NOTE:
happy happy happy happy birthday kenzi! you're sweet and kind and just a seriously awesome friend omg. the first time i met you, it was because you were raising a louis stripper fund and i offered to help.
'twas the start of a beautiful friendship.
ily more than you can ever know
- rainy
(soccer louis on the side tho)
ps: sorry it's so bad; wattpad deleted/didn't publish half of it so i had to rewrite :c
ONE-SHOT:
"Kenzi! You waited for me!" Louis's face stretched into a happy grin as he jogged up to his best friend, green-and-white sports bag thumping against his broad shoulders.
"Barely," the girl replied with faux grumpiness, slugging him on the arm as they fell into step with one another. "I swear, Louis, your football practices are so long."
Defensively, Louis protested, "Hey, not my fault! Coach Fatass made me do extra laps."
Smirking, Kenzi said knowingly, "Did you sass him again?"
Louis cast mischevious blue eyes at her. "Maybe," he singsonged.
"Honestly, Louis, some of the time it's like football is your entire life--and the other times you treat it like one giant joke."
Shrugging, he replied, "My mum always said I 'lacked consistency'." He made air quotes with his fingers at the last two words.
"Well, I can promise you one thing, Tomlinson. You make me wait this long again and I'm just heading home; I don't care if Coach Stevens--"
"Coach Fatass," Louis corrected automatically.
"--makes you run eight hundred million thousand laps. I'm not waiting by that fence for you."
"But Kenz, we always walk home together."
"I'll live without it," she replied dryly, twirling her ponytail around her fingers.
Louis sighed overdramatically. Kenzi continued, "Although, I'll give you one thing, and one thing only. Waiting for you to be done with football practice gives me a chance to scope out all the hot guys on your team."
Tensing ever so slightly, Louis lifted his eyebrows, shifting his sports bag from one shoulder to another. Faking indifference, he said, "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Kenzi giggled in a joking manner, eyes sparkling. "You'll have to introduce me sometime. Especially that blonde one--"
"Niall," Louis affirmed, his voice dry and distant.
"Yeah, him. He's adorable," Kenzi gushed.
Louis let out a choked sound, and her eyes snapped back to him. "You okay, Lou?" she asked, and Louis wasn't sure if he wanted to melt or rip his hair out at the familiar--but only in a friendly way, damn it all--way she said his nickname.
"M'fine, Kenz," he mumbled, but her nickname stuck in his throat.
She laid one of her smaller hands on his arm, and Louis froze; it was pathetic, honestly, to be rendered motionless by her touch, but he couldn't really help it. "Tough day. I get it. You must be tired from all that running around," she said, voice soft and gentle.
Shrugging, he said, "I'll be fine. Promised you a movie, remember?"
"We don't have to go out to a theater or anything. Let's just watch something at my place," she invited easily.
"Okay," he agreed.
"See you in about thirty minutes. Oh, and Lou?"
His heart gave an involuntary jump, and he stammered, "Y-yeah, Kenz?"
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Take a shower, for God's sake. You stink."
He flipped her off easily, and watched as she walked away, laughter still twisting her pretty pink lips into a smile.
* * *
"Louis, for fuck's sake, we are not watching that movie."
"Aw, Kenz, it's one of my favorites. It's a real classic," he protested, perched on her couch. His chestnut hair was damp and tousled from his shower, and he was wearing loose gray sweats and a white t-shirt that made his eyes appear even bluer.
Though most girls would probably have disagreed, Louis thought he was being a slob today, as far as appearance. Especially since Kenzi(as always) looked beautiful, hair falling in soft locks down her back, her eyes thoughtful as she scanned the array of DVDs lining her shelves. Louis thought it was extraordinarily unfair that she got to look so pretty, even when she was only dressed in a hoodie imprinted with their school logo, and a pair of jeans. Someone should've warned him not to wear sweats; he probably looked like the Beast beside Beauty, standing next to her.
Whatever, he reflected to himself. It was a movie night for them, anyway. She'd think it was weird if he got all dressed up to impress her--not that he... not that he was trying to impress her, but still--
"Anything with blood all over the cover is not a classic," Kenzi told him firmly, interrupting his thoughts. "Let's compromise. How about 'Monsters Inc.'?"
An easy grin. "Well, since we're so mature and grown up-"
"Oh, hush. You know we won't agree on anything else."
"All righty. Monsters Inc. it is," Louis said, humming a senseless tune under his breath and drumming his fingers along the arm of the couch.
Sliding the disc into the DVD player, Kenzi walked over and threw his legs off the couch. "Shove over or I sit on you," she threatened, flopping down beside him.
"You're a munchkin compared to me, Kenz. I'm not scared of you."
"Mm-hm, whatever, Lou. If I were you, I'd be scared. Just because you play soccer doesn't make you tougher than me."
"Oh, except it does." He leaned into towards her, so that the sharp smell of his soap and cologne(so maybe he had tried to impress her, but only a little bit; cologne wasn't overboard, was it?) mingled with the citrus-berry smell of her shampoo. "I'm hungry. What're we eating?"
Shifting to rest her head on his shoulder--a gesture that should've been nothing but familiar warmth to Louis, but instead was like a firey set of explosives and rocketships going off in his belly--Kenzi said, "Well, my parents are out, so I thought we'd just order pizza."
"Pepperoni?" Hopeful, and hungry. His question.
"Duh." Scornful, and teasing. Her reply.
A silence fell over them, save the noise coming from the TV. For Kenzi, it was a comfortable silence, one of many she and Louis had shared over the countless years of their friendship. For Louis, it was a restless period of waiting. Words kept bubbling up in his throat and dying on his tongue.
How to tell her, how to tell her, how to tell her?
Louis had promised himself, with as much convinction as he could muster, that he would confess his true feelings for his "best friend", Kenzi.
That had been about a month ago.
He'd been procrastinating far too long, and his feelings were growing distractingly strong. It was getting harder and harder to pretend.
But still, a large part of him held back. He and Kenz shared the most precious friendship in the world, and if his confession wrecked it or made things awkward, he would never forgive himself.
Besides, what ever gave him the idea she would reciprocate even a fraction of his feelings?
Closing his eyes, the boy took a few deep breaths, then dared to speak. "Kenzi?"
"M'trying to watch the movie, Lou," she mumbled sleepily. Her breath tickled his cheek, and her hair brushed in silky-smooth kisses against his nose.
"You've already watched Monsters Inc. a thousand times," he said rebelliously. "I've got something to tell you."
"You are not more important than Monsters Inc."
"Kenz. Please."
The urgency of his tone seemed to surprise her, and she arched her back in a luxurious stretch, twisting on the sofa so she was facing him. Tucking her knees to her chest, she gave him a smile--an adorable, drowsy smile that made it hard for Louis to breathe. "What is it?" she slurred.
"I-"
At that moment, the phone rang. Fuck, Louis thought, silently vowing to pummel whoever the caller was into the dirt.
"I'd better go get that, be right back," Kenzi said, moving to stand.
"No! Wait!" Louis grabbed at her arm frantically, trying to stop her. He succeeded in pulling her down onto the couch, but she stumbled and fell into his lap instead. The incident brought their faces mere inches apart, and Louis felt everything slow down and speed up at once.
It was now or never--only this wasn't a last-minute kick in football, or anything. This was much, much more.
So, before he could think about it anymore, Louis leaned in and kissed his best friend.
At first, nothing happened. The phone stopped ringing, dying into silence.
And then, Kenzi began to kiss him back.
Her lips were warm and soft, and tasted sweeter than anything he ever dreamed(dreamed about it an embarrassing amount of times, actually). She reached up to hook her hands around the back of his neck, and he placed his hands tentatively on her waist--then tightened his grip a little, pulling her body to his.
The kiss broke. Unwilling to tear his lips from hers, Louis murmured softly, "I love you, Kenzi."
"I know." Her eyelashes brushed his nose, that's how close they were.
He shook his head. "I love you, Kenzi."
"I know," she repeated, mouth moving against his. "I love you too, Louis."
He sucked in a ragged breath. "You're kidding."
"I'm not. I love you." She smiled gently.
"Do you really?"
"Yes."
"No you don't."
"Louis--"
"You're lying. You only feel sorry for me, and oh God, I've ruined our entire friendship now, and things will forever be awkward between us and--"
"Louis, Louis, Louis." She sighed. "You should just shut up."
And to make him shut up, she leaned in and kissed him again. Which he was so totally fine with. He tugged her further into his lap, and breathed in the sweet scent that was so distinctly Kenzi, and found it impossible to find a single trace of discontent in his body.
The girl he'd loved for forever was finally his.