Uncover.

Chapter 3

Harry button the last button on his white shirt before putting on the black apron, tying it at the back. This day he was working the late shift which meant there'd be more people in the whole restaurant, both staff and customers. The beginning of the evening went on as usual. He walked around to different tables, taking their orders and then brought the food and drinks out to them. It was stressful but he'd gotten used to that by now. And despite the stress he actually enjoyed this job, plus it gave him enough money so soon he'd be able to get his own apartment and move out from his childhood house. Not that he didn't like it, he just wanted to get more space for himself. And his own place so he'd be the one deciding what he could or could not do.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. His coworker, Linda, was standing in front of him and gave him a smile.

"Could you please take table four? I'm on my way home and everyone else's busy.." She said looking at Harry with big eyes hoping that'd convince him. By that he knew something was up with that table. He looked over her shoulder, searching for the table with his eyes and quickly shook his head.

"Oh, no.. not happening!" He said and Linda let her hands on his arms.

"Come on, just treat them as normal customers and it'll be fine." She assured him and he felt his hands started to sweat just by looking in that direction.

"Please, I really need to catch my bus and no one else can do it right now. And you know people like him will write bad reviews if he waits for too long."

Harry took a deep breath and scratched the back of his neck and finally sighed.

"Fine. I'll do it, just leave already." He muttered.

He grabbed two menus and quickly fixed his curly hair in the reflection of the oven fan before he walked out of the kitchen. He held the menus close to his chest as he made his way through the crowd of people. As he walked past the table right before number four he cleared his throat and wiped off the sweaty handprints of the menus. He took a deep breath and forced a smile to not show how nervous he was. He stood right beside the table, between the two guests and held the menus in his hands now pressed a bit lower down to his abdomen.

"Hi and welcome to Little Italy Soho. I'm Harry and I'll be your waiter for the evening." He began and looked down at Louis and Eleanor who sat across from each other and held hands on the table. Harry tried to avoid looking at Eleanor knowing she'd probably recognize him since Gemma still hung out with her sometimes but he didn't want to look directly at Louis either. Harry didn't wait for any response and instead quickly started talking again.

"Uh, here's your menus and I'll be back in a bit taking your orders." He said and felt his hands starting to shake a bit as he gave the menus to them. He was just about to turn around and walk away, thinking everything went perfectly fine when he felt a hand on his wrist.

"Oh my god, Harry! It's you!" Eleanor smiled and Harry forced a smile again as he turned back to face the couple.

"It is me."

"Oh wow, I haven't seen you in ages! You're so tall now. How long have you been working here?" Well, that was a lie. They met last week when he picked Gemma up from her place.

"Started just a couple of months ago." He knew he had to keep it short for the sake of his job. That was kind of a rule. You couldn't stop your work to chat with people you knew, you had to keep it professional. And he also knew that once Eleanor started talking she wouldn't stop for a while. Once again he got ready to walk back to the kitchen.

"How's your Ge-" Eleanor stopped as she got cut off by Louis.

"Come on babe, we're not his only guests tonight." Harry looked over at Louis who was actually smiling at him. Fuck, that smile, the most beautiful smile Harry had ever seen. It felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest and he quickly looked away to avoid the eye contact that surely would make him blush.

"Alright, alright." Eleanor giggled as she gestured to Harry that he could walk away which he gladly did.

Harry breathed out and let his hands on the counter as he got back into the kitchen. He looked up at the clock. Oh, how he wished that his shift was over so he could give that damn table to someone else. It was so uncomfortable and purely awkward in so many ways. Not only because he knew, and hated, Eleanor but she was there with Louis. As Niall had reminded him not long ago Louis was "the man of his dreams". He wasn't nervous because of the fact that he was famous but for the fact that he had so much feelings for someone he didn't even know in person. They had only met once before and that was four years ago. He just hoped and wished that Louis didn't recognize him from back then. He was even more awkward when he was sixteen, had no idea how he should hide his emotions towards other people.

He peeked out from the kitchen to see what they were doing. He sighed when he saw that they were looking around and chatting realizing it probably was time to go back and take the orders now. He once again walked out of the kitchen, making his way through the tables and people and stopped at the same spot as before.

"Are you guys ready to order?" Harry asked politely making them both look up at the smiling curly headed boy.

"Yes. I'd like the one with chicken." Eleanor started and pointed on the menu. Harry nodded in response and she moved her finger to another dish. "And Louis would like this one."

"And drinks?" Harry asked and grabbed the menu from Louis as he held it up for him.

"Oh, I want that, uh, the one that ended with 'in love'" Eleanor said with a big smile as she looked over at Louis.

"Good choice, what are we celebrating?" Harry asked jokingly, not expecting an answer.

"It's our anniversary!" Eleanor squeaked happily, her smile even bigger now. Harry stood still for a couple seconds and felt his stomach turn and his heart slightly breaking even though he shouldn't feel that way. He caught himself in the silence and looked over at Louis.

"What would you like to drink, sir?"

"Just a cold beer, thanks." And with that Harry walked away again.

The rest of the evening went on. He did his job and tried to avoid all small talks with table four. And as the night went by he actually became less nervous and in some way used to talk to Louis even though he barely said anything other than casual service comments to him. And on his way home he couldn't resist but to text Niall.

Hazza: GUESS WHO WAS AT THE FUCKING RESTAURANT TONIGHT!!!