Student Athlete

5

Louis finds himself sitting outside with Zayn for lunch. Louis can't remember the last time they shared lunch in the cafeteria. With Zayn's anxiety there's no way he can handle the loud and busy crowds that come with the indoor eating space. Louis doesn't really mind eating outside because it gives him an opportunity to get some fresh air. 

"This bitch in my algebra class had the fucking audacity to come up and grab my ass. Like, bitch what the fuck? I know my ass is legendary, but that doesn't mean you can just grab whenever you like! I turned around so quick and nearly slapped the shit out of her. Why do girls think that they can get away with doing shit like that," Zayn complains. Louis nods absentmindedly. He's listening to Zayn, but he's focusing on the boy sitting a ways away. 

He bites into an apple with his back propped up against a tree. His glasses slip down his nose and are nearly about to fall off. Louis watches as he pushes his glasses back up and pulls his hair out of his face. He wears a pair of slim-fit jeans and a white polo t-shirt. 

"Are you even listening?"

Harry's flipping through a book of some kind. It looks big and sits on the ground in front of him. Louis guesses it might be some sort of textbook because he's certainly never seen fictional books that big before. Louis has no clue how Harry has the patience to read a book like that.

"Bro, come on, really?"

It doesn't take long for Harry to finish his apple and he places it neatly on a brown paper bag next to him. Louis gazes at him as he dabs his mouth with a white napkin. The younger boy visibly huffs. He closes the book and leans back against the tree. 

"I got abducted by aliens last week!"

He takes out a pair of headphones and slides them into his ears. Louis wonders what kind of music Harry'd like. He doesn't look like one that'd be up for country or hard screamo. Louis could see him listening to pop or even soft rock. Harry looks around and Louis looks away quickly before they make eye contact. 

Louis' brought back to reality with a hard punch to his arm. He turns to Zayn and grabs the arm that'd been punched. "Who are you even looking at? Seriously, man, you've been staring at Harry for the last five minutes," Zayn grumbles.  

"Yeah, what's it to you? He's cute," Louis shrugs. He takes another teasing glance at Harry and jumps when he finds that Harry's already looking in Louis' direction. Harry throws him a warm smile and waves. 

"Come sit with us," Zayn calls. He waves Harry over and Louis panics. Harry can't come over here! Sure, they've texted and called tons, but Louis hasn't had time to prepare himself. What if he makes a fool of himself? 

"No, what are you doing," Louis hisses. Louis elbows Zayn to try and get him to uninvite Harry over. It's too late. Harry's already packing his textbook away and cleaning up his area to come join them. 

"A favor," Zayn responds.

Louis groans internally as Harry comes over and takes the seat next to Louis. Louis forces himself to take a few quiet breaths before turning to Harry and pulling on a smile. 

"Hey," Louis starts. 

"Louis kept bugging me about how lonely you looked. You could sit with us every day if you want," Zayn cuts-in. Louis' eyes widen. Every day? Of course, Louis'd be over the moon to spend every day hanging out with Harry, but that leaves him even more space to fuck up somehow. 

"Sure, yeah. That sounds great actually. I haven't made any other friends really and the cafeteria is a little intimidating," Harry admits. Louis nods gingerly and picks at, what remains of, his lunch. "Thanks for thinking about me, Louis, that's really sweet of you!" Louis blushes and looks away quickly.

He doesn't know why he gets so shy around Harry. When Louis first started falling for Stan he was upfront about his feelings and neither got really blushy about it. They were both sure about what they wanted and just got together. This feeling is a totally new thing for Louis. 

"So, anyone cute caught your eye," Zayn questions. He sends Harry a mischievous look and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. Harry blushes deeply and bites his lip. Louis glances at him from the corner of his eye. 

"Yeah, there's some cute guys in the hallway. Most of them act like idiots half the time, so I'm not sure it'd go anywhere," Harry answers. Louis nods along with it and jumps when he feels Harry's hand inching dangerously close to Louis' thigh. He sucks in a breath and inches away from the younger boy's resting fingers. 

"Well, I make for a real good wing-man! I've set up a ton of people in the school. In fact, Louis' on my service too. Single and ready to mingle, huh Louis," Zayn says. Louis rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Harry glances Louis' way. 

"That's cool. Is Zayn a good wing-man or is it all a show," Harry asks Louis. Louis turns to look at Harry and notices that they're sitting closer together then they were when Harry first sat down. Louis gulps nervously. 

"Don't know. I've never been on any dates yet. He can't be that great," Louis teases. Zayn opens his mouth to say something, but before he can he's cut off by the sound of the school bell signaling the end of the lunch. 

"I've better get off, I've got AP English on the other end of the building," Harry sighs. He stands and heads off with the crowd. Louis and Zayn take their time cleaning up their space and follow the rest of the crowd inside. 

"He's totally into you," Zayn teases. Louis rolls his eyes and shoves Zayn. 

"You made it totally obvious! He's gonna know that I have a crush on him if you keep that up," Louis warns. 

"Eh, it doesn't matter if he finds out. Maybe he likes you back, no point in taking the chance. You only live once!" 

~_~_~

Hey guys! Sorry that the update is a day late! I've been away on a trip for three days and didn't have my laptops. Real quick. I wanna give a real big shout-out to @nichola06 for being so sweet! They leave a comment on every chapter and are always super positive! Thanks so much sweets! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B