Floating in The Water

Chapter 20

"I'm really happy for you," Harry says dryly. He's stabbing at his chicken breast with his knife far more aggressively than necessary. "Seriously. I am."

Liam frowns down at Harry's chicken, wondering if that knife would go in his hand if he pointed out that it was already dead. He doesn't want to make Harry's mood worse, though, not when he already feels bad for blurting the whole embarrassing, still unbelievable story to Harry. Harry genuinely is happy for him, but Liam knows that it's just making him miss Louis more.

"I talked to everyone about the party," Liam says, hoping that will make a difference. Eleanor and Niall aren't even sitting with them, but are instead halfway across the room with Jess and Jake. "Everything's pretty much ready to go. Jake is running into town after dinner to get the alcohol."

"Awesome," Harry says, punctuation the word with another jab of his knife.

Liam sighs and pries the knife from Harry's fingers. "Come on, Harry."

Harry opens his mouth, probably to snap something at Liam, when the door to the room opens, and Liam looks up.

"Harry fucking Styles!"

Louis is standing in the doorway. He's wearing a giant, puffy coat, his cheeks are red, and his hair is plastered to his forehead with sweat. Liam just stares at him in shock, but so does Harry, who's mouth has fallen open.

Louis starts toward them but someone says, "This is an employee only room."

"Sit down," Louis snaps at whoever said it. "I have a curly haired fucking asshole to kill."

Louis slams his hands down on their table. Liam figures he should probably do something, he just can't. He's too shocked right now to even move.

"I was in Switzerland," Louis says loudly, and every single person in the room is staring at them, "and I was supposed to be skiing with my friends, drinking hot chocolate by the fire, just having an all around good fucking time. And you know what? I couldn't. I couldn't fucking enjoy myself because I didn't say goodbye to you, and this is so fucking bullshit because I didn't mean to fall in love with you, but I did anyways, and now I can't get your stupid curly hair and your stupid green eyes out of my fucking mind."

Harry comes to faster than Liam, and he stands up, hands balled to fists at his sides. He takes a step towards Louis and shoves him. "You should have said goodbye!"

Louis grabs Harry roughly by the face, pulling him in. "I should have said I love you, too. But I was freaked out, okay?"

"Next time you give me a fair warning," Harry says angrily.

"Promise."

Harry nods, and then they're kissing. It looks violent. Louis grabs at Harry's hair and ends up stepping backwards until he hits the edge of the breakfast table -- which is thankfully cleared during the rest of the day --, and then Harry grabs the back of Louis' legs and lifts him up until he's sitting on it.

Everyone is just watching this happen in stunned silence until, finally, someone says quietly, "We put bagels there."

After that, Harry drags Louis out of the room. A few people wolf-whistle, and Niall throws food at their backs when they go. Liam just finishes eating his dinner, feeling like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Sure, things aren't exactly fixed yet. He has a feeling Harry is still definitely pissed at Louis, but he's here, and--

Where the fuck is he staying? His parents aren't in the bungalow anymore. There's a family of four staying there, some rich lawyer that Niall said was an asshole. Maybe Louis was going to drive back home tonight, which meant he probably wouldn't be able to stay for all of the party. The party that sort of seemed redundant, at this point, given the circumstances.