Leaps | l.s

L•awyer

Harry scanned the small group of people wondering which was to be his lawyer. He knew it'd be a man, of course, but which one?

They all seemed to be fairly young and most were quite attractive he had to admit. He didn't want to wander aimlessly around on a search for this man so instead, Harry just stood by the drinks table and watched everyone else. Obviously, he left his name tag on display hoping that whoever came by for a drink just might happen to see it and know that Harry is in need of a mentor.

Yes, this might be completely stupid and lazy but it seems to have worked anyway because someone is approaching Harry now, and he knows this is the guy since his tag reads 'Louis Tomlinson'.

He's shorter than the other mentors, wearing a dark suit that clung to him showing off curves and muscles that Harry may have just marvelled at for a bit.

"Harry?" He asks taking Harry away from his admiration for his body and up to have a closer look at his face. And it's nice, maybe more than that, probably more like gorgeous. His face was clean shaven with defined cheek bones and jawline that Harry was so sure he could cut someone with if he's not careful. And such pretty blue eyes and brown hair carefully styled into a quiff in one perfect swoop. This man definitely took pride in his looks. That was his first impression.

"That's me." Harry almost forgot he had to answer. He sort of hoped the conversation wouldn't stop there already. He wanted to watch Louis just a little bit longer.

Thankfully, Louis seemed up for conversation.

"Well, obviously I'm going to be your mentor for the year so it's best we become acquainted first." He paused looking down at Harry looking for a sign he heard, when Harry nodded--a little too quickly-- he continued, "I'm Louis, I'm 26 and I work for Allen's law firm."

Harry nodded again, quickly gathering up what his response would be. What's he got to say about himself?

"Uh, well. I'm Harry and I'm 17..." He trailed off there, nothing came to mind that made him stand out he thought. There wasn't anything he could think of that he even liked that wouldn't be as shallow as saying 'I like hanging with friends' even though it's true. He does like that.

But Louis was standing there so expectant of an answer that Harry had to think of something to avoid looking like a complete idiot on their first ever encounter. Maybe he could apologise for being an awkward git later on. Hopefully.

"I guess I like cooking, I suppose." And he continued and managed to save himself, only just. And it wasn't a complete lie, Harry does enjoy it, it's just not something you'd find him doing every day.

"I can't cook for the life of me, so that's pretty cool." Louis' response was ordinary. Harry didn't think there'd be much to say after this but Louis continued again. "I think I manage to burn anything I try to make, which is annoying as I'm the only one to cook for and there's no way in hell I could force myself to eat burnt toast every night, so I eat out most nights. Actually, now that I think about it, probably all nights really."

So he lives alone. Harry takes note of that and assumes Louis must be single, and how that's remotely possible, he hasn't a clue but he's secretly glad of it anyway.

"It's not too hard if you follow the recipe." Harry shrugged.

"I'd need a supervisor."

Harry smirked at that comment. A 26 year old who can't cook? It was pretty funny.

So their chatter continued and slowly and they got to know each other a bit better. For example, Harry found out Louis is the eldest of seemingly too many siblings and is very fond of children. And Louis now knows Harry also spends most of his time reading or hanging out with the few friends he has.

As the conversation drew to a close, so was the the very first meeting for Leaps. One of the event organisers began to read out guidelines or rules from a sheet of paper everyone was to sign. Very formal, Harry thought.

"... And lastly, there's to be no contact outside of the program. And that's it guys, come sign the contract and you're free to leave." The coordinator smiled, showing off perfect white teeth, and lay the sheet on the table by the door along with a pen. Then he took his position by the door to make sure everyone's name would be on the page by the time everyone left.

Louis and Harry waited until last to sign their names, Harry noticing Louis' signature flowed so gracefully over the paper, and his was juvenile and unattractive compared.

Unfortunately, it was time to part ways and get on with life until they met again in a few weeks time, this time at Louis' work place rather than Harry's school. They said their goodbyes and that was it, much to Harry's disappointment, a very underwhelming goodbye.

Harry would prefer to live his life in some sort of romantic comedy. Maybe he's not so far off now.