Sweater Weather | H.S.

3.

She didn't smile, which Harry did not like one bit. It was Christmas, that was more than enough to make a person smile. But instead, she just turned away, only to be greeted by a large hug from Louis. He was a hugger.

"It's nice to meet you!" He beams, "I've heard so much about you!"

"Hope it was all good," she smiles in return. Her accent was Irish, close enough to Niall's that they could've been cousins.

"It was most definitely! I'm Louis by the way," he extends his hand, a more cordial first meeting gesture.

"Riley," she takes his hand in hers and shakes it firmly.

"Nice to meet you. And this," he announces while clapping Harry on the back rather roughly. "Is my best pal, Harry."

"Nice to meet you, best pal Harry," she laughs inwardly while she shakes his hand as well. His hand was large and warm, and it felt nice against her cold skin that just came in from the outside. Louis' hand was warm to, of course, but not that warm.

"Nice to meet you too," he manages a smile. After all, it's Christmas Eve and everyone should be welcomed.

She turns away and follows Niall into the kitchen, helping him with the strawberries. "It seems everyone is friendly with this Riley," Harry mumbles as he watches Niall and her laugh over something that was said.

"She's awesome, why wouldn't we be?" Eleanor laughs while she clings to Louis. "Besides, it's Christmas Eve, everyone should be friendly." Harry took that into consideration, and found it to be almost the exact same thing he thought earlier. But still, he didn't like new people crashing parties.

"True, but it's just...weird?" He questions, and they all roll their eyes at him.

"It's Christmas spirit, so deal," Perrie scolds him playfully as she ruffles his curls and saunters into the kitchen. Harry follows her and everyone else, remembering the egg nog in the fridge.

Taking it out, he sets it on the counter while pulling out the plastic cups for everyone. "Thank you," they all muttered except Riley as they took a cup. She was not well mannered...well, not with him. His eyebrows cross while she scoops out her drink.

Everyone escapes the kitchen, leaving the two alone while Harry gets his own drink. "Why do people go so overboard with this holiday?" She asks while gesturing to the butt load of decorations displayed around the house.

Harry took offence to this.

"Why wouldn't they? It's the best time of the year," he almost scoffs at her dumb question.

"Not to me. I hate the snow, the tinsel, the hustle and bustle. God, I can't stand it." She appeals less and less to him the more she opens her mouth. "I mean, we can get presents throughout the year, why go crazy for one day?"

"It's not just about the presents," he defends. "It's about everything else. Family, the lesson of giving, the thoughtfulness of people, the cheer in the atmosphere. So much more than just presents in one day."

"You sound a little obsessed with the holiday," she is tempted to roll her eyes at him, but she refrains herself from doing so.

"I might be, what's so bad about that? So is over half the world."

"Not as many people as you think." He wanted to ask her 'Then why are you wearing a hideous Santa sweater?' But held his tongue.

"I don't care how many people like, love, or dislike it. I love it and you're opinion is irrelevant about the situation," he almost snaps.

She was taken aback by his words, but they didn't scare her, she has argued with worse in her eighteen years of life.

"Don't get too offended, curly," she laughs. "It's only twenty-four hours."

"The best twenty-four hours out of the year," he mutters.

"Clearly you haven't had sex all day," she laughs at her reply. She actually laughed so hard her face turned red and she snorted in a very unappealing way. "I'm kidding!" She rolls her eyes as she notices his expression was the same as it was before she made her joke. "Lighten up."

"I might if you're not such an Ebenezer Scrooge about Christmas."

"Ba humbug," she laughs.

"You're jokes are not amusing," he mumbles, causing all sign of humor to leave her expression.

"You're presence is not amusing."

"You're personality is appalling."

"Your attitude is appalling," she scoffs as she drinks her eggnog from a red solo cup.

"Your sweater is appalling," he retorts, as a smile breaks across his light pink lips.

"Touché, Rudolph," she laughs at the reindeer embroidered in red on his snow white sweater.

"Ditto, Santa," he snorts at the jolly plump man stitched into her own jumper, resulting in her rolling her eyes before walking away. "Ho ho ho!" He mocks, causing her to abruptly turn around and send him a certain hand gesture. "Happy Christmas to you too!" he smiles before drinking the rest of his eggnog and going to get more.