I Know You, Lou // l.s.

11.

Slowly, the group they were standing with got smaller and smaller, leaving only Harry, Louis, Niall and Liam all chatting and drinking.

Harry hadn't had too much, just enough to make him a little tipsy, more confident and very happy, whereas Louis had had a fair amount, he could barely stand up straight and had no idea what he was even talking about.

"Um," Liam and Niall were talking about something, but Liam trailed off when he saw Louis swaying in his spot. "Do you want some help there, mate?"

Louis shook his head and grinned at Harry, who blushed but smiled back, but then he leant too far to one side and fell, with only Liam there to grab his arm quickly before he hit the ground.

"I'm g-good." He mumbled, laughing a little while Niall and Harry tried to hide their chuckles.

"Harry!" He moaned, blushing when he saw them all laughing. "Stop laughing at me."

Harry covered his mouth and shook his head. "M'not." He mumbled, trying to hide it but honestly, Louis was just too cute.

He shorter boy stood there with a pout, which Harry bit his bottom lip, staring intently at Louis who stared back just as hard.

"Maybe you should stop drinking, Louis." Liam laughed, and Louis just grumbled.
"M'fine, really." Louis said. "I-I just can't stand, properl- DAMN IT!" he cursed as he almost fell forward again, and Harry giggled.

"I think I'm going to grab another drink." Niall announced, walking away from the group towards the bar, where Harley stood alone. Louis rolled his eyes as he watched Niall go, knowing that he was developing a crush on his workmate and friend.

Then, a girl caught Liam's eye too, and he stood up straighter, laughing at something that Louis muttered under his breath so that the girl would think he was fun and cool, because Liam's logic apparently thought that was 'cool'.

Harry then followed his gaze, to a brunette girl standing with Perrie and a few other girls, and realized that Liam had a crush on her.

"Who's that?" Harry asked him with a sly smile.

"Um, her name's Sophia." Liam said, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "She's in my history class."

"You like her." Harry pointed out, and Liam looked down at his shoes, properly blushing now.

"Sh." He hissed. "Don't let her hear you."

"You should talk to her." Harry whispered, making Liam stop and think for a moment. Apparently he had had enough to drink to give him a little extra confidence boost, so he put his cup in Louis' hands, nodded and went over to the girls, leaving Harry and Louis alone.

Harry watched Liam go, then gasped when he turned back to Louis and saw him drinking out of both cups at once, spilling some down his chin.

"Lou!" He chastised, letting the pet name slip from his lips by accident as he took Liam's cup from him and put it on a nearby table.

"Woah." Louis' eyes went wide as he swayed a little, so Harry quickly put an arm around his waist to steady him.

"You right?" Harry asked, his eyes filled with worry as he looked down at Louis, who gulped and nodded nervously, before smiling all of a sudden and ruffling Harry's hair.

"It's been a long time since you've called me that, curly." He said offhandedly, as if it was nothing, but in reality, it made Harry's heart stop.

He hadn't been called 'curly' since the day Louis left, leaving him standing in the street with tears streaming down his face as he watched his best friend's car drive away.