The X-Factor Experience | L.S

Twenty Three: February

Harry glared at the red velvet suit that was still hanging off the clothing rack by his wardrobe as if it had hurt him.

He was frankly tired of seeing it every time he walked into his bedroom.

It just hung there. Dangling like an idiot. Looking all innocent. Like it expected something from Harry.

It wasn't like he didn't know he had to return it a some point, so it really didn't have to keep reminding him.

He believed if he stared at it long enough and intensely enough, it would disappear all by itself without him having to touch it or anything. That it would just find its own way back to Louis, the rightful owner of the suit.

"I'll give you back later, shh," Harry said and got up from his bed, walking over to the suit. He grabbed the wire hanger the suit was dangling off of and tossed it into his closet, closing it tightly so he couldn't see it. "Jeez."

He went to open the window after his mum's request. Apparently it was getting just a tad malodorous again. In the past few days he'd spent a lot of time really cleaning his room. It was like he couldn't stop once he'd cleaned just a little bit. Yesterday he actually cleaned until the floor was shiny enough to reflect his face. Nobody complained about it, though, so he didn't see a problem in his new hobby.

He saw the screen of his phone light up on his bed and saw that it was a message from Niall.

Niall
Received 4:12PM
uh are u coming?

Harry went stiff. He swiped up to check the date. It was Friday. Fuck. How could he have forgotten? He was supposed to meet Niall and his new boyfriend twelve minutes ago.

He hissed and basically flew downstairs, yanked on his shoes and scurried to Niall's house, ringing the doorbell, all the while he was sweating, panting and pretty sure he was about to have an asthma attack.

He heard feet shuffling on the other side of the thin brick wall, and then the door opened, revealing Niall.

"Hey, you made it," he grinned.

"Yeah. I didn't forget or anything," Harry said, clutching at his chest as he made his way inside.

"So! Who is that boyfriend of yours?" He asked with a cheeky smile on his face as he entered the living room, Niall strolling right behind him.

"That would be me," a familiar voice said. The owner of the voice turned around in his chair and gave Harry a small wave and unsure crinkled eyes. Harry almost gasped when he took in his features.

"You're dating Lucas," he breathed out, but it sounded more of a question than a statement. As if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

This didn't make sense. How did Niall and Lucas know each other? Why hadn't Niall told him it was Lucas he was dating? Niall knew that Harry knew him through the show.

"Sure am," Niall walked over to Lucas to stand beside him. Harry squeezed his eyes shut at the sight of his two friends together.

Except he didn't exactly know if Lucas was still his friend. Which he could only blame himself for. Suddenly he felt heavy guilt swirl through his body about how he'd just completely cut Lucas off for something so unreasonable. Something that, in the end, wasn't even his fault.

Millions of questions crashed through his head.

"We met on the internet. In a thread about you, actually. People were trashing you, and we defended you like soldiers defend their country. After the beef, which, please, we clearly won, we got to talking. Turns out we have a lot in common," Niall said, answering about half the questions Harry wanted to ask. Lucas had defended his ass on the internet. Despite Harry's betrayal.