I lay awake thinking of you ~ l.s

Part 4

"Wait—Niall?" Louis asked as they stepped off of the tram that had taken them all the way down to the city pier where the traveling funfair had set up its tents.

"Hm?" The blond asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Harry's not going to be here—I mean, you haven't tried to hoodwink me into talking with Harry by bringing me here?"

"I do not know what you're talking about," Niall said, walking a step in front of Louis.

Louis stopped in his tracks, giving the blond a calculating look. "Niall..." He said warningly.

Niall turned around, giving Louis a pleading look. "Lou, come on. Please. You guys have been friends for way to long for it to just go away like that. He still needs you, and you still need him."

Louis picked up his phone out of his pocket as it vibrated, then turning it to Niall.

"Does this look like he 'needs me' to you, huh?"

It was a picture that Harry had posted on Instagram just now. Louis still had his notifications turned on, not having the heart to turn them off.. It was from the beach just on the other side of the pier that Louis and Niall were standing on. He was riding on Jacobs back, his paler and slightly pink skin contrasting nicely with Jacob's darker complexion. Both clad in scantily short swimming trunks, Harry a yellow pair and Jacob a bright neon pink. They were both smiling brightly at the camera, the sun reflecting in both of their eyes, making them gleam. Harry's arms were around Jacob's neck, one hand in the latter's unruly black hair.

They looked happy.

"He doesn't." Louis said in a small voice. "I had my chance, I fucked it up, and now I'll have to live with that."

"Lou I—" Niall stuttered. "Please, I promise I'll make Harry leave if he tries to approach you if that makes you happy. But we're here, and I've got express tickets for us so that we can skip the line at the attractions."

Louis looked up from his feet slowly, that did sound like a lot of fun.

"Fine." Louis gave in. "But I won't stay long."

"A little of your time is all that I'm asking for." Niall smiled, taking his hand and leading him towards the entrance of the funfair.

...

Louis and Niall had a blast at the fair, enjoying skipping past the entire queue to the rides and squealing as the rollercoaster did its loop. They enjoyed laughing until their stomachs ached in the bumper cars, trying their best to crash as hard as they could into one another.

Soon, Louis had forgotten all about Harry.

That was until he saw him. Louis and Niall were joking around, an ice cream cone in each of their hands as they walked along the pier, the sun beginning to set in the distance, when they heard raised voices.

"I thought you cared more, about us, about me!"

"I do care!"

Louis and Niall followed the sound carefully, rounding the corner by the Ferris wheel, and there they saw them, looking far less happy than they had done in that Instagram post.

"That's a poor way of showing it, you Jackass."

"Hey! Don't call me a jackass."

"Should we—Go?" Niall nodded his head towards the exit behind them, but Louis stood as glued to the spot.

"But what's this, then?" Louis could hear Harry's voice trembling and it made his heart hurt. "Who's Josslyn, huh?"

"She's a friend, stop being so jealous. It's a bad look on you."