Burning Skies » larry

Chapter 21

Harry found it ironic that in the midst of his unfortunate past catching up with him, he was the happiest he'd ever been in a long time.

Louis was the most unexpected part of all this. He never thought he'd ever get close to anyone the way he got close to Louis. He'd always thought he'd spend the rest of his life alone and grow old in a house full of cats, but then of course Louis showed up out of nowhere and turned his world upside down.

Several months ago, Harry was in this same seat for his Philosophy class, paying close attention and jotting down everything his professor said. Right now, though, Harry was secretly texting beneath his table, smiling every time Louis' messages came in.

Louis: no trouble there? i'd love to make a dramatic entrance and save you from the bad people, you know. i'll be there in the blink of an eye if someone so much as looked wrong at u

Harry: As much as I appreciate that, I'm not exactly some disney princess in need of a hero, you know ;)

Louis: what! but your curls and doe eyes make you look like a disney princess!! this is outrageous!!!?

Harry: Sorry :( Did you think I was Belle all this time?

Louis: yes. well, now that that's out, i guess we're done now. gonna have to split the bed T_T

Harry giggled quietly, quickly typing out a response.

Harry: Nooo :((

Harry: I can't live without you !!

"Alright there, Harry?"

Harry's head snapped up. It was Liam, looking at him with amusement. Harry immediately flushed, shoving his phone into his pocket. He cleared his phone awkwardly, saying, "Uh, yeah. It was just Louis."

Liam raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Right."

Harry avoided his gaze and stared down at the empty page of his notebook. He didn't even feel guilty about not listening to their professor. He could easily read the books and understand the lesson anyway.

"By the way," Liam said, "are we still on for later?"

Right. Harry and Liam had been talking about guitars for a few days now, and Liam had offered to help Harry pick out a guitar to buy. Harry had some money stashed away in his savings to afford one. Harry was a bit shy to accept Liam's invitation at first, because even though they talked and Liam ate lunch with them from time to time, Harry didn't think Liam would want to spend time with him after school. But as it was, Liam was an exceptionally nice guy who fully supported Harry's interest in learning to play the guitar. In fact, Harry buying his own guitar came up when Liam offered to start teaching him to play. Harry had agreed out of excitement, but now he wasn't sure if going out to the mall would be such a good idea, especially since Harry hadn't really told Louis yet, since he was obviously going to come with them.

However, Harry was too nice to turn Liam down at the last minute.

"Yup," Harry said, smiling. "Um, Louis might come with us."

Liam nodded, grinning. "I kind of expected that."

Harry frowned. "Why?"

"I mean," Liam shifted in his seat, "you guys are attached to the hip. I'm guessing Louis' a bit of a clingy boyfriend, don't you think?"

"Um… I guess? That's not a bad thing, though." Harry mumbled. It wasn't like he could explain the true nature of his relationship with Louis to Liam, or that Louis being protective and "clingy" was absolutely within reason considering their current situation.