Pour | Harry Styles

chapter sixteen

“No, you know what I mean, Lily. Do you like him like, have a crush on him, or something?” Louis asked, staring into Lily’s scared brown eyes with his inquisitive blue ones.

“No.” Lily shook her head. “I don’t have feelings for him.”

“It sounds more like you’re trying to convince yourself,” Louis noted, stopping in front of Harry’s dark chestnut front door. He laid his back against it as he stared Lily down. “It’s okay.  I feel the same way you do—except it’s not fucking right of me to.”

That’s when Louis opened Harry’s front door, not even turning around when he did. He spun around and walked in, leaving Lily paralyzed with confusion. She didn’t move from where she was, completely confused with what Louis had just said to her.

Lily . . . She couldn’t even think of any words to describe her confusion. Why had Louis said this to her? What was the point? She was so utterly perplexed at the moment.

After a minute of just standing there, Lily gained the strength to push aside her confusion. She walked inside the Styles’ home, closing the door behind her. The smell of air freshener immediately filled Lily’s nostrils as she took her boots of, placing them together neatly in the corner next to the all other pair of shoes that had been left there. The small brunette dragged her feet along the maple hardwood floors, her eyes taking in the pictures of various members of the Styles family that lined the pale green walls of the Styles’ home.

When she reached the living room there was immediate squeals and screams. A warm smile sat on Lily’s face, her confusion forgotten for a moment as Anne and Gemma jumped up.

“Lily!” they chorused affectionately, running over to Lily and immediately engulfing her in a hug.

“You two seem more excited to see her than you were to see me,” Harry grumbled playfully, pouting.

“We are!” Gemma conceded, winking at her younger brother.

“What took you so long to get here?” Anne inquired, pulling away from Lily. She still looked like she did when Lily saw her last year, if not even more beautiful. Her dark hair looked bouncier and probably had been freshly cut. Her green eyes were surrounded by glowing skin with a reasonably small amount of age marks etched into it.

Lily twirled a strand of her hair, watching as it fell back onto her yellow striped cotton sweater. “I, um, forgot my phone in the car.”

“Sure took a while to get your phone,” Gemma commented suspiciously, “but it doesn’t matter! I want to know how you’ve been and why you’re still friends with my brother. He’s horrid, honestly.” She dropped her voice to a loud whisper, adding, “And adopted.”

“Hey!” Harry exclaimed. “I heard that!”

“Whoops,” Gemma replied, smirking at her brother.

“Now, now, Harry, you aren’t adopted,” Anne reassured him. Harry grinned victoriously, walking over to his mom and hugging her. She rubbed his back as she said, “We found you on the streets and took you in—but you weren’t adopted!”

Harry backed out of the hug. “Hey!”

“I love you, Mum!” Gemma said as she laughed, clutching her tiny stomach.

“Just face it, Harry: you’re not wanted in the Styles family. It’s probably ‘cause Niall’s replaced you,” Lily joked, and Niall rushed over to join the conversation.

“It’s true,” Gemma concurred, putting her arm around Niall, “he’s replaced you.”

“We’ve always wanted a blonde in the family,” Anne gushed, walking over to Niall and also putting her arm around him.