Bittersweet - Larry

28

Niall had caught us red-handed and the evidence was taped to every single locker all the way down the hall. Because of Harry's suspension, he wasn't here to take half the attention. Half the hallway was looking at me and the other half was looking at the photo taped to their locker, though all of them were too intimidated to say anything when Harry was involved. But it didn't stop them from whispering, nor did it stop them from looking at me like I was actually related to Harry.

"Look at me, Louis." I snapped out my thoughts and looked at Zayn instead, his hands placed on my cheeks. "It's gonna be okay."

"No, it's not." 

I still didn't care about people's opinions, but our parents were gonna find out now. There was no way around it.

"Take a deep breath." I did as he told me to, but I was still trembling. "You have to believe your parents won't forbid you to be together."

"I can't just believe that." 

It wasn't about our parents' acceptance. It was about what was gonna happen if Harry and I broke up, which was pretty much inevitable when we were both going off to uni. I hadn't been sure whether or not that was something I wanted, but not getting into medical school was something I'd regret. I could always drop out if failure became a reality, but Harry had convinced me to at least try. If I had believed in love, I was certain we could've made it work, but neither of us knew how to be someone's boyfriend, so making long-distance work was certainly out of the picture.

"Give them the benefit of the doubt," Zayn said. 

I knew he was right, but I had a hard time believing our parents would agree to let us date, so I had already teared up. I let him hug me while I tried my best not to cry. Zayn and I had grown close over the past month, the same way Harry and Liam had, and I was suddenly grateful for his presence. 

"I just... I can't handle this alone." 

"Harry is already on his way."

I pulled back to look at him. "He's suspended."

"He doesn't care, Louis. I called him when I saw the photos. He knows you need him." 

I smiled, but I didn't have time to come up with a response. Not only was Liam walking towards us, but Harry walked through the double doors at the same time. His eyes found mine, and he walked towards me as if the entire hallway wasn't watching him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I don't know." 

Harry was used to attention, and I had gotten used to it whenever I walked with him or sat with him during lunch, but this was different. People didn't admire Harry the way they used to. The truth about Leah was the reason for it, but now this was in the mix too. If they knew about Sophie, they wouldn't necessarily think of him as the villain anymore, but it wouldn't make them understand his relationship with me.

"Where is he?" Harry asked. 

"I don't know." 

I looked around to see if Niall was between the crowd of people, but Harry found him before I did. And once again he slammed him against the lockers, but there was something about Niall that wasn't quite right. He seemed less than satisfied. Almost as if he regretted what he had done. 

"When did you become so cruel?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Niall asked.

"Was it when I fucked your girlfriend? Or when she gave birth to my daughter?" 

My mouth dropped open, and it seemed like everyone else was equally as shocked, but for a different reason. I was shocked because he admitted to it, but they were shocked because they hadn't known. Leah had never wanted it out, that being the biggest reason for why he had kept quiet about it, but she wasn't here. She didn't even live in the same city anymore, so it shouldn't matter.