waves || larry stylinson

VI

The day Harry left it was hot as hell.

He and his family stopped by the house to say their goodbyes and while the adults were in the kitchen, Harry and Louis snuck outside and sat on the front steps.

“I wish it was night so we could lay on the balcony and look at the stars,” Harry said, leaning his head on Louis’ shoulder.

Louis chuckled softly. “You love the stars.”

Harry hummed. “I love the stars.”

“And swimming.”

“And you.”

He said it so simply, Louis didn’t feel the need to say anything back.

They sat there not saying anything for a couple of moments before Harry broke the silence, as always.

“Will we still be friends when I come back from Florida?”

“Always.”

Harry smiled and turned to him. “Yeah?”

Louis smiled back. “Yeah.”

➵

When Harry left, nothing felt the same. It felt as if a piece of him were missing, as cheesy as it sounds. He hung out more with his other friends with Harry gone and even they could sense the difference. When his mate Zayn began dating a bloke named Liam, leaving him the only single one in the group, he decided to get a love life. He’d sort of ruled out a love life when he was with Harry, being that he was still trying to figure out if he fancied him or not.

“The best way to get your mind off someone is to be with someone who makes you forget.” Zayn had said one day when Louis was particularly down. So he decided to do just that. Apparently there was a girl in his calculus class that “was eyeing him” as said by Liam. So he talked her. She wasn‘t that ugly. She had long wavy brown hair and a pretty smile and smelled like a pumpkin spice latte. Louis later found out that her name was Eleanor and that her locker was right next to Liam’s.

The months flew by quickly and soon it was December. Harry couldn’t come down because he was sick (cue the ebola jokes) so he stayed up all night calling him the day before Christmas.

“So, how’ve you been curly,” Louis asked into the phone, biting off the head of the gingerbread man Harry sent Louis for his birthday after a very heated conversation over what to get him (Harry had wanted to get him condoms and Louis was forced to put his foot down).

Harry hummed, his deep voice vibrating through the phone. “Good actually. Made a new friend named Niall who’s Irish. Came out to my parents a couple of weeks ago. ‘S been good.”

Louis didn’t know whether to be proud of him or to be insulted. He went with both. “I’m proud that you came out but you didn’t come out to me? I am insulted Harold.”

Harry giggled. “Told you that I loved you. Thought that was proof enough.”

“You thought wrong,” he said, mouth full of gingerbread.

It was quite for a while before Harry spoke up (as per usual).

“It’s so quiet here,” Harry said, voice a lot more serious now.

“Only because I’m not there.” His voice meant to come off easing but he winced at the softness of it.

Harry sighed. “I feel like I’m drowning Lou. I wish you were there to save me, sometimes. Ironic, innit? How I feel like I’m drowning but that’s the reason we met. I just said innit. Christ, I’m turning into you.”

“Harry-”

“I love you, Lou.”

“I know,” he said because he did know. He just couldn’t find the words to say it back to him yet.

There was a pause. Then, “I know. Merry Christmas Lou.”

Harry hung up.