Brother's Best Friend || l.s.

chapter 22

Louis Tomlinson changed his relationship status from Single to In a Relationship

Louis Tomlinson is in a relationship with Eleanor Calder

Harry could already feel the jealousy bubbling up inside him, and it was only the first day of this. He had been warned by Louis numerous times, 'I'm going to make it Facebook official, okay?', yet it still didn't prevent the heartbreak he experienced. And if seeing the status update wasn't bad enough, he had to tolerate the 139 likes it had, and the congratulatory comments beneath it:

OMG you guys I knew you'd get back together!! <3

Congrats love birds.

u'll be getting married next, i call it ;)

Made for each other, no other way rlly!

Harry slammed his laptop lid shut, throwing the device onto his folded duvet cover at the end of his bed and digging his face into a pillow. It was so ridiculous of him to act so immature, he knew it was, but he couldn't help it. He liked Louis a hell of a lot, so even a fake relationship between him and another person was enough to make him ache. He wanted Louis all to himself, he didn't belong to anybody else.

The minute Harry walked into class that same day, once he managed to drag himself to school, he was greeted by his friends with wide smiles. Almost sarcastically wide, unless his paranoia was kicking in again.

"Morning Haz, you doing alright?" Liam chirped, pulling out Harry's chair for him. Weird.

"Yeah... why are you both acting so strangely?" Harry slowly interrogated, eyebrows furrowed in concern. He watched them exchange looks for several moments, as though they were non-verbally convincing each other to do the talking, and Niall was the one to sigh and talk.

"Well..." He hesitated, making a thinking face, and Harry had never been so terrified as to what was about to be said. "We've just caught onto you."

Oh shit. Holy shit, no. Harry knew his eyes widened, he couldn't help that, and it felt like his entire body had stiffened.

"Caught... onto me?"

"Yeah," Liam chipped in, his look harsh. "How you've been acting."

"How have I been acting?" Harry pushed, just wanting them to go ahead and say it. He couldn't take the suspense, and he could feel a layer of sweat beading on his forehead. He was quite literally sweating from nerves.

"You haven't been yourself lately, Haz... we just want to know whether everything's alright at home? You know, with your parents and stuff." Liam carefully worded.

Oh thank God! Harry felt awful that he had given this impression, especially considering he had experienced trouble with them before that his friends had latched onto, but could this be his cover-up?

He loudly sighed, before rubbing his eyes. "Well... not really, things have been pretty bad. But I'm glad you guys have noticed, it's really been bugging me. That's why you're acting so nice then?"

"Yeah, we're worried about you, bro. You haven't been your happy self." Niall chipped in, firmly patting him on the shoulder. "We're always here, if you need to talk."

"Thanks, guys, I appreciate that."

Well, that was sorted. But there was still the whole scenario involving the shoes, the way Liam thought he was going mad having seen them "disappear". Maybe he knew something, in the back of his head, but thought that he himself had paranoia. It was a very tangled up situation, full of lies and paranoia.

Harry managed to keep the "sad" facade on throughout the day, which wasn't too difficult once he recalled the Eleanor situation. He wondered whether Louis had kissed her yet, despite it all being for show, just to keep Eleanor thinking it was for real. Surely he'd have to sleep with her again, to show her his love was still there. Harry was hurting. He sent Louis a message the moment he got home, caring about nothing more, not even enough to remove his shoes and get comfortable.