Pride {l.s.}

9- Jealousy

Dedicated to HarryLovesHisLouis because they were excited for this chapter :)

Harry invited Zayn and me over for dinner later in the week to meet his other friends. He did mention that Niall will also be there, the boy who took the picture of us. He seems like an interesting lad, but that didn't stop me from being nervous.

"What if they don't like me?"

"Just be yourself, Lou. They'll love you," Zayn reassures me. The wall between Zayn and I has completely fallen, and it feels nice.

Zayn stands cool as he leans against the wall of the building as he smokes his cigarette. Harry insisted that he walk over to get us. This boy has issues with that. He seems to like to make sure that we always walk together. He holds the people he loves close and protects them. I can see that he does that, so it makes me wonder how attached we've become to each other.

"I think I'm gonna need a cigarette to calm me down, Zayn," I insist while trying to reach for the cigarette he's smoking.

Zayn moves away from me so that I cannot reach the cigarette that lies in between his fingers. "Nope. You haven't smoked one in months. I'm proud of you, Louis, but it's a dangerous habit."

"Then why can you smoke?" I question. I set my hands on my hips.

"Because we both know that you were always stronger than me," Zayn replies.

We tried to quit together once we were out of college, but Zayn gave in. I've tried to give in a couple times. Zayn always stops me, but I can't seem to stop him. He's stronger than me because he can stop me; I can't stop him.

I roll my eyes. "We can try again, Zayn. It doesn't have to be this way."

Zayn doesn't reply to me. We stand in silence waiting for a tall boy with long brown hair to come get us. A person does approach with long brown hair, but it's the person I least expected.

"Lou?"

I never liked it when she called me that.

"El?"

I feel her arms around me before I can process that she's here. I moved far away from my hometown. How did she find me here?

She releases me before she starts explaining herself. "I just moved here, and I was going to track you down. Apparently, I don't have to! How are you doing? How's your family?"

I ignore Zayn's weird looks and reply. "I uh don't really know. We don't speak much anymore."

That reply doesn't seem to faze Eleanor. "Oh, well I'm sure you guys will fix it. They love you so much, Lou. They just want you to come home. You know that they do."

That house was never home. Zayn knows that I don't like my family, but he has no idea why. Neither does Harry. I don't want either of them to know.

"Yeah. Um, Zayn and I are actually supposed to be meeting a friend soon. We best get going," I say. I do my best to push her away. She's a nice girl, but she was never who I wanted.

"I best get going too. Do you mind if I get your number? Maybe we can hang out just like old times."

I numbly give her my number before she walks away. I ignore Zayn's looks, but the feeling of being down lifts once I see the green eyes. I notice the boy standing next to Harry. He has brown hair with these deep brown eyes. He's almost as beautiful as Harry, but not quite.

"Harold!" I exclaim, but he doesn't return the happiness of the greeting. The boy next to Harry introduces himself as Liam, but my eyes don't leave Harry. We all begin our walk, and I eavesdrop on Liam and Zayn.