Louis leaves Harry's office feeling much better. Even if Harry still doesn't seem like the Harry Louis first met, it's okay because now Louis knows that he wasn't the one who made Harry mad.
Harry never really said that they could be friends but he did say that he wasn't stupid so Louis would like to assume that means that Harry doesn't mind Louis talking to him. Louis has a good week with that in mind. When he goes to work on Saturday he comes in happy and stress free.
When Louis sees Harry walking around he goes over to him to say hi. When Harry sees him Louis' happy that he doesn't turn away, instead he lets Louis come up to him.
"Hi," Louis says.
"Hi."
"I'm glad you're feeling better. I was thinking about coming in on Wednesday during the day to practice some more, is that okay?" Louis asks.
"Whatever, just lock up when you're done if I'm not there. Don't steal."
Louis hums. Can't promise anything." He walks away before Harry can say anything else. He knows Harry knows he's joking so Louis' not worried about it.
The rest of the night goes well and Louis even sees Harry again. They're not able to talk because Harry was busy but when Louis smiled and waved Harry gave a nod which Louis considered for Harry is the same as a giving a smile and a wave back.
Louis will admit, it still doesn't feel the same as it did before. Like on the day he came in to practice and Harry was joking around with him so much, but Louis will take what he can get and anything is better than being ignored.
❤ ❤ ❤
On Wednesday Louis wakes up kind of late. He has two classes to go to and after that he thinks that he's probably going to go to the club. He told Harry and Niall it was to practice, which it is, but Louis knows a part of him just wants to get to talk to Harry more.
Hopefully Harry will be there. Louis thinks that the odds of that happening are pretty high. Honestly sometimes it seems like Harry lives at the club. He's always there and Louis knows that he has a lot of work but it has to get tiring at some point. If Harry likes working that much though, then whatever, that's his business.
When he gets back from his class he throws on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. It's getting a little colder out so even if his shorts contradict it, Louis also puts on his hoodie.
He texts Niall that he's leaving and he'll be back later then grabs his keys and walks down to the parking lot. He's so thankful he has a car, he'd be screwed if he ended up not being able to pay for it. Now that he's doing well he's happy he doesn't have to worry about that.
When he gets to the club he parks his car and then takes out the key Harry gave him that he just kept in case he decided to come back. He unlocks the door and walks in. There's a couple lights on so Louis assumes that Harry's here which makes him really happy.
Louis thinks about going to say hi but decides not to bother him and just get to work. If Harry wants to say hi he'll come out himself and do it. For now Louis just works on his dancing.
He's gotten quite good at it. He's been working at the club for almost two months now and he's learned so much since he first started. He's just as good as any of the other dancers and he makes a consistent amount of money each night.
Even if no one he knows will ever see him dance he takes pride in his talent. He never thought he'd be a good dancer but after some practice he turned out to be pretty decent at it, but he's nowhere near perfect so any practice is good practice and also a good work out.
Louis goes through a few songs before he needs to take a brake so he reaches down and pauses his music. He grabs his phone and turns to walk off the stage when he sees Harry standing behind the bar watching him.
When Harry catches Louis' eye he looks away and immediately turns around and grabs a towel. He starts wiping down the bar but the towel's dry and Louis can tell that there's no spray on the counter. Maybe he's dusting or something.
Louis grabs his water bottle and goes over to the bar. As he drinks, he sits down on one of the stools. Harry's at the other end of the counter still wiping it down with his dry rag.
"Don't you need the spray for that?" Louis asks, pointing to the spray that's still untouched in its spot under the bar.
Harry turns and looks at Louis then at the spray. He grabs it and then sprays the counter before using the towel to continue to clean it.
"You've been cleaning that spot for like five minutes," Louis runs his fingers on the counter in front of where he's sat. "There's sticky stuff here, you should probably get that instead right?"
Harry turns back around and Louis notices that there's somewhat of a nervous expression on his face. He walks over to where Louis' at without saying a word and then sprays the area Louis pointed out. Louis silently watches but by now it's obvious something's up with Harry.
"You okay? You seem off," Louis asks.
Harry stops cleaning and looks up. " 'M fine," he says under his breath then looks back down.
"...Okay, well do you want some help? The other tables need to be wiped down too, I can do it if you want."
"It's fine," Harry says a little harshly.
"Okay, sorry for asking," Louis says back with a bit of an attitude, a little upset that Harry once again is being snappy when he's just trying to help.
"It's not hard to do I can do it myself, just finish practicing," Harry says back with the same amount of attitude.
"Are you mad at me or something?" Louis asks, not wanting to go through what he did last time he thought Harry was mad at him, which was literally less than a week ago.
"No."
"Then what's wrong? Did something bad happen?" Louis continues.
"No, Louis."
"Okay wow, I'm just asking."
"And I'm just telling you, nothing is wrong," Harry says looking up to meet Louis' annoyed gaze.
"Kay, fine," Louis says, and then more quietly and without an attitude he adds, "I'm just going to go practice then."
Harry just grabs the spray and moves on to the next area of the counter like nothing happened. Like his attitude didn't just do a full 180...again.
As Louis practices, Harry's already gone and in his office, all he can think is, what the fuck is Harry's problem? Why is he so snappy? Everyone told him that Harry would get like this but he was never able to believe them.
Harry had been so nice before. He was so cool and laid back but then something changed and Louis doesn't know what it was. Ever since the night he stayed and cleaned Harry's went from the guy who buys cute little kid's ice cream to somebody who randomly snaps at someone else who's just trying to help. Louis doesn't like it one bit.
Harry's his boss though, and even if Louis has a different relationship with Harry than any of the other dancers do, he still has to be respectful. He's not mad yet. He still wants to be Harry's friend because he knows that there's no way that Harry could be a bad guy. Something's wrong and Louis' sure that as soon as its fixed Harry will be back to his normal charming self.
Until then he might just have to deal with Harry having an attitude.
❤ ❤ ❤
Louis' still a little bitter about his conversation with Harry the other day but he doesn't let it ruin his determination to befriend the guy. Like he said, he knows that when whatever his problem is goes away that Harry will go back to being nice.
That's why at work the next night Louis plans on going to talk to Harry after his dances. He wants Harry to know that he's making an effort and that he can trust him.
Louis gets it, when someone you barely know keeps trying to talk to you and be your friend it can be hard to trust them but at this point Louis' not someone Harry barely knows.
Even if they're not friends they talk just as much as friends would and they know enough about each other to be friends. Well, Harry knows enough about Louis because Louis' usually the one doing most of the talking but there are some things about Harry that Louis knows, too.
It's hard for Louis to focus through his first dance because all he can think about is going to talk to Harry. When he's finished Louis almost forgets to collect his money but thankfully he remembers before it's too late.
His second dance goes a little better because the crowd is more distracting. When he's done with that one he gives a lap dance which, for a while, he was wary about but he's okay with it now.
He knows there's no way in hell he'll be able to focus for another dance so he figures he'll just go and see Harry after this and then do his third dance after. Once he's done with the guy he's dancing for and collects his money, he decides to go and put on his sweat pants because he's cold and he knows Harry's office is even colder.
Once he's finished in the locker room Louis grabs his money bag then says bye to Bebe before leaving. He then goes over to the bar where Noah is already waiting for him.
"Should I just make this a routine? Open the door for Louis every night?"
Louis rolls his eyes. "Be quiet," he says as he walks through so he's now behind the bar.
"Good luck, he got a call from one of the businesses he invested in and it didn't go well."
"Oh. Well that was earlier right? He'll be fine by now...won't he?"
"It was only like an hour ago. He was really mad but maybe you'll cheer him up," Noah says and then goes to take someone's order.
Louis stands in his spot for a moment or two debating on if he's going to go through with his plan. One possibility is that Noah's right and Louis might cheer him up, but another possibility is that Harry gets even more mad.
Louis being Louis takes his chances and goes to Harry's office anyway. He knocks and waits for Harry to open the door. Instead of getting up Harry just calls, "It's open" so Louis opens the door himself and walks in.
He finds Harry sitting at his desk with his head in his hands, rubbing at his eyes. Harry looks up and sighs. Hi," he says, very clipped and quite obviously annoyed.
Louis notices the attitude but it's too late to turn back now so he nervously asks, "Ho-how was your day?" Louis knows that Harry's day, well night, hasn't been very good but it's all he could think of.
Harry takes a deep breath and lets out a long exhale. He runs a hand through his hair and then still with an attitude and somewhat rudely he answers, "Not good Louis. Go get ready."
Louis assumes Harry thinks that he just got here considering he has his sweats on but he's still taken aback by Harry's tone. He tried brushing it off the first few times because everyone has off days but even if Harry had a bad business call it doesn't mean he can be rude to Louis who's just trying to be nice...again.
Louis can't help the sass that comes with his reply. "Okay then, I'm so sorry for asking how your day went," Louis turns to leave, it being obvious that that's what Harry wants. Under his breath, thinking that Harry can't hear, Louis whispers, "Don't need to be so rude about it."
Except Louis was wrong and Harry did hear. Way too dramatically Harry, who really should've just let it go, snaps back, "Maybe you should just keep to yourself. Not everyone always wants to have a conversation with you."
Ouch. The comment hurts Louis but he tries his best to hide it. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Harry lightly rolls his eyes. "Just go to work okay? That's what this is, work. Not social hour."
At this point Louis' more mad than hurt because like he's said, he's only trying to be nice and Harry treats him like shit. Louis unknowingly raises his voice a little. "Well excuse me for trying to be polite. You're right," Louis turns to leave but is still audible to Harry. "I'll just keep to myself from now on."
Harry gets up to close the door and even though Louis' already a few feet away, once the door is closed he hears something being knocked over. He assumes it's a pencil holder because he hears them all fall to the floor.
"So I guess that didn't go to well then?" Noah asks as Louis passes him to get out from behind the bar.
Louis doesn't answer he just storms away to the locker rooms. He changes and then goes to do his third dance but the whole time he's way too conflicted between which emotions he wants to feel.
Should he be embarrassed that Harry thinks he's annoying? It's obvious that he does at this point.
Not everyone always wants to have a conversation with you.
Harry's words ring through Louis' mind and he wonders that if he just gave up the first time if things would be going better for him right now.
He also thinks that he feels mad. Why would Harry be that rude to him? Fine, he had a bad call, but that doesn't give him the right to be a prick. He could've just told Louis it was a bad time. He didn't need to go and say such a mean comment.
This isn't social hour.
Of course it isn't. Butisn't it? This is a club, technically that's what it's for, being social. Harry's job may not be to be social and Louis gets that sometimes Harry might have work to do which is fine, but he shouldn't be so mean. Louis thought Harry was nice, and maybe deep down he is, but this Harry definitely is not.
Finally he's finished dancing and Louis' able to leave. He waste no time in getting changed and walking out. He doesn't even look in the direction of Harry's office because he knows that if he did he'd either break into tears or want to punch something. Either way, it wouldn't be good.
When he gets back to his dorm he slams the door behind him and throws his bag on the bed. Niall looks up from his phone and raises his eyebrows. "What's your deal?"
Louis walks to the bathroom, "Harry." He closes the door and starts the shower. He doesn't want to talk about it right now because he doesn't even know how he feels about it himself so there's no way he'd be able to explain it to someone else.
The shower calms him down and helps clear his mind a little. After drying off and putting clean pajamas on he walks back out of the bathroom.
Niall doesn't say anything as he watches Louis count his money in silence and then put it in his drawer. When Louis sits back down on his bed Niall finally speaks up. "So...are you going to tell me what happened?"
Louis grabs his pillow and sits criss cross in the middle of his bed hugging it to his chest, "Yeah," Louis answers before telling Niall everything that happened.
"Wow...he kind of seems like a douche," Niall admits once he's heard the whole story, "I don't get why there's already so much drama between you guys. Most relationships, even if they're just friendly, last a little longer than this before people start fighting."
"We're not fighting. I don't even know what this is. I don't get it either honestly," Louis says. "And he was a douche, but I don't think he is one, if that makes sense."
"No, not really."
"Like, I think he's a nice person and I still really like him but there have just been a couple times where he's hasn't been so nice," Louis explains.
"Oh, well do you honestly think he doesn't like you? Because from the things you told me about the night you cleaned and the days you've practiced he seems to like you."
Louis hugs the pillow a little tighter and uses one hand to play with his sheets, "I don't know, I thought he did. Not so sure anymore."
"Why?"
"Because he practically told me to fuck off without actually saying 'fuck off,'" Louis says quietly.
"I don't think that's what he was trying to say Lou. It was probably just a bad time. If you think he's being such a jerk though, then why have you been trying to befriend him?"
Louis shrugs. "I don't know. Even though he's been rude I still think deep down he's a really great person and I want to know him."
"Oh, okay. My advice is to just wait it out. I'm sure that if it's just a bad week or whatever he'll be over it soon."
"Yeah..." Louis starts, "I'm still a little pissed, though. He could've been a lot less rude because I was only being nice."
"I agree. I think he needs to say sorry before you try again."
Louis nods. "That'd be nice, if he apologizes I mean."
Niall and Louis switch topics and Louis tries to forget about Harry for a little while. It works until he's lying in bed alone and Niall's asleep. He thinks about how Harry really hurt his feelings.
Maybe he's being dramatic but knowing that he's putting in so much effort to be nice and to get Harry to like him and then Harry just acts like it doesn't matter and he doesn't care about Louis at all. Louis has, since day one, been intrigued by Harry and he wants for this friendship to work out so badly and if it doesn't, well then, to put it simply, he'll be pretty sad.
He doesn't know if he's ready to forgive Harry yet and there's definitely a part of him that's still mad and wants to tell him off. He's going to try and not let it get in the way of him doing his job, though. Hopefully for the next few nights he won't have to see Harry because he knows if he does he'll get an attitude and he really can't have Harry mad at him for that too.