17BLACK

Chapter 32

Harry's POV:

"Are you still feeling okay?" I pull at my bottom lip as I hold the phone to my ear. There's shuffling on the other line.

"Yeah, I have a bit of a headache but I'm fine. Shouldn't you be at work?" I can picture Louis' smile on the other line, his hand cupped over the phone's speaker and his mouth to create a bubble of intimacy between the two of us. I lean against the brick of the building and wave to Will as he walks in to work, motioning to my phone as an excuse for my lack of introduction.

"I was just about to walk in. Just wanted to make sure you got through the work day alright." The appearance of the domestic elements in our conversation has me smiling like an idiot out onto the parking lot.

I hear Louis sighing through the phone and the smile immediately diminishes at the sound of Louis being unhappy.

"Harry, about last night..."

"We can talk about it later," I interrupt. I check the time. "I've got to go now, sorry." I hurry to end the call as I realize that I'm five minutes late.

"Alright. I'll see you.... later I guess. Bye Harry." I reluctantly click the phone off and slide it in my back pocket, the dread of ending the call like that weighing down on my chest like heavy rocks.

I yawn. I didn't get the luxury of anything short of a slumber all day. Louis slept lightly against me throughout the rest of the morning, small, drowsy whimpers coming from his lips. I watched his features in his sleep, his mouth sometimes upturned into a smile but also altering its shape and frowning occasionally. He was peaceful in his slumber, never moving too much and when he did move it was only to flush our bodies closer together.

I had urged him to go to work today despite his headache, since he didn't go yesterday. Louis had some medicine for hangovers and had made it to work in time. I've called five times to make sure that he is doing well, and when I haven't been on the phone I've been out running errands. My paycheck from last week was added to my bank account electronically, so I used the money to buy things for my penthouse. I now have enough food to last a month and I even stocked up on new, badly needed clothes.

I have no idea about what we are doing today. We're supposed to be doing a performance but we didn't practice for one yesterday. I hurry inside as to not be any later than I already am.

My question is answered almost immediately as I walk into a crowd, everyone surrounding Geoffrey in the middle. He's standing on a makeshift stage made out of card board boxes. Everyone turns to me.

"Harry, I thought you weren't coming." My boss speaks, no hint of anger in his voice. I gulp and nod, adding myself to the outside of the crowd. There's about forty of us here, much more than the average amount.

I see Beck in the crowd the same time he sees me, and he pushes through the crowd until we are standing beside one another. Beck hits my shoulder and grins. "No hard feelings." He smirks.

I'm saved having to answer by Geoffrey, who claps his hands and clears his throat loudly. "So, as you all have probably figured out by now, 17Black's income isn't as high as I would probably like it to be." There's a few boos from the crowd. I guess the paychecks must have been higher in the past? I'm perfectly fine with mine.

"Hey, hey, hey... Me and a few other managers of the branches of 17Black sat down for a long discussion. And we came up with something." The crowd is silent now, eager to hear the future of their job.

"An exclusive dance." The air suddenly switches, still silent but not with anticipation this time, with something else, as if they can't believe what he just said. I'm with them this time. A dance?