Alone Together

ten.

Louis' POV:

"Thank you all for the very patient wait! I'm Mr. Gallagher and I'll be your uh, drama teacher." A young man dressed in a dark blue shirt and a black tie steps onto the stage, holding a pair of glasses in his hand. I eye him skeptically, he looks rather young to be a drama teacher. "We'll be doing two plays this year, yes. Other than that we'll just be doing well... whatever." Some of the kids laugh in the seats beside me, and I feel the tension slightly ease from the room.

"Now, I'll just uh, take role." Mr. Gallagher nods quickly, running his hands through his slightly quiffed hair. I laugh silently to myself, he's so nervous.

"Teach?" I call out, grinning slightly when Mr. Gallagher turns and looks at me with wide eyes. "There's no need to be nervous, yeah? Well I guess we're all pretty nervous but, you're the teacher so..." I trail off, flushing as I feel everyone slowly looks over at me. I sink back into the small auditorium seats, and yet, Mr. Gallagher gives me an easy smile.

"Thank you...?"

"Louis Tomlinson." I say, and I stumble quickly out of my seat to shake his hand.

"Alright, so role-call..." I sit back in the first row of chairs, my breathing evening out as everyone's attention diverts. Hopefully he's much more at ease now... "Calder?"

"Here!" Why is she here? I groan inwardly, and I vaguely wonder why she hasn't pounced herself down beside me. "Hey, Lou." Shoot.

"It's Louis... please." I all but snap, looking over at the younger girl. Her face falls, and I look to the side. "Sorry Eleanor, it's been a long day."

"Oh, I understand. We all have those days." I look over at Eleanor and she smiles softly before she starts to braid her hair off to the side. "I didn't think your dad allowed you to take drama?"

"He wasn't too keen on the idea, but my mother persuaded him." I shrug, flinching as the doors slam open. I turn back in my seat to see who has interrupted, and my jaw drops.

"What is he doing here?"

"He's officially stalking me." I slump back in my seat, hearing Harry's warm cackle as his boots thump against the wooden stairs. Eleanor shoots me a weird look, but doesn't say anything.

"Um, who are you?"

"Harry Styles." I look up to see Harry looking up at my teacher who's still on stage, a sly smirk on Harry's sinful mouth.

"You're not on the roster?"

"Oops!" Harry shrugs dramatically, before spinning and putting his back to Mr. Gallagher. His green eyes meet mine, and he tilts his head in a small greeting. "Mr. Cock-" Idiot.

"Mr. Cook, Harry." I mutter, and Harry waves his hand almost dismissively.

"Whatever his name is, well I need a few more credits to graduate, so..." I feel my jaw drop as Harry smiles wickedly down at me. "You can ask the principal himself, if you want Mr.?"

"Gallagher." Our teacher finishes for him, slowly nodding himself. "I'll go ask him, just to make sure."

"What do we do then?" I turn to see Eleanor glaring at Harry, her hair half braided and looking a bit idiotic.

"Just socialize. You'll be doing plays with another so get to know each other." Mr. Gallagher scampers off the stage, tripping as he hurries along to what I presume is the principal's office. The doors slam shut as he hurries out of them, and almost immediately some kids get on their phone.

"Last time I checked, you had all your credits." I mutter to Harry, who has claimed a seat beside me. He throws one leg over the other, his green eyes meeting mine.

"I do."

"So why are you here?" I face him fully, and I vaguely hear Eleanor huff before she walks off to who knows where.

"I'm simply keeping my promise, Lou." Remind me again why I made that promise with you...

"This is the only class I don't have with you." I say, beyond exasperated.

"Are you whining Tomlinson?" There's a gleam in Harry's eyes, and I try to decipher it but fail.

"Maybe I am, Styles." I bite my lip before I pout at him, and he only smiles. Harry reaches out his inked right hand, his thumb skimming across my bottom lip before he gently pulls my lip from my teeth.

"You get a little V right in the middle of your brows when you pout." Harry pokes the hairless place between my eyebrows, and I laugh softly. His touch is disarming, I wonder what exactly he's up to.

"Oh?"

"You do, it's adorable." Don't call me that, I think sternly.

"You're very forthcoming with your feelings, Harry." I mumble, and Harry throws his head back and laughs.

"Feelings? Oh Lou, I don't have any towards you." Harry shakes his head, and I mentally sigh in relief. "But I can appreciate an attractive boy when I see one."

"Well I'm not attractive, Harold." I shrug, my eyes meeting his once more. "So there isn't a thing to appreciate."

"You are attractive, Louis." Harry frowns, and I wonder why we're discussing this. It's a bit disgusting, talking to a male if I'm attractive or not. "You're fucking- ugh, doing it again."

"Doing what?" I snap out of my thoughts, shifting away from Harry just a bit.

"Reading too much into this. We're simply discussing looks, not how I'm going to fuck you or whatever." Harry shrugs, and I about choke on nothing.

"No no no no no!" I flush a bright shade of red, and I attempt to quickly cover my face. "We are never- no!" Harry laughs at that, the sound ringing through the auditorium. "You're such a pervert, honestly." I grumble, glaring up at him through my lashes as I pull my hands away from my face.

"So I've been told." Harry smirks down at me, his tongue sliding over the piercings along his lips.

"Aren't your piercings called something?" I ask absentmindedly, thinking back to the time Zayn had a dahlia or something.

"Shark bites, yeah." Harry grins, his spindly fingers tracing over the piercings in his skin. "Though, I'm getting these out and replacing them with a horizontal lip before Christmas Break. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering, Zayn had one and I just kinda remembered." I bite my lip, looking around the auditorium. "Um, what's a horizontal lip, H?"

"It's like, two piercings side by side in the bottom lip." Harry faces me fully now, and I'm uncomfortably sitting cross legged in the chairs. "It's in the middle of the bottom lip."

"Why're you getting that?"

"I just kinda wanted to try something new.. I've had these damn shark bites in for almost a year."

"Oh."

"Why? Do you want one?"

"Oh no! It's a sin to mark the body of God, Harry..." I trail off and Harry rolls his eyes in annoyance. "Plus, I don't think I would look good with one." I blush, threading my fingers together as I look down at my lap.

"You'd look good with angel bites." Harry laughs, and I feel myself blush even more. "So ironic, prince."

"Hush." I giggle with a roll of my eyes, and Harry smiles softly at me.

"I'm back!" The doors slam open, breaking the small world that Harry and I were in. Mr. Gallagher walks down the stairs, with a smile on his face.

"You're just here for stage set up, correct?" The punk beside me nods, and I look over at Harry discreetly. Thinking about it, I didn't know a thing about him. He was a mystery, full of edges and curves that I couldn't fathom. "Well, as long as you don't disrupt anything, you should be fine."

Whether I liked it or not, Harry was securing a place in my heart at an alarming rate.