fall after midnight [larry stylinson]

homeless

HOMELESS (adjective) [ˈhəʊmlɪs]

~ (a person) without a home, and therefore typically living on the streets.

I knew that the city we were walking around in wasn't very big, but it still took us ages to find a sign pointing to our hotel. I had already started to panic a bit, after all, we were in a foreign city. But at some point, I had completely lost track of time, I discovered a sign. It said that it was three kilometres away. "Three kilometres? I'll have fallen asleep standing up by then!" Louis had protested, but there was nothing else we could do. So we walked. There was still sand in my shoes from before and it annoyed me, but I said nothing.

All of a sudden Louis stopped. "What is it?"

He pointed to a poster attached to an advertising pillar. It was advertising one of our concerts in a nearby big city. "Look what it says underneath." I walked closer to the poster. Then I could read what it said. Someone had written in black felt-tip pen: WE <3 YOU! Niall, Liam, Zayn, Harry and Louis.

I had to smile. "Our fans really are the best, aren't they?"

Louis nodded. "Yeah, they are. The very best!"

I pondered for a moment. "You know, somehow I find it all so... strange. I mean, I never thought I'd be famous. Like, really famous. You know what I mean?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, maybe. I often feel the same way... I think. But, if I'm being completely honest, I'd love nothing more than to be in a band."

"Yeah, me neither," I agreed.

Louis grinned. "And for once, life has been kind to me."

"I see, what does that mean?"

"Well," he opined. "I could have ended up with a lot worse guys. You four are quite all right there."

"Excuse me?", I exclaimed indignantly. "Only quite all right?"

"Oh, Harry," he said, smiling conciliatory. "You're all much more than all right. Sort of like... brothers."

I smiled. We continued walking. But his voice echoed in my head. Like... brothers. I had to make an effort to stop my hand, which was still holding Louis, from shaking. It didn't work.

I'm like a brother to him? Is that good or bad? Of course it was good. There were no other friends to talk about like that either, but somehow there was something in me that didn't fit. After all, nobody fell in love with their brother. So Louis really didn't like me in the way I liked him? 

Of course not, Harry! He likes women!, the voice in my head screamed, but I didn't want to believe what it was saying. But then why is he holding my hand? Why am I the one watching over him when there's a thunderstorm? Then why isn't there someone else? The voice in my head had no answer to that. It remained silent. My hand stopped shaking.

"Are you okay, Hazza?" asked Louis, and I noticed that he was still walking beside me and holding my hand. No.

"Yeah, I'm fine", I lied. What else was I supposed to say?

Hey, by the way, I'm in love with you. And maybe even more than that. How can you tell your best friend that you love him? Exactly. You can't.

After a while, Louis stopped again. "Why are you stopping now?"

Louis didn't answer and let go of my hand. Then he took off his jacket.

"What are you doing?", I asked confused and had to pull myself together to keep him from staring at me, after all he was only wearing the blue t-shirt that matched his eyes so well. He made a head movement towards one of the side alleys. Someone was sitting there. On the floor. It was immediately clear to me that the person sitting on the floor was homeless. It was a woman. Her hair was matted and she had nothing on except sweatpants and a tattered shirt. No socks, no shoes.

"I want to give her my jacket. She needs it more than I do." Then he walked over to her and talked to her. He gave her his jacket and shook her hand.

And once again I realised that he was far too good for me. I would never have dared to give her my jacket, let alone touch it. I would only have worried about what kind of diseases she might have or what she had touched. But Louis didn't seem to care. He talked and laughed with her as if he had known her for ages. Some feeling grew inside me and finally I knew what it was. I was proud, immensely proud of him.

I gave myself a jolt and went to the two of them as well. Then I greeted the woman. "Hi, my name is Harry." She smiled. "Hello, Harry. I'm Hailey." She held out her hand to me. I grabbed it and shook it.

"Are you a friend of Louis?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he's my best friend."

Hailey winked at me conspiratorially. "You have good taste in men, sweetheart." I blushed and Louis started laughing.

We talked for a while then Louis stood up. "Come on Harry, we need to get going." I was sad, I would have liked to sit here a little longer. I had grown really fond of them. I sighed, "Too bad. I'm going to miss you Hailey."

She smiled. "I'll miss you too, Harry." Then she looked at Louis. "Thank you. You're an angel and I mean that sincerely." Hailey looked to me again. "Take good care of your boyfriend, sweetheart. You won't find anyone like him again."

I smiled. "I already know that." I glanced sideways at Louis, whose cheeks were slightly red. Self-consciously, I took his hand.

Then, after saying goodbye again, we turned and continued walking down the road that would lead us to the hotel.

I cleared my throat. "I'm proud of you, Lou." He grinned. "I'm proud of you too, Harry." And then I grinned too. I couldn't stop smiling, and I didn't know why.

"What are you smiling at?" I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just happy."

He laughed. "I'm glad."

I noticed he was still only wearing his blue t-shirt. "Are you cold?"

He ran his free hand over his arm. "Yeah, kind of." I stopped. "You can have my jacket if you want. I still have a jumper on." He looked at me uncertainly. "Are you sure? You're the one of us who gets cold faster, aren't you?"

"But if you freeze to death, I won't get anything out of it either," I returned and set about taking off the jacket. Then I gave it to him and he put it on. It was a bit too big for him, but he didn't seem to mind.

He looked at me gratefully. "That's very kind of you to share your jacket with me, Mr Styles." "No problem at all, Mr Tomlinson."

We had to laugh. And then, almost as a matter of course, as if we did this every day, he took my hand. It shouldn't have been news to me, but still, a shiver ran down my spine and my heartbeat stopped. In an instant, I felt hot.

And I was happy. Really happy. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt so good.