The College Experience [Larry Stylinson boyxboy]

Chapter Eight

"I mean, I don't really get how you can call it breakfast if there's no bacon..." Louis said, stirring his smoothie suspiciously, "But I kinda figured you might like it here."

"Oh my gosh, Lou, it's perfect," Harry said, sipping on his kale pomegranate smoothie.

"Hippie," Lou muttered with a little smirk.

Harry bit his lip and smiled shyly.

"So are we going to talk about last night or-?" Louis started.

"I have class soon," Harry mumbled.

"You have class in an hour, that's plenty of time to at least talk things over a little bit," Louis said.

"Do we have to?" Harry asked, sipping at his dark purple smoothie and chewing on the straw absentmindedly.

Louis looked over at Harry, who was snuggled up in a thick burgundy hoodie with the college crest on the chest. He looked peaceful, if a little tired, and Louis almost felt bad about wanting to push him into talking about things if he wasn't fully ready.

"You always do that," Louis said, twisting a napkin in his hands. "You tell me so much when you're having an anxiety attack but then you won't tell me anything when you're doing okay. I don't want to pretend the things you say when you're panicked never happened." Louis brought his legs up so he could sit cross legged in the booth, trying to get comfy against the worn-in green leather. He raised his curved eyebrows at Harry, waiting for a response, a little nervous he was asking too much.

"Okay," Harry said slowly, "Okay, that's fair. What did you... what did you want to talk about first?"

Louis wanted to talk about how Harry had admitted to having feelings for him, wanted to ask him to repeat it again and again so the words could skim across his skin like little whispers brushing up against him. But he knew that wasn't the best place to start, so he bit his cheek a little to try and hold it in a little longer. "I think it would be healthy to talk about your breakup," Louis said, even though just hearing the name Cameron made him want to simultaneously punch a hole in the wall and sob into a carton of ice cream.

"What did you want to know?" Harry asked. His guard was up- as much as he had said he was okay to talk to Louis, it was clear that he was going to talk with a brick wall around him.

Louis sighed a little, he didn't want to have to drag every word out of Harry, he just wanted to have a conversation, not an interview. "Have you talked to him at all since he said he wanted a break?" Louis asked.

"He's been ignoring my texts actually," Harry said, his voice a little bitter around the edges. He looked up at Louis with his eyes blazing green. "He told me he didn't want to talk to me anymore. That's what happens when people get too close to me, Lou."

"Oh so that's why you try and bottle everything up and hide it from me?" Louis challenged. "That's a pretty shitty reason, Hazza." He was trying not to get worked up, but he was frustrated trying to get Harry to talk.

"He said I'm too much to handle, okay?" Harry said, his voice a little shaky. "He's the only person that knew me that well, that much and he didn't like it, he didn't want me."

Louis felt like bruises were being pressed into his skin with every word Harry spoke- it ached just to listen to.

"He said he loved me from the moment he met me, Lou. We were together for almost three years and now he doesn't even want to talk to me anymore, doesn't even want to reply when I tell him I'm feeling panicked and won't even answer when I ask him how his day was." Harry huffed out a breath, like all these little tensions had gathered and settled into his lungs.