'Vanilla' neo × louis ff

Chapter 6: "Do I?"

I was getting ready to meet up with Sara, Lay and Louis. I was feeling pretty nervous because it's been a while since I last talked to Sara and Lay. It's true that Louis was my only true friend, but that doesn't mean that I didn't communicate with other people. I just stopped talking to everyone after the news about me spread.
Louis was already waiting for me under the tree once I got there.

"Sorry to keep you waiting..." I smiled and he returned the smile
"Don't worry, I just got here"
We then walked to the coffee place where Lay and Sara were already at. I was stealing glances of Louis while we were walking. He was talking to me about something but I was just too focused on his face that I didn't even listen
"Neo, are you okay?" I snapped out and looked at Louis with an awkward smile.
"Sorry...I guess my mind was just somewhere else...what were you saying?"
"My father and my step mother are organizing this fancy dinner for their clients and I have to be present. Some of their clients have children but they are younger than me. So my dad suggested that I invite someone" he then looked at me with shiny eyes
"...will you come to the dinner with me?" and there it was, that feeling again, although I was pretty used to it. I could feel my ears getting red and my hands got pretty sweaty too.

"Sure, I'll go with you" I smiled but he hugged me instead
"Thank you! I really hate these dinners...finally I have someone to hate them with me too" we both laughed and pulled out from the hug
"Come on now, let's not keep the other two waiting" 

Once we were in front of the place I got even more nervous. Louis was about to enter but I pulled him by his sleeve.
"...I'm kinda...nervous" he took my hand and gave me a sweet smile
"It's okay. Sara and Lay are so excited to talk to you. You have nothing to worry about " he looked so adorable trying to calm me down I just couldn't help but stroke his hair. I did it very slowly because I didn't know if he was uncomfortable
"Thank you..."

As soon as we walked in we saw a hand that was waving at us. We went to the table and Louis greeted both of them while I was standing behind.
"Hi Neo" Sara said with a cheerful voice and stood up. She walked in front of me and I was so surprised when she gave me a hug. Then Lay stood up and also gave me a hug
"Bro, it's been a while" he said and smiled

We all sat down and took out our research papers and devices. I took out my tablet and started making a list of stuff we should research while everyone was writing down some other things. At first I was to afraid to talk but eventually I felt comfortable around them so naturally I started talking. We were all working together, we were also telling jokes and laughing. At one point I caught myself looking at all three of them smiling and it made me happy. I felt accepted, I felt likable. 

As I was looking at them my eyes started filling up with tears. I never thought that I'll be able to feel accepted. People treated me differently, horrible most of the times. But these people? It seemed like they couldn't care less about my sexual orientation. They talked to me like they talk to one another. They laughed with me, not at me. 
One tear escaped my eye and that's when I locked my eyes on Louis who was sitting next to me. He was already looking at me and once he saw that I was about to cry he looked at Sara and Lay who were busy laughing and talking about something that they were interested in.

"Are you okay?" he whispered and put his hand on my cheek to wipe off the tear.
"I 'm great" I whispered back and gave him a bright smile. He looked a bit confused but then he understood what was going on. He then sighed in relief and put his hand on my thigh.
"I'm glad..."

...

"We'll see you guys at school" Lay said and we all went separate ways: Lay and Sara went in one way, me and Louis went the other way

"We were pretty productive today but we still have a few things to work on...are you tired?" he asked me
"I'm okay, I'm not that tired"
"Would you like to come to my house tonight? It's been a while..." I turned to look at him and his cheeks were red
"How can you do it every time?" I asked him and he just looked confused
"What..-"
"Every time you tell me something, ask me something, I feel weird. I can't even explain it without sounding weird..." I tried explaining but then I felt a pull on my sleeve
"Watch out!" he said as he was pulling me to the side. I held onto his arms and turned around to look.
"You almost stepped on dog poop" 
"Damn! That was a close one"