Bully Me [Larry/Ziall | AU]

Bully Me : Chapter 37 (Part 1)

[hellos! *waves* I know I am kinda late on my uploading schedule and I blame that on the workload that I am struggling with. So sorry >-< ! 'Bully Me' has once again surprised me by its gaining popularity...it has crossed 60K+ reads which is.... *just imagine me flapping my hands up and down because I can't express the happiness I am feeling in words >-< * THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE LOVE GUYS!! MUAHHH ! LOVE YOU!]

Chapter 37 (Part 1)

*two weeks later* 

**

'Harry?' 

'Yeah.' 

'You have been staring at the menu for the past half an hour. Don't you wanna order something?' Louis asked, in a careful neutral tone. He had never seen, the Harry Styles look so flustered before. It made him want to burst out laughing, but he controlled himself and continued to look at Harry's red face. 

'Uh..uh.. I...' 

'Do you want me to place an order for you?' Louis suggested, getting the distinct feeling that they weren't going to make any progress if Harry was allowed to place the order. The guy was barely stringing two words together and couldn't stop stammering when he spoke to him. 

Really...what was wrong with this guy? 

Harry gave a brief nod and slumped down in his chair, grateful that Louis had taken the burden off him. He wasn't used to dating guys, even though he had loads of dating experience in the female category. 

It was pretty obvious to Lou that he was a closet gay and that was the only explanation he could come up with for Harry's reaction to him being gay. The guy was too much of a coward to come out back then, during those times when Louis had been his only friend. He had refused to walk down that path and the contained anger had spilled out as hatred towards Louis.  

Harry had hid his sexuality quite well over the last few years. Even his bestie, Zayn wasn't lucky enough to be considered as a contender for the position of his secret keeper. Harry had kept it close to his heart, not willing to share his secret with anyone. His only connection to his inner self, to his true character was Louis, who had made no effort to hide his sexuality and had made it pretty clear on the first day of school. Maybe, that was the reason why Harry had started to dislike him. He was bold and smart back then, a boy capable of facing the world even with the situations he had to face. Just like Harry had feared, everybody shunned Louis for being gay, but even then the guy never backed down. 

Harry had no idea when he started hating that trait of bravery in Louis, the need to fight against such injustice, which was clearly missing in him. He knew he should have taken a stand back then, but he had watched Louis fall and bare all of the hatred. And to make matters worse, Harry had put a lid over his true feelings and joined the school in that madness, in – bullying Louis Tomlinson. 

'Harry...you're spacing out.' Louis whispered and gave him a small smile. 

'Oh…uh…sorry.' 

'What is it? What's bothering you?' Louis could make out the stress lines on his forehead and he knew the guy well enough, to know he wasn't himself today. 

'Why? W-Why...' Harry stopped, not knowing whether to be blunt with Lou or just skip the question altogether. 

'What is it Harry? Come on…tell me.' 

Louis watched the wheels turn in his head and the thin eyebrows bunch together, thinking really hard over the thoughts going on in his head. He didn't know what Harry had in mind. The guy was fine until yesterday, being all excited about their first date. So what had gone wrong? Had he say something that bothered Harry? Or was it something else?