Songs For How You Taste | l.s.

Chapter 16

The night before the 23rd, Harry carefully wrapped up the box he bought Louis. And he made sure he did it in the most elaborate birthday wrapping paper he could find. This paper was navy and had neon green and gray spaceships with little cats in them, pointing towards a moon. And happy birthday was written in big block letters. He dug up some matching neon green ribbon and wrapped it carefully around the center, curling the edges.

He tucked it in the glovebox of his truck before he pulled out of the driveway on the foggy, hazy day, leaving a little after noon – following the GPS down long state roads. He sent Louis an on my way text and what time he could expected him.

Louis sat on the couch nearest to the window, phone clutched in one hand, leg bouncing up and down. He was wearing a soft, maroon sweater that was probably too big to be considered his. But it didn't matter because it didn't really smell like Harry anymore and it had been like well over twenty days since they had last seen each other. And he didn't really care if that sounded clingy because he missed him, and Harry was on his way to see him and it gave him soft, excited butterflies.

And he heard the door of a car shut, and those butterflies exploded, and he saw the eyes of all his sisters who were pretending not to pay attention snap up, towards their front door.

And there was a knock.

And he thanked his lucky stars his mum had already gone to work.

He pried Daisy off from the door handle before she could open it; she was the quickest one out of his sisters and was doing really well in her junior footie league and he was incredibly proud of her. But that day, the day that Harry came to see him, he shoved her behind him and slithered his body through the smallest opening of the door, slamming it shut behind him.

He came chest to chest to a slightly shocked, wide eyed Harry as he held the door tightly behind his back, bare feet pressing into the freezing cold concrete of his doorstep.

"Uh, hey." Louis said on an exhale, warm breath puffing out of his mouth in the small space between them, rising to the thick fog in the air.

Harry graced him with one of those laughs he'd do just through his nose, a soft chuckle exhale that Louis could see in two lines meeting the cold air. And Louis missed that because he couldn't really tell when Harry did it over FaceTime.

Louis shivered, maybe it was because he was finally really close to Harry again and could smell the way his shampoo mixed with his cologne or maybe it was because Harry put a hand on the small of his back and hugged him or maybe it was because he stepped out into the cold winter without shoes or a coat.

"Hey, yourself." Harry said, deep voice curling up on his lips, dimples pressing into his cheeks. And Louis was about to lean in to kiss him when he heard a loud bang against the window and turned around to see the blinds and curtains swinging wildly.

"Sorry uh – my sisters, they want to meet you. Do you want to come in?" Louis mumbled - and it was out of character for him to mumble, ever. He was loud, confident, determined to get what he wanted, and always refused to apologize for doing what he meant. But Harry made his tummy explode in butterflies. He made his heart beat like a hummingbird and made him fucking blush and mumble and giggle - like, seriously what was that soft shit?

"Okay, would love to," Harry said with a nod. And other than the small tip of his nose turning red which was probably from the cold anyway, he didn't really look like he was blushing or scared or nervous.

"My sisters, they can be a bit much," Louis offered as an explanation when he pushed the door open to find four interested sets of eyes. Phoebe was the first to speak, blurting out that Harry's hair was pretty. And Louis slapped his face with the palm of his hand, sliding it down to pinch the bridge of his nose.