Hidden Gardens

Chapter 2

Next time Louis saw Harry, he had just gotten in from speaking to their supplier, something that always made him feel jittery, but that day in particular had been worse than others.

"Got a deal with them?" Niall asked, hopeful.

"Nah. They said they can neither lower the prices nor extend the payment period. Not even a couple of days," he huffed out, sitting on a stool in front of Niall and hiding his face in his hands. He could feel another headache coming.

"Shit, man." Niall said, and squeezed his shoulder. "You know I don't have to pay my bills until the 9th so if you need a couple more days to set yourself out this month I can-"

"No, no way." Louis shook his head and faked a smile. "It's not that bad yet."

"Focus on the yet," joked Niall and Louis got up to clear room for a costumer that walked in. There were half a dozen people scattered around the place, most of them drinking from the same glass they'd ordered on arrival. The sun shone through the windows in a rare, dry day.

"Hey James, what's up?" He asked the middle aged man who sat down with a sigh.

"Well, I came here at two o'clock in the afternoon, what do you think?" He said with a sign for Niall, who winked at him and went to get a bottle from the shelf behind him.

"Slow day at the shop?" Louis asked, standing next to him.

"I'm almost calling it a day. Good thing I can always come here to chat with you, lads."

"Cheers!" Niall said, the door bell chimed and they all looked at the door to see who was walking in. "Harry!" Niall called out to him, whose face lit up with a smile. He was wearing a cap that day and a jeans jacket over a plain white T-shirt. He was either wearing the same pair of tight jeans or he had a collection of them.

"Hey, Nialler. How is it going?"

"Nialler?" Asked Louis, who sounded equally amused and annoyed.

"Shut up, I like it," Niall replied and shook Harry's hand. Louis stayed motionless and Harry just nodded.
"Hey, mate," he said, adjusting himself on a stool and putting his rucksack on the floor between his feet.

"Hi," Louis managed to say, and they were all silent for a moment.

"I didn't know this place was open this early. I was walking by and saw there were some people inside. I was surprised."

"A lot of people come here during the day." Niall said, "Do you work night shifts or something?

"I'm just doing odd jobs for now. Nothing that requires a fixed schedule."

"Oh, I see, the usual?"

"Sure. Do you serve lunch here as well?"

"If you can call crisps and pickle lunch, yeah." Niall said and Harry's lips curved up in a smile.

Niall gave Harry his drink and a group of three people entered the pub, Niall rushing to them. Harry didn't stop staring at Louis, who was feeling uncomfortable being scrutinized like that.

"What?" he asked, a little more abruptly than he intended to.

"Nothing." Harry said, sipping his beer and looking at him smugly.

"What?" Louis repeated, walking closer to him and stopping right in front of him. Harry looked at his mouth, then back to his eyes, then back to his mouth again.

"It's nothing. It's just that I was warned that you could be a little...grumpy." Harry said, his tone slow and pensive.

"Grumpy? Who used the term grumpy to talk about me?" Louis could kill them.