Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Fifteen.

The gym was busy Friday evening when Liam dragged Harry out of the house with him to get a workout in before the weekend began. Harry was, admittedly, a little bit lazy. Many of the machines were occupied as they walked through toward the back where there was an area for stretching, and Harry excused himself to the bathroom while Liam stretched. Really he was just trying to get himself out of doing as much physical activity he possibly could.

The locker room was just as busy as the rest of the gym and it was a rather uncomfortable experience passing through a large number of hardly clothed sweaty men to make it to where the bathroom stalls were in the back of the room. It was more uncomfortable when he nearly bumped into one of the men as he turned the corner to where the toilets were behind a white cement wall.

The guy was busy pulling a shirt on, but when his head popped through the neck hole, Harry recognized him.

He smiled at him, "Harry, nice seeing you here."

Harry switched his weight back and forth from foot to foot. "You too, Louis."

Harry was terrible with unexpected meetups with the people he knew. He never knew how to react or what to say, and that landed him excusing himself to the bathroom and leaving Louis without indulging in any conversation.

By time he'd finished his business Louis was gone, which he was somewhat thankful for. Harry hadn't seen him since the day he left without an explanation on the baseball field, and he really didn't want to have to explain himself in case he asked.

Liam was waiting by the weight benches when Harry returned, sitting on the one he planned to use. He'd already put the weights on and was ready to go, he just needed Harry's help. "Spot me so I don't drop it on myself and die."

It was a bit of a routine going to the gym with Liam. He had muscle building figured out and he knew how to do it well. That showed by how built he was, his arms and chest were muscular and toned in a way that made him look tough, but not too much to the point where he looked ridiculous. He found a happy medium.

Liam often pushed Harry to work out too, and the results showed on his body also. He had a gained a good amount of muscle, but not as much as Liam. Harry was naturally thinner than Liam was, though he was taller. His body type didn't allow him to look the same as Liam, and Liam had what Harry would consider ideal. Harry wasn't happy with the way he looked.

Liam laid back on the bench as Harry crossed around to the back and placed his hands underneath the bar that held the weights just like he had countless times before. When Liam's hands wrapped around the bar and pushed upward to take the weight off the rack, Harry waited to catch it in case Liam dropped it. He never did. He began to lower the bar down to his chest before pushing it back up, repeating the process over and over with only Harry there to save him he were to mess up.

"Are you gonna try this out today?" Liam asked between breaths as he lifted the weight.

"Preferably not," Harry admitted.

The lightest of all laughs escaped Liam, "So lazy."

"The laziest," Harry chuckled, though truthfully he just never had the energy for things like this. He was always tired, and that was simply a result of not getting enough sleep and skipping meals all the time. It wasn't intentional, but school took up most of his day and made it hard to find time to take care of basic necessities.

"Is that why you went to the bathroom?" Liam let out a gust of air from his lungs as the weight was lowered back down to his chest. "To avoid moving?"

"Yes."

Liam laughed again, "You're the laziest person I've ever met."

Harry laughed and was about to deny when he saw a flash of strawberry blonde hair out of the corner of his eye near the treadmills. Without even having to look he knew who it was, he'd seen Louis so it made perfect sense for Aubry to be there too. His reply to Liam was nothing but a hum, "Mm-hmm."