The Admiration Project

Chapter 5

"I needed to stock up. My last bottle seemed to disappear," Jay clarified. Louis pointedly stared at Lottie when Jay had her back turned, and suddenly she found the ceiling very interesting.

When they finally sat down to eat dinner, it was thirty minutes prior to the time Zayn had agreed to pick Louis up.

"I'm going to the game tonight with Zayn," Louis voiced through a mouthful of pasta.

"What about Liam?" Jay asked.

"He's ditching us for his uncle. Said he needs help moving furniture." Louis rolled his eyes.

Jay hummed her acknowledgment while Louis shoveled down the remainder of his pasta.

"Thanks for dinner. I need to get ready," Louis murmured, setting his plate in the sink and hurrying up to his room.

"He's like a teenage girl," he heard Lottie utter to Jay.

"I heard that!" He yelled back. Jay and Lottie laughed in return.

As Louis sort of suspected, Zayn was nearly fifteen minutes late. He pulled on his vans before sprinting down the stairs, slowing his pace when he noticed Lottie staring at him.

"You got a crush on him or something?" She asked with a smirk.

"Ew, Lottie! No! He's just late and I want our rightful seats!" He flung the front door open and closed it behind him before she could tease him any further.

He hopped into the passenger seat of Zayn's car and Zayn sped off the second Louis shut the door.

"And where were you?" Louis interrogated, the wicked amusement obvious in his voice as he eyed the dark red bruise on Zayn's neck.

"Nowhere," Zayn murmured lamely.

"You, my friend, are an awful liar."

They arrived at the school later than they usually did, which meant they were already halfway through the second quarter. Louis followed Zayn up the bleachers to their spot, ignoring the stares they were getting from students in the pit. People probably suspected that they were the stoners of their year, but Louis couldn't care less.

He spotted Niall and Harry conversing on the sidelines. The only reason they could possibly have been benched would be to give the other players a chance. Harry and Niall were the best on the team, no doubt about it. According to the people that paid attention, that was.

Zayn offered Louis a spliff, but he denied it. Zayn audibly gasped.

"Are you alright? Sick? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Nah, just not in the mood. Wanna watch this one sober."

"Whatever you say, man."

It turned out that Louis was wrong about Harry being unable to see him from the field, because right then, Harry looked up at Louis and smiled. He may have thrown in a wink, as well, but Louis couldn't tell.

"And now you're blushing at something. What is your deal? Who do you have your eyes on?" Zayn followed Louis' line of sight to pinpoint who he was looking at. "Not Horan, right? That'd be pretty awkward."

Louis broke away from his stare to look at Zayn.

"No, not Niall. Why would that be awkward, anyway?"

Zayn gawked at Louis as if he had ten heads.

"Guess you'll just have to find out, huh?"

Louis had no idea what that meant. He looked ahead again to catch Harry and Niall walking back onto the field. Harry was pulling his helmet over his head, a little sliver of pale skin poking out from under his jersey as he lifted his arms.