it makes me wonder ~ larry stylinson [book 1]

ten

A/N: Happy reading! x

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January 2014

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"This has probably been the best break ever, am I right?"

Louis snorts. "Says you. You went to Cabo, I was stuck here."

Louis and Zayn are walking side by side in the locker hall on the first day back from winter break, pushing amongst the hoards of people going every which way. 

"Nah, I'm not talking about Cabo. Though that was pretty fantastic," Zayn continues, and Louis rolls his eyes. "I mean like, it was two weeks. Two whole weeks off from school. And then there was, like, Christmas and everything. And you had your birthday!"

Louis shrugs. "The break from waking up early and doing work and stuff was nice. Nothing else exciting, though." They finally make it to Louis's locker, and Louis quickly twists in the combination.

"God, Lou, you're such a downer. Why do I even talk to you?"

Louis play-shoves him into the lockers. "You'd be nothing without me, Zayn, and you know it."

"I disagree. Because, no. And like, let's not even get started about-"

There's a pause, and Louis looks up at Zayn from where he'd been shoving a binder into his backpack. "Zayn?"

"Um, I think I should go, Louis. I think -- I think I've got somewhere to be. Bathroom. Or. Yeah. Bye," he says hurriedly, starting to walk away.

"Wait, Zayn! Why -- "

Zayn just turns back briefly to give Louis a wide-eyed look before scurrying away, disappearing among the mass of backpacks and chatter of the locker hall. 

Louis just sighs and continues thumbing through the textbooks, notebooks, and binders in his locker. What else does he need again? 

Right, his Spanish textbook. That's important. 

"Hi."

Huh?

Louis nearly drops his book.

Harry's leaning against the wall of lockers, standing where Zayn had been not even a minute ago. Zayn's sudden exit completely makes sense now. 

Where the fuck did he even come from?

"Um. Hi."

Louis's eyeing him weirdly, unable to understand what's happening.

Maybe this is a dream. Maybe Harry wants homework answers from him, or something. Maybe this is some kind of sick joke that Harry and his friends are attempting to play on him. 

Harry stares right back, lips turned up into an amused half-smile. 

After a bit longer, Louis raises an eyebrow. "So...um. Why are you here?"

Harry shifts against the lockers, crossing his arms. He's got a different sort of glint in his eye, and Louis thinks that maybe, just maybe, the fearless Harry Styles might actually be nervous. "Well. To talk to you. Unless, you know, you'd like me to leave?"

Louis's astonished. "Oh. Um. No, you're fine. As in, you don't have to leave or anything." He finally gets his Spanish book into his backpack and slams his locker door shut. 

He turns to face Harry again, and Harry isn't moving. Louis just kind of fidgets awkwardly. 

"So." Harry says, and Louis just can't breathe. Harry's eyes are right there and they're so pretty and there's this lump in this throat that Louis can't get rid of, and if Harry really did want to talk to him, Louis's completely ruining it right now by being his terribly awkward self.