at the look of confusion he shot Gemma as she pulled Cassidy from the room. "What'd you do to piss her off? She's been here less than 24 hours!"

"I don't know," he frowned, shrugging.

"Maybe she's on her period or something."

Silence.

"Niall." Liam pulled a face. "That's… You know sometimes you have these thoughts and you think it's a good idea to speak? Yeah… Don't." he chuckled. I laughed, patting Niall on the back as he frowned.

"Come on, mate," I beckoned for Harry to follow me and he raised a questioning eyebrow. "Let's go find Cass and Gem, Gemma can't chase both of us away, can she?!" I smirked. Harry grinned, jumping out of his chair and nodding at me.

"You two are like the gruesome twosome..." Zayn frowned. "Leave them alone, let them have some fun!"

"No!" I called back over my shoulder, hearing Harry laugh behind me as he followed me out of the room. We walked in silence for a little while, until I stopped and turned to face him. Harry's face screwed up in confusion, worry and panic flashing through his eyes as they widened. He took a step backwards and I raised my eyebrows at him. "You alright mate?"

"I- yeah. Fine. Why? What have you stopped for?"

"Just wanted to ask you how you're doing," I shrugged.

"I'm fine. Thanks Joey," Harry rolled his eyes and I tutted at him.

"You know what I mean, Hazza. With… well, with me and Cassie. Are you alright about it? Are you- do you still…?" I trailed off, waving a hand in the air.

"Do I still what? Do I still love her?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders. "Yes, I do. But whatever, she loves you and you love her, so it doesn't matter, does it? She made her choice so I'll just have to deal with it."

"…Did she have a choice to make, Harry?" I asked curiously. "Did she have to think about who it was going to be?"

"No," he sighed. "Of course she didn't. I never had a chance, anyway. It's been you from the minute you pounced on her the first time we ever met her. No one's ever had a chance with you around."

"Oh." I tried to stop the small smile that was threatening to spread across my face and Harry scoffed. "You and Cassidy… You're friends though, yeah? Because I don't want it to change, the three of us being friends. I like us all hanging out, like the other week at the zoo."

"Of course we're still friends, why wouldn't we be?" Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Just because my feelings aren't reciprocated doesn't mean I'll ever stop being her friend." he frowned. I nodded slowly at him and turned round as I carried on walking into the actual arena. I spotted Gemma and Cassidy whispering to each other, Cassie turning away from Gemma and looking… guilty? They both stood up from their seats, moving to sit closer to the stage and I could see Cassidy blushing when Olly waved at her. She sent him a small wave back and looked round, smiling when she spotted me and Harry and waving us over.

"Gemma!" I grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "Come and dance with me!"

"What? No," she laughed, pushing me away from her. "Dance with your girlfriend!"

"Harry's dancing with her," I pouted. Gemma raised an eyebrow and Cassie glanced at Harry, who just shrugged at her. "Come oooon!" I whined.

"I don't want to dance," Cassie pouted at me and I rolled my eyes, reaching past Gemma and pulling her to her feet, pushing her towards Harry. "Louis! I don't want to dance, I want to- Harry put me down!" she shrieked. I laughed, Harry throwing her over his shoulder as he started to dance, Cassidy's head bouncing round as she kicked her legs. "Harry Styles put me down right now!"