No Strings Attached

Chapter Two

He was over in the dairy section, debating which brand of yoghurt he fancied, when he heard a very familiar voice behind him coming from the same aisle.

“I’m not going to get a large thing of milk this time around,” the voice said, and Louis still refused to turn around and acknowledge this very cruel twist of fate. “Last time, you and Liam left more than half of it untouched. I won’t have spoiled milk in our fridge again.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Louis muttered under his breath, suddenly very aware of the two tubs of yoghurt in his hands. He absently put one back and put the other in his basket. He wondered if he would be able to escape from this situation unscathed, unnoticed.

He wheeled around slowly and mentally planned out his evasive maneuver, but found that Harry was much closer than he anticipated.

The younger boy was on the phone – with Niall, he assumed – so he wasn’t looking directly at him just yet. But Louis found himself inexplicably distracted by every detail, from the way his curls fell just short of his eyebrows to the way his blue jumper looked comfortable and rather good on his figure. Louis pushed that thought quickly out of his mind and made his move before the pair of green eyes met his blue ones and froze him in his place.

Time seemed to stop as Louis watched Harry’s facial features contort in confusion before brilliantly lighting up with recognition. It made Louis want to groan but celebrate at the same time.

“Listen, I’ll call you back Nialler – yes, I will, I promise. Okay bye.” Harry hung up the phone and just stared at him. “Louis,” he said with surprising certainty.

Louis only shrugged. “For someone as famous as you are, you’re just popping up everywhere, aren’t you?” And he hoped that that was all he would have to say.

But his luck wasn’t exactly going in that direction.

“Small world,” Harry drawled, pushing his cart toward Louis. “Didn’t think I’d have the pleasure of seeing your face again.”

Pleasure?

“Well, here it is,” Louis said rather dumbly, and Harry laughed. “I mean – nevermind. Sorry, did you need to get behind me? The milk is here, after all, and I heard you talking to someone about milk so you can just go ahead…” His voice trailed off as he scooted over. But when he looked up, he found that Harry was only looking at him a little too intently for his liking.

“What?” Louis sputtered, and he realized his tone might’ve been harsher than he meant because Harry appeared visibly shaken by the question. “Sorry – it’s just that you really like staring, don’t you?”

At that, Harry’s features softened again and he chuckled.

“Listen, sorry about last night,” he explained. “I can tell you were probably really uncomfortable with the way I was looking at you.”

If he could tell, then why the hell did he keep doing it?

“But I really couldn’t stop it,” he continued, grinning. “Not when you looked as cute as you did.”

Louis’ face threatened to break into a smile, but he kept it down with a blank expression. On the inside, however, he was immensely confused. Cute? Is that what he said?

“Yeah, um, no worries then,” he stuttered. His body suddenly felt very heavy, as if he was practically dragging himself away from where he was standing. “I don’t want to take up your time, so…”

“You’re not taking up my time,” Harry said simply. “Talking’s fun.”

Normally, Louis would have tried impressing the hint even more: he really didn’t want to talk. But something about Harry made him both dread and crave conversation. It felt like a fleeting moment, one that was at risk of ending much sooner than it needed to, and he hoped he would end the conversation rather than Harry doing it first. But when he considered that this was probably a chance – a second chance – he wouldn’t get again, he decided to play along.

“Alright, about what?”

Harry chuckled. “How about…when are you working again?”

Louis blinked. “At the restaurant?”

“Unless you have another job I don’t know about,” Harry replied with a knowing grin.

“Right, er, tomorrow night.”

“Damn.” Harry looked disappointed. “Can’t make it then. Sorry. Maybe I’ll get to see you in action another night.”

Why was Harry genuinely disheartened by that fact? Louis wanted to understand the other boy’s investment in his work schedule, but all he could think about was how utterly beautiful Harry looked, even in the glaring fluorescent lighting of the grocery store. When he finally moved on from staring into those bright, emerald pools he called eyes, he noticed how pale he actually was, but how little that mattered when his cheeks flushed slightly pink. He looked so young, which made Louis feel slightly guilty about his creeping sense of desire. What the hell had gotten into him?

“Yeah…maybe,” he croaked after what seemed an eternity. Harry raised a brow.

“Now look who’s staring,” he said cheekily.

Louis coughed a little too aggressively, choking a little on his own spittle before saying, “Look, I should probably go. But it was nice seeing you, Harry.”

“Even nicer seeing you, Louis. I mean it when I say I’d like to see you working again.”

“Yeah alright,” Louis sputtered as he walked away as quickly as he could.

But even as he picked up his pace, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Harry was still staring at him from behind.