I Love You, Man (Larry Stylinson AU)

Chapter 02: Girlfriends

"Yes!"

Louis drives them along, briefly looking away from the road to flash his new fiancée a quick smile. The two have connected Eleanor's mobile to the car's speakers, so they can tell all of her friends the good news while they drive home.

"It just happened two minutes ago, Danielle, can you believe it?" Eleanor beams while clasping her small hands around Louis' free one.

"No! I can't!" Danielle voices from the other end. "It's amazing, oh my god. I've been on like ten million dates, and you end up marrying some totally awesome guy who randomly walks into our store?!"

Louis chuckles at that and lightly kisses one of Eleanor's hands.

"It's so cute," Eleanor whispers to Louis. "She doesn't know she's on speakerphone."

"You do not know how lucky you are," Danielle continues, pouring herself another glass of wine and trying not to cringe across the restaurant table she's sat at. "It is impossible to find a good guy in this city."

"I know," Eleanor's voice rings through her mobile.

"I thought we were connecting," says the man sitting in front of Danielle.

"Oh my god, really?" she looks at him sorely.

"Kind of."

"I'm sorry, but... not really."

Danielle had been set up on a blind date with this weird bloke with small glasses and limbs too long for his body. It's almost a painful thing, waiting to get this night over with. She'd be lucky if she remembered his name by the end of it.

"Hey, will you conference in Perrie?" Eleanor brings Danielle back to their mobile conversation.

"Oh my god! You called me first?" Danielle flourishes.

"Oh, god," Eleanor rolls her eyes, smiling.

"Awesome. Yes. Hold on."

There is silence in the car as Danielle works to add Perrie into the call. Eleanor takes the moment as an opportunity to get as close to her new fiancé as possible. She kisses along Louis' cheek, trying to connect their lips, as Louis tries to keep his eyes on the road.

He doesn't mind, but. You know. He is driving.

"I love that piece of land. It's perfect," she tells him once they separate.

"I'm glad," he smiles calmly at her. "I mean, I know the neighborhood's a little, you know-"

"Oh my god, El! I cannot fucking believe you didn't call me first!" Perrie's anxious voice rings clearly through the car's speakers.

"You are such a freak," Eleanor laughs, as Louis does. "Danielle's first on my speed dial."

"No, no, no, I'm totally kidding," Perrie rambles on. "I'm so psyched for you, I feel like I'm gonna puke right now," she sighs. "Oh my god, hold on."

Perrie tries to stay on her home phone as Zayn repeatedly taps on his watch with an assertive look on his face.

"Zayn hates when I'm in the house during his poker night-" Perrie whips around the kitchen counter and frowns at Zayn. "Would you give me a second, you skinny douche?!"

Zayn stands tall and chants a fixed chorus of 'get out, get out, get out' while Perrie furiously interrupts him with her own curses.

Zayn and Perrie are married. They always tend to get into these fits, and they pick on each other daily. But it always ends in steamy stories that Louis manages to catch bits of whenever she and the girls are around. So their banter must amount to something good, he figures.