"Harry and I will wait for you by the entrance," Lacey told Liam as she helped him balance the clothes in his arms. Liam nodded and headed to the registers with the pile of clothes he wanted to buy. Lacey and Harry both walked towards the entrance quietly. Its been a long day.
"I didn't get to see who you were with exactly but was it that blond that often comes to see you at work?" Lacey asked Harry. Harry's gazed fell to the ground. He couldn't seem to stop replaying the moment Niall intertwined their hands together. What exactly did that mean?
Harry was confused. Niall told him he had a girlfriend but he doesn't act like it. All those little gestures, making Harry blush and breaking the barriers between friendship and romance. He was frustrated. He wanted to know what Niall was thinking, what he meant by those gestures.
"Yeah. We just said hey each other, kept it simple," Harry shrugged. Lacey crossed her arms across her chest as she looked up at Harry. She knows she isn't as close to Harry as Liam is, but it wasn't hard to connect the few dots given to her.
"Was someone calling for him?" Lacey continued questioning. She was trying to read Harry, to see what he was feeling.
"Yeah. I think it was his girlfriend," Harry trailed off. "I could be wrong though, he didn't say anything. He just left."
"Are you okay with that?" Lacey looked at Liam in the distance - who was now getting his clothes scanned. It was better to keep this conversation between them for now. "With him having a girlfriend?"
"It's not really my place to say anything about that. I mean, I just met him after all," Harry lightly chuckled.
"You don't need to necessarily say anything. It's what you feel. It doesn't matter how long you've known him, it's sometimes hard to control your own feelings. Once you fall, you crash or you land on your feet. But that's yet to be seen."
"How long have you been this wise?" Harry joked, lightly shoving Lacey.
Lacey laughed. "I'm not wise. I've just learned from experience."
Harry stared at Lacey for a moment. He wondered what Lacey meant by that. What kind of experience has she been through? It has to be similar to Harry's situation because her words fit perfectly in what Harry might be feeling.
"Where to now?" Liam suddenly came up to them, a shopping bag in his hand. He was oblivious to the situation, but that was okay. Harry would tell him at some point. He just wasn't sure where he stood with Niall right now.
"I'm really hungry, I suggest we go to the food court because I will die if I don't eat something," Lacey said. Harry and Liam both nodded and followed Lacey to the food court.
Harry kept an eye out, to see if he could possibly see Niall again. And maybe his girlfriend as well.
Unfortunately, Niall was nowhere to be seen.
-x-
"I'm not doing it!" Louis was closed to shrieking. He kept tugging his arm to pull away from Niall's gripped but it was harder than it looked. Niall was trying to pull him into the building where he worked at, where Melissa was currently waiting in his office.
"Louis, please. For me?" Niall continued to plead.
"This isn't going to benefit you, it's going to benefit her. I rather get ran over right now then be in the same room as her," Louis slowly stomped his way farther and farther from the building, forcefully pulling Niall with him.
"Louis, I'm begging you here. You already know what it takes to be a model and you can help Melissa learn something," Niall said.
Louis rolled his eyes and finally stopped resisting. "Fine. Just know that I am not going to make it easy for her."
Niall slightly smiled, not knowing what Louis meant by that but at that moment he didn't care. He pulled Louis inside the building and they both went up to Niall's office where they met Melissa. She was sitting on Niall's couch, looking through her phone with a bored expression.
When she heard the door open, she smiled at both Niall and Louis. Niall returned the smile whilst Louis didn't even glance at her.
"Alright. Melissa, Louis has agreed to help you prepare for your auditions. I have a perfect room where you can both practice. Luckily, I don't have anything to do today so we can all head down there whenever you're ready."
"Louis, long time no see! You look even more handsome than the last time I saw you," Melissa said, standing up and approaching Louis.
"Yeah. . . thanks. Anyway, we should head to the practice room. The sooner we get started the sooner we finish."
They all headed down to the room which was a simple room with dim lights except for where the stage was. There were a few chairs scattered around the room and a table to the side. Louis and Melissa quickly got started. Louis told Melissa to get on the stage as he went to sit next to Niall to start instructing her.
After an hour or so of practicing the basics, Niall decided to go get them some food from a nearby restaurant. Louis insisted of going instead but he was told to stay to keep practicing with Melissa.
"This is a lot of work! I've always wondered how you ever manage to learn this," Melissa was currently trying to do the usual model catwalk.
"Well unfortunately for me, I never had a boyfriend to help me slither my way into the model industry. I had to work for it," Louis looked at Melissa, giving her a dirty look. Melissa glared at him. She didn't say anything for a moment. And during that moment, the intense silence made it seem as if the whole world had gone quiet.
"How unfortunate for you. I could say luck has always been by my side, but I would just be referring to my lucky charm who loves me very much," Melissa smiled sickeningly sweetly. Louis put his hands into fists, gripping them tightly.
"Of course. You'd be no where without him. But don't you think it's quite sad you can't do things for yourself?" Louis chuckled, shaking his head. "When I first met you, I had a different impression of you. But I know that soon you will slowly start showing your true colors. And to tell you the truth, your colors clash horribly together."
Melissa's eyes widened as she lost balance and fell backwards on the small stage she was practicing on. She didn't seem hurt, not that it matter to Louis. He got up from his chair and made his way to where Melissa was laying. He put his elbows on the stage and slowly closed up to her face.
"I'm just lucky I had the sight to see the game you're playing. You are very confident, I'll give you that," Louis gritted his teeth together, trying to sustain the growing anger inside him. "But cheaters aren't always the winners."
-x-
The following night, Harry and Niall were at their own homes. They were both laying in bed with their phones up to their ears.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm am quite excited to see where you work at," Harry grinned. "I'm expecting a huge fancy building made entirely out of silver and gold."
Niall laughed. "You can't be serious."
"A guy can only dream."
"Well accept my early apologies because you will be disappointed when I say that the building is not made out of silver and gold," Niall bit his lip as he tried to keep his laughter in.
"Wow. Can you hear my tears rolling down my face," Harry began making fake sobbing noises. Niall closed his eyes and chuckled, putting his free arm above his head.
"If I could, I would kiss those tears away and make you feel better."
Harry went quiet,and smiled sadly. "Yeah, that would make me feel better."
"And then I would give you a hug and pick you off the ground, give you a little twirl."
"I would laugh and hold on to you tightly. I would tell you to put me down," Harry's smile slowly faded as he tried to keep the sadness out of his voice.
"And I would put you down at some point and make sure you're okay. Because I don't ever. . . ever want you to get hurt," Niall was no longer smiling either. He had a tight grip on his phone as he heard silence from the other line.
"I'd get hurt eventually," Harry whispered so quietly.
"What was that?" Niall said.
"Um, nothing. I'm just a bit tired."
"That's alright. You should go to bed. Goodnight Harry."
"Goodnight Niall."
Harry watched as the screen showed that the call had ended. He held the phone against his chest and closed his eyes, feeling a single tear fall down his cheek.
Once you fall, you crash or you land on your feet. But that's yet to be seen
~
So apparently my friends didn't know I was the author of this story until yesterday and their reactions were so cute I couldn't stop smiling omg.
Shoutout to Becca, Kalesie, & Stef. They're the best.
We hit 1k votes & 9.8k reads!! Guys omg I love you all so so much I can not believe the amount of support this story has gotten I am so happy and grateful thank you all so much I love you, I love you, I loooove you!!
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