Chapter 26 ~ Suspicions
**Louis' POV**
"Louis, why are you pulling me forward?" Harry whined as I dragged him into the cafeteria, heading towards the table we usually sat at.
"Let's just not talk about it, yeah?" I muttered, walking past students who were looking strangely at us.
Harry then stopped dead in his tracks, causing me to do so as well. "No, we are going to talk about this, and we're going to do it right now," he said stubbornly, folding his arms over his chest after freeing himself from my grip on him.
I let out a deep sigh, running a hand through my black hair. "Shit, fine. Let's buy some food and sit down first, okay?"
He thought for a while before nodding in agreement. "Okay."
As soon as we were sitting at the table where Liam, Niall, Zayn, Harry and I usually sat, I turned to Harry with a defeated look on my face.
Was I really going to tell him about that blonde guy? I didn't even know his name. The only thing I knew was that I was fricking jealous of him yesterday when I had seen him with Harry and that he had threatened to punch me if I ever were to hurt Harry again.
"It's about the curly-haired guy you were with yesterday," I started, looking him in the eyes.
He furrowed his eyebrows. "You mean Mike?"
I shrugged. "If that's his name, then yes. I just... your perception of him is that he's a nice guy, right?" I anticipated, sucking on my lip ring.
Harry seemed utterly confused about this but nodded his head. "Yeah, of course. He was there for me when no one else was."
I mentally hit myself for that. I should have been there, but no, I just had to screw everything up and be the reason Harry had even talked to that Mike guy in the first place instead.
"I'm still sorry about that, you know?" I muttered, looking down at my lap.
He squeezed my hand under the table, nodding his head. "I know, and it's not your fault... Well, it kind of is, but I don't blame you. Not now when I know the reason behind your actions," he reassured me. "Now, keep going. What does Mike have to do with anything?"
"Oh yeah. He's uh... he's not been as nice to me as he has to you, you could say."
Harry shot me another confused look, and that was when I decided to tell him everything I knew about the blonde, curly-haired guy I had seen for the first time yesterday.
Harry had a concentrated look on his face throughout my entire speech about Mike (which was apparently his name), most likely trying to put everything together. I doubted it was possible, though. Mike was one strange man who apparently had different personalities depending on who he was around.
Once I was done with my speech, Harry leaned down so his chin was resting against the surface of the table. I reached my hand out to run my fingers through his brown curls.
"And you're sure he treated you like that?" He muttered, turning his head slightly so he was looking at me.
"I'm pretty sure you do remember such things," I said, trying to lighten the mood by smiling a little and adding sarcasm to my voice, and it worked.
The corners of Harry's lips twitched a little, and it wasn't hard to tell he was trying to hold back a small smile of his own. It didn't take long until it dropped, though, and was replaced by a frown instead. "I just... he seemed so nice and all. I mean... He really helped me out yesterday. I can't believe he would be able to do something like hurt someone," he mumbled.
I moved my hand from his hair down to his shoulder. "I know it must be hard for you to believe that Harry, I really do. There's just something about him that screams you can't trust him. Something is not right, and I'm afraid he's planning something I have no idea what."
Harry sat up straight in his seat at this, seeming more alert now than before. "What do you mean 'he's planning something'?"
I bit the inside of my cheek, looking him in the eyes. "The only reason I pulled you in here so quickly was that he was staring at us with this sick smirk on his face. It was almost scary, and it almost made me throw up in discomfort," I shivered, remembering that mischievous smile of his.
"Wait, he was staring at us? But what's that supposed to mean? Is he happy we're finally together, or what?" Harry asked me, his voice laced with panic. He made pointless gestures with his hands, making me pull them down in order to calm him.
"Harry, you need to calm down, okay? Mike's not coming anywhere near you again, so you don't have to worry. I won't let him do anything to you," I soothed him. "And I'm pretty sure the reason behind his smile wasn't because we are finally together," I explained, grimacing.
Harry slumped in his seat, looking up at me through his wild fringe of curls that had fallen in his face. "I-I'm not worried about me, Lou. He hasn't done anything bad to me. The one I'm worried about is you. You said he threatened you, and yet here you are, feeling worried about me," he said, shaking his head. "I just don't want anything bad to happen, not now when I've finally realized I like you, and you've admitted you like me too."
I let out a sigh, trailing my fingers up towards the back of his neck. "Nothing bad is going to happen, not to you or to me. I can assure you that I'm going to stop whatever Mike's planning before he does anything, okay?"
Harry hesitated for a while before nodding his head. "Alright."
He looked so fragile then that I just wanted to embrace him in a tight hug, and that was exactly what I did. I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him against my chest. He leaned into the touch, curling his arms around my back.
"Thank you, Louis, for being here," he hummed against my neck.
I pulled away a little so I could kiss his forehead and look into those gorgeous green eyes. "I will always be here from now on."
This made a smile form on the curly-haired boy's lips, and he nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck once again, this time hugging me even tighter.
At that very moment, Zayn decided to join us. He sat down beside me, waiting for us to pull away from our hug before raising an eyebrow.
"So, what's going on between you two, huh?"
I raised my and Harry's entwined hands in the air, smiling proudly at him. "Um, we're kind of a thing now... right Harry?" I glanced at Harry who nodded his head, smiling slightly.
"Yep."
"Wow, since when? And why didn't you tell me, Louis?" Zayn gasped, his eyes flicking between the two of us.
I rolled my eyes, rubbing circles on the back of Harry's hand with my thumb. "Since like an hour ago, so calm your tits, mate. Jeez."
Zayn pouted his lips. "Well then, I'm happy you finally confessed your love for each other. It was about time," he snorted.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Harry quirking an eyebrow.
Zayn took this as his cue to continue. "Louis here has been in love with you for ages, but he's been too afraid to admit it, even to his best friend," he chuckled, shaking his head.
I hit him on the arm, glaring at him. "Not funny, mate. And how the hell did you know? I thought I was good at hiding my feelings," I pouted, my bottom lip sticking out.
He let out a loud bark of laughter, smacking a hand over his mouth to muffle it. "Yeah, as good as you are at cooking."
"Hey, I'm not a bad cook."
This caused Zayn to burst out into another fit of laughter. "You joking with me, right? You almost burned the house down when you cooked pasta at my place once," he managed to let out in between laughs.
I ignored him, turning to Harry so I didn't have to see that jerk. I was not a bad cook, I just had a little difficulty when it came to using the stove and oven, okay? Anyway, what did this have to do with my feelings for Harry?
"Lou, I already know you've liked me for a long time. You told me earlier, remember?" Harry smiled, leaning his head on my shoulder. "And the reason I raised my eyebrow was that I was shocked that Zayn knew about your feelings for me. I thought you kept those kinds of things to yourself... which you did, only that they were too obvious," he chuckled against my shoulder.
I gasped. "Well, at least you didn't know about them, right?"
"Right," he nodded, still chuckling slightly.
"So, how's it going with Perrie then, huh?" I asked, turning back to Zayn who had now stopped laughing.
There was a smile on his face when he replied to me. "We're good. We've been on a few dates, so I guess you can call her my girlfriend now," he explained, taking a bite of his sandwich that he was holding in his hand.
"That's amazing. I'm happy you finally settled down, mate. I guess we both just needed to find the right person to do it with, huh?"
Zayn nodded, looking over at Harry. "Yeah, I'm happy for you too, mate. You finally got your prince," he winked, making me blush.
I could feel Harry burying his face even deeper into my shoulder, and I assumed he was just as embarrassed as I was by that comment. "Yeah," I mumbled, rubbing a hand up and down Harry's back.
Before we could open our mouths to say something else, Liam and Niall walked over to us, each with a sandwich in their hands. "Hi guys," Liam muttered, sitting down next to Harry.
I furrowed my eyebrows together, wondering why he was so quiet. I turned to get a better view of them, only to notice that Niall had a large bruise on his cheek. I let out a gasp at the same time as Harry and Zayn did.
"What happened?" Harry gaped, sitting up straight in his seat.
Niall sighed, sitting down next to Liam and cuddling into his side. "I... Are you feeling better now, Harry?" He asked instead, trying to change the topic.
I wanted to roll my eyes, but it wasn't exactly the best occasion to do so. "Yes, I do, but please, Niall, just tell us what happened to your face." Harry looked at Niall with pleading eyes, making the blonde-haired boy let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine, I... I was just walking in the hallways when this curly-haired lad suddenly slammed me against the wall of lockers and punched me in the face. I tried to dodge it, but he was too quick," he choked, sniffling into Liam's arm.
"Tell them why he did it," Liam said flatly, stroking his fingers through Niall's hair.
Niall looked up from Liam's arm to see our reactions when he said; "Because I'm gay."
Well, that, I was not prepared for.
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I bet some of you guys were though. It's pretty obvious who the 'curly-haired boy' is, right?
So, what do you think is going to happen?
QUESTION: Do you want smut in this story or not? If so, it would be my first time writing it, so please don't hate me if it isn't the best :)
I'M SEEING THE BOYS ON SATURDAY!! :D
Pauline .xx