Ghostly (Narry)

Chapter Twenty One: Not Dazed, Just Confused

"Harry?"

Niall's voice interrupts his thoughts. He was thinking of Niall, admiring his features while they sat on his bed, Niall playing with his long fingers and the sweet sound of Fleetwood Mac playing softly from the speaker on his desk.

"Yeah?" Harry sat up, his lower back starting to burn from sitting in the awkward position for so long. Niall followed suit, turning to face him, legs folded beneath each other.

The blond looked nervous almost, eyes looking anywhere but at Harry, and all the younger boy could do was wonder what was going on in that pretty little head of his.

"Ni?" he asked when he knew Niall wasn't going to say anything more, "What is it?"

Niall shrugged in response, more interested in a stray thread on the joggers Harry let him borrow.

"Come on," Harry said softly, using his hand to lift Niall's chin, "You can't just change your mind now. Tell me."

The other boys' cerulean eyes studied him so intently that it almost had Harry squirming under his gaze. He was beginning to feel a little nervous by the way Niall was examining him.

Niall sighed, "What happened earlier between you and Lou?" he asked quietly. He knew it wasn't really his place to ask, but this was something he'd been wondering since he had seen the pair first interact.

Harry tensed up and pulled away quickly, but Niall had noticed. He watched Harry's guard come up, he could see the change not only in his body language, but also in those mossy green eyes he was so infatuated with.

The room became uncomfortably quiet while the song changed from one to the next. They could hear muffled laughter from the other side of the door where their other friends were hanging out.

Harry clenched and unclenched his jaw. He hated the topic of what happened between him and Louis. It was something that he always wanted to forget, but could never quite seem to let it go. It was clear as day that there was some sort of grudge Harry held against his older friend, but he'd thought he had done a decent job of covering it up. I guess not.

"You don't have to explain," Niall said shyly when Harry refused to answer, "It's between you two."

Harry bit his lip, looking up at the blond. He looked so cuddly and cute, hunched over himself, arms wrapped around his calves in Harry's baggy clothing. His blond fringe fell over his eyes as he looked back at Harry innocently. He almost groaned at the sight of Niall's wholesomeness.

"It's okay," he finds himself saying, before he's really kicking himself. He hadn't meant to blurt that out and now he had to tell Niall.

He ran a hand through his hair, the knotted strands getting caught around his fingers. He winced and pulled his hand out, trying not to pull the hair even more.

"It was when we lived back home," Harry started. He wasn't sure that he could look at Niall while he relived the moment his and Louis friendship was wrecked, so he opted to look up at the ceiling instead. His hands were placed on his lap, fingers intertwined with each other, cenching every so often.

"During senior year of high school, I was dating this guy. You know, it was just one of those relationships – a first love – and I was so happy. I'd come out as bi and everything was great. Everyone accepted me, my parents, my sister, my friends. No one at school gave me shit. It was the perfect situation to be in," he smiled sourly, "I really liked this guy. I spent nearly all of my time with him. We were very into each other, but Liam and Louis were a little upset with me because I hadn't been hanging out with them as much."