Paparazzi

Chapter 9

Louis has been sitting next to Niall on a plane to New York for 5 hours already and has one more ahead of him. Niall was booked as a photographer to capture the event at the Met Gala in Manhattan and had asked Louis to accompany him. Of course, Louis couldn't refuse his best friend's request and was glad of the distraction from Harry Styles and the fantasies that had been swirling around in his mind since their last encounter. But in the meantime he has considered that Harry Styles could also be there but it was too late to chicken out. Flights and their hotel were booked, he had already gotten the okay from Luke - who asked him to take pictures himself, and Niall was looking forward to experiencing it all with his best friend. Unfortunately, until the evening before, it is a strictly guarded secret who is invited to the event and so Louis has no choice but to hope that Harry will not be there.

Louis has been saying to himself like a mantra, ever since he knew he's going to accompany Niall, to stay away from Harry if it's confirmed he would be there. It's pointless to think that the two of them would ever act civilized towards each other and he doesn't want to add another flame to what Harry fueled the last time.

Make me. Just thinking about how the words came out of Harry, the challenge that lay behind them, the tingling in the air that could also be felt in every cell of his body, is enough to set Louis on fire again.

"Tommo, what's going on? Relax, you're sitting there so tense," Niall nudges him on his shoulder and out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I'm trying to get in the mood from now on," Louis murmurs, smiling at Niall with a crooked grin.

"Yes, that's the spirit mate," Niall grins, pulling out a flatland from his hand luggage and waves it back and forth in front of him, eyebrows wiggling.

"You're full of surprises Niall," Louis chuckles, taking a sip as Niall holds out the small bottle for him.

"Fuck, what's that? It burns my throat away," he whispers indignantly and can't help coughing.

"Good Irish whiskey," Niall replies with a grin, grabbing the bottle from his hand, toasting and taking a long pull from the flatland. Then he quickly stows it away again and talks happily to him for the rest of the flight. It's a bit like with Bree and Louis smiles about his friends, whom he likes so much precisely because of their cheerful nature.

When they finally land and get their luggage, they both take a taxi to their hotel. The two share a room that contains two single beds and Louis, exhausted, throws himself onto one. Instead, Niall immediately starts to open his suitcase and hangs up his black suit so that it doesn't crumple any further.

"Louis, you should hang up your suit too. You have to look good tomorrow. Who knows, your favorite star might be there too," Niall chirps and Louis buries his face in his hands.

"I didn't think about it for a moment, thanks for the reminder. You're a true friend," he replies sarcastically but gives Niall a genuine smile and begins to pull his suit out of the trunk as well.

"I really don't understand why you guys are so keen to fight every time you see each other. Maybe he'll be kinder to you if he sees you're friends with the fantastic Niall Horan. We already emailed about what he wishes for his promo photos and he sounded so nice," Niall says and Louis bites his tongue to keep from letting his jealousy speak again or blubbering out what Harry implied last time and that he would like to wreck him... or let himself be wrecked. That Harry is the man of his wet dreams, that he thinks of him when he's wanking and that he still hates him.

Instead, he replies, "Yeah, that's definitely going to be a game changer. Niall the Almighty and all that."

Niall just laughs and then disappears into the bathroom to wash the flight off his body. Meanwhile, Louis is counting down the hours until it's finally announced tonight who will be on the red carpet tomorrow.