Eccedentesiast || Larry

17. Different

L

Louis calls Harry several times. Harry doesn't answer, frustrating Louis more and more each time he attempts to reach him.

"Fuck this," Louis mumbles to himself, locking his phone and throwing it onto his bed.

He quickly changes out of his formal attire and into some normal clothes, grabbing his phone, keys, and wallet.

"I'm leaving!" Louis calls out, letting Zayn know without interrupting whatever he may be doing at the moment. And he does just that, exiting the building and getting into his car.

He arrives at Harry's house in a short amount of time, due to the fact that traffic was nonexistent today and he hadn't made any stops on the way here. Louis knocks on Harry's door and waits for it to open. When it does, Harry is frowning.

"Hey, Harry, I-"

Harry slams the door in his face before Louis can say anything more. He knocks again.

"Harry, please open the door. I know you're mad at me. Just let me explain."

The door swings open again, revealing Harry's mom, Anne, with an apron tied around her waist. "Explain what?"

"Oh, um, hi! Can I speak to Harry, please?" Louis tries to avoid Anne's judgemental eyes. The atmosphere is awkward, probably because she caught Louis on top of her son yesterday.

Anne holds up one finger to say 'give me a minute' and the door closes in front of Louis. Again. Anne calls for Harry a few times and Louis can hear his protests from behind the door, which upsets Louis a little bit. But, he doesn't blame him; for all Harry knows, Louis' slept with another woman the same day they shared their first kiss. Wow, first kisses are so cliche. I'm glad that's over, Louis thinks.

Just as Louis starts to really ponder over how Harry must be feeling right now, the door swings open again. But this time, it's Harry, not Anne. He's glaring at Louis like he just kicked five puppies. Louis reaches out to him and Harry flinches away, wrapping his arms around his - oh, wow, shirtless - torso and looking at Louis skeptically.

"I'm guessing you saw the article?" Louis tries, remaining in the same place. He needs to approach Harry carefully and slowly, like a hunter would when he spots a frightened deer. Except, Louis is not trying to shoot Harry and cook him for dinner; he's trying to appease his troubled mind.

Harry nods slowly, still shooting daggers at Louis with his eyes.

Louis sighs. "Can I come in?"

"I don't know, can you?" Harry snaps.

"You know what I meant, Harry. Please?"

He doesn't say anything, just opens the door wider and steps to the side, allowing Louis to enter the house. Louis really wants to pull Harry into his arms and leave gentle kisses in his hair, but he can't do that. At least, not right this minute. Harry turns on his heel and makes his way to the stairs without so much as a word, so Louis assumes that's his queue to follow him. Harry takes two steps at a time up the stairs due to his abnormally long legs. Louis takes them one at a time.

When Louis enters Harry's room, he is pulling on a shirt and sitting on his unmade bed. He doesn't look at Louis as he sits down next to him.

"Well, go on!" Harry says, motioning with his hands.

"We didn't do anything, if that's what you're thinking. You can never believe anything you read online, H- can I call you H?"

Harry nods. Louis continues.

"Okay, H," Louis giggles at the new nickname. "Everything on the internet is total bull crap, you have to know that. Like this one time, I read an article about how I was brutally murdered and they showed pictures from that one movie I was in."