"Leeeeeewwwwiiiiiisssssss," Niall bellowed from where he stood on the breakfast bar. He had a tall beer in hand and Shauna under his arm. Louis shook his head disapprovingly. Niall was going to have to let that one go soon. This was getting out of hand.
Speaking of getting out of hand, so was this party. The bass was pounding heavily in Louis' ears and their small flat was smashed with people from their university. In the kitchen people were doing shots, on the couches there was some sort of herpes spreading orgy going on and Louis had found several weed smokers in their bathroom only a few minutes earlier. A successful party in other words.
"James Horanson Niallser," Louis yelled back. "You get down from that table and do a shot with meee!"
"Ay-ay captain!" Niall almost fell off the table. It made Louis laugh. He pulled Niall around the bar and they pressed their way through to the sink. There was a bottle of vodka that was almost empty and Louis filled two shot glasses with the last of it. He pushed his phone into the nearest hands that belonged to a bloke with a snapback and a shirt that said "swag". Louis made a mental note to never invite that kid again.
"You! Take a picture!" Niall and Louis pressed their heads together and held up their drinks.
"Cheers to a fucking good week!" Niall exclaimed.
"Cheers to my lovely new followers on Twitter!" Louis and Niall laughed and they clinked their drinks together. The liquid slid down Louis' throat with a burning sensation.
The stranger handed back the phone and Louis laughed at the picture. "Niiiii! You have four eyes!" he giggled.
"Really!?" Niall said excitedly. He peered at the picture but a sour expression crossed his face. "LEWIS! YOU LIAR. I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS." He stormed off through the crowd, leaving Louis alone with his phone. He just shrugged. Drunk Niall was an emotional situation and mood swings were to be expected.
Louis fumbled with his phone. After a few tries he finally made it onto his Twitter app and he managed to get the picture they'd just taken into a tweet.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
Sooome niittteess weee do stupidd thigns HAH tuniggt is not onfe of thaam #feelinsswagstersnat
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
I ggot some newz for youuu G is nat as coll as ya thinkz
He got a reply,
Annie D (@Annienotsosober)
Me thinks the tommo drunk is
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
@Annienotsosober Me thinkss 333
"LOUIS!" a voice said and he recognized it as Niall's friend Darren. Louis spun around and found Darren swiftly making his way towards him.
"Hiiiiii," Louis and leaned against the kitchen counter.
"I've been looking for you all night, Louuu." He slung an arm around Louis' shoulders and breathed heavily against his neck.
"Darren, you are obviouslies drunks."
"So are you." Louis grimaced and tried to step out from under his arm. "I want to kiss you, Louis." Help me, Louis thought. Darren wasn't an unattractive guy. He was actually kind of hot. He was tan, just like Louis but he was taller and had a bigger sort of build. But he was drunk, had a bad breath and Louis was not in the mood.
"I'm sure you do, lovely." He gave Darren a clap on his shoulder.
"You're so preeettyy."
"Darren!" Louis managed to get the words out properly. "May I remind you that you are not gay."
Darren seemed stunned for a moment. "Oh."
"There you go, buddy." Louis took his chance and quickly made a move to leave. Suddenly Darren grabbed his arm and spun him back around. Louis felt his mouth being pressed against sloppy lips and his eyes widened and alarm. He clasped at Darren's shoulders, trying to push him off. Suddenly a plastic bowling pin came out of nowhere and knocked Darren in the head.
"Darren!! Not again! Stop kissing my male friends. This one is taken!" Niall complained. Darren rubbed the back of his head and gave him a dirty look, but to Louis' relief walked away. Louis was about to thank Niall for his gentlemanly moves, but then realized what he'd said.
"I'm not taken," he said.
"Yes you are," Niall said as if this was a fact everybody knew.
"Nooo?" How drunk was Niall, really?
"By Harry!"
"Niall. No." Louis sighed. Not this again.
"But he foooolloooows you on Twitter."
"That doesn't mean something is going to happen." But he wanted it to. He really, really wanted see Harry again.
"But you want it toooo," Niall raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly. Louis didn't answer. "Seeeee. Yoouu lovveee Harrreeh."
"Shut up Nialler."
"Tweet him!" Louis hesitated. He was drunk. He would most definitely mess up.
"I can't tweet," he seemed to remember. For some reason he really shouldn't. Niall shook his head and started to back away through the crowd, leaving Louis again.
"Call for me when you're not a little pussy anymore!" Louis gave him the finger. He sighed. Suddenly it was very, very warm around the apartment. He needed some air. He left the apartment and stumbled down the two flights of stairs. Outside the building the air hit him like a wave and Louis took a deep breath. He leaned back against the brick wall and brought up his phone. Twitter all of a sudden seemed like a really good idea. He opened the app on his phone and succeeded to get to Harry's profile. He clicked on the private messages icon.
-- Haaarrrooolld.
When there wasn't an immediate answer he got impatient.
--Haarrry
--Hazzaa??
--Harroold
There was no answer. Why wasn't he answering? Did he not like Louis anymore?
--Harold.
--Comes to beed
--I succk thee d
--I waaant make more markss
--Is this Louis?
Louis' insides fluttered, though he didn't know if it was from the alcohol or actual feelings. But Harry had answered.
--I can be whoever you want me to bee.... But yeaah
--What's the first thing you said to me?
--Oooooppppssss
--Nooo!!!! I said Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. You said uuuuuppss
--Louis, are you drunk?
--Tinyy bitt.
--Go to bed
--Come with meee
--Can't :)
--No smileey face
--Go to sleep Louis. You can DM me tomorrow
--Will you ansserw?
--Yes.
--
Waking up was painful. Louis head hurt and his eyelids were weirdly kind of swollen and his skin felt warm. He had no idea why. And his neck hurt like hell. Slowly he sat up and---
"Ow!" he exclaimed. He had hit his head on a lamp. Rubbing his forehead he sat up and took in his surroundings. He was in Niall's room, sitting on his desk and he realized he had slept on it with the lamp turned on, shining on his face the whole night. His skin was very sensitive and probably red.
He looked around the room. In the bed Niall was sleeping, body flat on his stomach, head facing straight into the pillow. Louis looked down and realized he was one shirt short and he was missing a sock.
Groaning he jumped down from the desk and winced at the painful ache of his back. He opened the door.
"Hey. Sock," he said, throat sore and low. "Why are you on the doorknob?" he wondered to himself. He made his way slowly to the kitchen without raising an eyebrow at the complete mess that had been made of his flat. He had seen it all before. He opened one of the cupboards and got out a box of Tylenol for his growing headache. He swallowed the tablet and drank some water, then leaned against the sink and closed his eyes. Kill me, he thought. He heard footsteps against the floor. Niall was up.
"Morning," he muttered.
"Your face is red." Louis slowly opened his eyes.
"You have a hickey around your nipple."
"Don't smirk. You're the one who gave it to me."
"I?" he frowned. He had no memories of that whatsoever.
"You were very persistent. Said you had needs."
"I think I would've remembered sucking on by best friends nipple, but if you say so." He shrugged. Niall opened the fridge and immediately wrinkled his nose.
"I think I'm going to throw up."
"That way!" Louis pointed direction of the bathroom. Niall waved and muttered a "see you on the other side" and Louis flopped down on the couch after pushing off a bra. He found his phone on the coffee table. He had some missed calls and a few texts.
-Where the hell are you? You are 2 hours late!!!!
Louis frowned. Who was Leonard again? Riiight. His manager at his job. He was nice lad. Not.
"Fucking shit!" he jumped off the couch, almost falling back down from the major head rush he got. He ran into his room and ripped through his drawer, trying to find his work outfit. He finally found the shirt and was about to run out of the room when he heard a sound. He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around. In his bed slept to people. From what he could tell they were not wearing clothes. In. His. Bed.
"EWWWW!" he yelled, waking them up. He ripped his duvet off the two. "EW!" Nope, they weren't wearing any clothes. "YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!" he bellowed. Then he realized he was still holding on to the sheets. "EW!" he yelled and threw it to the floor in frustration, absolutely repulsed. But he had not time trying to get them out. He ran out of there, wishing he hadn't gone in there in the first place and stormed out of the apartment after fetching his wallet, phone and keys.
He ran the whole way to work. When he arrived he was sweaty, his legs hurt and his head was pounding like hell.
"Thank you for coming in today, Louis." His manager said and the words "if looks could kill" ran through Louis' mind.
"Sorry, Leo. Sorry." He slipped in behind the desk and Lindsay, the new girl, smirked at him spitefully. He ignored her.
The afternoon went painfully bad. Louis had come in two hours late and had to stay two hours extra. His head was aching, his back was sore and his mood was as low as the floor. It didn't help that it was Saturday and tons of people were coming in to the shop. After two hours of making coffee and faking smiles at customers Louis found himself in the kitchen, lying on a table.
"So now it's okay to hang back here?" Lindsay said.
"Shut up. I happen to have a really bad hang over I need to take care of."
"I can tell." She smirked and sat down on a chair, a box of salad in her lap. Louis wrinkled his nose. He still couldn't eat. Lindsay began to chew and Louis brought up his phone and internally groaned as he read his drunken tweets. He sighed and typed,
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
This is an official apology for the twitteral abuse I have forced on you all.
TheTommo (@TheTommo)
I am never drinking again. #Tommopromises
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
#thingsthatoccuredinTommosflat There was sex in my bed. Don't worry, I wasn't involved.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
#thingsthatoccuredinTommosflat Bellybutton shots.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
Drunk tweeting is even worse than drunk texting bc everybody sees ur shit.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
But have fun reading. Have a blast because the Tommo doesn't delete.
He got a DM.
-- Not still drunk are you?
Louis sat up abruptly, startling Lindsay and making her drop her food on the floor in the process. He gulped. The DM was from Harry.
"Louis! What's wrong with you?"
"SHUSH!" He held up a finger. He needed the most possible silence for this. He had to be able to concentrate.
--No but I have a massive hang over.
He replied nervously. Why was Harry even taking his time to talk to him? Louis was a one-night stand to forget all about. Then he got the painful reminder of the messages he had sent Harry before. Oh god.
--And sorry about the messages I sent you. Kind of embarrassed right now.
Very, awfully, painfully and horribly embarrassed.
--It's ok :) What are you up to?
--Hiding in the kitchen at work. Not even the coffee is helping me right now.
--You?
--On a break from writing
Louis swallowed.
--Right. You're like a rockstar or something
--Not really haha
--You look like one though.
He couldn't stop himself from saying it.
"What are you doing, Louis!?" Leonard bellowed from the kitchen entrance, making both Louis and Lindsay jump. "Get out here!"
"What about, Lindsay?" Louis complained. She shot him a dirty look for calling her out.
"Both of you! Get out here!" He slammed the door closed behind him.
"Thanks, Lewis!" Lindsay said. Heavy sarcasm.
"Welcome," he muttered.
--I have to go, Harold. The slavery is calling.
--See you x
Louis blinked. Swoon. He thought he had died and come to heaven. Harry had sent him an 'x'. Kisses. What.
--
"Louis," Niall said the next day. It was Sunday night and they were sharing a box of take out over the breakfast bar. "I think Shauna is dumping me."
"Oh really?" Louis couldn't help but smile. Niall smacked the back of his head. "Ouch!"
"Louis!" Niall complained as he snickered. "I'm serious." Louis controlled himself.
"Well, Niall. Okay. I'm about to drop a huge bomb here. I'm going to be real honest. Prepare. Here it goes," He waited in silence for a moment to let the affect set in. "Niall. I've never really liked Shauna."
"Oh for god's sake," Niall sighed in exasperation.
"I know! Shocker, right?" Louis held up his hands like 'What do you know!'. "I've always just had this feeling about her. I think she was using you for sex, man. And that's not fair to you. You need something real."
"Louis..."
"...You need real, squeezable, natural.... boobs." Niall stared at him, face almost dead-looking.
"Cut the crap."
"Fine. I can understand if you don't want your own set, but..."
"Honestly, Lou. Help." Louis sighed. He knew when Niall had reached his limit.
"Okay, Niall. Don't worry. I'll come up with a plan to win her back. You can trust me. I'll do it."
"Really?" Niall eyed him skeptically.
"Yes," Louis answered sincerely. He actually loved this kind of stuff. There was nothing like a good scheme to keep him up at night. Except for really good sex. He rubbed his hands together and started planning. All kinds of ideas flashed to his mind but a major issue popped up. "Tell me, Niall. Do you have any problems whatsoever with anything that could involve confetti, whipped cream or sexual interaction...?"
--
Louis was lying in bed Monday morning. He had woken up unreasonably early and simply could not get back to sleep. He had nothing to do, considering his classes didn't start until eleven. The flat had already been tidied up so he couldn't do that. He had nothing to study for yet and there was just simply nothing to do, which meant he was left alone with his thoughts. That could actually be fun at times, as he really enjoyed his own company (he was a blast after all), but this morning his thoughts were running mad.
He kept thinking about Harry. It had been exactly a week and two days since they touched. Louis couldn't forget about that night. His body ached with the need to feel those hands on him again. He needed to taste those soft lips so badly and the thoughts he was having every morning were highly inappropriate even in his own mind.
He couldn't stop thinking about him. What was he doing? What was he thinking about? Was he alone? The questions ate at him and the worst of all, were nailed into his brain. Had Harry found another guy to shag this weekend? Was there now another one of Louis, in glee over that he'd just slept with a pop star? Louis prayed with all his might that there wasn't.
But at the same time as all these frustrating wonderings swam around in his mind, there were other parts of his brain that scolded him for even caring to begin with. He wasn't looking for a relationship! He didn't want a boyfriend. He certainly hadn't planned on being with a guy twice until he was twenty-seven. And even if he did get with Harry again, where would it lead anyway? He was not going to end up tangled into some crazy publicity story. He just wasn't.
And then there were other parts to think about, like the reasons why Louis hadn't dated anyone in almost two years. And then what if he didn't get Harry? He should just stop to even think about all this. He was becoming one of them teenage girls who fell in love with a rock star they couldn't have and pined over him until they were thirty-five.
WHY am I even thinking about all this?! he chastised himself. Tommo, you are not a teenager. This sort of thinking is not okay. Get your shit together.
To try to distract himself from all the aching thoughts that probably would result in some kind of disease, he reached for his phone that rested on his nightstand. He had no texts or calls, which wasn't very surprising as it was around five in the morning. Maybe Twitter had something to offer. He opened the app and scrolled through his feed. Nothing interesting at all.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
Waking up five in morning is not okay unless you have pickles to harvest before sunrise
All the replies he got were boring. Either it was a "lol" or some girl asking if he could DM Harry for her. He rolled his eyes at their pleas. He was never going to do that for them. Reasons why: Get your own damn follow bitch, he wasn't an owl and no way in hell he was going to pass on a message from a horny girl who only wanted Harry to love her. No way. And please, he wasn't going to be one of those to revel in the attention Harry had practically handed out by just tapping a simple button.
Louis scrolled through his mentions and he froze.
Harry Styles (@Harry_Styles) in reply to @TheTommo
@TheTommo I guess I should go back to sleep then...
Louis heart made a stop. Harry had tweeted him. Publicly. Time to make the decision, to get caught in the Harry Styles atmosphere or not to get caught in the Harry Styles atmosphere. To answer or not to answer. The answer to that was the only answer that was answerable. He answered,
--Why are you up? Shouldn't you be sleeping?
Louis DMd to Harry.
--The job...
--So no pickles to harvest?
--Sadly no :( Why are you up?
--Woke up early...
There was no answer for a while. Louis started to wonder if Harry had left the conversation or just didn't know what to write. Before he had time to think too much though, a new message popped up. Louis gulped.
--I'm sorry if this is highly inappropriate but considering how we met but.... Can I see you again?
To let himself get caught in the Harry sitch or not...
--Yes
--Text me on this number then....
Louis stared wide-eyed at the screen. There in black and white was Harry's phone number. Harry Styles, extremely sexy and very good in bed stranger, one-night stand and rock star. His number was in Louis' hands. Louis gulped but a smiled started to form on his lips.
The Tommo (@TheTommo)
The expression what tickles my pickle is very useful right now. In this case it does.