For the next couple of weeks Louis notices that he's seeing much less of Harry. Usually he'd see him every night at some point, even if they didn't talk, but he hasn't seen Harry once for the past two weeks. The thought that Harry's avoiding him runs through Louis' head but he pushes it away.
For some reason, even though him and Harry are far from close, the thought of never talking to him or seeing him ever again hurts Louis. He likes Harry and even if he tells everyone that they're acquaintances Louis would like to think they're a little more than that.
The next night at the club Louis actually does see Harry walking around like he usually would. It's probably to make sure everything's going smoothly and other management stuff, Louis assumes.
Harry comes over by where Louis is and Louis takes his chance. He starts walking over to Harry but as soon as Harry makes eye contact with Louis, he turns and walks away. Louis really hates to admit it but he felt that one. It was obvious Harry saw him and then decided to leave, meaning that Louis really is the issue.
But why?
Louis thinks that he's been really nice to Harry. He even stayed until almost six in the morning to help him clean the club even though he was getting absolutely nothing out of it. Well, except for getting to talk to Harry. Louis has really tried his hardest to make it clear that he wants to be friends which he thought he was succeeding in.
Harry has never been like this with Louis. He's always been kind and charming. He's funny, and he may not like tons of human interaction, but Louis thought that he was opening up a little more. He never gave short answers or acted like Louis wouldn't care about what he had to say. It seemed like things were going great.
When Harry saved Louis that night with Louis thought that it was because Harry cared about him but maybe not. Maybe he really was just doing it because it was the right thing to do. Maybe Noah and Bebe are wrong, maybe Harry doesn't feel any different about Louis than he does about everyone else.
Again, Louis tries to just push those thoughts away and focus on the end goal. Harry could just be having a bad week. Who knows what has happened in his life? Louis' just going to keep doing what he was doing and hopefully everything will go alright.
For the next few nights Harry stays MIA for the most part which makes Louis sad and he prays it's not because of him. Louis decides he should ask Noah if Harry's okay because he's genuinely concerned now. What if the reason Harry's been so different isn't because of him at all and it's something deeper. Noah has said that Harry doesn't have many close friends so what if he's going through it alone? Louis wants to be there for him if he is.
The next time he goes into work the first thing he does even before he changes is go over to the bar area to talk to Noah. Noah's busy at first but as soon as he's able to take a quick break he goes over to where Louis' waiting for him.
"Yeah?" Noah asks.
"Well, firstly can I get a drink."
Noah takes Louis' order and when he gets back with it he waits for Louis to continue.
"I wanted to ask if you know why Harry's being so weird," Louis says before taking a drink.
"How has he been weird?"
"He's just been, I don't know, not himself I guess. Like before he would always talk to me when I talked to him and he always joked and stuff but he's been in his office so much when before he would come out."
"Why is that weird? Is he being rude or something? He can get like that sometimes."
"No...well, no. Not rude, but a couple nights ago I saw him walking around so I was going to go say hi. He saw me, we made eye contact so there's no way he didn't, but when he realized I was coming over he turned and walked away. He looked kinda annoyed."
"I don't know Louis, I mean I'm not close to him. I've just been here for a while and I've noticed his behavior. If you want answers then you need to ask him yourself," Noah says then takes Louis' empty cup and moves on to the next customer.
He's right, if Louis wants to ever be able to stop worrying then he'll have to ask Harry what's going on. Hopefully he doesn't get mad. Louis doesn't even ask Noah to unlock the bar door thing he just climbs over it. Noah sees him but he obviously doesn't care.
Louis gets to Harry's office and raises his fist to knock, he's about to do it but then he pulls away. He really doesn't want to make things worse and him doing this might, but at the same time, if it's something totally unrelated to him then he wants to make sure Harry's okay. He'd rather risk things going wrong rather than not being there at all, so he knocks three times and waits.
He hears some shuffling and then the doorknob twist before the door is being opened. Harry, like always, looks down at Louis. Louis smiles at him but it fades away when he sees Harry's expression. He doesn't look mad but he looks...stressed and even a little sad. His eyes are still droopy and his eyebrows are furrowed together. There's no sign of any smile on his lips and usually Harrys are naturally upturned.
"Hi..." Louis greets, shyly.
"Hi." Is all Harry says back. Louis wants him to open the door and let him in but Harry just keeps it open enough for him to be able to stand in the doorway.
"I wanted to make sure you're okay?" Louis says deciding that he's just going to get right to the point.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Harry says with somewhat of an attitude.
Louis looks down to the ground. Maybe this was a bad idea. Harry seems far from happy and Louis doesn't like it. He wants sarcastic funny Harry back not grumpy and...cold Harry. Oh.
"You just seem off I guess. It's probably not my business. I was just checking. I know we're not like friends or whatever," when Louis says this he sees Harry's eyes flicker in a sad way but then they quickly go back to normal, "but I just wanted you to know that like, if you are down I'm here...If you want."
Harry stares at Louis for a moment and Louis finds it very intimidating. He doesn't know what to expect.
"Thanks. I'm fine. I'm just busy, don't worry about it."
Louis isn't very sure about Harry's answer. It seems like one of those times where 'fine' actually means 'please help me' and Louis really doesn't want to leave if that is what Harry means.
"...Okay, yeah, just checking," Louis says. "Are you sure?"
Harry sighs, "I'm fine."
"Well it's just you seem like you're sa-"
"Louis. I'm fine. Don't you have work to do or something? I'm busy. Stop worrying about it," Harry snaps.
"Oh," Louis practically whispers. "Okay. Sorry."
Harry doesn't say anything, he just shuts the door and leaves Louis standing there. Louis doesn't move for a good thirty seconds. He's in a daze and he just stares at the door in front of him, drowning out everything else around him.
He's drawn back in by the sound of his phone dinging in his pocket. He doesn't check it though, instead he numbly walks out of the bar area. He ignores Noah who calls his name and he ignores Bebe who tries to say hi to him. He just goes into the locker room and sits on a bench.
Why is he so sad? Why is this hurting so much? Harry isn't even important to him. That's a lie. Louis knows Harry's important to him, he just doesn't get why. That's what's so hard about this, really. He has this stupid voice in the back of his head telling him to keep trying. To make sure Harry's okay and to get to know him but it's obvious that's not how Harry feels about Louis. Why would he? Louis' just his employee. He's just a stripper. Why would Harry want to get to know Louis?
Louis feels his lip quiver a bit. What the fuck? Why is he crying? Louis wipes at his eyes and feels the tears that were pooling in them. This is stupid. He shouldn't be crying over this. He shouldn't even be upset at all. There's no reason to be.
But he is.
He is because he feels rejected. He's tried so hard to get Harry to like him and what does Harry do? Shuts the door in his face. Louis was only trying to help. Was he really that annoying? Does Harry really hate him so much, he's willing to practically tell Louis to fuck off when all he was doing was trying to make sure he was okay?
Part of louis wants to just go home and cry some more. He just wants to eat food and watch Netflix with Niall.
The other part of him wants to just keep working and ignore this entire situation. He wants to just act like Harry never did that and things are still going just fine. He wants to keep being nice to Harry and keep trying to get to know him. As always, he has no idea why.
Why would he want to keep being kind to someone who shut the door in his face? To someone who acts like nothing has happened and that they've never talked. To someone who honestly, has been a bit of a dick to him. It's dumb. Most people would be over it. They'd want to just give up because obviously there's no hope.
Obviously Harry doesn't like him and obviously Harry just wants Louis to leave him alone. The little voice in Louis' head is telling him not to though, and for whatever insane reason, Louis' going to listen to it.
❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎
The rest of the week until it's time for him to work again, Louis can't stop thinking about Harry. He wonders if Harry's mad at him, if he's annoyed with him, if he's being stupid by continuing to try and befriend Harry, and the thing he worries most about is, if Harry's okay.
Even though Harry told him he is, Louis' still not convinced. It's really not his business and if Harry told him to stop worrying about it he probably should, but he just can't. He doesn't like it but that's just how it is.
He talks to Niall that night before he goes to work hoping that he might have some advice.
"So wait, he told you to stop worrying and then shut the door in your face?" Niall's asks.
Louis nods, "Yep."
"Then yeah, something's definitely up. You probably shouldn't take it personal though. Just because he's in a pissy mood doesn't mean it's because of something you did."
"I know, but that's the point. I don't want him in a pissy mood in general. If there's something wrong I want to help fix it," Louis tells Niall.
They're sitting in their dorm and Niall's doing his homework while Louis overthinks out loud.
"Well sometimes people have to get through things on their own," Niall says. "Why do you care so much anyway?"
Louis sits up from where he was laying on his bed. "I told you before, I have no clue why. I just do. It's stupid I know, but I can't help it."
"Okay but if he's being an asshole to you then why are you so concerned about his wellbeing?"
"He's not being an asshole. He was a little rude one time. He's human, everyone gets that way at times. I just hope I'm not the reason he's like that."
"You're not. There's no way you could be. You guys barely talk, right?"
Louis shrugs. "I mean, before all this, we would talk at least once a night. It was usually small talk but it was casual, you know? Like it was never awkward."
"Oh, so were you guys like flirting?"
Louis shakes his head. "No, definitely not. It was just nice. I like talking to him but it's been over two weeks since we've had a proper conversation."
"I don't know, Lou. I think your best bet is to just keep being nice in case he needs someone and if it turns out badly, at least you tried."
Louis thinks about it. "Yeah, true."
After that Louis dismisses himself to go and get ready for work. He always changes in the bathroom when Niall's in the room so he can put his sweats over his 'work clothes.' He says bye to Niall and then leaves to go to the club.
When he gets there he looks around for Harry but doesn't see him. He's disappointed but he goes to the locker room anyway. Surprisingly Bebe's there changing. Lately they've been working at different times and haven't seen each other much.
"Hey," Louis greets as he unlocks his locker and puts his things inside.
"Hey," Bebe says back, "I've missed you."
Louis smiles. He likes having Bebe around. "Same, you never even text me anymore."
"Well you don't text me either," Bebe argues playfully.
"True, I guess we should both make more of an effort, huh?"
"Yeah definitely," Bebe agrees. "How's things with Harry?"
"Oh, I don't know. I mean I feel you expect me to say I like him or something."
Bebe shrugs. "Maybe I do. I don't know how else you would be able to explain your level of infatuation with him."
"I'm not infatuated, I'm just...interested."
"Why though? Like, you never have a reason. There has to be something that makes you want to get to know him."
Louis finishes getting dressed and closes his locker. "There probably is, I just don't know what yet."
Bebe doesn't say anything back so Louis grabs his money bag and leaves. It's nice that Bebe cares, but how many times is he going to have to explain that he doesn't know why he wants Harry as a friend so bad?
After his three dances Louis goes over to the bar to get a drink and say hi to Noah. He sits on one of the bar stools that feels cold against his bare skin.
"What you always get?" Noah asks Louis when he comes over.
Louis nods and waits for Noah to make his drink. When the bartender comes back Louis pays him and then takes a few drinks.
"Any luck with Harry?" Noah asks.
"Haven't talked to him. I don't think he wants me around," Louis admits.
"He does. I don't care what he said that night, he likes you. I told you, he's antisocial. He'll never be the person who says how he really feels. He acts like he doesn't have emotions but he does. Whatever he was upset about, it wasn't you."
"How do you know? I thought you didn't talk to him," Louis says.
"I don't. It's just obvious."
"You always say that. How? How is it so obvious? To me it seems obvious that he's annoyed."
"Because he's always checking on you," Noah tells Louis.
"Checking on me?"
"He'll look out of his office and it's always to where you are. I think he wants to make sure no one tries what that one guy did."
"Zack?"
Noah nods. "Yeah. He was mad that night."
"How do you know?"
"Why do you keep asking that?"
"Because I'm not going to just believe you and then make a fool of myself by thinking Harry cares about me when he doesn't."
"He went into his office and I'm pretty sure he threw something at the wall."
"Threw something?"
"That's what I said, yes."
"Why?"
"Louis, I swear to God."
"What??"
"You need to stop asking 'why' so much. I've told you before, if you want to know why, ask Harry yourself. I'm not him, I don't have the answers you want."
"I don't need the answers I'm just curious why everyone keeps saying Harry treats me differently."
"I don't know, it's just obvious. Most of the dancers have been here awhile and everyone knows Harry doesn't really care about many people. The fact that he even talks to you normally proves you're different to him."
"Well then why is he ignoring me now?"
"Maybe he's scared."
"Why would he be scared? What does he think will happen if he talks to me?"
"Honestly Louis, I think you need to try and talk to him again. Show him you care. Maybe he thinks you're just being nice."
"I am being nice."
"No, I mean like when someone acts like they care when they really don't just to be polite," Noah explains.
"Oh," Louis says. "I care."
"I know that, but maybe he doesn't. Just talk to him. I think he'll probably act like he doesn't care but deep down he'll be happy you told him."
"...I don't know, I don't want to make things worse."
"How can you? You're already not talking."
Louis sighs. "I guess. I mean it's been over two weeks, he's got to be over whatever he was mad about before, right?"
"I'd assume so."
"Okay. Yeah, I guess I'll try. Go around and unlock the door for me," Louis says as he hops off of the stool.
He meets Noah at the door and lets him unlock it. He walks through and then down to Harry's office. He stands in front of the door and looks back to Noah who gives him a thumbs up.
He's been here way too many times. In front of this door, anticipating Harry's reaction. This time though, it's not just about asking for more dances or something simple like that. This means more, at least to him it does.
Louis forces himself to knock on the door. He regrets it because now he has to talk to Harry no matter what, but deep down he knows that he's happy to finally see him again. The door opens and Louis' met with Harry's green eyes.
"Louis..."
"Yeah, hi," Louis greets, obviously nervous. "Can we um, like talk?"
"Talk? Why? Are you okay?"
Louis can't help the small smile he gives when Harry asks if he's okay. "I'm fine. There's just something I want to tell you."
"Oh," Harry says. "Okay." He opens the door and lets Louis come inside.
Louis sits in one of the chairs that's placed in front of Harry's desk. Harry, who's sat behind the desk, waits for Louis to say what he needs to say.
"Right," Louis starts. "Well I feel like you're mad at me or something and I don't know why."
Harry furrows his eyebrows, "Why would I be mad at you?"
"I don't know. I thought maybe when I asked if you were doing okay you got annoyed or something."
"No, I'm not annoyed," Harry says.
"Oh okay, then why have you been ignoring me so much? We used to talk."
"I'm not ignoring you."
"Yes you are, or at least you were."
"How?"
"Well, every time you see me you walk away and you literally had Noah tell me that the bar wasn't going to be open last Friday instead of telling me yourself."
Harry seems flustered sand Louis wonders if Harry's the one who's 'just being nice.' Harry looks down at his desk and plays with his ring.
Louis continues when Harry doesn't say anything, "I just, I wanted you to know that whatever happened I'm sorry and I wish you would tell me because it's all I can think about."
Harry's quiet for a little bit longer, still starring down at his hands, but finally he says, "Why are you so worried? Why do you care if I like you or not?"
Louis doesn't like the way Harry's voice sounds. He doesn't like how it sounds like Harry's annoyed again. Louis becomes shy and decides he really shouldn't of done this but there's no going back now, so he answers.
"Because I like you, and I thought that maybe you liked me too and maybe we could've been friends but I don't think you want that and I feel kind of stupid for thinking it could work," Louis rambles.
Harry looks at Louis, who's slouched and fidgeting with his clothes, obviously embarrassed and shy. Louis looks up and meets Harry's eyes. Louis looks sad and Harry doesn't like it.
Harry blinks which makes Louis look away. This time when he speaks, Harry's voice isn't so harsh. "You're not stupid."