the article « l.s.

[chapter 8]

Throughout the following week, I couldn't stop thinking about our date. I wanted to meet him again and see where it'll go. We kept on texting each other too, but I was quite busy. On Wednesday, we talked on the phone and it was good to hear his voice again. We talked about a lot of stuff like his supposed cooking skills, that he said he had to convince me of someday. After 2 hours, which felt like 5 minutes, I told him that I had to leave since I had to go to work early the following day.
On Thursday, I received a good-morning message and a nice invitation to his flat for Saturday. He texted me excitedly that he would cook for us, and I couldn't hide my excitement. I also called home and talked to my siblings, which made me realize how much I missed them. At the end of the call, when Lottie had brought the twins to bed, she made me tell her every little detail about the date and our plans for the future.
"Lottie?", I said hesitantly.
"Yes, Lou?"
"I think I like him.", I told her and the line went dead for at least 30 seconds. I wasn't sure if I had done anything wrong, but when she then squealed and told me she was happy for me and him, it felt like a heavy weight was lifted from me. Because the thing was that if any of my siblings had understandable problems with someone I liked, I wouldn't date them, because family was important to me.
"Louis? Are you still with me?", she giggled, "Will you now tell me his name?"
I wasn't sure if I really should tell her, because I knew that Harry's reputation preceded him. And I didn't want her to freak out.
"I don't know, Lottie. Because you know him, but his reputation is...well, isn't the best.", I said skeptically.
"Oh, please, Lou. I promise I won't judge!", she whined through the phone and I decided to tell her.
"Okay, it's Harry Styles.", I was sure that I had never spoken that fast before and when the line went dead I wasn't sure anymore if it had been a good idea to tell her.
But she told me she didn't judge me, but that I had to be cautious because she didn't want me to get my heart broken. I comforted her, we exchanged good-nights and I hung up. At night, I lay awake for a long time and overthought everything. Was he just playing? Was I falling for him? Did he like me too? And when I looked at my bedside clock and saw it was half-past one, I decided that I wouldn't get any answers n matter how much I thought about them. But little did I know, I wasn't the only one thinking about these questions.