The Rusty Old Minivan

Chapter 25

At six am the following morning, Louis and Alvin left the suite.

Louis pulled his phone out as Alvin checked out at the front desk. 'U still out there? Im comin out now' he messaged Harry.

Not half a minute later, a response ticked in. 'Yes miss you come now'

He smiled down at the display. They'd only been apart for a night, but Louis had missed Harry too, considering everything. He couldn't imagine what it was like for Harry, sitting out there all night, knowing Louis was in there, fucking someone else. All Louis wanted to do now was get out and get into Harry's rusty old van and pull him close.

"All right?" Alvin asked, tapping the small of Louis' back. "You ready to leave?"

"Yeah." Louis tucked his phone back in his pocket and nodded toward the vestibule. "I'm ready."

Alvin flattened his hand out Louis' back, keeping it there as he guided them outside.

"My car is down the other side of the building," he said as they reached cross-roads outside the entrance.

All Louis could see was Harry's van, right before them, and Harry inside it, staring right at them.

"Yeah. Okay," he muttered, turning to give Alvin a polite smile, "well, this was nice."

Alvin returned the smile, curling his hand around the fabric of Louis' jacket and tugging him closer. "It was," he murmured, his eyes gliding down to Louis' lips.

Louis stomach curled up. The side of his face burned, knowing Harry's eyes were still on them. "Yeah," he said breathily, avoiding Alvin's eyes.

"I'll call you the day after tomorrow," Alvin said, "we can meet up again and- I'll have a little more on my hands to help you then."

Right. Louis couldn't push him off now, couldn't be as cold as he wanted to, couldn't act as indifferent to Alvin's touch as he felt. As he wanted Harry to see that he felt. Not if he wanted his last fifteen hundred, anyway. And he didn't want them, he fucking needed them.

So he pasted on a smile. "That sounds great," he said softly.

"You were great." Alvin placed his other hand around the side of Louis' jaw.

Louis swallowed hard, forced to stay in it, even as every fiber in his body screamed for him to back away. "Thank you. You too," he managed.

"Don't," Alvin traced Louis' cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, "God, you're so beautiful."

Louis dropped his gaze. "Thank you."

"Kiss goodbye?"

Louis' gaze shot up again. No. He couldn't do that, not with Harry watching, not with how he knew they had to look right now; holding each other close still, like this actually meant something. It of course it fucking didn't, it meant nothing more than money, but that didn't matter for shit because all that did matter was what it looked like to Harry. And this didn't look good.

Without waiting for permission, maybe thinking he had it in Louis' lack of an answer, Alvin leant in and kissed him.

It was quick, a soft little peck-ish thing, but make it better. Maybe even worse. It wasn't Alvin's fault, he didn't know better of it. It wasn't Louis' either, or Harry's, or anyone else's. It was, however, much too sweet and gentle for 'I'll just go in there and use that dollar-sign for his last pocket-money'.

"See you, Louis," Alvin said, walking off with a fond smile, "be safe."

"Yeah, you too. Bye." Louis drove his fingers through his hair, clutching the back of his head as he waited until Alvin had turned a corner.