Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Three

"Louuuuu!! I haven’t seen you in forever!"

Louis chuckled at his phone, typing back a short ‘yeah we need to hang soon’ to his best mate Zayn. His friend was right; they hadn’t seen each other in a really long time. Sure, there was school, but they only had a few classes together. Louis blamed Zayn’s new girlfriend, Perrie. She was a cheerleader and didn’t usually acknowledge anyone besides Zayn and her three best friends, Jade, Jesy, and Leigh. That was alright, though, because Louis had other friends. Lots of other friends, but his mind right now was mainly focusing on a certain curly haired junior.

There was no doubt that the two had gotten closer, since their little ‘thing’. (Louis wasn’t sure what to call it. It wasn’t a date. It was just a, well, thing). It was now at the point where they couldn’t be in the same room without touching each other in some way. They couldn’t seem to keep their hands off each other. Louis tousling Harry’s curls in the living room, Harry resting his head on Louis’ lap in their bedrooms, hand holding, arms wrapping around one another, everything. Louis was rather surprised by how fast things had progressed. Awkward smiles one week, hugs and caresses the next. Maybe they were moving too fast, but all they are is friends, and Louis was having way too great a time to try to slow things down.

Liam luckily hadn’t noticed anything, which is surprising seeing how it’s LIAM, probably the smartest person in his year. Louis had to give Harry credit, he’d spend all day at school with Liam, and then ask Louis to hangout after school at his house his for a bit, and then when Louis left, he’d usually invite Liam over for dinner. That’s what happened most of the time, unless Liam was with Danielle. That’s when Harry went over to Louis’. It was all a very complex cycle, though the two boys were used to it.

Danielle and Liam had really hit it off, Louis was happy to say. As Louis and Harry bonded, so did those two. Liam made sure to tell Harry absolutely every single detail, like best friends did. Since Liam refused to tell his brother what was going on, he just went to Harry for information, which worked well.

There was a knock on the door, and Louis almost tripped over the couch, running so fast to answer it. He simply couldn’t get to the door fast enough…

"Geez, Lou, it’s only Harry. He’s coming over for me too." Liam said about Louis’ reaction to their new company.

Louis’ heart sank in his chest. Right, Liam wasn’t going out with Danielle today. Harry was coming over for Liam, not him.

"Shut up, please?" Louis said, opening the door. Harry smiled brilliantly at him.

"Hey, ba-Louis," Harry caught himself. He had been close to saying ‘baby cakes’.

Louis allowed him inside, feeling himself breathe a sigh of relief. He looked towards Liam, who seemed as if he could care less about Harry’s almost slip up, which was another good thing.

"Come on into the kitchen Haz, we can grab a snack or something." Liam said, grabbing his friend and pulling him into the kitchen. Louis watched the two of them run out, not in the mood to tease or play around with them. He hated that he couldn’t even act like him and Harry were friends. What if they started dating? (Okay that was never going to happen, but the thought made Louis shiver).

He slowly sunk onto the couch, texting Zayn and asking if he wanted to make plans together.

***

Harry felt like a terrible person. It wasn’t like him and Louis were screwing behind Liam’s back, they were only friends, but yet they were so much more. Harry had never, ever, been so intimate and close with a friend who was a guy before. Liam was more the talking type of friend. If you had a problem, he listened, and vice versa. But with Louis, everything seemed so natural. He could find himself talking about completely random things, and Louis answered with the most honest of responses.