No Strings Attached

Chapter Ten

“Are you doing alright?” 

“Yeah,” Louis said easily. And truthfully, he was. Harry’s absence afforded him the peace of mind that soothed his nerves and settled whatever raging hormones he felt in the other boy’s presence. This way, he could think a little clearer and conduct life at an easier pace. 

“What’s the matter?” Zayn pressed on, settling into one of those moods where he simply wasn’t accepting Louis’ aloofness as an appropriate answer. 

Louis groaned.

“I’m not sure. Harry texts me a lot, usually him first. And it’s rather easy to keep focused even when he texts me, because I can choose to ignore them and respond an hour or so later, can’t I? But he keeps telling me about how great Sweden was, or how wonderful his flight to Malibu was.” 

“Shit,” Zayn said without thinking, instantly shooting Louis an apologetic look when he remembered the little girl nestled on his lap. But neither Rosie nor Louis seemed to care much because the other boy had kept talking anyway. 

“And he says he has gifts. Mostly for Rosie because he can’t seem to get enough of her, which is all fine and well, but then he says that he has gifts for me, too. I don’t have gifts, Zayn! There are no gifts for Harry here, because he lives here and there’s nothing he could possibly want here that he doesn’t already have.” He didn’t even care that he sounded like a petulant child. 

Zayn smiled knowingly, his eyes twinkling with something that made Louis uncomfortable. 

“Well, there is one thing here that he doesn’t have.” 

“Like what?” Louis retorted thoughtlessly. “He’s already got every bloody beanie in the entire country, so I can’t go and give him that! Maybe I’ll steal him a jumper from Lottie’s closet because he does like them rather loose and colorful, doesn’t he?” 

“So do you,” Zayn said with a laugh. “But that’s not what I’m talking about.” 

“What then?” 

“You.” 

The one-word answer was enough to make Louis fall out of his chair if he hadn’t hiccupped violently instead. Rosie watched him with shocked and concerned eyes, but Zayn seemed to expect this reaction so he let his best mate ride out his wave of theatricality and exaggerated arm motions. He watched calmly as Louis choked on absolutely nothing, and he only patted Rosie encouragingly when she looked up at him for some help. 

“What?” Louis finally wrangled out of his throat. 

“You must be kidding me,” Zayn muttered. He lifted Rosie off his lap and whispered to her, “Lovebug, why don’t you go into the other room where I keep the spare toys and have a day of it, won’t you? I need to speak with your father.” 

She nodded diligently and sped off to the bedroom where her favorite playthings resided. Louis looked at him suspiciously. 

“I don’t like that you did that.” 

“Shut the fuck up and just hear me out,” Zayn said exasperatedly, using free reign over his words now that Rosie was gone. “Harry’s mad about you, and you’re too thick to even notice that you’re obviously interested in him as well!” 

“No, nope, not at all,” Louis said quickly, though he couldn’t resist his eyes fluttering to his phone again. Fuck, he cursed silently. “That’s wrong. You’re wrong, Zayn. We’re just friends – ” 

“Who fuck,” Zayn said emphatically, like it was something he had wanted to say for the longest time. “That’s not normal. You don’t see the two of us going at it on this table right now, do you?” 

“You’re not my type,” Louis grumbled, folding his arms and looking away. 

“And I’m not the only one who thinks it, too. Liam agrees with me, as well.” 

Louis shot his head in Zayn’s direction. “Liam?” 

Suddenly, Zayn’s cheeks went redder than Louis had ever seen them, and he felt some sort of shift in the balance of power in this conversation. 

“Liam?” Louis repeated. 

“He – I – We’re friends!” Zayn said definitively, his voice higher than usual. “I’m allowed to text friends, friends who have opinions that align with mine!” 

Louis rolled his eyes. “Friends like actual friends, or friends like the friends that you’re insinuating Harry and I are? Because honestly, mate, if you want to talk about obvious, then this is an entire discussion that we could be having right now – ” 

“Well, we’re not talking about me right now, are we? We’re talking about you and Harry and the very noticeable fact that you miss each other because you’ve fallen for each other. It was always going to happen and now that it has, you’re pretending like it isn’t there.” 

“I haven’t fallen for Harry,” Louis argued, feeling his cheeks flush. “It’s a little hard to fall for someone who leaves for a few months at a time because – ” 

“Because he’s recording an album, you idiot, and not because he decided to leave you behind on a whim!” Zayn shook his head irritably. “Honestly…” 

Zayn’s words resonated with him for the rest of the day, well past the point when they had both decided not to discuss it anymore because Louis was hungry and would really rather divert his attention to finding a delicious cheeseburger than talking about feelings that just weren’t there. 

Later that night, after he had put Rosie to bed, he checked the time in California and realized that it was still much earlier there than it was here, and therefore an acceptable time to text a certain curly-haired boy that may or may not have come up in that day’s heated discussions. He muttered nonsensically to himself, typing and deleting words before settling on a message that he deemed innocent enough to send. 

hi friend. we’re still friends, right? x

Random thoughts flooded his mind as he waited, thoughts that included everything from wondering what time he should wake up tomorrow, what arts and crafts project he would assign his preschoolers later that week, and what track Harry was recording and if he had any solos on it that he could listen to once the album was out –

His phone vibrated and he practically lunged at it, silently thankful that no one could see him. 

of course! only the best! miss you, how are you? x

“Fuck it all,” Louis said grumpily, throwing the phone to the foot of the bed like he had done on so many occasions. He decided he wouldn’t answer until Harry sent the inevitable follow up text asking whether he had received his last one. 

He lay in bed awake for several hours that night, Zayn’s voice ringing clearly in his head. Thankfully, Harry’s follow-up message never came, and perhaps that was for the best, because it was almost three in the morning when he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t so much Harry that he missed, but rather the consistent company of a person, the thrill of having someone around all the time that you could dote over and just be yourself with. Someone that was more than a friend. 

So as he closed his eyes and prepared to sleep at last, Louis reveled in the comfort of his decision to start dating again.