seasons of love | Narry Storan AU

chapter 21.

2015

"Wow. Wow, wow, wow, what a topic." Louis Tomlinson raises both of his eyebrows, shocked with the information he just heard from his friend Niall. "I mean, I had my suspicions about it, but I didn't believe this would come up between all of us so... early in the academic year?!"

"That's because you believe in every single story you create in your own head, Lou." Niall rolls his eyes, jumping back on his bed right after opening his bedroom door for his friend.

"This is not about me, it's about you and Harry."

"No, no, there's no 'me and Harry' here. I don't think you're understanding my point", the Irish lad complains. "There's no 'me and him' because he has no idea that I know he's into me or something like that. Perrie told me."

"Why the hell did she do that? It's kind of creepy!"

"I know, right? Unhappily, I couldn't just remove the phrase from my head, so I keep on thinking about it all day. It's stressing me out, and only you know me enough to help me with this."

"That's because I was your first kiss."

"Bad memory, bad memory, bad memory", Niall repeats the mantra out loud, making Louis laugh about the secret they share. "We were drunk. That never counted for me."

"It was wild."

"Louis!"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop", the Doncaster dude keeps on laughing, though. "Listen, Heineken, you don't have to do anything about it for now. As you said, he has no idea that you know about his feelings, right?"

"I don't even know what kind of feelings he has for me."

"What, Perrie didn't tell you about it?"

"I didn't let her do it."

"Let me guess why... maybe you thought you shouldn't know about such a private thing from your roommate's romantic life, right?"

"Exactly what I thought." Niall verbally agrees with his friend.

"Do you think you like him?"

The question makes him ponder for a minute. Do I like him or not?

"I don't know. I don't think I had... time enough to think about it." The young Horan says, while his mind is processing the words he wants to use for his answer. "College has been a mess for my thoughts ever since the first class started, Lou. There's just so much going on right now, you know?"

"I get it. It has been a mess for me, too."

"It doesn't seem like--"

"First tests for my grades will come up to me next week and I have no idea of what I have to study for this shit", Louis interrupts Niall. "What do you think?"

"Yeah. A mess."

"This is why I'm not putting pressure on you right now, Niall", the young Tomlinson lays down on Niall's bed, standing right beside him and allowing his blond friend to lay his head on Lou's chest. "I love to play jokes with you all the time, but I know when you're scared enough for me to stop everything I'm doing just to help you with whatever is bothering you."

"Thanks, Lou."

"That's what friends are for." He shrugs. "So, do you feel better now?"

2032

"Uncle Lou is such a friend", Chloe smirks while saying those words. "I wish he was here to be our friend, too."

"Uncle Lou has his own life, he can't be here all the time", the older Horan says to his daughter, "but I promise I'll call him for our next Sunday lunch. What do you think about that?"

"Sounds good for me", both of the kids answer at the same time, making their father laugh a bit.

"Dad, could you talk about the fact that your first kiss was with Louis? How was that?" Taylor Horan ponders out loud.

"It seems like y'all will never rest until I tell you about it, right?"

"I could try it."

"Okay. So, it was one of my first parties at high school. I was fucking nervous when I got there, and I already knew your uncle Louis from a couple of classes we had together, but we were not exactly best friends at that time."

"Cut this part, dad."

"You have to wait, little Taylor." Niall clears his thorat before he continues the little intermission story about his own first kiss. Hilarious, he thinks. "So, Louis saw me in the middle of the backyard and he immediately had me under his arms for the rest of the night. Literally. He couldn't release me from his touch, and anyone who didn't notice his drunkeness would think we were dating or something like that."

"I remember the last time uncle Lou got drunk in front of us. It was weird. He started telling me he loved me like, ten times a minute." Chloe comments on the topic.

"He did the same with me!" Taylor almost screams, jumping on his bed.

"Louis made me drink a few Heinekens that night, too", their father calls back their attention for the story, "and I got a little... too happy, to say the least. And I told him that I had never been kissed before. Then he ran across the house, and I was running behind him because his hand was holding mine so tightly that I couldn't do anything else. He only stopped running when we were at the living room, with everyone taking shots of vodka or other dangerous drinks."

"Were they using drugs?"

"Chloe!" He reprehends his daughter. "We shouldn't be thinking about drugs here."

"It's a common conversation among the teachers when they want us to feel scared."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Anyway, your uncle Lou took the microphone and yelled at everyone something like, "this guy here is about to have his first kiss!" and I felt my cheeks blushing like two big tomatoes. I swear."

"Louis kissed you in front of all the other people?" Taylor asks, visibly curious about what happened.

"Yeah. It was wild."