originally published: november 18th, 2018
"Today you'll be working in groups to finish a worksheet, and I'm giving you guys the entire period to do it. Get the worksheet and I'll tell you who your group mates are."
Harry sighed, getting up along with the rest of the class to grab a worksheet from Mr. Jackson's desk. He was still tired out from the football game - both mentally and physically - and he wasn't really in the mood to do group work. Most of the time he just ended up doing it by himself while the others copied his work, and it annoyed him. He grabbed the worksheet and returned to his seat, ready to move once the groups had been called.
"Styles, Malik, Tomlinson..." Jackson rattled off the paper he held in his hand.
Harry stopped listening to the rest of the sentence once he'd heard Louis' name. Crap. Harry was to do a group task with Louis, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy or not - he'd always dreamed of getting put into a group with Louis, but being in the presence of someone so perfect was absolutely nerve-wracking.
He watched as Louis picked up a pen and a worksheet, looked at Zayn, and headed towards the corner where the rest of their group had gathered. A flash of jealousy shot through harry when he saw Zayn sidle up beside Louis, so close that their hands were touching.
Harry sighed, grabbed his things, and headed over to the group, trying to prepare himself for working with Louis. The group grabbed some chairs and sat down in a circle, with Harry sitting opposite of Louis and Louis sitting next to Zayn. As far as Harry knew, Louis was best friends with Niall and Zayn. From that biology lesson, Harry knew that Niall and Louis weren't dating - but he had no idea about Louis and Zayn.
Zayn Malik was incredibly attractive, no doubt. All of the girls - and the guys - drooled all over him, especially since he was so cool and chill and didn't seem to be in any of the school's cliques, making him seem so mysterious.
Harry groaned inwardly in frustration. He wished Zayn wasn't so mysterious - if he was more of an open book, it would be so much easier for Harry to find out if Zayn and Louis were dating. They were so quiet and mysterious and kept to themselves, and it would take a lot of digging for Harry to find out anything about them.
"So." One of their group mates cleared his throat. "What are we supposed to do again?"
Harry answered promptly, "Discuss the life of Shakespeare and answer the questions on the worksheet."
From the corner of his eye, Harry could see that Louis wasn't looking at him, and it didn't look like he was even listening to Harry, either. Disappointed, Harry started to read the worksheet. Throughout the group discussion, Louis didn't say anything at all, unless he was asked specifically. He and Zayn just scribbled down on their worksheets like it was pair work - mumbling and discussing together while ignoring everyone else.
Harry watched them helplessly, wishing they would contribute their ideas to the group - partially because Harry was having a hard time trying to discuss with people who didn't know anything, and partially because Harry wanted to hear Louis' voice.
When the bell rang, Louis and Zayn got up together and left together. Harry was feeling extremely jealous now, and forgot to wait for Nick when he left the classroom.
During lunch, Harry kept staring at Louis and Zayn at their lunch table. He could see them laughing and talking, and Zayn had one arm slung over Louis' shoulder. They looked like they were close.
Really close.
Dating close.
"Hey, Styles, I'm talking to you!"
"Huh?" Startled, Harry snapped out of his daze.
"I said, why didn't you wait for me after English class? We always leave together, don't we?" Nick demanded.
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Sure, Nick was a good friend of his, but he could be kind of annoying sometimes. He could be snobbish and rude to anyone who wasn't his friend - sometimes he was even snobbish and rude to his own friends - and Harry didn't like him very much at times, but they'd known each others for years and Harry felt obliged to be nice to Nick.
"Well, uh, I was thinking about the worksheet and I kind of forgot to wait for you," Harry said, hoping his excuse sounded believable. He had forgot to wait for Nick - but it wasn't the worksheet he had been thinking about. "Sorry."
Nick folded his arms. "Well, you better remember next time, Styles."
"Sure." Harry glanced over at Liam, hoping to start a conversation with him. He didn't really want to talk to Nick anymore, and besides, Liam might know something about Louis and Zayn.
"Li, do you know if Zayn Malik is into girls or boys or both?" Harry asked quietly, so the rest of the table wouldn't hear.
"He's into boys," Liam replied almost automatically. Harry stared at him. Uncomfortable, Liam said, "What?"
"How'd you know?" Harry asked incredulously. He hadn't actually expected an answer from Liam. "Zayn is so quiet and mysterious, how'd you know that? I mean, I expected I needed to do some deep digging, but how did you just know?"
Liam shrugged. "I just do, Harry. Why do you want to know Zayn's sexuality anyway?"
Remembering why he asked in the first place, Harry glanced over at Louis' table. "I just - Louis and Zayn seem to have something going on."
Liam looked over as well, and the two watched as Zayn tapped Louis' nose affectionately, making Louis scrunch up cutely. Harry was about to explode from the jealousy.
"Oh," Liam said softly. "Well, I don't know."
"If Zayn is into boys, then he might be dating Louis," Harry said, gripping the table tightly.
"Just because they're both gay and they're best friends doesn't mean they're dating," Liam commented. "You never know."
Harry sighed. "That's what's killing me." There was a momentary silence before Harry remembered something. "By the way, Li, my mum invited you to have a picnic with us this weekend, to celebrate the win."
"Sure, I'll come." Liam dipped a French fry into the ketchup and grinned. "Your mum makes great sandwiches."
*****
On Sunday, Harry, Liam, Gemma and Anne strolled into the park. They found a spot under a large tree, and set their things down.
"Come on, boys, lay out the blanket," Anne instructed, handing Harry and Liam a folded up sheet while Gemma took out the plastic containers of food they had made earlier.
"Honestly, you guys are really the best cooks," Liam said, once they'd set up and were sitting on the sheet, ready to eat. "Every single time I eat a home meal with you guys it's like I'm in a five-star restaurant."
"Thank you, Liam," Anne said, a warm smile on her face. "Eat up, guys."
The meal was indeed delicious, and the four spent a great afternoon together, chatting and laughing. Afterwards, Harry and Liam decided to take a walk while Gemma and Anne went home. They were discussing football tactics when Harry heard a familiar voice and froze.
"Daisy! Are you ready?"
That raspy, high-pitched voice could only belong to one person. Louis Tomlinson.
Harry spun around wildly, trying to see where Louis was, and spotted him at the playground, standing at the bottom of the slide and looking up at at a little girl who was sitting at the top of the slide. The little girl - Daisy, presumably - grinned. She resembled Louis, and Harry realized that she was probably Louis' sister. "I'm ready!" she called.
"Okay, come on!"
Daisy pushed off and slid down the slide, and when she reached the bottom, Louis caught her, held her up, and spun her around.
"Wheeee!" Louis said in a silly high-pitched voice, which Harry found absolutely adorable.
Louis put Daisy down, who was giggling madly. "Again! Again!"
"No! It's my turn!" Another little girl, who looked exactly like Daisy, ran over to them. "You said I could play after Daisy did, right?"
"Yes, okay, come on then, Pheebs."
Liam nudged Harry. "Dude. You've been staring for way too long, and we're standing right in the middle of the path, blocking people."
"I can't help it," Harry mumbled. They shifted over so that they weren't blocking the path, found a large tree to hide behind, and continued not-so-discreetly watching Louis and his little sisters.
The other little girl came hurtling down the slide, and squealed once Louis picked her up and spun her 'round. Louis stopped after a while, starting to put the little girl down, but she gripped onto him tightly.
"Noooooo, I love spinnies!" She wrapped her arms around Louis' neck. "And I love LouLou!"
LouLou. Damn. That was cute.
Louis laughed and hugged the little girl tightly. "I love you too, Phoebe." He kissed the tip of her nose and set her down. "But you and Daisy are growing and you two are a little too heavy now."
The twins gasped in horror.
At that moment, two other girls walked over to them. All of them resembled Louis, and Harry knew that these two girls were also Louis' sisters.
"Don't worry, girls, even if you're heavy Louis can still spin you 'round and 'round," one assured them.
"But, Lottie, spinning won't be as fun if Louis thinks we're heavy!" Daisy protested.
Lottie snorted. "Trust me, it's just as fun. Sometimes I make him spin me around and I watch his muscles die while he's trying to lift me. Great entertainment."
"Hey, Lotts, don't be corrupting the kiddos now," Louis reprimanded, lightly smacking his sister's arm. "I thought you and Fizzy were eating?"
Fizzy - the other girl - shrugged. "Couldn't miss out on the fun, could we? I can still remember the days when we were as tiny as the twins and you played with us."
A fond expression came across Louis' face. "Yeah, me too." he seemed to go into another world, and his eyes glazed over.
Harry watched as the four girls nudged each other, then suddenly tackled Louis. He yelped as they started tickling him, laughing as he tried to push their hands away. "G-girls, s-stop it!" he giggled. When they finally did, he was bright red and gasping for air.
"You guys have to stop tickling me!" he said, pouting. Harry was going to die from the cuteness overload.
Lottie laughed. "We can't, you're very cute when you're tickled, even if you are our older brother."
Louis rolled his eyes. "You guys are so mean, I'm going back." He playfully stomped off, and the girls ran after him.
Harry had always found Louis adorable, but watching him interact with his siblings made him even more adorable in Harry's eyes. He was so sweet and kind and loving to his little sisters, he seemed like the perfect brother. Which made things worse, because now Harry had more things to add onto the list of Why Louis Tomlinson Is Perfect And I Am Not Enough For Him. It was a pretty long list.
"Harry, you look like a fish, gaping like that. Close your mouth." Liam was holding back his laughter. "We should keep walking."
"Okay. The pair continued walking, but all Harry could think about was LouisLouisLouis.
*****
The week passed by rather comfortably. Nothing special happened between Louis and Harry - they'd made eye contact a couple times (about twenty eight times, actually, because Harry kept count) but they hadn't said anything to each other.
It was Friday, and Harry was feeling good. He was sure it was going to be a good day. After school, he was going skating with his friends and all he needed to do was survive history. Aside from the fact that Louis was in his history class, Harry was sure everything was going to be fine.
In history, their teacher, Mr. Andrews, decided that the class was to do worksheets in groups. "I'll let you pick your own groups, get your worksheets and get to work," Andrews said.
Harry went up to the front desk to get a worksheet, and made eye contact with Liam.
Group? Liam mouthed.
Group. Harry nodded. He looked around to see who else they could work with, making eye contact with several of his friends, mouthing Group?, and grinning when they nodded.
Harry, Liam, Cara, Demi and Stan headed over to a corner in the classroom, and Harry passed by a familiar mop of brown, fluffy hair.
Louis.
Harry glanced over at him, and saw that Louis was sitting alone at his desk, staring at the worksheet. Harry remembered that neither Zayn nor Niall was in their history class, meaning that Louis didn't really know anyone else and didn't know who to be in a group with. Harry felt sorry for Louis, especially because Harry was sure Louis was the kind of adorable, sweet and charming person who everyone liked, but he was just too shy and quiet.
Should Harry ask Louis to be in their group? Harry didn't want Louis to sit and be lonely for the entire period, but if Louis was in their group, Harry would freak out and would probably say something really dumb and stupid and make Louis hate him.
Swallowing, Harry sat down, still watching Louis. Harry should ask him to join their group. Yes, he definitely should - Niall and Zayn weren't around, meaning that this was Harry's chance to get closer to Louis while his two intimidating best friends weren't right next to him. In English and biology, Louis had either Zayn or Niall with him, and they would sit together and talk together, giving Harry zero chances to say anything to Louis because Zayn or Niall would be staring at him, making him nervous.
So this was his chance. Without Zayn or Niall, Louis would have to contribute to the group discussion (unlike last time), right? Besides, it would just be plain mean to leave him alone like that. Harry opened his mouth, about to call Louis over, when Jack ran to Louis' desk and asked, "Hey, Louis. Wanna join our group?"
Looking surprised, Louis nodded. "Um, sure." He grabbed his stuff and headed over to Jack's group.
Well.
Harry glared at Jack. He'd just mustered the courage to get Louis to join his group and Jack had went and ruined it!
Stan cleared his throat. "Harry, you okay?"
Harry turned to face his group, and quickly said, "Yeah, I'm fine."
He was met by four pairs of raised eyebrows.
"You were staring at Louis Tomlinson," Demi said. "What's up with that?"
Harry turned bright red. Demi, Cara and Stan were all his close friends, but he wasn't sure if he wanted them to know about his crazy infatuation with the blue-eyed boy. "Um. Nothing?"
Cara snorted. "Harry. That's a lie. Are you crushing on Louis Tomlinson?"
Silent, Harry turned even redder. He coughed. "Um. Well."
Liam rolled his eyes. "Yes, he's crushing on him. It's kind of obvious, innit?"
Demi smirked. "Well, I never thought the mighty Harry Styles would have a silly schoolboy crush, but I can see why. Louis Tomlinson is a fine piece of art."
"It's not a silly schoolboy crush, Harry is obsessed with him," Liam said. "You're lucky you're not his best friend, I'm tired of hearing how absolutely perfect Louis is everyday."
Stan laughed. "Harry, you're so whipped."
*****
When the class was over, Harry stuffed his things into his bag and waited for Liam, Cara, Demi and Stan. They were going ice skating along with Nick, Adrian, Taylor and Selena, and Harry was excited.
He wasn't a very good skater, but he loved ice skating with his friends. It reminded him of the times in elementary when he and Liam would go together. Ice skating was kind of a symbol of friendship to him, and it had a special place in his heart.
"You ready to have fun?" Harry grinned at Liam.
"Always." Liam shouldered his bag and returned the smile.
Ice skating with the gang had gone pretty well, surprisingly. Most of the time, Harry would just go with Liam, and he rarely ever brought a gang of friends, but today had been a good day. There had been a lot of falling down and hanging onto each other, but there had also been a lot of laughing and giggles and jokes and a genuinely good time with his friends.
Tired, he went back home with Liam in tow - the brown-eyed boy had been invited for dinner at the Styles' house.
"So, Harry," Gemma said seriously once they'd all been seated and had begun eating. "How's it going with Louis?"
Harry choked on his food and it took several pats on the back from Liam until he could speak. "What?"
"I said, how's it going with Louis? After the football game I haven't heard anything about you two." Gemma watched with a smirk on her face as her brother blushed furiously.
"Well. Um." Harry cleared his throat. "Nothing's happened."
"That's a lie," Liam informed Gemma and Anne. "On the day of the picnic we saw Louis with his little sisters, then today in history, Harry was about to ask Louis to join our group but Jack got there first."
"Ooohhhh." Gemma wriggled her eyebrows. "Looks like you got a little competition there, Haz."
Harry groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Stop it, Gems."
"How can I stop when my baby brother is being all grown up and crushing on a boy?" Gemma teased.
Anne laughed. "Well, Harry, have you even talked to him yet?"
"Once or twice only," Harry admitted. "He's kind of hard to talk to, he's quiet and shy and I don't even have enough courage to initiate a conversation."
Gemma shook her head. "You have to get closer to him! How do you expect him to fall in love with someone he doesn't even know?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "But I'm scared - like he's so perfect and if I say something he'll think I'm stupid and weird."
Anne placed a hand on Harry's. "You're not supposed to look perfect in front of him. Just show him who you really are! I mean, if you try being all perfect and mysterious, don't you think he'll find you intimidating?"
Harry held back a snort of laughter. "Mum, that was so cheesy. The whole 'show him who you really are' thing."
Anne shrugged. "Well, I'm right. Make a move, dear, before someone else does."