Finding Warmth

Chapter 1: Meeting

Louis crossed his legs, sitting on the pavement. His one hand fidgeted with a loose string on his shirt while the other held on to a cigarette. He scanned the area around him, waiting for something to catch his eye, to lead him into an adventure. Louis always tried to have a wandering eye, always living in a fantasy world where he could run off into the woods and befriend strangers who danced in the moonlight. He let the smoke cloud his vision to stop himself from daydreaming.

"Louis are you coming, he's going to be here soon," his band mate Zayn called out. Louis let out a small sigh as he crushed the end of his cigarette into the grass, watching the small embers darken the earth.

"Whats his name again?" Louis asked as he walked up to Zayn. "I think its Harry."

"His last name is styles, I feel like that has a ring to it, like a famous persons name. Like you think of celebrities name and their names are very fitting and sound well together, wouldn't you agree?" the other band mate Liam rambled on. Louis just nodded, unsure of what his friend was trying to say.

A few moments later there was a knock on the garage door and outside stood a tattooed covered boy. Louis eyed him up and down, trying his best not to let any emotion appear on his face.

"Um hello, I'm Harry," he introduced himself awkwardly.

"Well come in! I'm Liam, this is Niall, Zayn and Louis."
"Nice to meet you guys." Harry shook their hands, looking each boy directly in their eyes. Louis held on to his gaze, determined to make the boy feel intimidated.

"So how does this work? Like are we going to sing a little like do a test run? I should probably tell you guys I don't play any instruments I mean I'm learning the guitar but other than that..." Harry trailed off trying to read the boys faces.

"No worries about the instrument thing we've got it covered. Zayn's on drums, Niall's on guitar. And we all sing, so were just going to sing a few and see how we all sound."
"Alright sounds cool. Its a sweet set up you guys have. Have there been a lot of people trying to judge you."
"Well we had this one fellow who wanted to sing with us but he had a thick southern accent. Like those ones you hear in america where they pronounce tomato as termater. I have no idea why the hell the man was here in London when he should belong on a farm," Niall answered chuckling. "But other than that no ones really I guess you say auditioned. I mean we just do this for fun, don't expect anything big"
"Got it," Harry said.

Minutes roll by and the group of boys argue which song they should have Harry test out first. Zayn and Liam bicker while Niall fires away questions at Harry. Louis watches the interaction. He's half expecting for Harry to grow annoyed at Niall's pointless question or leave with the way Zayn and Liam are arguing with each other. But he doesn't. Instead he sits there resting his elbows on his legs looking at Niall the same way a child looks at a parent.

"Okay since you guys clearly can't come to a decision lets just go with I Want because if I have to keep listening to you two bicker I'm going to rip my ears off," Louis cuts them off and grabs his mic. The rest of the boys follow his lead, Zayn mutters under his breath. Harry sits there, looking at Louis to provide him with instructions. "Harry you can share Liam's mic." Louis tone is slightly sharp.

As they sing, Louis steals a few glances at Harry, watching the way his fingers curl of the mic, almost swallowing it whole. He can't help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy as he becomes fixated on the boy's features and his voice. The only way Louis could describe Harry's voice was that it sounded like velvet. It was rigid and coarse but soft. It's like if you said the word velvet and focused on how the tongue slides smoothly over the L and then just melts. Once the song is over Louis peels his eyes away and goes back to being silent.

"I think this goes without saying but you can definitely be in the band. You've got talent, hell I'm surprised you don't want a solo career," Liam teased. Harry's cheek turned pinkish at the sound of the compliment.
"I'm really just looking to have some fun, I've always wanted to sing with a group of people." Harry admitted.
"Well we try to have a gig at least once every two weeks even if its something small. We honestly don't practice much, everything is lenient. The gigs pay pretty well and we always split it. Louis and Zayn live here and Niall and I have a place about 5 minutes from here so were all really close. But that's about all you really need to know."
"Wow so you guys are pretty much all close friends," Harry points out as he shuffled his feet.
"Yeah we've known each other since preschool days, diapers and everything" Niall said.
"Well I hope I don't feel like a fifth wheel," Harry joked. Louis rolled his eyes while the rest of the boys let out a laugh.

He couldn't quite put his tongue on it, but watching and listening to Harry made his skin crawl. As if there were bugs trying to burrow in his skin and latch onto him forever. He has always been aware when it has come to the people closest to him and his music he always felt territorial. But in a way, as much as Louis wanted to come off as intimidating and the leader of the pack, he could sense that Harry could be the one to take over. There was an intense glare in the boys eyes and even though he held himself up as if he was lanky boy, confidence still radiated off his body, like Harry was fully aware of his own affect. Louis couldn't help but think all of this was some ploy, to come in as an awkward boy trying to make friends but in reality wanting to stir something up. A game. But he pushed the conspiracy theory out of his head knowing he sounded absolutely ridiculous and had already let the jealousy seep too deep in his brain.

He extended his hand to Harry, mumbling out a goodbye while keeping his eyes on the floor. His hand in comparison to Harry's looked small. Delicate against his skin. He wondered if Harry noticed this.