love me, please? // larry stylinson

three

originally published: november 18th, 2018

"Today you'll be working in groups to finish a worksheet, and I'm giving you guys the entire period to do it. Get the worksheet and I'll tell you who your group mates are."

Harry sighed, getting up along with the rest of the class to grab a worksheet from Mr. Jackson's desk. He was still tired out from the football game - both mentally and physically - and he wasn't really in the mood to do group work. Most of the time he just ended up doing it by himself while the others copied his work, and it annoyed him. He grabbed the worksheet and returned to his seat, ready to move once the groups had been called.

"Styles, Malik, Tomlinson..." Jackson rattled off the paper he held in his hand.

Harry stopped listening to the rest of the sentence once he'd heard Louis' name. Crap. Harry was to do a group task with Louis, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be happy or not - he'd always dreamed of getting put into a group with Louis, but being in the presence of someone so perfect was absolutely nerve-wracking.

He watched as Louis picked up a pen and a worksheet, looked at Zayn, and headed towards the corner where the rest of their group had gathered. A flash of jealousy shot through harry when he saw Zayn sidle up beside Louis, so close that their hands were touching.

Harry sighed, grabbed his things, and headed over to the group, trying to prepare himself for working with Louis. The group grabbed some chairs and sat down in a circle, with Harry sitting opposite of Louis and Louis sitting next to Zayn. As far as Harry knew, Louis was best friends with Niall and Zayn. From that biology lesson, Harry knew that Niall and Louis weren't dating - but he had no idea about Louis and Zayn.

Zayn Malik was incredibly attractive, no doubt. All of the girls - and the guys - drooled all over him, especially since he was so cool and chill and didn't seem to be in any of the school's cliques, making him seem so mysterious.

Harry groaned inwardly in frustration. He wished Zayn wasn't so mysterious - if he was more of an open book, it would be so much easier for Harry to find out if Zayn and Louis were dating. They were so quiet and mysterious and kept to themselves, and it would take a lot of digging for Harry to find out anything about them.

"So." One of their group mates cleared his throat. "What are we supposed to do again?"

Harry answered promptly, "Discuss the life of Shakespeare and answer the questions on the worksheet."

From the corner of his eye, Harry could see that Louis wasn't looking at him, and it didn't look like he was even listening to Harry, either. Disappointed, Harry started to read the worksheet. Throughout the group discussion, Louis didn't say anything at all, unless he was asked specifically. He and Zayn just scribbled down on their worksheets like it was pair work - mumbling and discussing together while ignoring everyone else.

Harry watched them helplessly, wishing they would contribute their ideas to the group - partially because Harry was having a hard time trying to discuss with people who didn't know anything, and partially because Harry wanted to hear Louis' voice.

When the bell rang, Louis and Zayn got up together and left together. Harry was feeling extremely jealous now, and forgot to wait for Nick when he left the classroom.

During lunch, Harry kept staring at Louis and Zayn at their lunch table. He could see them laughing and talking, and Zayn had one arm slung over Louis' shoulder. They looked like they were close.

Really close.

Dating close.

"Hey, Styles, I'm talking to you!"