My Adorable Baby L.S. [bxb]

7. Niall's Selena

His laptop's search history was terrifyingly obsessive, if one were to look. Louis had spent the better part of the morning stalking Harry online. He'd scoured the main sites, but Harry had a disappointingly small online presence. True, Harry could have accounts without his name attached to them, but those would be impossible to find. No instagram, tumblr, twitter, nor snapchat. Facebook had a profile that would make sense for Harry, but it had only one friend and no pictures or posts. Louis shut his laptop, determined to uncover at least something about Harry before their Friday date. 

He stood up and walked the length of his living room, contemplating Harry. What if he had a wattpad? Or an archive account? He giggled. Harry, on wattpad. Who knew? 

He shook his head. Perhaps he shouldn't guess about him before they met each other. But curiosity pried away at him. What about his friends?

A loud fumbling at the door made Louis whip around and stare. He didn't know who could be there. Niall was out, and he knew how to work the door. This must be a robber. 

Louis knew there was likely some procedure for how to deal with these situations, but he was on full panic mode. Should he call the police, or defend himself? His phone was on his desk in his bedroom, but there was an umbrella only a few feet from him. If needed, he could use it as a sword. He grabbed the umbrella, wielding it as the robber opened the door. But it was a woman, in a dark pink dress, passionately kissing, with no interest in robbing or hurting Louis. 

"Niall!" Louis wanted to scream, as his fear turned from relief to rage, but just like in his nightmares, he could only manage a whisper. 

Niall's eyes met his, and he tried to move his head away from the woman's, but she clutched him like he was the last purse in a black friday sale. They stayed kissing like that for a few more awkward seconds, until Louis ran up and pried them apart. The woman looked aghast. She had short curly hair, and a face society would call 'attractive', like Penelope Cruz or Sandra Bullock. If she slipped onto a movie set, Louis figured she would fit right in. But she was familiar, too. 

"You didn't tell me there was a, um," she struggled for the right word, "a heathen child here!"

Niall grimaced. Internally, Louis grimaced too. She reminded him of the woman from the park- the homophobe. Could it be her? If she turned out to be nice, it would be terrible to accuse her. Then again, if it was her, Louis didn't want her anywhere near him.

Hoping she was a lovely woman, Louis protested, "Who the heck are you? You can't kiss Niall!"

Niall sighed. "Now, Louis," he said, about to scold him, but he remembered his girlfriend was there, so he said, "Louis, this is Selena, my girlfriend." She straightened her posture and glared at Louis, as if saying See? I have the right to kiss Niall. And since you were wrong and I was right, I am superior.

"Selena, Louis, my best friend. He lives here." Mirroring Selena, Louis met her gaze defiantly. He couldn't help feeling like a teddy bear staring down a grizzly bear. 

Louis stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you," he said. Now she knew he was polite. 

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Selena replied, shaking his hand. She didn't look or sound too pleased. Louis really didn't want her to be the homophobe from the park. All he knew about her was her hair and car, so, disguising his inquisitiveness, he excused himself to go outside. 

Selena was all too eager to get him out, judging by the way she preened at Niall and crept at his shirt. 

To his relief, there were two cars in the driveway: Niall's green subaru, and a shiny silver honda. It matched the car exactly. Louis shrieked.

He had to tell Harry. If the Selena who was dating Niall was also the woman who screamed at him from her car, Louis felt anxious for his own welfare. And Niall, too, was in danger. Selena could be hiding plenty more problematic behaviours, and Niall was far too good for her. 

Thoughts shook his head like an earthquake, crumbling his mind. There were so many options! Louis was frozen in place, standing next to Selena's car, when his phone rang. 

"Harry?" he said. Thank god it was Harry. Louis needed him then.

"Hey Louis, I just called to chat. Are you free now?" Harry asked.

"It's so good you called," Louis confessed.

"What's wrong?"

"So, well, remember that lady?"

"What lady?"

"Remember when we were at the park, you know, and we, um, kissed?"

"Mmhmmm."

"And there was that lady? Driving by? And she, uh, was pretty mean?"

Harry snorted. "A right bitch, she was."

In a small voice, Louis said, "She's in my house."

He heard a little intake of air.

"In your house, you say?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay? Harmed, or afraid?"

"No. I mean- she didn't hurt me. Physically I'm fine. She didn't even recognize me. I'm just kinda scared, you know."

"I'm so sorry, baby, but I'm glad she hasn't hurt you. Tell me how she's there."

Louis took a deep breath, and started ambling down the sidewalk. To his relief, he was out of his mild mental paralysis.

"My roommate Niall has a girlfriend," he began, and told Harry all about Selena.

After his summary of her, he said, "I could demand Selena break up with Niall and leave, but that would hurt Niall, and he obviously adores her. So then maybe Niall and I should talk, find out what he likes so much about her. 

After all, homophobia is just one belief, right? No, wrong. It alludes to something more- a lack of compassion and basic humanity, a refusal to change, ignorance, judgement. And anyways, her homophobia can't be dismissed- I'm a part of Niall's life too, and I know if Selena can't stand me, Niall won't want her around."

Harry hadn't said a word, just listened. Now he said, "How about I come over?"