POV: HARRY
I had a very pleasant time over the weekend. I watched a series with my mom that she really wanted to watch, I baked cookies, and in the evening I talked to Jasmine on the phone.
My mood has definitely improved and I no longer think about Louis. At least not as much as on Friday.
Now it's Monday again. The whole week all over again.
I'm sitting on a bench in the hall and talking to Jasper when I notice Niall out of the corner of my eye.
"I'll go say hello to Niall." I pat my friend on his shoulder and go towards the blonde boy.
"Hi Niall! How are you, mate?" I ask nicely.
When Horan hears my voice, he flinches slightly, as if I've interrupted his thinking about something important.
"Oh, Harry... Hi... Well, it could be better that's for sure." The Irish boy sighs.
"What happened?"
He looks around to make sure no one is listening. Every time he does this I know it's about Louis.
"Louis is all beat up again. When I asked him what happened, he said nothing, as usual. I don't know how to talk to him."
I can hear in Niall's voice how worried he is about his friend.
"I know it's none of your business and you probably don't care, but..." He looks into my eyes, puts his hand on my shoulder and speaks in a low voice. "...Fuck, I don't know why I'm asking you this..."
"What is it Niall?" I'm trying to encourage my friend to finish what he wanted to say.
He sighs. "I know there's something between you and Louis..."
When I hear the words leave Niall's mouth, my heart starts beating faster and my palms start to sweat.
"W-what? What are you talking about Niall? Me and Louis hate each other."
Even I know I don't sound convincing.
"Harry, I'm not stupid. The hickeys you had on your neck, the way Louis leaned into you in Spanish class and the way he acted... Plus, to be honest, I haven't seen Louis be like this in a long time. I know he doesn't show it, but believe me, I've known this guy for 10 years, so I notice even the slightest change." Niall smirks at me.
"So you know that me and Louis..."
"Fucked? Yeah I know." He chuckles.
I want to puke. I can't believe Niall knows. And if Niall knows, it means Zayn and Liam probably figured it out too.
"Oh God..."
I hear Niall cough to clear his throat. "So... If you see him, could you ask him what happened? Maybe he'll tell you the truth."
The problem is that Niall doesn't seem to understand that what happened between me and Louis was a one-time thing. We still hate each other. Well, i don't know... I mean... he definitely hates me... but I'm not sure if I hate him... I definitely don't like him but I also don't hate him... But let's pretend that I do because I definitely should and it will be easier to hate him than to like him. So there's no way he'd tell me the truth, in fact, there's no way I'd even talk to him.
"Niall... Me and Louis are not friends. He hates me." I scratch the back of my head.
He sighs. I can see how tired he is. "Just try. He will tell you... I know him..."
And he leaves. He leaves and I'm just standing here and thinking about his words. Why would he tell me? Why would Louis tell me and not his best friend? This don't make any sense. Niall knows Louis so... why don't he talk to him?
The bell rings and I go to my classroom.
Suddenly my heart skips a beat.
Louis.
He's in school. Beaten up.
He's a mess.
Louis Tomlinson is a total mess.
I don't understand myself. Why do I react like this?
I pass him in the corridor and I keep looking at him while he... he doesn't seem to notice my presence.
Niall.
I have the words of the blonde boy I just talked to in my head.
"Just try. He will tell you... I know him..."
I turn on my heel and follow the brunette. I grab his elbow and pull him aside.
"What the fu-" He looks down at me and rolls his eyes when he sees who grabbed him. "Ugh... What do you want, Britney?"
"What happened to you?"
Louis chuckles. "Princess, do you think that just because we had sex once means that I have to share my problems with you?"
No... No, I don't think that... Why would I? Why would you think that, Harry?
"I... I just want to help you... Niall is worried about you and to be honest... Lately I've been starting to worry about you too..." I look down and bite my lower lip.
We stand like this. In silence. It reminds me of the situation in the restroom when I had just came to this school.
"You don't have to worry about me. Not you, not Niall, not anyone."
I look at him, but when I see the bloody bandages I immediately look away.
"You need to replace your bandages with fresh ones." I say quietly while I play with my sleeves.
Why am I so stressed?
"I'll do it. Don't worry about me, Britney." He clears his throat. "Now get the fuck out of my sight and go to class like a good boy would." Louis smirks at me and hits my shoulder with his as he walks past me and towards his classroom.
Even though Louis supposedly acted like Louis, I can see that something has changed.
"Louis!"
The older boy turns around.
Something tells me I should give him a second chance.
I really don't want to believe this voice.
"What?" He asks.
"Want to skip classes?" I ask confidently.
The boy puts his hands in his pants pockets.
"Yeah."
Without a word, we go to the forest behind the school.
When we sit under THAT tree, the same one where I sewed Louis' leg together I start to play with my fingers.
"Are you afraid of me?" He asks in his deep voice. Even tho I'm trying to focus on my hands I can see that Louis has leaned his upper body towards me. He rests his chin on his clasped hands while sitting cross-legged, a proud grimace on his face.
"N-no I just... I don't know."
"You don't know what?"
"Why did you agree to come here with me?" I ask.
"Even though I honestly fucking hate you, I'd rather be here than at school. But a better question is why did YOU ask ME to skip classes with you?"
That's a good question because... I have no idea. I feel something that draws me to this boy. It's true he's toxic and would love to hurt me for fun but... I think I like it.
"I can see that you're hiding how much you're truly interested in me. I'm a good judge of character, I knew people like you." Louis adds, snapping me out of my thoughts.
At least that was probably the brunette's plan to get my attention. But that was the last sentence he said. That last sentence... I've heard it before.
I think back to when I was 14 years old. I wasn't with my ex-boyfriend yet. But he said the same sentence to me. Max said the same thing as Louis word for word.
And now it hits me. I already know what attracts me to Tomlinson. He's just like Max. I can't be in a normal relationship. I have to stay in something that will destroy me, otherwise I get bored quickly.
Max destroyed me with his toxicity and he was so good at being bad that I started to like it because it gave me something to focus on to distract myself from my own problems.
I wanted to fix him at all costs.
Louis is my new Max.
"And you're the type of guy I've also met before." I say.
He raises his eyebrow, I can see that he's curious. "Oh is that so? Please enlighten me as to the type of guy that I am."
"Little boy who thinks he's tough and cool, but deep down you're just really insecure and you want someone fragile in your life to make you feel better." I explain to him.
"Damn, Britney. That's deep, but unfortunately it is not true. I don't need anyone. Especially you." He pulls a cigarette from the pack in his jacket.
I think we both know I'm right.
He continues. "But I can feel that much you want me. I can feel how much you want this. You're probably trying to fight it, but you already care about me." He blows the smoke into my face.
I did not expected this at all, I cough and look away from him as he blows smoke into my face. But it doesn't take me long to pull myself together again. Well at least physically, because his words still echo in my head.
"Yes, but I have a feeling you want me too." I say.
"No. I just play with boys like you for fun just to destroy them." He smiles too nicely.
"Don't you think that the way you use people and then throw them away just because you can is a little messed up?"
The brunette blows smoke from his mouth and shrugs. "Are you afraid?"
"Afraid?" I chuckle. "Let me be clear, you're not gonna scare me off this easy."
In fact, I'm scared as hell but I also find this quite intriguing. I actually like the fact that he's capable of such extreme cruelty. It's a bit exciting, it adds adrenaline to life.
"Okay, creep." Louis stubs out his cigarette on the palm of his hand without any reaction on his face.
This boy is crazy.
"You've got some serious issues going on beneath the surface, so I find you very difficult to read. I can't quite make you out, and that is incredibly fascinating to me." I state to the boy.
"You're some sort of masochist, weirdo." My enemy says.
He may be right.
"Oh, is that so? If I'm a masochist, then you're definitely a sadist. You enjoy hurting people in more ways than one. I bet you love controlling people and seeing them completely helpless in your grip." I say.
I can see that Louis probably didn't expect these words to come out of my mouth because now he just sits there and looks at me surprised.
"Okay, well, even if I'm a sadist to you, I think it's still better than being some sick masochist. This is pathetic. And it would be even more pathetic if you think that we will be a pair of a fucking broken sadist and a masochist who is convinced that he will fix the other one." He says after a while and laughs with disdain.
After that his smile turns into an expression of pure arrogance.
But he doesn't know that I know that I can fix him. This time I'll do it successfully. I feel that I'm the one who's gonna be able to make Louis Tomlinson open up and show me his emotions.
"You're gonna be surprised by just how much I can influence you." I speak with confidence.
"Weirdo. Before you can influence me in any way, I will destroy you." He leans in close to me, with a twisted grin on his face.
"Is that a challenge? Because I think that I could change that. I think that deep down you want to be influenced and changed by me. I think you want me to save you from yourself." I say it without thinking.
And as I hear what I say when the words are leaving my mouth it hits me. The brunette I'm talking to is also surprised by my words. He didn't expect this from me, and neither did I.
Why do I suddenly have so much courage today?
"Oh, you're so wrong. I don't need you." He says.
"And I think you do, because if you didn't want me, you wouldn't be talking to me now." I smile slightly because I know I'm right.
Louis glances at his phone. "And now I don't want to spend any more time with you, so I'm going home, weirdo."
The boy gets up, leaning on the tree trunk with his hand, takes his backpack and goes in the direction we came from.
*
We came back separately. He was the first to go and I went a few minutes after him.
Now I'm sitting at home and making oatmeal because I'm a little hungry. I look at my phone and see that I have received a notification.
"HAROLD WHAT THE FUCK?!"
My smile disappeared from my face.
It's Jake.
"Yes?" I text back with my shaky hands.
I get an answer right away. "YOU AND FUCKING TOMLINSON????!!!!!"
I feel myself turning pale as a wall.
"What are you talking about, Jake?"
"WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT? I SAW YOU WALKING SOMEWHERE WITH HIM THROUGH THE WINDOW AT SCHOOL! ARE YOU CRAZY??"
I exhale. He better know about this and not about... The situation in the restroom from Friday.
"And what about it?"
"WHAT ABOUT IT? HE'S LOUIS TOMLINSON! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure???"
"Yes, you don't have to worry."
"Oh... Okay. But know that if he does something to you, tell me and me and our lads will teach him a lesson for messing with one of us."
I chuckle at the message.
"I'll remember, thanks."
"No problem, mate. But I still think you're stupid for hanging out with him."
I smile. I'm glad I have someone who cares about me.
And looking at my conversation with Louis today, I have a feeling that I will definitely need their help someday because of my own stupidity.
~~~~~~~~
Hi!! I forgot to ask under the last chapter, so I'll ask now. Do you want more chapters from Louis' perspective? Because I will definitely write from his perspective from time to time, but I can do more of them if you want<3