No Strings Attached

Chapter Three

Liam was still staring, but Niall grinned widely at him.

“Yeah, man! Louis the waiter! Harry mentioned he ran into you the other day and he hasn’t shut up about you since – ouch!” The blond boy grimaced when Liam elbowed him in the side. “What was that for?”

Liam rolled his eyes but offered a kind smile to Louis. “I guess we’re just running into you everywhere.”

Louis shrugged. “Seems that way. This is the bookstore I always come to.”

Liam looked as if he were about to say something else, but before he could get it out, a small voice shocked them all from their conversation.

“Da!”

It wasn’t a question; it was a demand for attention.

Louis wearily turned around and looked at Rosie, who was still sitting on the ground and waving the book above her head impatiently. Her patience with the situation had obviously run out.

Fuck, Louis thought to himself. It was one thing to be caught alone in a bookstore by two members of One Direction, but it was another thing entirely to be caught with his daughter.

Ignoring the looks he was certain Liam and Niall were giving him, he scooped Rosie into his arms. Pleased by the attention, she dropped the book and wrapped her tiny arms around Louis’ neck, giggling into his shoulder.

“Uh, mate?” Niall finally asked, looking over expectantly at Louis. “That your sister?”

He shifted his weight uncomfortably. Why did it matter if Rosie was his daughter or not? He didn’t need to hide anything from these two boys who, he was certain now, he would probably never see again. Reason stood that this situation was nothing more than some sort of freak occurrence.

“Yeah, right,” Louis said slowly. He kissed Rosie on the top of her head. “This is Rosie, and she’s my daughter.”

Liam and Niall’s faces simultaneously lit up in understanding. Any worry Louis had that they might react negatively instantly washed away when they both smiled and slowly approached to get a better look at the little girl who was resting comfortably in Louis’ arms.

“I told you little girls liked reading,” Liam told Niall triumphantly, obviously referring to their previous conversation.

“Yeah, but your niece is a month old, isn’t she? And she’s – ” Niall looked over at Louis. “How old is she?”

“Sixteen months,” Louis replied confidently, and he never felt more like a father than he did during that conversation.

“Right, sixteen months,” Niall finished, causing Liam to frown at him. He turned back to Louis. “Mate, she’s adorable. Rosie, you said?”

Rosie looked up at the mention of her name and spent a considerable amount of time analyzing the two faces floating nearby. Louis almost laughed at how her brow scrunched together in her concentration.

Like the face she makes when she’s farting, Louis thought amusedly.

“My name’s Niall,” the Irish boy introduced nicely, reaching out a hand that Rosie didn’t know how to deal with. But a few moments passed before she reached out and grabbed his finger, laughing.

“Ni!” she squealed.

Niall only grinned.

Liam jumped in, eager to join the conversation. “And my name is Liam,” he said, offering his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Rosie.”

Rosie leaned away from Louis’ grip to shake Liam’s finger.

“Leem,” she pronounced confidently, causing the sweet-faced boy to chuckle in response.

“She’s a charmer,” Liam decided, looking rather pleased with himself as Rosie burrowed her way back into her father’s neck. His face suddenly dropped as he looked around. “Her mum – ”

“Gone,” Louis said instantly, surprised at how easily it came to him. “Left.”

“Ah,” Niall said understandingly, eyes still focused on Rosie’s head of brown hair. “Right, well, you seem to be doing a stand up job of raising her.”

Louis felt uneasy when he realized that Liam was still looking at him, almost like he was sizing him up. But he kept his attention on Niall’s compliment.

“Thanks, mate. We get by.”

Niall nodded and Liam followed suit, finished with whatever inspection of Louis’ character he had been conducting.

Suddenly, Louis remembered what Niall had mentioned earlier before Liam cut him off.

“Uh,” he began awkwardly. “You mentioned something about Harry…” His voice trailed off with his confidence.

But Niall only smiled at him, something like amusement sparkling in his eye. Liam only raised a brow.

Louis shrugged it off. “Nevermind. Listen, we should probably go. This one’s getting sleepy.” He nodded at Rosie, who had, in fact, started dozing off in Louis’ arms. “Maybe we’ll see you again,” he added as an afterthought.

Liam nodded and Niall clapped a hand on Louis’ back. “I’m sure we will,” the Irish boy said lowly, smiling. “Have a nice day, Lou. Lovely meeting you again, Rosie!”

Rosie stirred against Louis’ neck, but didn’t look up.

“See you around,” Louis said, feeling stupid as Liam and Niall walked down the aisle and rounded the last bookshelf. He looked around, still feeling a little shocked at what had happened. He realized Rosie had fallen asleep as she breathed against his skin, definitely in need of a nap. And he swallowed hard when another realization swept through him, almost as if goosebumps could spring forth inside of him.

Harry had been talking about him.