gasoline | l.s

playground of broken souls

don't be afraid of the unknown because even when they wander into chaos, planets are born stars (charles chaplin)

harry never noticed the look people used to give him when he walked down the school hallways. usually he had his sunglasses on, lit up a cigarette and walked to his car ignoring everything and everyone. yet, when he left the detention room with louis by his side, harry felt like a truly rockstar, surrounded by curious and shocked people.

with a side glance, the curly lad observed how louis walked with his head up. returning the looks that were directed to them, like he was challenging those people to say something, like he was waiting for someone to interrupt them and tell him to don't mess with people like harry. louis could see the horror and shock in everyone's gaze after seeing that bizarre combination.

harry satisfactorily smirked to holly daniels, who stopped her red lipstick midway to her heart-shaped lips, only to follow the two with her eyes like a dog follow a tray of meat. they were on the school spotlights and didn't take a genius to realize both of them were causing way more fuss than they initially thought.

"god, this is amazing!" louis exclaimed when they were close to harry's car.

the one with the warm green eyes grinned proud of himself.

"you're a celebrity now."

louis rested his thin arms on the car ceiling and looked around, fixing his eyes on something behind his shoulders, harry followed his gaze and, for a moment, none of them said anything. there were some boys trying to look cool with their cigarettes behind their ears and rolled up sleeves, showing their muscles that could be compared to the size of a golf ball. the girls were acting like their favorite movie characters, trying to look confident, adult and independent. smiling to those same grey boys that wanted nothing more than a night of sex. that wanted nothing more than having fun. that only wanted to use those girls to tell the dirty details to their friends during boys' nights.

harry dodged his gaze back to louis who seemed to shine under the midday sunlight. his skin emitted a pallid glow even when he looked permanently sun kissed. it was like louis had a sad aura around him and, at that moment, he looked so vulnerable. under the blue eyeshadow, harry saw his eyes and, for a brief moment, he saw him like just a boy. without all that makeup, all that lack of clothes and recently acquired confidence, he looked like any other boy's any other normal boy.

honestly harry didn't know exactly why he invited the feathery-haired boy to share his last joint. maybe, he thought, he wasn't that different from those boys he just saw. maybe he only had other intentions, which he hadn't figure out yet. but, somehow, he believed they were there.

"we could go to the lollipop, huh?" louis asked quickly turning back to harry and catching him staring.

"uh, sure." the taller boy stuttered. "no one goes there anyway."

"great." he answers opening the passenger's door and throwing himself on the leather seat.

•••

when harry was younger he loved to go to the lollipop. he still remembered how happy he used to be when his dad would come home from work and tell him to get ready because they were going to the beloved park.

now, facing the big rusty gate, all that structure that once was the stage for happy shiny moments looked like a toy cemetery. housing old and depressing attractions, the once bright colors were now melancholy faded into shades of sad hue. nowadays the amusement park turned into the place where the neighborhood kids used to go to do drugs, have sex and all type of things. the youngest were strictly forbidden to go anywhere near the park, after all you never knew what you could find behind the ugly gates.