i 0d2125e00f277ca8 (36 page)

“You know you‟ve already seduced me, right?” Louis says, as Harry

pulls him out into the middle of the hall, kicking aside balloons as he

goes. “You‟ve sealed the deal, this is totally unnecessary.” The floor is

sticky with God knows what; Louis hopes it‟s mostly punch. “And

somebody could come in.”

“Humour me,” Harry says, tugging him along, and Louis lets himself

be pulled. Once they reach the center of the room, Harry slips his hands

around Louis‟ waist and draws him close.

Louis puts his arms up around Harry‟s shoulders, muttering “Of course

you‟d want to lead.” Harry smiles and ducks his head, shushing him.

The music fills the room, a woman giving voice to words Louis has

heard before.

Wise men say

Only fools rush in.

Louis searches Harry‟s face with his eyes, but Harry isn‟t looking at

him, his eyes downcast. Louis finds himself confronted with the fan of

Harry‟s eyelashes, the slight curve of a smile ghosting over his mouth.

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Suddenly looking is too much, and Louis finds himself pulling Harry

closer, resting his chin on his shoulder. They sway in circles slowly,

Harry spreading one hand across Louis‟ lower back and lifting the other

to thread his fingers through Louis‟.

Louis finds himself wanting to tell Harry that he‟s glad that he‟s

leading, that Louis couldn‟t lead because he‟s never really slowdanced

before. He wants to tell Harry that he skipped his own prom, faked sick

because he couldn‟t ask the person he really wanted to go with. His

throat is choked with words, stories of every wedding he never went to

because the taste of others‟ champagne always turned sour in his

mouth. He wants to tell Harry that no one has ever wanted to stand up

with him in front of anybody else.

He wants to tell Harry too much, so he kisses him instead, pulling back

from Harry‟s shoulder and pressing their lips carefully together. Harry

makes a soft noise that Louis swallows and lets go of his hand, bringing

his own back to Louis‟ waist to pull him close, impossibly closer. Louis

raises his free hand to Harry‟s face, grazing his cheek with all five

fingertips before sliding them into his hair.

Harry smiles into the kiss and pulls back slightly. “D‟you still hate

Valentine‟s, Lou?” he breathes, rubbing his nose against Louis‟.

Louis grins. “Yes,” he says. “I guess I don‟t hate you, though.”

He can feel Harry‟s laugh against his mouth. “Fair enough,” Harry

says, before drawing him back in. “I don‟t hate you either,” he

whispers, and it‟s Louis‟ turn to smile into the embrace.

They stay like that for a long time, two figures in the center of the

empty hall, swaying together until the last notes of the song have long

faded away.

Finally, Louis heaves a sigh. “So, as lovely as this is,” he says, pulling

away from Harry. “We still actually have to clean this place up.”

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Slightly dazed, Harry looks around at the mess that surrounds them.

“Right. That. Shit,” he says, dropping his head onto Louis‟ shoulder. “I

may not have thought this through.”

“Hey,” Louis says, nudging Harry‟s head back up. “Race you.”

“What?”

“I‟ll take that side,” Louis says, sliding one hand down to the small of

Harry‟s back and gesturing toward the far side of the hall with his chin,

“you take this side, and whoever finishes first wins.”

Harry smirks. “And what will be my prize when I destroy you?”

“You‟ll get to shag me sooner,” Louis says, digging his fingers in.

Harry hums at that, low and pleased.

“Loser gives the winner a blowjob,” Harry says. He gives Louis one

last quick peck on the lips, and then he‟s off across the floor and

scooping up deflated balloons by the handful. Louis tries to do the

same, but he‟s laughing too hard to be very effective, too amused to

even fight back when Harry starts throwing debris from his side over

into Louis‟. Louis has always been a competitive sort, but he thinks this

is one fight he might not mind losing.

Niall Horan [email protected] 9:52 AM (32 minutes ago)

to me, Louis, Harry

have you lads seen this yet

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1590235_local-

fireman-saves-family-of-four-from-burning-house/rss=yes

245

Zayn Malik [email protected] 9:55 (29 minutes ago)

to Niall, Louis, Harry

NO OMFG

HE IS PERFECT :)))

XXX

Louis Tomlinson [email protected] 10:09 AM (15 minutes ago)

to me, Niall, Harry

honestly i thought you googled him once an hour, zayn, i‟m

disappointed

this is actually really impressive, though. we should take him out for

drinks to celebrate and then zayn can give him a congratulations

blowjob, yeah??

xx

Zayn Malik [email protected] 10:11 AM (13 minutes ago)

to Louis, Niall, Harry

shut up lou

i hate you

>:(

x

Harry Styles [email protected] 10:12 AM (12 minutes ago)

246

to me, Louis, Niall

this is so cool!! I‟m with Louis ;) Zayn, you should call him..

xx

Niall Horan [email protected] 10:13 AM (11 minutes ago)

to me, Harry, Louis

agreed. pints!

Zayn Malik [email protected] 10:15 AM (9 minutes ago)

to Niall, Harry, Louis

i can‟t, it would be too weird :/ aha

x

Zayn Malik [email protected] 10:15 AM (9 minutes ago)

to Niall, Harry, Louis

it‟d be weird, right?? :///

Zayn Malik [email protected] 10:15 AM (9 minutes ago)

to Niall, Harry, Louis

what would i even say if i called him?? :/ aha

x

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Louis Tomlinson [email protected] 10:17 AM (7 minutes ago)

to me, Niall, Harry

tell him that you and your mates want to take him out for drinks and

blowjobs. i don‟t see why you‟re making this so complicated babe

i know haz and i are both free tonight, what about you nialler?

x

Niall Horan [email protected] 10:20 (4 minutes ago)

to me, Louis, Harry

for beer and watching zayn try to get off with liam? i‟m always free.

Zayn stares down at his phone. The email notifications have stopped

coming, and now it‟s just him and his text message inbox, waiting each

other out.

Usually if he were going to plan an outing with Liam, he‟d give himself

weeks of preparation, plenty of time to work up his courage and

practice his smolder in front of the mirror and come up with the perfect

scenario. This is different, though. He's got a time constraint to deal

with, so he can't afford to go through his normal process. It's now or

never.

After a dozen drafts, Zayn finally comes up with a message that doesn‟t

sound completely and hopelessly daft or pathetic.

heard you‟re a hero! the lads and i want to take you out for drinks

tonight to celebrate. are you free? :) xx

He closes his eyes and hits send before he has a chance to overthink it.

He has plenty of time to think about it after it‟s sent, though, and he

comes up with twelve different ways he could have phrased the text

better and about a hundred reasons he never should have sent it at all.

248

In fact, he‟s so so focused on how stupid the invitation was that he

doesn‟t even consider what to do if Liam says yes.

Which he does.

Zayn stares blankly down at his phone, at the yea sounds brillllllll

where shud i meet youuuu?? and tries to formulate a plan. He‟s

normally so good at plans, but right now he‟s got nothing.

He pulls it together enough to send Liam Louis‟ address and the name

of a bar they can go to afterwards, telling him to meet up with them at

Louis‟ flat first. Then he drafts a massive email to the lads demanding

that they be on their best behavior, realises that it provides Louis a

point-by-point instruction manual on how to drive him mad, and

deletes it. Instead he just sends a mass text and hopes for the best.

HE‟S COMING OUT W US 2NITE :DDD LOU‟S AT 9 THEN

MOVING TO THE STUDY NO MENTION OF BJS PLS xx

The next five hours are spent in a haze, as Zayn retreats to the comfort

and safety of panicking about his appearance. He showers twice, just to

be sure, and tosses the entirety of his wardrobe onto his bed.

Thankfully enough of his hair has grown back that he can go without a

hat with enough artful tousling, but the rest is the hard part. Eventually,

after cycling through two weeks‟ worth of outfits, he settles on his best

jeans and a slouchy black top that's just loose enough to show off his

collarbones. He checks himself out in the mirror and decides he looks

like a sexy waif. Dickensian chic. Liam rescues people for a living,

vulnerability probably does it for him, right?

He gets all the clothing re-folded and off the bed—you can never be

over-prepared—just in time to throw on a jacket and drive over to

Louis‟ place. He fidgets the entire way over, tapping his fingers against

the steering wheel and constantly checking his hair in the rearview

mirror. It‟s going to be fine. Everything will go great, Liam will love

him, and in years to come they will celebrate this date as their

anniversary, and they‟ll have cheesecake with chocolate sauce on top

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and Liam will let him lick it off his abs and—okay, wow, now is not

the time for that train of thought.

As he pulls into the carpark of Louis‟ building, he spots Liam‟s SUV—

ahh, the memories—and his heartbeat drops the bass. One last glance at

the mirror, and then he‟s locking his car and taking the steps up to

Louis‟ flat two at a time.

Louis opens the door with a grin and stands aside to let Zayn enter.

“You‟re just in time for shots,” he says brightly. Zayn would protest,

except then he sees Liam standing there with the rest of them, wearing

a white shirt and waving, and he really, really needs a drink.

“Hi Zayn!” Liam says, taking the shot that Niall hands him with a

slightly dubious look. “Thanks for inviting me, this is wicked.”

“Thanks for not letting those people burn to death,” Zayn replies,

which. Okay. Not his best start, probably.

Liam just smiles and shrugs. “Just doing my job,” he says, and Zayn is

so distracted by how much he adores him that he actually forgets to be

embarrassed. He catches Harry nudging Louis in the stomach out of the

corner of his eye, but then they‟re all taking shots and hey, who gives a

fuck.

They spend an hour there at Louis‟, drinking and taking turns getting

crushed by Niall at Guitar Hero. Zayn focuses mainly on not stroking

Liam‟s forearms. Or staring at his mouth. Or touching his collar.

Maybe drinking right away was a mistake. Thankfully there are plenty

of distractions, as Harry keeps half-jokingly suggesting body shots, and

Louis seems to have decided that the best way to shut him up is to bite

him. Liam just laughs at them, though, and Zayn knows that even if he

weren‟t already drunk he‟d still feel just as warm and happy, all his

favorites in a room together.

They‟re tipsy enough that nobody even seems to realise Harry‟s called

them a taxi until it‟s there and they all have to rush out, running down

the stairs with their jackets still half on and piling into the back of the

250

taxi. Zayn is the kind of drunk that makes transportation seem

instantaneous, and the only thing he remembers of the ride over is the

way the city lights slid across Liam‟s face. Well, he also remembers

Harry licking Niall‟s face, but he‟s not entirely sure why that happened,

and since Louis just doubled up in laughter he figures he doesn‟t have

to worry.

When they get to The Study there‟s a massive line, but the bouncer

seems to recognize Niall and lets them all in right away. “How the hell