Play Pretend, Find a Friend? (Larry Stylinson)

2

II.

"You kissed Harry Styles?!"

Louis slapped his hand over Liam's mouth to muffle his words. They were in the library, for god's sake, it was no place to be saying people's names so loudly, especially in this context. Louis could sense a few eyes on them from curious students at the surrounding study tables. Liam mumbled something against his palm, but his words were indecipherable.

"Babes, stop that," Zayn reprimanded.

Louis refused. "We're going somewhere more private. You both have to be quiet, or else this is going to be very bad."

They packed up their belongings and shuffled up to the third floor. It wasn't until they were tucked away in the farthest study room that Louis began talking again, albeit in a whisper.

"Yes, I kissed Harry Styles. Why is that so surprising to you? Who even is he, anyways?"

Liam and Zayn stared at him in shock.

"You kissed him and you don't even know who he is?"

"I was drunk!" Louis defended. "And he was wearing a rainbow bracelet. And you know I like tall boys."

"Harry isn't even that tall."

Louis crossed his arms over his chest. "He's taller than me."

Liam and Zayn shared a look with each other. They were always doing that, silently communicating over his head, and after being friends with them since freshman year, Louis had learned to just ignore it.

"So? Who is he?"

"We're in the same frat," Liam said. "If you ever paid attention to anything, you would know that."

"I knew that already," Louis grumbled. Well, he hadn't known until Landon made it painfully obvious that night, but still.

"He was just elected president. Of Phi Kappa Alpha."

"Oh." Louis stood up straighter. That was kind of a big deal. He didn't know Harry was popular or influential enough to be elected president of the fraternity. Although, now that he thought about it, it made sense. Just from what Louis witnessed over the weekend, he was so charismatic, and he walked around with so much confidence. Also, he seemed to know everyone, and the whole time they were at the party, people kept stopping to say hi to him. "So are you friends with him?"

"I mean, yeah, we're brothers, Louis."

Louis thought of how much Harry seemed to dislike Landon, even though they were also brothers. Siblinghood in Greek life was so weird. "That doesn't mean you're friends. And besides, why am I just hearing about him now?"

"You talk about how much you hate frat guys every day of your life. Whenever you say you love me, you always say, 'I love you, Liam, even though you're in a fraternity.'"

Fair enough. Louis shrugged. "He's cute, though. He's exactly my type. And I'm single, and you guys keep trying to set me up with people, so why not him?"

Zayn rolled his eyes. "That's not the point, Louis. He only just came out, a few weeks ago. It was a whole ordeal. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it?"

"Wait, what? What do you mean? A few weeks ago like my definition of 'a few,' or Landon's definition of 'a few'?"

Liam furrowed his brows. "What are you talking about? Three weeks ago, he came out three weeks ago. After he was elected president. He kept it hidden until then because he never would've gotten elected if people knew he was gay."