Love Competition (The X Factor Larry Stylinson)

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Harry woke up, grabbed his clothes, and made his way to the bathroom.

Louis was standing at the door, waiting in line, boredly talking on the phone.

Harry sighed and debated going back into his room. Instead, he stood behind the shorter boy reluctantly. After about forty-five seconds of listening to his now (seemingly amazing) conversation, he decided he was talking to nobody other than Eleanor herself. Suprising.

He hung up the phone as Harry's thoughts were going a mile a minute. Louis obviously wasn't feeling any regret, sadness, anger, anything over this situation, if you could even call it that. He took a deep breath, and then cleared his throat.

Louis glanced over his shoulder and met eyes with the boy, the turned around. "Hi."

"I'm going on a date today with Kendall," he said casually, holding up the bundle of khaki pants and polo shirts in his arms. 

"Oh?" Louis raised his eyebrows, glancing as Harry lowered the pile of clothes and held eye contact.

"Yup. We're going to the mall. Gonna be there all day."

"Me and El are going to the mall today, too. What time are you guys going?"

Hearing Louis call Eleanor "El" was like a stab in the chest, but Harry ignored the fact that his breathing was speeding up and his chest was getting tighter and tighter. His mind raced to think of a time for his imaginary date. "Um... uh..."

"You don't even know...?"

"One o'clock, actually," spat Harry, watching the surprised expression on the boys face from his sudden outburst. Guilt washed over him. His throat tightened.

The bathroom door opened and a boy stepped out.

Louis looked at the boy walking down the hall, then back at Harry. "Oh, really? We're going twelve. Maybe we'll see you there."

Harry checked his imaginary watch. "Well, Mr. Loverman, it's quarter after eleven right now. I suggest you go get ready."

Louis didn't say anything when he walked away, but Harry could've sworn he heard him mutter "Loverman".

When Harry got out of the bathroom, he headed into the kitchen for some breakfast. He sat with Zayn and ate his cheerios quietly, not seeing Louis head out the door sadly. About twenty minutes later, he told Zayn he had a date to attend and left as well. Zayn was unsure of how truthful

Harry was excited for his little mall adventure. He loved being alone lately. The thought of paps didn't scare him - his excuse if he was photographed alone would be that she was in the bathroom or something like that. Easy. He wasn't worried at all. They seemed to care more about the other One Direction relationships, anyways.

He arrived early, around 12:58. The cool A/C felt nice on his face as he stepped into the shopping center. He inhaled the scent of crisp new clothes and cinnabons and started walking around with no reason. 

It wasn't until he was checking out the nail polish in Claires when he lost his sense of relaxation. 

Eleanor was on the other side of the store, and she was walking over to him.

"Oh my god, hi!" She grinned, grabbing him into a hug.

Harry wrapped his arms around her, noticing how lovely her hair smelled. Like apples, or maybe cinnamon. Maybe both. He was compelled to ask her, but he was then reminded of the situation - his best friend's girlfriend spotted him in Claires holding a bottle of Candy Apple nail polish.

"How are you?" She smiled. "Louis told me you were going to be here today, too. You're going out with my friend, Kendall!"

Harry nodded uncomfortably. Eleanor didn't notice.