Extricate // l.s

11

——

——

Most people come to a cafe for a coffee or tea. Others come to finish work or just for some peace and quiet. Harry and I came to let go of things and comfort each other. It was our place.

"I can help you, Harry! We're talking about psychology in one of my classes right now, actually. I'll learn more about it and I'll help, I promise." I told Harry, squeezing his hands tightly and giving him a bright smile.

He smiled back painfully, his hand coming up to cradle my jaw. "Thank you, Lou. I don't deserve you."

I shushed him. "I'm your boyfriend. It's my job to comfort you when you're hurt or angry. It hurts to see you upset or in pain."

He gave me a sympathetic smile before getting up and moving to throw his empty cup away and I followed, doing the same with mine. We sat back down, this time on a loveseat that was placed in front of a fireplace. I sat next to Harry, my thigh touching his and our hands intertwined, and we both stared ahead at the dancing flames in front of us.

"What am I going to do, Lou?"

I turned my head at the sudden question, furrowing my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

He kept his eyes on the fire. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."

I squeezed his hand tighter. "You won't. I know you won't."

He finally turned his head to look at me, tears welling up in his eyes. "How are you so sure?"

"Because you don't hurt the ones you love."

He searched my eyes for a moment before leaning forward and capturing my lips with his own. Sparks were felt between the two of us and a swarm of butterflies erupted in the pit of my stomach. I had never felt anything quite like that.

He pulled away sooner than I wanted him to but I suddenly remembered we were in a public space.

"I've wanted to do that since the moment I saw you." He told me, smiling a bit as he traced my jaw lightly with his fingertips.

I looked down, suddenly shy. "You should have."

He laughed lightly. "Your sister probably would have fainted to see her idol kissing her brother."

"Probably." I laughed along with him, propping my legs up so they were resting on his lap.

Yeah, it was definitely quite perfect. Nothing could go wrong.

Everything was perfect.

-

Was it too early to say 'I love you'?

When I was young, my mum had told me that I would know when I loved a person. I asked her how long it took and she replied that people are different. We all fall in love at different times, sometimes earlier or later than others. Truth was, I was falling hard and fast.

"Want to get out of here?" I asked Louis, patting his legs that were resting in my lap lightly.

"Sure. It's a perfect day." He replied, smiling at me a bit.

I helped him up by the hand and we both walked out of the coffee shop. We found ourselves at a park around five minutes later. Louis watched a couple that were kicking around a football intently.

"What's wrong?" I asked, placing my hand lightly on the small of his back.

"I miss playing football. The season's over and next year is so far away. I guess I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic." He replied, looking up at me with a soft look in his eyes.

I frowned, realizing how much football really meant to him just from the look he was giving me. "Let's ask if we can join in, yeah?"

Louis' eyes widened a bit. "Harry-"

"Come on! It'll be fun and we could make a couple friends. What could happen?" I shrugged, starting to walk over to the couple. 

They stopped kicking the ball when they saw me approaching. The guy picked up the ball from the ground and met me halfway. "What's up, mate?"

"We were just wondering if it would be okay if we joined in?" I gestured towards Louis.

He nodded, shrugging his shoulders. "Sure, mate, feel free. I'm Nick and this is my friend, Bebe."

I shook his and Bebe's hands and turned to Louis, motioning him over. He hesitantly walked to us and shook their hands as well. "I'm Harry and this is my boyfriend, Louis." I introduced with a smile.

They returned it before Nick dropped the football on the ground and began kicking it around with the side of his shoe. He passed it to Louis, who kicked it around like a pro. He was really quite good. He passed it to me, but I missed the ball completely and fell to the ground.

Louis broke out in a fit of laughter before helping me to my feet. "Are you okay?" He asked, still giggling a bit.

I brushed myself off, glaring playfully at him. "Physically, I'm fine. Emotionally, I'm bruised."

He continued to giggle as he kicked the ball away from me and passed it to Nick, who swiftly toed it back to Louis. The next time I got the ball, I kicked it straight into the bushes and got a thorn stuck in my arm while trying to get it out. Was it too much to say that I despised football?

"We better get going, Haz. It's getting quite late." Louis informed me, touching my arm lightly. Haz?

I nodded in agreement, turning to Nick and Bebe. "Maybe we can do this again sometime? That was fun."

Nick chuckled, tucking the football under is arm casually. "Sure. I'll give you my number so you can text me whenever you want to hang out."

I passed him my phone and he typed it in, handing it back to me afterwards with a smile. Him and Bebe gave us a small wave before leaving us, walking towards a silver convertible that looked quite expensive.

I turned to Louis and smiled before I laced my fingers with his own. We started walking towards Main Street, eyeing all of the lights that were turning on. I looked down at my small boyfriend, watching as the lights reflected beautifully in his ocean eyes. He was such a sweet creature.

He looked up at me suddenly, pinching his eyebrows together. "What?"

I only smiled. "You're beautiful."

His cheeks turned crimson in a matter of seconds. "You're mesmerizing."

Damn, he beat me.

Life was delicate. No matter what Zayn or Jeff kept telling me, I was going to keep loving Louis. I would hold on and protect him until my very last breath.

That was a promise.

-