Facade

Chapter 11

Harry’s P.O.V.

Louis smirked at me as he raised an eyebrow. I admit, I was caught a bit off guard at his unexpected friendly gesture. Did this mean that we were sort of friends now? I smiled and said, “Sure!” Louis got on his motorcycle and scooted upwards, giving me some space to sit behind him. I sat there clueless of what to do. I had seen movies of bikers before, and normally the people in the back would hug the person in the front so they wouldn’t fly off, but normally they were girls, and I am not.

“Umm, Louis?”

“Yeah Curly?”

“Don’t we need helmets?” He scoffed and shook his head.

“Only in races, because of ‘safety rules’.” He made air quotes at that last part. The fact that my head, well all of my body, lacked the shell of a protection from a car, made me nervous and uncomfortable. Louis started the bike, and I immediately wrapped my arms around him as my first instinct. My firm hug made him jump a little before he sighed and continued to let the engine run. He lifted his feet onto the bike, and before I knew it, we were  out of the campus and in the streets. The wind blew my hair out of my face as we rode through the illuminated city. I grasped Louis very tightly, afraid that if I let go I would fall. He looked back at me and chuckled; then his eyes returned to the road. As we stopped at a red light, I eased up on Louis and put my arms down. He turned slightly to face me. He grinned and tittered as he observed my heavy breathing.

“Relax kiddo. Loosen up and let yourself feel free like you’re-”

“Like you’re flying.” The words sneaked from my mouth in a faint whisper as they completed his sentence. “Yeahhh, that.” Louis gave me strange look, “Yeah, that.” I snapped out of my thoughts and realized that I had just creeped out the guy I’m trying to impress. Good Job Styles.

Louis seemed like he was about to say something else, but the light turn green, I wrapped my arms around him again, and we drove off. This time, I tried to be more detached from his body and enjoy the adventure. I took notice of the many restaurants, shops, clubs, and other buildings around the city. My mind was somewhere else. As I regarded the view, I let my eyes just wander around in awe. I soon discovered them to be on Louis. It was night and the moon was out, but it wasn’t very late though. By now, we had passed the advertising, neon part of the city; we were in the more village like part of the city with old houses and cafes. The only light evident were faded streetlights and the faint glow of the moon. The glimmer of the moon outlined Louis’ petite body as it shone down at him. His tattoos came to life in the light. There was this tattoo that I really liked on him; it was a simple X on his right wrist. It was on the outwards part of the wrist, and it was small. The X was grey with 2 black outlines, the boldest one on the outside, and had another thin red outline between them. The sight of the moon light being reflected off of the X captivated me for the most unknown reasons. It had such a simplicity to it, that the other tattoos he had of complicated designs, seemed too much to take in. Another beauty of the X was that it stood alone. His wrist was bare with the exception of the X. The light seemed to dance on it, making it stand out a lot. Normally, I would hate tattoos, but I just loved this one. I wasn’t big on piercings either, yet, looking at Louis, they seemed like part of an artwork; it completed the masterpiece.

We finally stopped at a Panera to eat. We ordered our food and sat at one of the little tables inside the cafe. As we ate, I tried to think of what to say to Louis. I still had about 13 days left to convince him that what happened at the party really did happen. I didn’t want to lose Louis and have him not talk to me ever again. What could I say? What could I do?

“So you’ve never been on a motorcycle before?” My thoughts were cut short by Louis’ question. He sipped his coke as he waited for me to respond. “Nah, they always seemed dangerous to me.” Louis cackled as he collapsed towards the back of the chair and put his hand on his forehead. “That’s crazy man!” He sat up again and took a bite out of his sandwich.