Larry Stylinson ~ Poor Little Rich Boy AU

3.

In a further moment of madness, Stan had bet fifty quid on the outcome of their bet – if Louis didn’t manage to add Harry Styles to his list of conquests (he didn’t actually have a list; that would be just a little bit too obnoxious and he’d also kind of lost count if he was completely honest) then Stan was in the money. If he did, then there would be a lovely fifty pound note in his pocket. Louis was a twenty year old boy who was teetering on the brink of a drink problem – fifty quid was an extremely useful commodity. He had no intention of letting it pass him by. 

~*~

Whatever was in that drink, it was stronger than he’d given it credit for. Who knew that such a girly looking drink could be quite so fierce, could make you quite so dizzy in such a short space of time? It was almost amusing, that he was having a few problems with walking in straight lines already. Then again, what was already? It seemed like he’d lost several hours, because the blue sky had turned dusky pink with the slightest tinge of orange, and almost everyone had abandoned the pool as the evening turned cool. Louis was alone as he sat absently by the poolside, gently swinging his legs over the edge.

A small noise alerted him to the fact that he was not alone, but he didn’t look up. Softly shuffling footsteps as someone crossed the room ought to have been an alarming noise, but Louis was in the kind of mood where he would have turned around and asked a raging axe murderer if he wanted a drink if one so happened to be stalking through the outdoor pool facility. So he sat splashing in the pool, watching the ripples slowly spread out through the water, and didn’t even acknowledge that someone was behind him.

It came as a shock, then, when he stopped kicking for a while and the water stilled, becoming glassy and smooth – and he found himself staring at the reflection of a boy with a thick head of curls, who was wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt and a lot of bracelets that were clumped together in groups on his skinny wrists, and who looked just as shocked to see Louis as Louis was to see him.

Turning around, Louis found himself face to face with the boy, and took the opportunity to examine him a little more thoroughly. There were details that a reflection couldn’t convey, that couldn’t be taken in through a distant glance down the beach. Like the flawless double curve of Harry’s petal pink lips, which Louis was willing to bet a substantial amount of money had never been kissed. The way he had one curl which hung in a certain way across his forehead, twisting unexpectedly upwards and looked quite funny to the intoxicated Louis. How the light reflecting off his moss-coloured eyes made Louis think of sunlight making an algae-covered pond sparkle, how they were an intricate and incredible green that Louis had never seen before. His rounded cheeks, and the way colour danced across them as he blushed, dropping his gaze to the floor. He had an iphone sticking out of his pocket, with headphones trailing from his ears, and he quickly tugged them out without looking at Louis, stuffing them self-consciously into his pocket. Fascinated, Louis watched the speedy movement of his hands, noticing how big they were and wondering if he could find an excuse to compare hand sizes, just for a laugh. Next to Harry’s, his hands looked like a baby’s. Harry’s white shirt had wrinkled weirdly across his stomach in a strange crease, and one of his astonishingly white shoes had a careful streak of mud on it, like he’d deliberately put it there. The thought of the boy crouching down and strategically daubing mud onto his brilliant white shoes with one finger made Louis grin, and his whole face lit up with the force of it.

“I didn’t know anyone else was here,” Harry said slowly, his voice low and rich and hesitant and oh, it sounded like a waterfall of chocolate being poured all over Louis and he pretty much wanted to drown in it. He didn’t return Louis’ smile, and his gaze was cautious and self conscious, like he was ashamed to have been found here.