For the Road

17

Harry turns and sees Louis. He's frozen with shock. The last time he saw the older boy face-to-face was at the wedding. Now, they're sort of boyfriends. Harry's heart flutters at the thought. He's dating Louis, kind of.

"Louis!" Harry stands and brings the boy into a hug. Harry can feel Louis laugh into his shoulder. He feels like he should be embarrassed at his excitement, but he can't be bothered trying to contain it.

They've spent the last three weeks calling and texting as much as humanly possible. Harry can't even keep track of how many times he's fallen asleep mid-conversation because it's way past midnight and he's dead tired. After talking for so long, it's strange to see Louis in person. He sees him a completely different light now than he saw him before.

"Hey, Harry, it's nice to see you too," Louis mumbles. They pull apart and Harry blushes.

"I'm sorry, I just... I know you're leaving soon. Why did you drive all the way down here? You should be spending time with your family," Harry asks. He feels bad once he realizes Louis' giving up family time to be with him. Louis shrugs him off.

"I'm living with them, I promise they're dying for me to leave. Besides, I wanted to see you," Louis admits. Harry tries to contain his smile, but it's hard. Louis shoves him lightly. "You're turning me into a sap," He teases.

Harry takes a seat on his bed and Louis follows. Harry's overwhelmed as he looks over Louis' face. He can't believe Louis' sitting on his bed. Harry finds it hard to call him a 'celebrity' or a 'pop-star' anymore. Harry has a hard time imagining Louis as the Louis Tomlinson he's been dreaming of for the past four years. He's just Louis now.

He looks breath-taking close-up. Harry never had the chance to admire him, personally. Sure, he's spent hours staring at picture of him, but it isn't the same. In person, Harry can make out the stubble starting to form on his chin and jaw. His eyes aren't as blue as they are in the pictures, but Harry still loves them.

Louis turns and catches Harry staring. He blushes again and turns away. At this point, Harry's catch on that Louis loves making him blush. Louis would say things or do things that he knew would make Harry's cheeks turn pink. He wants to hate him for it, but he can't. He could never hate Louis.

Harry feels Louis' eyes on him. "Now you're staring," Harry points out. He turns back to Louis and watches the other boy.

"You're pretty, I can't help it," Louis shrugs. Harry rolls his eyes. After talking more, Harry's discovered that Louis' a shameless flirt. He loves to point out how handsome Harry looks at any given moment. Harry's way too shy to do that.

"God, you're making me blush." Louis leans over and pokes Harry's cheek teasingly. Harry swats him away. They stop teasing each other and fall into silence, only for it to be broken by Louis.

"We need to talk," Louis starts. Harry's heart drops. "It's nothing bad, well I mean it kind of is. I'm going back on tour, obviously, and that means I'm going to be away for two months. I've done that before, so I'm used to it, but you aren't. I know we aren't boyfriends or haven't put a label on anything, but uh... I'd kind of like it if we didn't see other people while I was away. I have to see Eleanor, because everyone still thinks that we're dating, but I don't have romantic feelings for her," Louis explains. Harry sighs, he thought he was being broken up with.

"Yeah, I'd like that too, being exclusive. We'll figure out the whole tour thing as it comes, but I'm sure we can work something out. We can Skype and text and call, there's lots of things out there for us to work with. As labels go, I don't know. Do you want a label?" He watches as Louis thinks it over.

"I don't know either. I know that I like having something simple with you and I don't want to over-complicate that with a label, yeah? Besides, I'm about to go back on tour. Relationships are hard as it is, but when I'm going to be gone it'll make things harder. I think we should keep doing whatever it is we're doing," Louis replies. Harry nods. It's a good plan.