under your bed in new york. // larry stylinson

one.

It was 11:27am when Louis was shaken awake by a blonde.

Louis still missed the gentle, romantic ways Harry used to wake him up. He used to wake up to kisses, cuddles, and compliments, and now Louis woke up to Niall shaking him violently and shouting, "Wake up, Lou!" in his ear.

"Go away, Niall," Louis groaned, trying to swat Niall's hands away.

"Come on! We're supposed to meet Zayn and Liam in half an hour and we're going to be late all because of you."

Louis was really starting to regret giving Niall a key to his apartment. Originally, he'd done it so that he didn't have to get up and unlock the door for Niall whenever he came over, but now the Irishman was seriously abusing the use of the key and barging in on Louis whenever he wanted to.

"What time is it?" Louis' voice was a little croaky from just waking up and he cleared his throat a little.

"It's almost 11:30 and we're supposed to get there at twelve," Niall said. "We're going to be late, so you need to get up now - oh, hi Milky!" Niall bent down to pick up the little Corgi puppy who was pawing at his ankles and whining. "Here, maybe you'll be able to wake Louis up." Niall held the little puppy over Louis, and Milky got to work licking her owner's face, who giggled at the ticklish feeling of Milky's tongue.

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up." Louis sat up and took his puppy from Niall, scratching behind her ears. "Milky, you little traitor, I can't believe you're helping Niall instead of helping me chase him out of my apartment." Milky simply barked happily in response, and promptly tried to lick Louis' fingers.

"Lou, come on." Niall tapped his foot impatiently.

"Yeah, okay." Louis got out of bed and handed Milky to Niall. "Feed Milky for me, will you? Her kibble's in the cupboard above the sink."

Louis was ready to go in record time, having slept in so many times in his life that he was an expert at getting ready quickly. He gave Milky a few cuddles, kisses, and a promise to be back in a few hours before he and Niall left the apartment building and got into Louis' car. Liam and Zayn lived in another part of town, closer to where Louis used to live with Harry, but they were only twenty minutes away, and Louis and Niall were only fifteen minutes late when they met Liam and Zayn.

"You guys are late." Liam had a hint of disappointment in his tone.

"Only by a little. Sorry about that, Payno." Louis ran a hand through his hair and tried to flatten the cowlick at the back of his head.

Liam had known Louis for years and was used to his antics by now. "Come on, there's a new Italian restaurant near our building and I want to try it out."

Liam led them to said restaurant, and almost as soon as they were seated, Louis spotted a familiar face at the table next to them. "No way. Jamie?"

The familiar face turned to him and split into a wide grin. "Louis!"

Jamie had been Louis' colleague, but he'd received a promotion and moved to another city four years ago. "It's been so long! What are you doing here?" Louis hadn't seen Jamie in ages and couldn't help smiling.

"I'm back in town for a few days for work," Jamie explained. "Fancy seeing you here! How's life? Have you and Harry gotten married yet?"

Louis froze, smile melting off his lips. All of his friends' heads whipped around to shoot him worried glances, trying to gauge Louis' reaction.

It had been about three years since Louis left Harry, and the pain was a little easier to bear. A month after he'd left, Harry had indeed sent back all of Louis' things - he'd probably gotten Louis' location from Zayn - and Louis had pretended that he didn't notice a few of his oversized sweaters were missing. He'd lived at his childhood house with his family for a few months while he tried to figure out how to live without Harry. He'd done it for twenty years before he'd met the green-eyed boy, but after living with Harry for three years, Louis had forgotten how to live without him.