Young & Beautiful

“I’ll text Zayn!” Louis suddenly says to nobody in particular, light bulb bursting into life above his
head. He scuttles into the next room, kicking off his shoes as he does so and leaving them strewn
across the floor.
“Text him what?” Niall calls after him.
“That Harry’s missing!”
‘Where’s Harry?’ he pelts out mercilessly on his phone, at an alarming speed.
“You should just leave it alone,” Niall calls, picking up one of the forgotten drumsticks and
twirling it in his fingers.
“Too late!” Louis sings. He flits back into the room, now adorned in a full sweatsuit, and stares
hungrily at his phone as it vibrates.
The reply:
‘Dunno mate.’
“Fuck’s sake,” Louis breathes, rolling his eyes with exasperation as he tosses his phone onto the
nearest surface. “Of course he doesn’t know. Does anybody know anything around here?” he
demands. Then he storms back into his room.
Niall stares. “Are you okay?’
“Me? I’m fine! I’m fucking splendid! But it’s not me who I’m worried about—it’s Harry! He’s
gone again, Niall, gone! And after that phone call he got yesterday, I can only imagine what that
means! He said he’d see me today but he’s not in his fucking rooms and—“
“Maybe he went out.”
“What? No. No! We had tutoring! He wouldn’t just forget about it like that! Why do you say
stupid thing—“
Niall whistles low, cutting off Louis’ slew of pelted, agitated words. “We’re talking about Harry?
Because I fuckin’ guarantee you he’d forget something like that. Why would that come as a
surprise? You know what he’s like.”
Louis keeps from growling.
Yeah. He does know what Harry’s like. But apparently, Niall does not.
“He’s not like that, Niall. He’s not some selfish, evil bastard.”
“He’s not?” he asks, tossing the drumstick into the air before catching it, eyes focused on the
movement.
Louis whips around to stare at the boy, hands on hips. “That’s not funny.”
“Jesus,” Niall mutters, rolling his eyes. “Maybe you really are in love with him.”
“I’M NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM,” he screeches in response, then storms to the bathroom and
slams the door.
Niall blinks.