So, What? // 1D AU ✓

Chapter 15

~I guess I'll go sit with drum boy,

At least he'll know how to hit (oops!)~

Harry keeps angrily brooding about Alexis giving his table away, but his feet don't move from their spot. There's something keeping him here - from walking out. Well, his phone is still charging back in the dressing room, and when his stomach grumbles, there's also still the fact of being hungry to worry about.

Finally, he turns his head up as Alexis starts walking over. At the same time, he spots Louis at a table eating from a very large bowl or macaroni and cheese. Harry's heart soars, and he starts walking over. He'd hate himself forever if he didn't at least try to talk to him.

Louis looks up as Harry enters his peripheral, and his face is blank, until he trips over the edge of a carpet and slams his forearms into the table. "Oops," He mumbled, standing up.

"Hi there," Louis smiles. "Wanna take a seat before you trip over something else?"

"Yeah, yeah," He's flustered, and he hates it. Louis' only said a handful of words to him, and he doesn't have any confidence. This boy is just so damn beautiful. "I'm Harry." 

"I figured. Big dumb curly lad? Got to be the same one I was singing on stage with just a minute ago." Oh, a funny one. "I'm Louis," He shuts his phone up and turns his pretty blue eyes to meet Harry's green.

"I wasn't really expecting a duet, but you have a really pretty voice."

"Pretty, huh?" He spooned more pasta into his mouth, but Harry could see that he was blushing. "You've got an even prettier voice. You haven't got any singles like that or anything?"

"Afraid not." Harry pulled his legs tight together in nervousness. He really didn't know Louis, and this boy was giving his enough butterflies to make him feel like he was going to start shitting them out of his ass. "I haven't sang in a long time before tonight." 

His eyes flashed. "What's so special about tonight?"

"I kind of realized that my husband is an abusive asshole who's been manipulating me for years," Too soon, Harry? He anxiously awaited a reaction, but he just ate more pasta, like that didn't bother him. "He left me at a club tonight, while I was having a panic attack. So this bartender gave me the advice to fight him, but he's not returning any calls or anything, so I started singing, and then Mr. Ranch told me to come here, and now I'm here."

"A one of a kind story," His eyes twinkled. "You hungry? Alexis!" He flagged down the waiter, who didn't say anything about the Jessica Simpson matter when he pulled up, asking about drinks and what he might possibly want to eat.

"Just an ice water, and then like chicken tenders? Fries? Anything like that?" He took the order and quickly walked away with a smile.

"So, we're both children, ey? A match made in heaven," Louis' attitude turned flirtatious for a second, and Harry found it even harder to breathe.

"No way. We're both rock stars!" Louis laughed - a loud noise that made heads turn, and a smile graced his features that made him look younger than he appeared. He quickly covered his mouth and became a stone-like feature again. "What's so wrong about laughing?" Harry quickly asked.

"Nothing. Just, nothing really makes me laugh anymore."

"So, childish jokes do? In that case..." Harry launched into a series of really bad jokes centered around puns, and Louis was biting down on his napkin to keep from disturbing the peace and getting them kicked out. By the time he was running out of steam, the food arrived and Harry's evolutionary wolf instinct kicked in.

Louis talked then, fork swirling around the last noodle in his bowl. "You know, I'm free for the rest of the night. I'm down to help you find your...husband and beat him bloody. He sounds like a real dick, honestly."

"You have no idea," Harry said with a full mouth, and then blushed. His mom would hit him upside the head. Talking to a drop-dead gorgeous boy with his mouth full? A scandal.

Louis looked at him, and then spoke once more. "Do you understand what I'm saying here? I want to hang out with you. For the rest of the night, if you're up for that."

Harry only blushed deeper, and he nodded. "Well then, you're a part of the team. There's Niall, Liam, and soon to be Zayn. He says he's really going to crack all of this open and find him." Louis went back to his phone, typing out a couple of text messages while his new friend ravenously consumed his post-midnight snack. It was three thirty in the morning. Early breakfast?

When Harry had finished his water, Louis and him walked shoulder to shoulder towards the dressing rooms. "I have to say this, Harry. You're really cute."

"Well, so are you. Louis."

"Do you have my charger?" Nodding, Harry went to grab that and his phone from where he had left them plugged in. Then he handed it over to Louis, who was carrying a backpack and fixing his hair in the mirror of his own dressing room.

"You look beautiful," Harry openly flirted.

Louis laughed, shutting the door behind him. "You move on fast, don't you, Curly?"

Shrugging, he remarked. "Sometimes things like this just happen." The two of them talked and flirted as they made their way out to the bus. A nice coincidence that both of them were using public transportation on this fine night/morning. After a little math in his head and looking at a map, they sat there on a bench alone. Louis grabbed his hand. "Um?"

He didn't let go, and didn't say a word. So Harry asked him a question. "From what I heard about you, you're some high-strung, always talkative guy. That doesn't seem true."

"That's usually me. But you look like you need a calming influence, so I'll be that for you." Harry could've kissed him on the mouth right then and there. How had this strange night brought him to his soulmate? The best person in the world, someone who was the polar opposite of the man he was trying to find and beat into the pavement?

Once the bus came, their conversation switched. Louis rubbed his thumb back at forth on Harry's much larger hand. "I'd love to punch anyone's face who's done you wrong."

"I want to burn all of his clothes. It's all I've been thinking about all night," Harry admitted. "You know, beyond breaking his ribs."

"I'd break his femur. I'm a fighter. I know how to hit, I'm a drummer!" It was Harry's turn to rest. He put his head on Louis' shoulder. What a wonderful thing to talk about with a person you just met.

Was this real love?