"So Harry? Is there anything you need to tell me?"
I was in Niall's room and he had been pressing me for at least fifteen minutes to find out what Louis had told me.
"Actually no, I feel like I've already said enough Ni"
"Enough? You told me absolutely nothing! You only told me that he used very convincing arguments!"
"And indeed it is so"
"Come on Haz, if he convinced you as well as you say, he must have given you a speech of at least two hours and you can't even say a sentence to me?"
"He actually said like nine words to me and one of them was a bad word." I saw Niall roll his big blue eyes.
"WHAT? And you understood in nine words minus one that he was jealous of Nick and that he might be gay?"
"Yeah..." Niall kept staring at me with his arms crossed with a raised eyebrow. If I hadn't known he was probably going to be pissed off a lot, I would have laughed. It was so funny!
"Come on Harry!" he snapped at one point, tired of my silence "Do I have to pull things out with a grain of salt? There's no Zayn, nor Liam, nor anyone else!"
"I know but..."
"No buts Harry! I thought we'd tell each other everything! I've even told you about the time I kissed my cousin!"
No! He couldn't put on a puppy face at the same time as those words! I pursed my lips and lowered my eyes trying in vain to resist, but inevitably those eyes drew me back to them like magnets.
God, I'm seriously turning gay then!
"Okay Horan, this time you won"
He clapped his hands and cheered happily as a child as he repeated "Tell, tell!"
I shook my head smiling. He was so childish and innocent at times, but that was the best of Niall.
"Hmm...he basically overheard a speech Nick had made to me, about me being his. Well I don't think he took it very well as he threw me in a closet and told me I wasn't Nick's, but his. Louis's I mean..." I saw Niall staring at me with wide eyes and mouth, visibly incredulous.
"And then he kissed me"
"He...WHAT?" I swear I've never seen Niall so upset in my life. He began pacing nervously up and down the room.
"Well... I told you the arguments were pretty convincing"
After a little more time of Niall pacing the room in silence, he seemed to calm down, ran a hand through his hair, sighed and sat back down on the bed.
"And you kissed back?"
"No Niall!" I said in a sarcastic way "The boy I like kisses me and I push him away telling him he sucks!" I rolled my eyes "and now what are you smiling about?"
"Nothing, it's just that you're cute when you say 'the boy I like'" I inevitably blushed at those words.
"Anyway..." Niall continued "it's already the second time you've kissed, isn't it? It must mean something!"
"Emm... Actually it's the third" poor Niall, he was visibly more shocking every passing minute.
"Let me understand, the first was that time in town, right?"
"Yeah, but it was just a peck there anyway," I nodded.
"The third is the one in the closet... and the second?" I bit my lip undecided.
"The second was before the Christmas break, he was upset about something that had happened to him, so I... I don't know to console him, I kissed him"
"Not a peck?"
"No," I confirmed.
"And he rejected you?
"No, he didn't reject me, on the contrary, but the next day he had disappeared, having left earlier for the holidays. I think that's why he was angry with me"
"Why didn't you tell me before Harry?"
"I don't know... I think that... I don't know" Seeing me sad, he hugged me.
Niall's hugs were something unique, they managed to warm your heart right inside. They should put them in antidepressant therapies.
"So in summary, the first time he kissed you, but you ran away, the second time you kissed him, but he ran away, the third time he kissed you..."
"And he ran away," I added.
"But can't you kiss without someone running away?" I laughed at that sad truth.
"Apparently not!"
"So Harry, what are you waiting for!" I looked at him confused.
"Huh?"
"Well it seems obvious to me what the next move is!" I kept looking at him not understanding "Well it's your turn to kiss him and run away!"
"WHAT? Are you crazy?"
"Balance is everything in life Harry!" he looked at me with that air between sure and cocky. "Think about it Harry! Twice he kissed you and once you, twice he ran away and once you. So it's your turn for both! Also that would be a very smart move, because it's pretty obvious that he's attracted to you but he can't get close to you. So with this move you will confuse him and make him approach you to look for explanations"
"He's not attracted to me! And then, since when do you know about these things?"
"Hey did you see me? I'm adorable, obviously I know about these things!"
"Yes adorable right... Now I have to go, see you!"
"Okay Harry, think about it!"
"Yes yes!" I waved at him before heading out the door.
While I waited at the counter for the English teacher, I couldn't help but think of Niall's words. They were totally crazy but... What if it actually worked? Of course I should have kissed him, which excited and terrified me at the same time, but what if it served to bring him closer to me? Of course there was also a good chance he would never speak to me again, but after all less than he already did would mean he was mute, so why not try? In the end I had nothing to lose.
Just when I had decided to follow Niall's advice, absurd as it was, I felt the chair next to me move and to my great disappointment I saw Nick sit down smiling.
"Oh look at this, do you take the same courses as me? Because I'm not at all amazed?" By now I could expect anything from Nick.
"Come on Harry, don't act sorry! We'll be like the old times, us two best friends having fun together picking on classmates and teachers" Saying this he put his arm on me around the shoulder which I immediately pulled away abruptly.
"Best friends? I didn't know you changed your name to Niall James Horan"
"And who is this Niall now?"
"Umm... Let's see... Maybe my real best friend?" Heavy sarcasm.
I saw him reflect for a moment before wondering:
"He's your boyfriend?"
"What? No, of course not! It's just Niall! You should stop with these things"
"I knew you would never betray Louis" at that statement I tried to stab him with the pencil I was playing with, an attempt that failed as he moved his hand at the last moment.
"Nick, seriously you should stop, Louis is not my boyfriend and never was!" Unexpectedly at my every forecast he started giggling.
"Now what's so funny?"
"No, it's just that the last time you said that to me it was, 'Louis is not my boyfriend, he never was and never will be!' Have you already deleted the last part, Hazza?"
"And never will be!" I added even though I hoped with all my heart that I was wrong for once, that maybe Niall's plan would work.
"Pffff, your body breathes lies from every pore. You used to be better at lying." Luckily for me at that moment the professor entered.
"So what are you lying to me about Harry? About the fact that he never was, that he isn't, or that he never will be?"
"Nick, will you shut up? I'm trying to hear the professor's explanation of Shakespeare's Othello!"
"You're kidding, aren't you? You never gave a shit about school!"
"I'm a changed man Nick, I seem to have already proved it to you!" Well, to tell the truth, I had really changed in many things, but if there was one thing that hadn't really changed, it was my commitment to school. I think that's one thing I can never change. Like... NEVER. My body has a real revulsion. Although I am sure that if Louis asked me to get 30 in the next exam I would be able to commit myself and even get honours. I know it's stupid but I would do anything for Louis and I realise that and I also realise it's not really healthy but at the same time I couldn't care less. I wanted Louis and would have done anything to get him, even following Niall's bad plan.
I realised at that moment that I had lost myself thinking about Louis again and that I had already lost half an hour of explanation. But actually the annoying part is that Nick kept muttering sentences to me incessantly. What the hell hadn't he noticed that I hadn't answered him for half an hour, nor had I listened to him?
"Excuse me professor, I don't feel very well, I could go to the nurse?" Nick immediately turned to me.
"What's wrong, Harry, are you sick? Actually, you seemed a bit silent to me" if at this moment I hadn't had homicidal instincts towards him, his concern probably would have almost made me coo.
"No, Nick" I whispered so that only he could hear me "I'm just sick of you, your words and your games"
"Sure Styles, go ahead" While I was getting my things I heard my ex best friend say:
"But you'll miss this very interesting explanation about Shakespeare's Othello? School is important to you now isn't it? So important that you didn't even realise that the explanation wasn't about Shakespeare but about Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights! But you have something else to do! Who do you have to go to, your boyfriend Louis or your best friend Niall?"
"From neither, just away from you!" Having said that, I left the classroom as quickly as possible.
Once out of course I didn't go to the nurse's office, I went to the café to get some tea and just before the end of the hour I made my way to class where I knew Louis had biology. Yes, I knew all his timetables by heart and it was quite pathetic, I really looked like a thirteen year old girl, if we add to this that I hadn't learned mine yet, it became really pitiful.
The bell rang and all the boys began to walk in front of me headed to the cafeteria. About twenty people had already left but of Louis there was not even a shadow and I'm starting to worry about the fact that maybe I was at the wrong class or more likely he hadn't come to class.
I was about to lose hope when I saw him come out, just last, beautiful as always. I'll keep wondering forever how it is possible for a human being to encompass all that beauty. Maybe he wasn't human, maybe he was an angel. In those anonymous corridors he screeched a lot, he was made to be placed on a catwalk. Yes, as a model he would have been nothing short of perfect, the only thing is that I would have had to share him with others and I didn't like it at all.
As soon as I had recovered from the momentary trance into which I fell whenever I saw Louis, I went up to him, grabbed him by the wrist and being careful that no one could see us, dragged him into a closet practically identical to the one of the last time, I slammed him against the wall and began to kiss him passionately by making my tongue meet his without waiting for his consent. But he didn't seem to disdain as he immediately kissed back and his hand went to grab my curls.
"And what does this mean?" he asked me when we parted for a second. I gave him a crooked
smile. "What! I thought we agreed that we're two straight guys who secretly kiss in closets right?"
He looked at me doubtfully for a second before reversing positions, pushing me against the wall and kissing me again. And I swear I would have stayed like this all my life, with his body squashed on me, our lips touching and his hand in my hair, but a corner of my brain reminded me that the plan didn't end like this. I don't know where I found the strength since every part of my body required Louis, but at a certain point I placed my hands on Louis' chest and pushed him away from me, then I went to the door, smiled at him and went out leaving him with an expression full of dismay. I ran directly to the canteen where the boys were waiting for me, I ran as fast as I could because the temptation to go back and pick up where I had left off was really strong, but Louis' expression which showed me that that time it was me who had won gave me the strength to carry on.
I got to the table where Zayn, Niall and Liam were sitting.
"Hey guys!" I took a seat next to them. Zayn and Liam looked at me weird, I didn't blame him, I knew I had a weird expression on my face, between happy, repentant, satisfied and doubtful, moreover my breath was still a little laboured from the run I had just made. Incredibly the first to speak was Niall who got up from his chair.
"Sorry, guys, I have to go" , continuing to look at the floor, he moved away from us without even saying goodbye and what's even more absurd, practically leaving his entire lunch on his plate.
Definitely not Niall's behaviour, but I didn't have time to worry too much about it as I was too busy making up lies to answer the questions Liam and Zayn kept asking me about my looks and messy hair.
**
"Hey Niall!" I caught Niall walking down the corridor and went over to say hello.
When he saw me he jumped and had an expression almost... Scared?
"You don't know what I have to tell you!" I told him with a toothy smile, convinced that he would be happy I followed his advice.
"Yes, yes Harry, maybe another time now I'm busy" without looking at me he started walking quickly away from me as fast as possible.
It was the second time in a few hours that Niall was deliberately avoiding me and it certainly wasn't something he usually did, he was always smiling and talking to everyone, even those he didn't know.
What was happening to my best friend?