Your Addictive Heart || l.s

It's a Date

Harry could hardly get through his father's failed attempt at meatloaf. He wanted to get in his car and race over to Louis' and get to the bottom of this.

"I'm going to head over to Niall's for a bit. He's helping me with an assignment." He carried his plate to the sink.

Both his sister and father sat in silence as they finished their meals. His father made a grunt-like noise to acknowledge him. Harry appreciated that his dad didn't try and force him to stay and catch up on life, but part of him wondered why he didn't bother to anymore.

Harry grabbed his jacket and left without so much as a goodbye. He was still wearing his gender-appropriate attire that he was forced to wear when his father was around. He hated that he was going to see Louis like this. He wanted to feel confident when he confronted him.

Harry showed up to the Tomlinson house unannounced yet again. He just hoped they weren't eating dinner. He wanted to catch Louis off guard so he couldn't make any excuses.

He felt his anxiety chewing through his insides as he waited at their doorstep. He felt the flyer inside the pocket of his zip-up hoodie. He slid his thumb over the corners and tried to calm his nerves. It served as a reminder of how close he had been to losing everything.

He rang the doorbell and then shoved his hand back into his jacket pockets to shield his skin from the late October chill.

He heard what sounded like a million voices coming from inside that house. The house was always filled to the brim. It was something Harry missed.

Lottie answered the door but she wasn't alone. "Hey, Harry." She smiled.

"Oh, hey Harry." Anna lost the smile she had had from whatever she and Lottie had been discussing before Harry rang the doorbell.

"Hey, Lottie. Hey, Anna." He greeted the pair. He wasn't sure how to approach her. He hadn't spoken to Anna in weeks. He was sure Anna and Olivia would have been the first to make up but he knew how stubborn she could be. "How have you been?"

"Good?" She asked as if she wasn't sure why Harry would even ask.

"Good." Harry nodded. He didn't know what to do here. He wanted to be a friend to her but how was he supposed to get past her walls? "I...I heard you got a new cat." He made conversation.

She cracked a small smile before getting serious again. "Yeah, his name is Marinara. We found him eating leftover pasta from our trash one night."

Harry couldn't help but crack up at the thought of a cat eating spaghetti.

"How'd you hear about that?" Anna furrowed her eyebrows a little.

"Oh, Diana told me." He wondered if he should have brought Diana up to Anna.

"She did?" She stood up straight. "Did she say anything else?" She shrugged a shoulder.

"Yeah! Yeah, she talks about you all the time." Harry knew if he could help Anna just score a date with her they'd be closer to patching their friendship.

"Cool." She blushed as she tried to hold back a big smile.

"Did you need something Harry?" Lottie asked impatiently.

Harry wondered if he had done something to upset her. "Uh, yeah. I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about these flyers?" He pulled the folded paper out of his pocket to show her.

She examined the front first and then the back. "I've never seen this in my life. But damn, this is good." She squinted a little harder to study it. "Way better than the one we were going to send out. Where did this come from?"