Hold Me Closer

Act II

Chapter Notes

Hi all! sorry this is a day late, but it is here in honor of the lovely lila's birthday, which is today! lila, you are a superstar. Thanks for accepting this as a birthday present instead of a new fic even though you beta'd for it. Everyone go say happy birthday to lila!

As ever, i own nothing. Hope you enjoy! part 3 up on thursday, i promise this time!

II.

"It's a triple pirouette, Tomlinson! Not a double! Is this amateur hour?"

Louis groans and ducks his head in shame, trying to escape Yvonne's face that is part concern and part sheer rage. He hasn't slept well since the night before Contract Day. Dream-Crushing Day was Monday, and it's now Friday morning, so Louis feels that his inability to count is perhaps just a bit understandable. It can all be put down to a lack of sleep.

Well. A lack of sleep, three days of interminable rehearsals in large part proving that Louis is about to become a motherfucking character artist, and the fact that his best friend is feeling a considerable amount of guilt about the whole situation. Plus the casting list is going to be posted today, which is just great all around.

And nothing to do with Harry Styles or Louis's sexual frustration. Absolutely not.

"Sorry, Yvonne," Louis chokes out, inexplicably close to tears. "D'you want me to go again with the next group, then?"

Yvonne approaches, and Louis instinctively moves back a step. Instead of the swat he was expecting, Yvonne gently lifts Louis's chin a little, forcing him to look directly into her sympathetic gaze. As much as Louis irritates the shit out of Yvonne, he's never doubted that she always wants the best for him. Also, as the ballet mistress, Yvonne knows exactly what has been throwing Louis off his game in class. At least as far as the professional part of that goes. Louis dearly hopes that she doesn't know about how much he wants to fuck Harry.

"Bah!" Yvonne tells Louis, somehow managing to sound both fond and fed up. "I know you can do a triple. And I don't want your lack of concentration interfering with my other dancers. Don't go again."

Louis trudges over to the side of the room where Zayn is waiting for him. Zayn gives Louis a look of soulful concern as he approaches but refrains from speaking. He slings an arm over Louis's shoulder instead, which Louis shrugs off.

"Are you trying to imply that we're in a relationship?" Louis whispers in response to Zayn's hurt eyes. "Because you are doing an ace job of it, if so. Perrie asked Jade the other day how long we've been dating."

As Louis suspected, Zayn is alarmed as soon as Louis mentions Perrie's name. Ha. Sometimes he thinks he knows Zayn better than he knows himself. "What did Jade tell her?"

Louis smirks, moving towards his bag to grab his water bottle. "That we were coming up on our third anniversary."

Zayn's eyes are even wider now, and his hands are flapping. This is excellent. Louis hasn't gotten Zayn into a full-on strop in ages. "Why would she--but Jade knows that we--"

There's only so long that Louis can keep the laughter in, and the second that a snort escapes, Zayn smacks his arse. Rather hard, actually. Louis would be perturbed if he didn't absolutely deserve it. "What the fuck, Louis. Jade didn't actually say that, did she? Did Perrie even ask about us?"

"Perrie didn't ask how long we've been dating," Louis admits, "but she did ask Jade if something was going on between us. Jade told her that she was pretty sure you were straight, but if you would like for Perrie to be convinced of that, perhaps stop touching my arse so often, yeah? I know it's glorious, but it's not getting you anywhere."