No Strings Attached

Chapter One

“One Direction?”

“Something like that,” Zayn said before rushing to grab the next plates that needed to be taken out. “Anyway, they’re sitting in your section. Better be on your best game, eh?” With that, he disappeared through the door.

Louis didn’t know why, but he suddenly got very nervous. He felt something like a knot tighten in his chest. What reason did he have to be nervous? It wasn’t like he knew them or anything. He didn’t even know that much about them. All he knew was that they were Simon’s three-person group that made it just short of the final. Louis always thought they were rather good, but apparently not that good. Though they had been immensely popular during the series – especially among teenage girls – their star rapidly fell after their elimination.

But that didn’t stop people from getting excited at seeing the three of them in the restaurant where Louis worked, in the section that Louis served.

His nerves threatened to get the best of him once more, but he knew he had to go outside and face them either way. He swallowed hard and walked into the dining area, carefully counting his steps as he approached his section. The excitement had died down since he had been in the kitchen, but he could still count on the occasional looks toward the back to guide him to his newest customers.

He stopped walking when he saw them sitting in the corner booth.

The one with the doe eyes and the wide but guarded smile – he knew that one was Liam. And the one that was laughing uncontrollably next to him, with the blond hair – he knew that one was Niall. And the one that had the long, brown curls and the intense green eyes that were looking at him –

Wait, they were looking at him? Why was he looking at him?

The name fell out of Louis’ mouth before he knew what was happening.

“Harry?”

Liam and Niall instantly stopped smiling and laughing to look at him. Harry, however, just smiled in a way that maddened Louis.

“Oh shit, I mean, sorry, I didn’t mean to – ” Louis sputtered. Why did he just say his name like he knew him?

But Harry chuckled. “At least you know who we are. For a while there, it looked like you didn’t know where you were.”

Louis felt his face getting unbearably hot under the sheer embarrassment of it all. He was normally so composed as a waiter; why were these three suddenly going to change that?

“Sorry,” he said again, shoulders slumping. “Busy night. Didn’t expect to see you lot around here. Kind of star struck, really.”

Liam and Niall seemed entertained by the exchange.

“We’ve got to eat like everybody else,” the Irish boy said heartily, causing Liam to smirk. Louis felt his stomach sinking even deeper. But Liam’s kind smile helped him out.

“Don’t worry, they’re both only teasing,” he said warmly. “Didn’t mean to alarm you.”

Louis noticed Harry – Harry fucking Styles from the telly – still staring at him with a strange sort of intensity, as though he either found this entire situation brilliantly humorous or utterly uncomfortable. But he didn’t really want to know which one it was.

“No worries,” he said, half-sighing. “Anyway, welcome. Can I start you lot off with anything to – ”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Harry interrupted quickly, causing Liam to roll his eyes as though he expected something like this to happen. “You obviously know my name, so you should introduce yourself before we take this any further.”

Louis just stared. If Liam had been trying to make him feel comfortable, then Harry was doing a spectacular job at doing just the opposite. Now more than ever, he just wanted to back away into the kitchen and disappear forever.

“My name’s Louis,” he responded slowly, making sure the curly-haired boy only needed telling once.

“That’s better,” Harry said contentedly, smiling as he leaned back into his seat. But the statement only left a strange prickly, irritated feeling within Louis.

He rushed through their beverage orders and back into the kitchen, where he let out an audible sigh of relief that caused Zayn to rush over the moment he saw him.

“What was it like? What were they like?”

Louis shrugged, exasperated. “Harry seems like a prick. The other two are nice enough, I suppose.”

“A prick?” Zayn let the explanation settle with him for a moment. “Why?”

“Just a feeling I have, I guess,” he said, collecting the drinks onto a tray. “I don’t really care. I just need to bring these drinks out there to them so I’ll be that much closer to leaving and going back home to Rosie.”

When he returned to their booth, he found that Liam and Niall were still joking around while Harry just watched him set their drinks on the table. Even when he took their meal orders, he pointedly avoided Harry’s glance. However, he was sorely tempted to say something in response. But he didn’t even know what to say when Harry asked him in a subtly teasing tone what his favorite item on the menu was. What was he doing that proved to be so entertaining to the younger boy?

It was a question without an answer, even by the time their meal was winding down to a close almost an hour later. Harry asked him for his favorite dessert item with the same playfully antagonizing quality that characterized his other questions. Louis was surprised by how uncomfortable he had become in the presence of the singer. Even his two mates couldn’t relieve his discomfort and desire to have them leave altogether. It seemed that the more miffed Louis grew, the more entertained Harry became.

By the time Louis returned with their check, he felt like he had worked two shifts in the span of one hour. Avoiding Harry’s gaze while dealing with other customers took a great deal of effort, and he was almost too thankful to have the group once known as One Direction leave his restaurant.

But he was off in the corner inputting a new order into the computer when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he was met with Harry’s bright green eyes looking into him with that same sense of amusement. Louis could see Niall and Liam standing behind him, cautiously observing the situation and wondering what would come of it.

When it reached such a pitch of awkwardness that it almost seemed too uncomfortable to even breathe, Harry saved them both by speaking.

“Thanks for everything, Louis,” he said with lingering emphasis on his name, almost like he enjoyed saying it. Then he flashed a smile and turned around with his friends, meandering through the crowd to get out of the restaurant and out of Louis’ life.

Even moments after they had left, Louis still remained frozen at his station, confusion tugging at his mind.

What the hell just happened?