Young & Beautiful

**
Louis still isn’t thinking about Harry.
Him and Niall are on their way to Zayn’s (and Niall took his fucking segway so Louis feels short,
slow, and irate beside him) and he is absolutely not terrified to see Harry. He’s not. In no way is
he scared to meet those eyes.
But… At the same time…
What if he remembers? What if he was more conscious than Louis realized and he remembers
Louis taking care of him, wiping his forehead, or, worst of all, holding his hand? The thought
alone makes Louis’ stomach drop and there are spikes of anxiety shooting from his fingertips to
his brain. Nerves. All Louis can feel is nerves.
And then Niall suddenly curses. “Fuck. How am I going to take the segway up the stairs?”
Louis looks over, realizing they’ve reached the tower to Zayn’s rooms, and then looks to Niall
who is caught between frustration and realization.
“Carry it?”
He sighs. “Nah. I think I’ll actually just go back and smoke. I’ve got a headache anyway.”
Louis snaps his gaze to him. “You’re going to make me go alone?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Because Harry. Because he can’t enter that room with Harry staring at him and not have nice,
calming, distracting Niall to diffuse the tension and stick by his side. That’s fucking why.
“No reason,” Louis says breezily. “But I really think it’s rude to choose spending the day with a
plant over me.”
Niall laughs, shaking his head as he adjusts his over-sized jumper and kicks his pristine white
Nike’s on the ground, sliding his phone out of his back pocket.
“Fine, fine, Drama. I’ll just have Rory take it, then.”
Louis rolls his eyes. “I hope you pay that poor man well.”
“Of course! He’s me best mate!”
And so Niall calls Rory while Louis begins to ascend the stairs, nerves nearly buckling his knees,
each step resonating a sound ‘Harry’ inside of his head.
It will be okay. He probably won’t even remember. It will be okay and they won’t even discuss it
and it will be okay.
It will be okay.
“All right,” Niall calls, bounding up the stairs to catch up with Louis. “Rory’s on his way.”
Louis nods as they reach the top, and as they come face to face with the heavy wooden door, his
nerves pick up to full speed.
“I don’t feel good. Maybe we should just go back,” he says, turning to face Niall who raises his