This Feels A Lot Like Love

19. I Will Try Until I Die For You And I

Harry sank to the bottom of the lake. His arse hit the ground first, his arms flailing in the water. He stroked up and up and up until he resurfaced and breathed in a gasp of air. He shook out his wet hair and combed through tendrils of curls licked with water. Louis' laughing face came closer and he gripped Harry by the shoulders, clinging onto him like a koala bear.

Harry smiled with wet lips and hugged Louis by his waist. Louis bent his head forward and sank his sharp, little teeth into the bony flesh of Harry's shoulder, leaving small indentations on sensitive skin.

"Ow, ow, ow," Harry laughed, pushing Louis' face away with a hand.

Louis moved away from Harry's pinching fingertips. He wrapped his arms around Harry's broad shoulders and butterflied his legs around Harry's waist, reflexively squeezing his thighs. Harry smiled softly at Louis and pushed Louis' long fringe away from his right, squinted eye.

They swam lazily in the cool, deep water with Louis' legs clinging around Harry. They could hear their friends laughing in the background. Somewhere in the distance, Niall unexpectedly pushed an unsuspecting Jade into the water, Jade screaming and falling unceremoniously. Zayn soon followed by Liam's hard push, squawking when he tried to cover his perfectly styled quiff as he plunged deep into the water.

Louis and Harry giggled at their playful friends, but they were much too wrapped up in each other to chase after the boys and Jade. It seemed like whenever they were together, the whole world and everyone in it disappeared. Everything else felt insignificant and unimportant when it was just the two of them.

"Harry," Louis said sternly, his gaze lidded and his voice serious. Harry blinked rapidly at Louis, his vision blurred by his clumped, wet eyelashes. "I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't get mad."

Harry rolled his eyes fondly. He licked his lips and squeezed Louis' love handles, sweet and supple skin he wanted to bite his teeth into. He brushed a drop of water off Louis' cheekbone and cupped Louis' jaw gently.

"I promise."

Louis took a deep breath and exhaled out of his red, bitten lips. He nibbled on the inside of his cheek and blew hot air out of his mouth. He nodded to himself and blew out again, his cheeks rounding.

"You know how at the graduation ceremony I said I wasn't going to the University of Manchester?"

"Yeah?" Harry said slowly, chasing Louis with his curious, blinking, green eyes.

"Well...I'm not going because I'm attending the University College London instead..."

Harry stopped breathing. A crash of waves rolled inside his muddled brain, his heart threatening to plummet outside of his chest and spill blood everywhere. Harry didn't know if his ears were playing tricks on him or Louis was just taking the piss out of him like he usually did after a few round of beers and he was borderline tipsy and pink-cheeked.

"Huh?" Harry asked dumbly.

Louis laughed brightly. "I'm being serious! I mean, it certainly wasn't my first university choice, everyone and their mother knows that, and my mum was certainly furious about that—"

"Then why?" Harry asked sadly, his lip protruding outwards in a pouty huff.

Harry glanced down at Louis' wet, thin lips, his pink tongue peeking out from the corner of his mouth. Louis licked his lips and cupped Harry's stunned face, forcing Harry to look up at him.

"Because, Harold, I care about you deeply and I wanna be with you. Every time I'm not with you, my heart aches and I keep finding myself coming back to you all the time. I'm attending UCL to be with you. Let's make it official. Let's move in together when Fall starts. Besides, the dean of administration allowed me to accept my scholarship to play for the University of Manchester even though I will be attending the University College London instead."