Bound by Pages | larry

twenty six

Harry found himself back in the park with Louis two days later. they were sitting on their usual bench, close enough to the back of the circle so that they could see the entrance, but not the very opposite bench to that pathway. It was a bench that made the both of them feel comfortable and safe.

They were sitting in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, but Harry definitely felt more tension than the usual comfortable ambience they had together. It was a Friday afternoon, and Harry had a million questions running through his head for Louis, but he couldn't find the right way to say any of them. 

"How did your interview at the bakery go?" Louis asked quietly. Harry sighed a breath of relief, this was an easy question to answer.

"Really well actually," Harry smiled. "Got hired on the spot."

Louis grinned back, "No way, really?"

Harry smiled and nodded. It was true. He had walked into the small local bakery not knowing what to expect, but the smell of fresh bread and sweet frostings calmed him down. It wasn't really a formal interview, but he joked around with the owner, Patricia, but everybody called her Pat. She was a short, cheery woman who wore her cosy apron with food colouring stains on it. Harry had watched her try to reach for the jar of flour, before using his height to grab it for her. 

"Yea," Harry replied. "The owner is super nice, and basically told me that I could come in whenever I wanted to help out, as long as I work at least 20 hours a week." 

"Huh," Louis shrugged, "I thought those things only happened in movies and stuff."

"I guess not," Harry laughed again. "You should come by with me sometime."

"I don't know..." Louis trailed off reluctantly.

"I'll buy you a cupcake?" Harry offered, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Dammit Styles, how could I say no to that?" They both chuckled softly. 

There were silent for a little while more, but this time, it was a lot less tense. Harry sneaked glances at Louis once in a while, watching the light breeze blow his soft hair around. His eyes reflected the cloudy sky. It was getting later in the year, which meant the sun was our less and went down earlier. 

"November starts next week," Louis commented, watching Harry look at the sky.

"Yea, less than two months until the semester ends," Harry looked back at the boy. "Are you going to pass?"

"What?" Louis blinked, a little taken aback.

"English. Are you going to pass?" Harry stared seriously at the boy.

"I uh," Louis stuttered. "I can't."

"I'm sure you can if you try. You're writing is beautiful."

"No," Louis frowned. "I mean, I mathematically can't. Not with the marks I have now."

"Oh."

"But it's fine, I'll pass everything else, then I can do it in the summer," Louis shrugged it off.

"I'm sure you could talk to Mr Wika-"

"Harry stop, it's fine," Louis shrugged again. "If I don't deserve the mark, I'm not going to ask for it."

Harry didn't say anything else, but he was clearly unhappy with that solution. He wanted Louis to have a fun, action-packed summer, not studying all day and being cramped in a classroom without air conditioning. 

Once again, they sat in silence, watching the winds blow the clouds across the sky. Harry had always thought that is was crazy how fast the sun disappeared from the sky in the winter. If he stayed later at school for extra help, he could literally watch the sunset walking home. He also found that the sunset tended to be much more beautiful during the winter. A lot of things were. Winter was definitely his favourite season.