Flightless Bird || l.s. ✔︎

ENCORE: ONE

A/N: This is a past chapter told from Louis POV, before Beauchamp's arrival.

Fyi this chapter makes reference to dance belts, which are an undergarment worn by male dancers. (It looks like a thong but with a wider waistband.)

I wanted to kiss Harry the very first time I saw him. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one.

Harry was that rare breed of boy who was insanely beautiful but didn't know it. Girls and boys would openly stare at him during class and he would simply smile back. He assumed everyone had the purest intentions just like him. Little did he know they only had one thing on their minds, myself included.

In the change room after a grueling session with Madame Lesavauge, Harry stripped down to his dance belt. His skin was dewy and petal pink. His sweaty curls flopped into his eyes as he bent over.

I was watching him, and so was someone else.

On the other side of the change room was Rafael Casilla. Rafael and I both started at RBS when we were eleven but were never friends. The elegant Spaniard had an exclusive clique made up mostly of expats and other disenchanted rich kids. Eleanor was one of them. They had dated briefly. Rafael preferred girls but would occasionally fool around with boys if they were pretty enough.

I stood in front of Harry, blocking Rafael's view.

Later that afternoon I was in the courtyard leaning against the cool stone exterior of the building having a smoke, when Rafael approached me. The autumn wind picked up the fallen leaves and they swirled around him, matching his amber eyes and camel pea coat. I offered him a smoke but he clicked open his own gold cigarette case with his initials engraved on the front. Rafael and I stood outside and smoked almost every day but this was the first time he'd come to my side of the courtyard to strike up a conversation.

His eyes met mine with curiosity. "How long have you been friends with Harry?"

I stiffened at the question. "A few weeks. We're rooming together."

"He's gorgeous," Rafael said, his Spanish accent lingering on each vowel.

Of course I knew Harry was gorgeous and that everyone else thought so too, but hearing Rafael say it out loud made me panic. It felt like someone had discovered my buried treasure and was trying to steal it from me.

"Is he single?" he asked.

"He's a kid!"

"I thought he was our age?"

"He is but he's not like that."

"He doesn't like guys?"

"He's focusing on school right now," I answered primly.

Rafael's full lips spread into a smile. "You want him for yourself."

"What!" Obviously. Was he daft?

Rafael exhaled a cloud of smoke out the side of his mouth. "I respect you, Louis, I do, but if you won't make a move, I will."

Just the thought of Rafael seducing Harry with his long vowels and gold accessories made me physically ill. But it was my fault. Why hadn't I made a move yet?

During our free period I had been helping Harry work on his turns in one of the empty studios. He had a tremendous amount of power in those long limbs of his but zero control over them. He swung himself around and went off in every direction like a pile of fireworks.