Harry had been all up for doing something at the wedding rehearsal even thought he secretly didn’t want to admit it. He had been sitting on the fence about it at first but spending more time with Monique had made him want to do it more. Now it was all he could think about and he couldn’t help but make up a million scenarios in his head about how it would turn out.
He was lying in bed and scrolling through his twitter feed when he received a call from his mum. Harry hadn’t talked to his mother in a while and he didn’t know if she’d been updated on everything or not. His mother hinted at Harry to tell her everything until the small talk finally broke. She listened as he babbled on and on about Louis and she didn’t say a word. When Harry started joking about maybe doing something at the wedding rehearsal his mother cut straight in. She told him straight up not to do anything stupid and it sort of caught Harry off guard.
Harry had spent the past day making up possible plans and seriously thinking about doing it. Now that his mother had told him straight to not even think about it, he didn’t know what to think or do.
“This is the only chance I have left,” he mumbled pathetically.
“Other opportunities will come,” his mother had said in a soothing tone.
Harry didn’t know what to do except flop back onto his bed and let out a huff. He didn’t have the energy to argue. Thankfully the topic didn’t come back up again and he went to bed feeling miserable and hopeless because now he was back to square one.
Again but it didn’t seem like much of surprise to him.
~~~~~~~~~
The truth was Harry’s mum had always suspected something. She’d even talked to Louis’s mum about it. They’d gone out for coffee’s and joked around about the idea of their sons dating. It wasn’t a big surprise to Anne that their feelings had finally developed; both she and Jay knew that it was going to happen one day. They’d both agreed to stay out of it and watch fate do its magic but now she was regretting making that deal. If she and Jay had stepped in and done something then her son wouldn’t be plotting to ruin a wedding. And then maybe their feelings for each other wouldn’t have developed when Louis’s was going to get married. Anne had always thought that eventually Louis and Eleanor would break up and never get back together, then both boys would stay single or date around until they eventually realised they had feelings for each other. She hadn’t expected the two boys to realise their true feelings in the next year or even five but she knew that one day the two would end up together.
Anne had been especially surprised when she had found out that Louis and Eleanor were getting married. She had lived for a long time and her instincts had told her that the couple weren’t going to last very long or ever consider getting engaged.
She had been hoping for a more pleasant way that his son would fall in love with Louis. She found it so dramatic that Louis’s wedding was the trigger for their feelings for each other to develop.
While she had been on the phone with Harry she had a small urge to go along with Harry’s plan but it wasn’t the right thing to do. A part of her was even hoping that Harry would go behind her back and do something at the rehearsal.
All she could predict now was that maybe a long time in the future this marriage would end and maybe the two boys would be able to be together. Getting through this marriage was going to be hard for everyone and she couldn’t bare to stand how confused Louis and Harry were right now.
~~~~~~~~~~
Harry wavered around the front of the cathedral on his own. He was supposed to meet Niall at the front five minutes ago but the Irish boy was no where in sight. Harry felt intimidated by the look and size of this place and it was making him even more nervous every extra second he had to stand there waiting for Niall.
Eventually Harry couldn’t bare to wait any longer and sent Niall a text telling him that he was going to ditch him.
He pushed on the entrance door and stepped into a marble walled room with a little reception desk at the front. The staff pointed him to the right corridor which led to a foyer. The wall of sound hit him like a brick as he stepped into a room full of chitter chatter and the faint sound of classical music playing from the speakers. The room was filled of hired people to help organise the wedding and get the place ready for tomorro and a few people with shirts that had company logos on them.
Harry stood awkwardly next to do the door clutching his phone in his hand as he searched for a familiar place. His heart jolted when he saw Louis walking into the room from the other corridor. Their eyes met before Harry could hide away and Louis stopped walking with his hand paused half way in his hair. They’d made too much contact to pretend they hadn’t seen each other so Harry gave a little awkward wave and took a waddling step towards him. Louis returned the gesture with a polite smile before looking around and making a lingering step towards Harry. Harry wasn’t sure if he was walking over to talk to him or if he just happened to have needed to walk that way. He never got to find out.
From out of no where Liam suddenly appeared beside Louis and placed his hand on Louis’s shoulder making him jump. It seemed to have been just at the right time and that annoyed Harry. He watched as Liam said something to Louis that he couldn’t hear. Liam didn’t seem to make eye contact with Harry as his eyes scanned the room. Harry wasn’t sure if he was just in a hurry or if he was doing that deliberately. Whatever Liam said to Louis made him forget about whatever he was going to do before and within a second the two boys were walking out of the room. Harry watched them go and caught Liam shooting him a warning look from over his shoulder. He pretended not to see and averted his eyes over to the painting on the wall. He may have been imagining it but he swore that from the corner of his eye, he saw Louis glance back at him as walked out of the room talking to Liam.
The fact that Liam was trying to keep him away from Louis only strengthened his stubbornness. Now he had to talk to Louis at least once before this day ended.
~~~~~~~
Harry was standing by himself leaning against the wooden wall of the church when he saw Niall approach him. The Irish boy’s excited smile infected Harry and he couldn’t help but smile back.
“I’ve heard that you and Monique have been hanging out a lot,” Niall said giving Harry a little jab in the side with his elbow. The first thing Harry noticed about the lad was that the blonde in his hair had become fainter since the last time he had seen him.
“Yeah,” he replied waving it off but secretly wondered how Niall knew. Harry hadn’t really been in contact with the rest of his band mates lately.
“So has she made a move yet I mean it’s been a while,” the blonde boy asked with a teasing laugh.
Harry frowned not really catching up on Niall’s comment. “Wait what?”
Niall’s face mirrored Harry’s. “She’s fancied you for ages, didn’t you know?”
The words hung in the air and for reason Harry couldn’t seem to process them.
“No.”
Niall made a face and gave a nervous smile. “Oh oops shit well in that case I never say anything ok?” Before Harry could say anything else, Niall gave him a pat on the shoulder and walked away out of the room.
For the next hour nothing eventful happened. Everyone was all told where to go when the ceremony was to happen tomorrow but it was nothing Harry didn’t know. Harry started to avoid Monique at every cost. It was a natural instinct; he always did so in high school. It wasn’t like he would run away the opposite direction when he saw her; he just simply stayed politely away from her. Whenever they happened to be in the same room he would accidently make direct eye contact with her but look away a split second afterwards hoping that it hadn’t been too obvious.
To him it seemed quite sad. He had become very good friends with Monique and it was about to get awkward. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to confront her or not. He could always just leave it in the depths of the ocean but he didn’t want this to affect their friendship.
Harry had just walked about of the bathroom and into the church when he saw Monique sitting in one of the aisles. There were also a few other people scattered around sorting out the sound system. He swore under his breath, ducked his head down and turned around but Monique had already called him out.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve been hiding in that toilet this whole time,” she joked as she sat up and started walked towards him. Harry snorted and gave her a wave. “Is this why I haven’t seen you around this building?”
Harry sucked in a breath and looked up to admire the brilliant architecture of the building. “I don’t know I mean this building is pretty big.”
Monique didn’t seem to find his joke very amusing and studied Harry for a few seconds. “I don’t have much evidence of it but something is fishy with you I can feel it.” She tapped her chin with her finger and narrowed her eyes.
He felt stuck, like he’d been caught red handed and he didn’t try to deny it.
“Okay tell me what’s up,” Monique sighed cocking her head sideways.
Harry cleared his throat and looked down at his boots. “Niall told me.”
“Told you what?”
“That you um like me,” he explained as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Of course I like you,” she replied with a frown.
“But I mean you like me as in you fancy me.”
Harry watched as Monique’s expression didn’t change. A loud squealing noise from one of the amps made both of them jump/ Monique turned her head around to look behind her before unfolding one arm and scratched her head with it. “Umm I don’t think I can deny that actually,” she laughed nervously.
“So it’s true?”
“Yes?” she replied awkwardly her pitch an octave higher than usual.
Harry laughed as he watched Monique’s face turn red. She was nervously pulling at her dress and fiddling with her hands, this vulnerable side was a side Harry had never seen before.
“I dunno I mean you’re Harry Styles, you’re hot and funny and a great guy what’s not to like about you?” Monique mumbled at the ground. This only made Harry give another chuckle.
“Aw Monique,” he cooed still laughing at Monique’s embarrassed expression.
“Don’t laugh at me you asshole,” she snapped giving him a jab in the stomach which started up a little play fight. The whole situation seemed to have disappeared into the thin air for a moment and they were back to insulting each other and fake fighting.
Through the glass double doors that led into the cathedral, Louis watched Harry and Monique laugh and throw bits of confetti fro the floor at each other. He felt a painful stab in the chest when he saw how happy Harry looked. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the way Harry was bending over with his hands placed on his lap. It was the way his dimples cut through his cheeks as he flung his head back to laugh with his eyes closed. He could faintly hear the sound of Harry’s hysterical laughter and it was enough to re open the gaping wound in his guts. Louis longed to be in Monique’s position, to be able to make him laugh like that, to be able to have good times with him again. He had never really disliked Monique before but he couldn’t help it now since she was able to do the one thing he couldn’t. In fact Louis couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.
“Stop staring,” a voice said behind him making him jump. He turned around to see Zayn standing there with his hands in his pockets and a smug look on his face.
“I’m not staring”
The raven boy only scoffed and gave Louis a pitiful look. “Yes you were, I’ve been standing here watching you watch them.”
“I wasn’t watching them, I was seeing how the sound system is going,” Louis retorted making Zayn’s accusation seem completely ridiculous.
“You are one edgey and jealous man today,” Zayn replied with a shake of the head and a snort. He didn’t even give Louis a chance to defend his case.
Louis felt his face to hot. “I’m not jealous,” he grumbled before walking past Zayn and away from the cathedral.
“You just keep telling yourself that,” he heard Zayn call after him in a sing song voice as he stormed away.
But Zayn was right. The more Louis thought about it the more it started to irritate him.
~~~~~~~~~
Harry and Monique had gone out to a café across the road to get some food and a drink. They sat across from each other with their plates under the shade of a tree. Monique was eating silently as Harry simply gazed out into the open.
Harry couldn’t help but feel self aware. He’d been in many cases before when people had only started to befriend him because he was the famous Harry Styles. He’d gradually learnt how to tell if someone was his true friend but every now and then he was fooled. Finding out that Monique had fancied him all along made him question why Monique had wanted to be his friend in the first place. Even thought he felt bad thinking of such a question he couldn’t help it.
It took him a while to realise that Monique was staring straight at him obviously trying to get his attention.
“What were you just thinking about?” she asked curiously.
“Things,” he replied with a shrug of the shoulders.
Monique didn’t pester him on and took another bite from her sandwich. There was a moment of silence until Monique cleared her throat and straightened up in her seat.
“You know you don’t have to do the whole friend zoning thing right? I am well aware of where the line is if that’s what you’re thinking about.”
“No, I wasn’t thinking about that,” he replied in a faint voice. He watched from the corner of his eye as Monique sort of slumped back into her chair. “Can I ask you a question?” Harry suddenly asked as he slowly came out of his daze and turned his full attention to the conversation.
“Sure,” she said before taking another mouthful of her meal.
Harry took a moment to think about how to ask his question and shifting awkwardly in his seat. “Why did you start helping me with this Louis thing? Be honest.”
The brown haired girl stared down at her plate of food as she continued to chew. For a moment Harry thought that she hadn’t even heard her question. “You know you’re Harry Styles right?” she began looking up at Harry straight in the eye. “-and I wanted an excuse to get to know you and your band mates better. I wanted so see what was behind this world’s biggest boy band.” She gave a light laugh and paused for a moment as she stared down at the pavement. “I thought it was just a little crush thing that would go away within a few days but then after a while I started to like you more then I should have and then all those times were sort of an excuse to get to hang out with you. I’m sorry for how stupid and fucked up this sounds but anyway, I saw how much you loved Louis and I realised how much of a selfish bitch I was being by doing so and so I put the whole crush thing in a box and stopped using the whole Louis thing as an excuse to see you.”
Harry didn’t know what to say so he just nodded like a stupid kid.
Monique could obviously see that Harry didn’t know what to say so she carried on. “I mean I haven’t pounced on you or came walking into your apartment in a playboy suit have I?”
This made Harry chuckle and he felt the slightest bit better.
“So we cool?” she asked in a nervous squeaky voice.
“Yeah I guess,” Harry said with a relaxed sigh as he leaned back into his seat.
“Ok good because I didn’t have anything other deep speech up my sleeves,” she babbles letting out a relieved sigh and a nervous laugh.
He went back to staring at nothing as he chewed on his nails. It was taking a while for his mind to digest everything. His mind has been working pretty slowly these past few weeks, this all seemed like an overload to him.
Monique reached over the table to give him a little pat on the arm.
“You deserve to be happy Harry, everybody does.”
~~~~~~~~~~
At the end of a boring day that dragged on and on, Louis found himself alone in the cathedral to get away from all the fuss about what was going to happen tomorrow. He ouis was standing at the piano in the church and playing random notes on it when he heard a voice from behind him.
“This is a nice church isn’t it?” It didn’t take long for Louis to register that voice as Harry’s.
“Yes it is,” he replied as he continued to press on random piano keys without looking up. Between the echoes of the piano notes he could hear the sound of Harry’s boots tapping against the wooden floor.
“Why don’t you try it out?”
“What?”
“The piano I mean,” Harry said taking his right hand out of his pocket to gesture at the piano.
He avoided looking Harry in the eye and looked around the church to check that no one was around. “If I get told off it’s your fault,” Louis mumbled before he sat down slowly on the piano stall. He adjusted the position of the piano stall which sent echoing screeches flying around the big space. He heard Harry give a snort and he had to duck his head away to hide the small smile that was creepy up onto his face.
Louis started to play one of the only things he knew how to play on the piano. How To Save A Life by The Fray. It had been so long since he’d played the piano. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes as he let the sound of the piano fill his mind. One of the joys he found in playing piano was the fact that it was a distraction from everything else. The only thing he had to concentration on was the notes and the phrases, every other worry in his mind would disappear.
He let his pianos stay on the keys for a while and didn’t take his feet off the pedal until the low humming noise of the last chord turned into a wave of silence. Louis looked over at Harry who he’d forgotten was there and felt self conscious when he saw the younger boy was sitting on the step looking up at him with an admiring smile on his face.
“What?” he asked shifting awkwardly in his seat letting a small smile creepy onto his face,.
Harry cleared his throat and looked down breaking their eye contact. “Nothing it’s just that when you-“
Harry was interrupted by a loud banging noise of a door. Both boys jumped and looked over to see Eleanor stumbling into the church.
“Louis? That’s where you are! I’ve looked everywhere for you!” she exclaimed making her way over to where Louis and Harry were sitting.
Louis shot her a polite smile and looked over at Harry whose face had dropped rapidly. He couldn’t help but feel annoyed that she’d ruined a perfect moment. She babbled on about whatever she was doing before and Louis nodded like he was listening when all he was doing was flicking a glance at Harry every three seconds.
Harry looked down at the floor and picked at the carpet as Eleanor made her way up the steps, greeted Harry and squashed up onto the piano stool he was sitting on. Louis kept his sigh minimal volume as he shuffled over.
He was hoping that Eleanor would leave and give him some time with Harry but she didn’t seem to catch on. She started to play Mary Had a Little Lamb which didn’t sound right at all and bugged Louis to show her. Louis rolled his eyes and did as she asked.
When that was done Louis over and saw that Harry was no longer sitting on the step. His heart did a little drop when he looked up just in time to see Harry opening the creaky exit double glass doors and disappearing behind them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I didn’t get to edit it as thoroughly as I would’ve liked I’m sorry for any mistakes :). As you can all see I’ve got a new cover which was made my @linnythepooh and I really appreciate it.
One more chapter omg. Thank you again for all reading I should be studying lol bye.