How It Feels To Have A Heartbeat - Larry fanfic (AU)

Chapter 6

"We have to walk in here if you don't want to end up walking past school", he nodded towards a little path, going over a field of grass. Behind the field, you could see the back of the school.

"Oh, yeah, of course", Louis replied and turned so he walked on the path in front of Harry. They walked in a comfortable silence all the way over the field. When they reached school, they took the back entrance, so they didn't need to walk around the entire building. Since Louis walked first, he held up the door for Harry to go through.

"You know, I'd love to do that more often, but I can't actually walk to school that early most of the time, so it will have to wait until the next time I can" Louis said while they walked up the stairs.

"Oh, yeah, it was nice having some company. I don't mind waiting though, 'till next time then. I'll know who it is coming up behind me to murder me", Harry joked. Louis laughed, while opening up the door to the classroom. Harry walked in and instantly looked towards Niall, who was grinning like an idiot. He made a mental note to ask him about it later today.

The first lesson went by slowly. Louis noticed that Harry would disappear every time they didn't have class. He thought he would only do it sometimes, but he had been wrong. Every time the teacher had walked out the door, it didn't take long before Harry was also gone. By lunch, he had decided to ask his friends about it. Harry had said that it was because he needed some time alone, but he wasn't quite sure if he believed him.

Louis sat down at the table the boys had used the past days of school. Harry hadn't arrived yet, which is why he decided that now was the perfect time to ask. He got Liam's attention who turned to him with a questioning look.

"I was just wondering about something", Louis began, and Liam urged him to keep going. "Well, I've been talking a lot with Harry lately, and I couldn't stop myself from noticing certain oddities", Louis trailed off, not sure how he should formulate his question, but he didn't need to, Liam spoke in the little break Louis had taken to gather his thoughts.

"Well, he does act a little bit weird, maybe sometimes distant, I'm not sure exactly what you have noticed, but most of it began after-" Liam stopped talking, his head snapping towards Zayn, who had slapped his arm. Zayn made a gesture with his head, in the direction of the entry of the cafeteria. Harry had just walked in and was already almost at their table. Louis cursed his timing in his mind. He didn't want to pry, but he was curious as to what had happened.

Harry walked all the way to their table before sitting down. He looked at Zayn, then at Liam, before turning his head to the side to look at Louis. His eyebrows furrowed and the right one lifted slightly.

"Were you talking about me just now? You all got real quiet when I came over", he asked them about his suspicion. The two lads in front of Harry looked like they were deer, caught in a headlight, but Louis just nodded.

"Yup", he said, popping the p. "I was asking what they'd give you for Christmas, I like to plan stuff like that quite early, cus I'm real bad at coming up with present ideas, but these two obviously don't, because they haven't even thought of what they wish for themselves." Harry just looked at Louis in astonishment. So did the two other lads. Harry was astonished because Louis had straight up told him that they were talking about him, his friends would never actually do that. Liam and Zayn were shocked at how easily he had come up with a lie to get Harry off their scent.

"Oh, okay, well then" he just said and smiled slightly. "You guys coming to football practice today?" He changed the subject, not actually thinking about what he had asked. He let the conversation start up around him and got distracted with his food. Harry didn't notice how often Louis sent quick glances in his direction, while he basically inhaled his salad. When he was done, he let his brain explore actual thoughts, other than "nom" and "food".