"El!" Louis dragged out and wrapped his arms around the excited girl. He sounded very unsure and nervous about the situation. Which is exactly how Harry felt when she pressed a long, hard kiss on Louis's lips. Except Harry felt a little bit more nauseous.
"What are you doing here Eleanor?" Niall -a blonde Irishman with eyes almost as pretty as Louis's but Harry decided nothing was prettier than Louis- asked after getting up from his chair to hug the girl.
"Are you kidding? I would never miss a wedding as important as this one!" She pulled up an empty chair between Louis and Harry. Harry got out of his own chair to make room.
"And besides," Eleanor continued while stroking Louis's arm, "if I didn't come to this wedding, how would your mum feel about attending our wedding Loubear?"
The rehearsal dinner was over and most of the place had cleared out, but the boys stayed. Everybody seemed to enjoy Eleanor's company; Louis even settled into it and quickly recovered from his 'ew I don't want to touch you' mood towards her. Yet nobody seemed to notice the absence of Harry once he left the table.
"Louis, can I speak to you in private?" Harry had mustered the courage over the past fifteen minutes to tap on Louis's shoulder and whisper this into his ear. Even though Louis had accepted, Harry was able to feel all the glaring eyes as he unintentionally put his hand on the small of Louis's back as he guided him away.
When they had reached a point a good ways away from the table they sat when Louis turned to Harry's cold expression, "Harry let me explain-"
"GODDAMMIT LOUIS HOW COULD YOU COMPLETELY SKIP OVER THE FACT YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND." Harry exploded. Louis took a step back in fright like a deer coming across a hunter.
"It never came up-" Louis's voice cracked quietly.
"It never came up?" Harry was steaming. "How about when I told you I loved you Louis, what about any time I've tried to anything remotely romantic with you? You two seem pretty close. She brought up your wedding Lou. Your fucking wedding." By the end his words were breaking much like himself.
Louis didn't say anything. Harry kept his back to Louis, hoping his tears would remain hidden on his cheeks.
It was almost inaudible to Louis when Harry's voice came out in a quiet sob, "And on top of that, you're ashamed to see me around your friends."
Louis was about to add onto this, or go and hug Harry, kiss him suddenly, hell maybe all three when Harry scoffed before he could get a word out. "And God forbid I do anything for you without embarrassing myself."
His words were sarcastic and venomous. And when Harry turned, his eyes were like snakes that sunk their teeth into Louis's flesh, filling his body with the poison that was Harry's tears mixed with the shattered pieces of Harry's heart. It felt like Louis was dying.
"So I'm guessing you're not in love with me anymore?" Now he too was crying, but only because he now apprehended that he was the sole reason Harry was lying in pieces at his feet and drowning in his own tears and broken heart. He had been the one to signal he felt uncomfortable with Harry, triggering the harshness of his friends, and he had been the one trying to hide Harry and sweep him under the carpet.
Harry had given Louis a gun with hopes he would use it to protect them both. But Louis had been the one to pull the trigger.
He was the one that got distracted and let go of the rope holding the dagger over Harry's head.
There was no way to make Louis feel better about this and oh god did he fuck up this time.
"Dammit Lou that's the thing. I still love you I love the fucking hell out of you and I don't understand why I do and I wish I didn't because I bet it would feel pretty good to punch you in the face right now."
The remark had made Louis give a small laugh Harry could see through the dense rain of gloom and it lifted Harry up a bit. It was good to get a bright reaction out of Louis instead of the ones he had been.
"I'm running out of time and you're not giving me anything to work with. I now only have 138 hours left to seduce you and you're shoving a vagina in my face; it's very distracting." Harry gestured to Eleanor.
He was trying to lighten the mood. He told himself he needed to be strong and walk away from it all because he was Harry Styles and he didn't need a Louis Tomlinson to remind him that life sucks ass. But he couldn't bring himself to just walk away from it all. Louis meant too much to him. Of course, Harry had only known Louis for the approximate time of seventy eight hours and fifty nine minutes but he never wanted to leave Louis's side and just wanted to watch shitty Mexican soap operas while cuddling on a hotel bed. Harry couldn't let it slip away that easily.
"Okay number one, I'm not waving my girlfriend," Louis caught himself when Harry swallowed hardly at the g-word. "I'm not waving Eleanor in your face." He corrected. "And number two, how the hell do you keep track of all these hours and shit?"
Harry pulled out his watch. It was a gold watch with a gold chain and a gold plate covering with an elegant H engraved in the front that flipped open to reveal the watch itself. It worked like the day it was first made, but it was extremely old and had cracked the glass to separate nine through eleven from the other numbers. He held it up by the chain for Louis to see.
"LOUIS ARE YOU GETTING MOLESTED? DO WE NEED TO CALL THE POLICE?" Liam's voice loudly called towards the duo which was followed by laughter all around the table.
Louis sighed and just missed the look of utter hurt on Harry's face. He would never ever do anything to hurt Louis-unless Louis was into that kind of thing-and it sickens him that people would believe he would.
"Harry I just want you to know that even if El is serious in this relationship, I'm not, so don't worry about it. Okay?" Louis reached out to hug Harry but stopped when Harry responded by stepping backwards.
Harry stuffed the watch back into his pocket and with a grim face calmly spoke, "Louis I'm gonna go."
Louis dropped his arms, "Harry wait," he pitifully croaked to Harry's back. He had to tell him, he had to let him know, but Harry didn't turn.
After watching Harry's figure disappear into the building and a few sniffles, Louis dragged himself back to the table where his friends were gathered. He felt Eleanor immediately pounce on him.
"So Louis. I have an entire hotel bedroom to myself, and it's been a while since I've seen you." Eleanor tapped her fingers on the inside of Louis's thigh and nipped his earlobe. Zayn, Niall, and Liam started whistling and making noises regarding inappropriate circumstances.
Louis just needed to relax, that's all he wanted right now. To be stress free against the venom of hurting Harry and the rest of the chaos bubbling around him. And Eleanor was like a stress ball: squeezable, relieving, and fun to use.
YOU ARE READING
168 HOURS (Larry Stylinson)
Fanfiction"One hundred and sixty eight." "What?" "One hundred and sixty eight hours." "What's that?" "That's all the time I need to get you to fall in love with me."
