No Strings Attached

Chapter Eleven

“Harwee?”

Louis watched as realization spread across his daughter’s face, causing her to literally jump at the sight of her old friend before she lurched and tripped in her excited dash into Harry’s arms. The younger boy swept her upwards and held her tightly, planting several kisses on each cheek before holding her out to really examine her. 

“You’re so big now! What’ve you been eating!” 

“Nothing!” Rosie squealed through her giggles, grabbing at Harry’s longer curls and beaming at the familiarity of it. 

“Nothing? Nothing? That’s a lie, because you’re like a little monster now!” 

Louis would have been content to stand there all day and watch their reunion. He spent endless days running their reunion through his head, practicing what he would say and what he would do once they were together again. But somewhere along the way, he seemed to forget that he wasn’t the only one in that flat Harry had left behind. Quite honestly, he was a little surprised that Rosie still remembered Harry as well as she did, especially with the influx of new people she had met in childcare during his absence. But there she was, clinging to Harry like he was going to disappear once more under her watch.

And maybe he was. 

Several minutes passed before Rosie relaxed in Harry’s arms, resting her head on his shoulder and just happy to be there in the first place. He put her down, and she immediately went back to her stack of papers to work on a new doodle that seemed to begin with a scribble of messy brown hair. Still chuckling lightly to himself, Harry met Louis’ eyes. 

“You didn’t say where you were going.” 

“Going?” 

“You’re dressed up. You’re going someplace. Where?”

Before Louis could stop himself, he said, “A date.” 

A flicker of something that resembled confusion or maybe even pain registered on Harry’s weary features before disappearing, replaced by a blank look that didn’t quite register to anything Louis could place his finger on. 

“You’re going…on a date?” He said it like he had to get a taste for it. “With who?” 

“Just a guy,” Louis said hurriedly, wishing this would all end and that maybe Harry was just a dream right now. 

“Just a guy?” Harry’s tone was noticeably louder, even if only a little. “What – I mean, how long have you two been dating?” 

“Not very,” Louis said truthfully. “This is the third date.” 

“The third date?” This time, the disbelief wasn’t hard to miss on Harry’s face. It bloomed there like a bruise, and he only stared at the ground trying to make sense of this revelation. Finally, “You’ve been dating?” 

“Well…yeah,” Louis said after several seconds of trying to come up with an appropriate response. “Not very successfully, I might add. But Charlie’s the first bloke in a while that – ” 

“Charlie?” 

“That’s his name.” Louis felt his cheeks getting hotter. They hadn’t moved very far from the front door, and Louis watched as Harry’s eyes flickered toward the exit. 

“I should probably go then.” 

But Louis cut Harry’s stride off before he could reach the door, and he suddenly became very aware of how close they were to each other. Harry was only a few inches away from him; he could practically feel Harry’s heavy breathing on his cheek.