Your Addictive Heart || l.s

Eyes on the Prize

Everything was falling into place. Harry felt at home in the big booth he and his friends always claimed. He liked having the booth to himself and Louis but he didn't mind sharing if it meant they were all together again. And hey, sharing some personal space with his boyfriend wasn't the worst thing in the world.

There were already loads of couples and friends at the diner tonight. A lot of the younger couples sat at the bar top while the older folks and groups of friends took the tables and booths.

The man behind the booth had a microphone plugged into a very loud speaker playing classic Christmas tunes. The guests ignored the music and talked over the carols.

The diner had been decked out head to toe with paper snowflakes and tacky holiday lights since the first of November. Each table had red, green, and white construction paper and an assortment of crayons for the special event.

A television above the bar top had a message that thanked us for waiting. Harry was surprised anyone at the diner was savvy enough to set up the game. Diana, aside from an older college boy, seemed to be about the youngest employee.

Liam and Zayn were at the opposite end of the booth. Liam was closely reading a laminated card with instructions for the game. With his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes fixed on each word, Harry was sure he wouldn't notice if his own hair was on fire.

Zayn was pressed close to Liam and using his artistic skills to create a decorative name tag for the both of them. He looked so peaceful, he didn't want anything to disturb the pair.

Diana and Anna sat next to them. Diana couldn't stop combing through her hair and Anna looked a bit claustrophobic to Harry. She was jumpy and definitely on the offense. "Hey! Don't use all the paper!" She scolded Zayn.

Liam finally looked up from the card to see where the slanderous words were coming from.

"It's fine." Diana smiled adoringly. "They have plenty." She chuckled.

Louis sat next to Anna and Harry sat between him and Olivia. Niall sat on the end reading the menu as intently as Liam read the rules.

"So, what's the deal Payno? How do we play the game?" Louis asked with a thud of his hands to the table. Harry doted on his impatient boy with a hand to the cheek and an elbow on the table.

"There is no 'we' Tommo. It's a partner game. There's a question on the board and you write down your answer in one column and what you think your partner would answer in another. At the end of the round, you go through and count how many each of you got right. The couples with the highest numbers advance to the next round. Until one couple wins the gold star." He made a sparkling motion with his hands as he pointed to the gift basket with the gold star ornament.

Harry knew there was a plan in place. Olivia and Niall had to see how great they were together and finally realize how bad they had it for each other. But Harry would be lying if he said he didn't want that gold star. He wanted to win it with Louis.

"So we don't all work together?" Olivia asked. "Well, this blows. How are we going to choose partners?"

"She's joking right?" Louis whispered loudly to Harry.

"Hey!" Olivia kicked Harry under the table.

"Ow!" He called out at the sharp pain. "He said it!" Harry threw his boyfriend under the bus with no shame.

"Well, Zayn and I will be partners obviously and Harry and Louis will be partners because... you know." Liam started to explain. "Anna and Diana can be partners because they're closest and you and Niall can just be partners because you're next to each other too." He stated simply.

"What's going to stop us from cheating? I mean we're sitting right next to each other." Olivia looked tense and Harry wondered if she was catching on to his original intent.

"Oh, just do it Liv!" Anna called out. "It'll be fun."

Olivia turned to Niall who looked a little red at this point. "Think we have a shot?" She whispered.

"No." Louis chimed in again, so Harry immediately adjusted his legs out of kicking distance.

A triumphant smile spread over Niall's face as he reached towards Zayn's end of the table for the crayons. "Let's do it."

Olivia immediately dropped her shoulders and let out a small sigh before joining him. They all passed out papers and writing utensils.

Louis reached for their supplies. "What color do you want, baby?" He asked softly.

"Blue." He answered.

Louis grabbed the blue crayon and handed it to him.

"No the light blue." Harry corrected him as Liam grabbed it.

"Liam," Louis called over to him. "Harry wants that color."

Zayn gave him a lifeless expression. "He's got a blue crayon in his hand." He failed to see the importance of that specific crayon.

"This one's too dark. It has to be that shade of blue." Harry insisted with full confidence in his strange request.

"Your boyfriend's a total diva." Zayn shook his head at Louis and got back to his work.

Louis stuck out his hand and gave Liam a stern look. His eyes said it all. Louis could get anything he wanted with just a look. Harry loved it.

Liam rolled his eyes and set the crayon in his hand. "You're going down Tommo." He challenged him.

Louis took the crayon with a smile on his face and handed it to Harry. "Bring it on." His eyebrows jumped up as he dared him to do his worst.

Harry used the stack of paper in front of himself to fan the air around him. Was it just him or was it hot in here?

"Alright, folks! We'd like to welcome you all to our first game night of the season! We'd like to thank you all for coming in tonight and we hope you have some fun tonight. We'll be starting shortly!" The man behind the bar top announced.

"Eyes on the prize, love." Louis nudged Harry so he could get focused, but how was he supposed to keep his eyes on anything but him?

***
You can't always get what you want...unless you're a Tomlinson.

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