Love For Loan - Larry Stylinson

Chapter Four

Chapter four, we hope you guys like this so far. And well, if you don't, tell us why! :) anddd thanks for reading :)

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CHAPTER FOUR

Louis doesn’t know why he agreed to help Harry in the first place. It might be because of how adorable Harry is, though, and Louis is back to wondering just how someone who’s almost nineteen could ever be like him; so innocent and quiet and awkward. Louis just finds Harry so interesting, almost mysterious, and he just really wants to help him and get to know him better.

Also, Harry doesn’t know that Louis knows that Harry’s a boyfriend for hire. So when Louis tells Michelle to pay Harry, he can pretend he found out he was for hire from her.

When Louis arrives in front of Michelle’s family’s huge mansion (not as huge as his own, obviously), he’s not surprised. He presses the doorbell and waits. He almost expects to see Michelle running to the door to just fawn over him, but she doesn’t. Instead, their butler opens the door, and Louis remembers him since he used to come over to pick Michelle up all the time.

“Ah, Mr. Tomlinson, so nice of you to drop by! Looking for Miss Cameron, I assume?” The butler addresses Louis politely, even though Louis knows he obviously dislikes him for being a spoilt brat like Michelle. Regardless, Louis puts on a smile and nods. “Yeah, is she at home?”

“Yes, would you like to come in and have a seat while I call her down?”

“Sure.”

Louis makes himself comfortable on the deep red velvet couch, then suddenly he hears a shriek coming from upstairs and an “Oh my gosh, Louis!” before feet are padding down the steps. So Louis braces himself for what’s to come next.

“Louis! I can’t believe you’re here!” She cries, a huge grin lighting up her features.

“Neither can I,” he mutters under his breath.

She plops down on the couch, too close to him for comfort, and then he slowly shifts away. Michelle pouts a bit, but replaces it with a smile anyway. “So, what are you doing here?” She asks sweetly, and Louis is glad that they could now get to the point and he could leave as soon as possible.

“Harry asked me to get his money from you,” Louis replies without even skipping a beat. He watches as her eyes widen ever so slightly, as if she’d been caught stealing or something, then she frowns and wrinkles her nose.

“How do you even know him?!”

“Uh, well, he’s my friend?” Louis answers lamely, and Michelle raises an eyebrow. “What, he can’t be my friend?” He snaps back, trying to sound nonchalant about it, and he hopes he’s convincing. Michelle shakes her head vehemently, like she’s afraid to offend Louis.

“Well then, pay him his money!”

“I only owe him half of the total sum. What, he’s so poor he can’t live without that hundred pounds?” She snorts. It angers Louis; her tone, because she’s acting as if Harry’s some kind of a beggar. Even if he does need that money, it doesn’t mean that she’s got the right to look down on him like that. After all, she owes him money, and it’s like taking a cab and not paying afterward.

Louis opens his mouth, ready to hurl some argument back at her, when she speaks again.

“I don’t think he deserves to be paid since he didn’t even complete his job,” she scowls.

“What job?” Louis asks, feigning curiosity. He looks at her, and he sees her eyes widen again. Ha, caught you in your own lie, Louis thinks, and he almost smirks, but he has a little more self control than that.

“Uh, he’s, uh, I… I hired him to act as my boyfriend to that dinner the other night,” she admits sheepishly, and it’s the first time Louis has seen her look anything this close to embarrassment. He’s almost gleeful that he was the one who made her act this way. “Oh, wait, so he’s a boyfriend for hire?” He confirms, trying to look somewhat shocked to find out this new piece of information that he hadn’t known until then.

Michelle nods, but then her eyes narrow. “Wait, aren’t you his friend? Shouldn’t you know that about him?” She asks suspiciously, looking almost proud that she found a loophole or something, and then it’s Louis’ turn to panic. But he wasn’t going to let her expose his hiring a PI, so he just shrugs and plays it off. “We just became friends, haven’t asked him about all that yet.” He doesn’t think he sounds sure at all, but she seems to buy it so that’s okay.

“Yeah, so just pay him okay?” Louis snaps at her, effectively changing the subject. Michelle rolls her eyes and raises her hands in mock surrender. “Fine, hang on, I’ll go get the money now, you can pass it to him.” She hops to her feet.

Soon, she comes back with some banknotes and she shoves them into Louis’ hand. “Tell him to keep the change,” she waves her hand dismissively. Louis looks at the money; £150. He’s about to protest her treating Harry like a beggar again, but he stops himself. After all, Harry does seem to need the money, and the extra £50 could be like compensation for the horror she put him through anyway. Louis nods stiffly and stands up.

“Okay, bye, Michelle.” He walks towards the door, and he’s surprised she didn’t demand a kiss or a hug or anything like that. Instead, she just nods stiffly, and says a “bye” that sounds more like “whatever, okay, yeah sure, leave, no one really cares”. But regardless, Louis is glad, so he just lets himself out of the house.

It’s almost seven, and Louis is tempted to get some steak and go home and sleep. But his pocket seems to feel slightly heavier than usual, even though there’s just £150 more inside his wallet. It feels like he has to complete this very serious task, and he wants to complete it well. Maybe after he does pass the money to Harry, they’ll officially become friends. So he sighs and heads towards Harry’s small, dingy apartment.

After a twenty minute drive, he finally pulls up in front of where Harry lives and rings the doorbell. Then Harry opens the door, and he almost looks shocked. It’s as if he doesn’t believe that Louis is actually back here, on the same day, possibly with the money Michelle owes him.

“Hey,” Louis is smiling, and he hopes maybe Harry won’t think he’s creepy.

“Uh, hey, Louis,” Harry greets, like he’s unsure of himself. But then he offers Louis a grin, all dimpled and toothy, and Louis can’t help but grin back.

They’re standing there in silence, with Harry looking like he has no idea what to do, and Louis waiting to be invited in. Harry stuffs his hands in his all too tight jeans, and Louis coughs just so that there’s a sound. “Uh,” Louis says, and he gestures to the inside of Harry’s apartment.

“Oh! Oh, right! I’m sorry! Here, come inside and have a seat!” Harry starts babbling like a bullet train, and Louis’ eyebrows twitch in amusement as he proceeds to sit down on the tattered sofa. This time, Harry remembers his manners when guests are present. “Would you like some tea, or water?” He offers, and Louis shakes his head, although he really likes the sound of tea.

“Anyway, I got the money back for you from Michelle,” Louis says proudly, almost like he’s announcing it, and he digs into his pocket for his wallet. He takes out the £150 and hands it to Harry. The latter looks so shocked that his eyebrows are raised and his eyes are wide open. Louis thinks his face might be stuck like that forever.

“Oh, thank you so much! Is there anything I can do for you? Like, uh, wash your suit, anything at all?” Harry asks, almost shyly, and Louis can’t help but chuckle because Harry still thinks a suit could just be washed like that. It’s not that Louis looks down on the curly-haired boy, but it’s just that he’s so innocent and kind and awkward that it’s just so cute.

“Wait, she only has to pay me £100… There’s an extra £50 here?”

“Yeah, she asked you to keep the change,” Louis explains, strangely guilty about having to say that. It makes him feel like he’s the one in the wrong when he obviously isn’t. Louis grimaces, the thought of Michelle’s arrogance coming back to him. He thinks he should have snorted because he’s obviously richer than her but he doesn’t even find Harry of a “lower class”.

Harry looks up from the money in his palm to Louis, green eyes all wide and innocent. Louis knows that look because he remembers it from two days ago during the dinner and dance; Harry’s confused. “She uh, she felt bad for owing you this for so long,” Louis lies. He probably shouldn’t lie, but in his defence, it’s a white lie.

“Oh, okay, that’s really nice of her,” Harry says, his face lighting up in a grin again. Louis thinks Harry should just grin forever, because he looks nice when he does. Louis briefly considers disputing “that’s really nice of her”, but he decides against it. They’re surrounded by silence, and Harry has already begun twiddling with his fingers. Instead, he decides to tell Harry that Michelle told him about the boyfriend for hire thing.

“Oh and uh, she told me you work as a boyfriend for hire?” He says casually, and he can see Harry jump slightly. The latter nods slowly, and watches for Louis’ reaction as if he’s ashamed of his own occupation.

“That’s pretty cool, mate,” Louis grins, because it is pretty cool. “So tell me more about it! Do you act as a boyfriend for guys too?” He asks, and he hopes he doesn’t sound like a creep. “I mean like, do you take up those jobs too?”

“Yeah, as long as I don’t have to see whoever they’re trying to ditch again,” Harry laughs, and as if that isn’t the prettiest thing Louis has ever heard. Then Harry’s covering his mouth with his hand, as if he can’t believe he just laughed out loudly like that. Louis chuckles with him, like he’s trying to show the curly-haired boy that it’s okay to laugh.

“Mate, I think I might need your services sooner or later. My ex-girlfriends keep bothering me, and even if I can just pay them off, I don’t want to waste that money on them,” Louis wrinkles his nose, before realizing that he just sounded like a total snob. “I mean, it’s a breakup, I don’t think money should be seen as a perk of breakups or anything,” he amends, praying it helps.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean,” Harry smiles, “you could uh, call if you need me right? Oh, what am I saying, of course you can. I’ll type my number in your phone?” Harry rambles, and Louis is almost used to it already. It’s just an adorable Harry thing that he does all the time. He thinks Harry’s easy to figure out, but he’s still sure there’s something else underneath all this awkwardness, like a spark that just has to be lit.

“But I have to warn you, I’m not very good at my job,” Harry frowns, but Louis passes his phone to Harry anyway. “Nah, it’s okay, I don’t mind,” Louis smiles warmly. Within just seconds, he has Harry’s contact.

“I’ll text saying I’m Louis later, and then you can save my number too?”

“I, uh, I don’t really save clients’ numbers?” Harry looks almost apologetic when he has to say that.

Louis furrows his brows in confusion. “So you have like, two phone lines; one for business and one for personal use?” Harry nods, and Louis feels his heart sink just a little. He thought he was going to be able to talk to Harry, so he says so. “Aww, I thought we’d be able to text!” He laughs a little, so that it seems like he’s joking and not whiny and desperate or something.

“Oh, okay, well you can have my personal number too I guess,” Harry shrugs and reaches for Louis’ phone again. He punches in a few numbers and passes the phone back. “Here you go!” Harry says chirpily and grins.

After a few more minutes of just pointless chatting, Louis decides to leave and get his steak.

“Oh, uh, thanks Louis, for helping me with Michelle. But still, sorry about the suit,” Harry says sheepishly. He’s still worried about the suit, Louis thinks. But it really isn’t all that big of a deal to Louis anymore. It’s been two days, he’s not so petty, and it’s not like £8599 is a lot to him. He doesn’t say all that, of course, he doesn’t want Harry to think of him as an arrogant asshole or anything.

“You’re very welcome, Harry. And don’t worry about the suit! It’s alright,” Louis smiles reassuringly. He doesn’t want Harry to keep thinking that he owes Louis something. The blue-eyed boy would never be able to deal with a conversation that revolved around some green cocktail on a Georgio Armani suit.

“Bye, have a nice night, Harry,” Louis says as he walks out of the door. “You too.”

Then finally, Louis gets some of that amazing steak he’s wanted for about an hour now. When he’s home, showered and comfy in bed, he picks up his phone.

To: Harry
Hey, it’s Louis.