love me, please? // larry stylinson

three

"Huh?" Startled, Harry snapped out of his daze.

"I said, why didn't you wait for me after English class? We always leave together, don't we?" Nick demanded.

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Sure, Nick was a good friend of his, but he could be kind of annoying sometimes. He could be snobbish and rude to anyone who wasn't his friend - sometimes he was even snobbish and rude to his own friends - and Harry didn't like him very much at times, but they'd known each others for years and Harry felt obliged to be nice to Nick.

"Well, uh, I was thinking about the worksheet and I kind of forgot to wait for you," Harry said, hoping his excuse sounded believable. He had forgot to wait for Nick - but it wasn't the worksheet he had been thinking about. "Sorry."

Nick folded his arms. "Well, you better remember next time, Styles."

"Sure." Harry glanced over at Liam, hoping to start a conversation with him. He didn't really want to talk to Nick anymore, and besides, Liam might know something about Louis and Zayn.

"Li, do you know if Zayn Malik is into girls or boys or both?" Harry asked quietly, so the rest of the table wouldn't hear.

"He's into boys," Liam replied almost automatically. Harry stared at him. Uncomfortable, Liam said, "What?"

"How'd you know?" Harry asked incredulously. He hadn't actually expected an answer from Liam. "Zayn is so quiet and mysterious, how'd you know that? I mean, I expected I needed to do some deep digging, but how did you just know?"

Liam shrugged. "I just do, Harry. Why do you want to know Zayn's sexuality anyway?"

Remembering why he asked in the first place, Harry glanced over at Louis' table. "I just - Louis and Zayn seem to have something going on."

Liam looked over as well, and the two watched as Zayn tapped Louis' nose affectionately, making Louis scrunch up cutely. Harry was about to explode from the jealousy.

"Oh," Liam said softly. "Well, I don't know."

"If Zayn is into boys, then he might be dating Louis," Harry said, gripping the table tightly.

"Just because they're both gay and they're best friends doesn't mean they're dating," Liam commented. "You never know."

Harry sighed. "That's what's killing me." There was a momentary silence before Harry remembered something. "By the way, Li, my mum invited you to have a picnic with us this weekend, to celebrate the win."

"Sure, I'll come." Liam dipped a French fry into the ketchup and grinned. "Your mum makes great sandwiches."

*****

On Sunday, Harry, Liam, Gemma and Anne strolled into the park. They found a spot under a large tree, and set their things down.

"Come on, boys, lay out the blanket," Anne instructed, handing Harry and Liam a folded up sheet while Gemma took out the plastic containers of food they had made earlier.

"Honestly, you guys are really the best cooks," Liam said, once they'd set up and were sitting on the sheet, ready to eat. "Every single time I eat a home meal with you guys it's like I'm in a five-star restaurant."

"Thank you, Liam," Anne said, a warm smile on her face. "Eat up, guys."

The meal was indeed delicious, and the four spent a great afternoon together, chatting and laughing. Afterwards, Harry and Liam decided to take a walk while Gemma and Anne went home. They were discussing football tactics when Harry heard a familiar voice and froze.