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"Come on, Zayn. Hurry up, we're going to miss our chance!" Louis says, dragging Zayn away from the girl he was just talking to and closer to the door he knows Harry Styles will be walking out of any minute now. "Do you know how often chances like these come about? Never. So stop talking to girls and help me get a picture!"
"Louis. Chances like these come about all the time." Zayn says, he doesn't seem annoyed though, so that can only be good. "I should know, you drag me all over the place any time you hear Harry's within a ten metre radius."
"That's not true!" Louis protests. Zayn just gives him that look, the one he always uses when Louis is talking shit. Okay, so maybe it's a little bit true. But, it's not Louis' fault, really, all he wants is a picture. Just one. "Okay fine. But still, today might be the day that I actually, finally get a picture, and that's never going to happen if we're standing on the other side of the road."
Zayn just laughs, because he's a really fucking good friend who puts up with Louis' shit, like trailing him out of bed at two in the morning to try and get a picture with Harry Styles.
The crowd is relatively small for a change, which is good, the less people there is the bigger Louis' chance to get noticed. There's only a few girls (and boys) crowding the door of the hotel Harry's about to leave, but not enough to cause too much of a scene to the clearly underage, drunken teenagers stumbling their way out of pubs. Louis stays near the back of the crowd, not wanting to push past people because he knows how annoying that is. It's not too bad anyway, he can still see the door fairly well.
Zayn stands next to him, burying himself further into his jacket, because apparently it's cold at two in the morning in the middle of winter, who would've known. (Clearly not Louis because he decided to put on a t-shirt with rolled up sleeves). "So, you think today could be the day then?" Zayn says, eyes raking over the small crowd infront of them.
"Well, yeah. There's usually a lot more people than this so surely it'll be easier to get noticed." Louis barely gets the full sentance out before a loud scream from somewhere infront of him hits his eardrums. Followed by a few more. A lot more. Louis snaps his head toward the door, knowing that screaming can only mean one thing. And that's when Louis sees it. The messy curly hair that he's seen so, so many times before but has never actually been this close to. And shit, he isn't half close.
Harry makes his way through the people, stopping for pictures and hugs and Louis feels his heart beating rapidly in his chest because this is it. This is finally it.
It doesn't take long for Harry to get to him. And Louis is pretty sure he can hear his heart beat over everybodys squeels. Harry frowns for a second before saying "You must be freezing, mate." And Louis has to tell every single cell in his body not to explode because Harry Styles just spoke to him.
"What? Oh. No, I'm fine. Can't even feel it." Louis tells him, and it's true, he can hardly feel anything. "I'm a massive fan. Could I get a picture? With you, that is. A picture with you."
Louis wants to just walk away and forget this day ever happened because he's so embarrassing and this was a horrible, horrible idea. But then Harry giggles - giggles! - and says, "Sure, mate" -mate! - before standing next to Louis and smiling.
Louis takes a second to react because he can smell him, but then he brings his phone up, already having the camera up. He places his finger over the volume button to take the picture and -
Harry is pulled away.
"Sorry, Harry. You don't have time for anymore pictures." A big bulky guy says. Louis recognises him a bit, probably from pictures.
"But I-"
"No, Harry. We need to leave or you wont be in Newcastle in time." Louis decides there and then that he does not like the fairly familiar bulky guy.
Harry looks over at him appologetically. "Sorry, mate. Another time, yeah?" And he's gone before Louis can even reply. Which is kind of a good thing because Louis is sure his voice would break in a very embarrassing way and he would probably start crying.
Zayn seems to realise this because he puts his arm aroung Louis and says, "It's okay. We'll keep trying, babe" as he leads him towards the nearest pub.
- - -
"I was so close" Louis says, drunkenly to an equally as drunk Zayn.
"I know, babe. I seen" Zayn says, rubbing his back in a way that is supposed to be comforting and probably would be if Louis wasn't piss drunk and ready to puke.
"I was so close. I had my finger on the button, Zayn. I was so close."
"I know, I know. But next time, yeah. Even Harry said so." And that's when Louis realises that yeah, Harry did say that. Harry spoke to him. Harry Styles spoke to him.
"Zayn?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm gonna puke" And then he does.
- - -
"Come on, Louis. You've been locked up in your room for three days. Three days, Louis. You know how weird that is for you. Just stop moping and come out with us" Zayn says from outside his bedroom door.
"M'not moping." Louis says into his pillow, it's a bit muffled but it's whatever. "Moping is disgusting and I am most certainly not doing it."
"Fine, fine. Well, whatever it is your doing. Stop doing it and come out with us." He hears the door open followed by Niall and Liam shouting in that they're here. "It'll be fun, we'll just go somewhere quiet, yeah? A pub or something."
Louis makes a noise which clearly means fuck this shit into his pillow, but he gets up anyway because he just really wants to get Zayn to stop moaning about him. "Fine, fine. Just let me get ready."
And half an hour later he comes out of his room, hair in a perfect quiff and dressed in black jeans and a grey t-shirt.
"Ayy, Louis. Nice to see you've stoped moping." Niall says.
"I wasn't moping!" Louis says and throws a pillow at him.
- - -
They do just go to a bar, which Louis is thankful for because he can't really be bothered with dancing and people. There's a few people in, not too many, making it fairly quiet except for the occasional drunken shout coming from the guys in the corner.
They go over to a booth in the corner because Louis refuses to sit too out in the open, being the unsociable prick he is right now. Niall goes and buys them the first round, coming back with five pints in hand, one for everyone else and two for him. They finish them quickly enough. And it starts to relax Louis. Makes him forget about stupid mildly-familiar bulky guy pulling Harry away from him and by the third round, Louis decides it's his turn to buy them drinks.
He stumbles a little on his was to the bar, which he will never admit if anyone brings it up, but he gets there eventually and orders the drinks - just pints again because this is a pub and pubs are for pints - when he feels someone stand next to him.
"Hey," he hears a voice say. And for a second Louis thinks maybe he's actually still in his bedroom not-moping and this is all a dream because fuck him if he doesn't know that voice. But then he looks up and Harry is right there. Harry Styles is right there and he just knows that this is real life because Louis dreaming skills could not imagine the way his cheeks are slightly flushed and his smile is slightly crooked and fuck.
"Uh, hey." he says, going for casual but it ends up just sounding like a very high-pitched squeek. Harry laughs though, which. Wow.
"So I do believe I owe you a picture." he says. And that's the exact moment that Louis stopped breathing for a whole like, twenty seconds, because Harry remembered him.
"I, uh, yeah. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want. Like, you don't owe me it." Louis replies, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
Harry laughs again, pulling out his phone. "Don't be stupid. I want to." he says, before holding the camera out infront of their faces, telling Louis to smile. He does, of course. And Harry does too and the picture turns out amazing and everything is perfect until Louis realises.
"But it's on your phone." he says with a frown, "can we take another?" He's already pulling his phone out but then Harry speaks again.
"No need," he says with a grin "I'll send it to you."
Louis frowns again, "But you don't have my number."
And that is when Harry's grin turns into a smirk, "I will if you give me it."
Oh.
He struggles to stay calm when Harry hands his phone over for him to put in his number, and his hands are shaking as he thumbs it into the phone, but he gets it done and hands it back.
"I'll see you then, yeah?" Harry says pulling Louis in to a short hug, and Louis just nods and hugs back because he doesn't know what to do. And then Harry is pulling back and shooting him a small smile before making his way over to the booth where his friends must be.
Louis completely forgets about the pints as he makes his way back over to his own group of friends, smiling like an idiot as his friends smirk at him from the corner. His grin only widens when his phone vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out to see a text from an unknown number saying 'call me, babe' along with the picture of him and Harry.
And, yeah. He's definitely going to do that.