smiled contently as she walked past the apartment complex and round to the side gate, the fresh winter’s snow crackling underfoot. Shivering, she hunched her shoulders towards her chest to shield her from the cold. Heading towards the entrance, she uncharacteristically contemplated running towards the door but thought better of it. She may have been freezing but she wasn’t one for turning up red faced and panting. Instead, she walked speed-walking, her satchel hitting her left side as she moved. Finding the door, she pressed a fingerless gloved finger to a silver button. It made a beeping sound as the intercom whirred into action.
“Hello?”
“Visitor for apartment five.”
“Come on through.” The person could only be faintly heard as they buzzed her into the complex. pushed the door open. It was the first in a series of barriers that kept her from being completely wrapped in a cosy blanket by the fire but she was grateful to be heading into the warmth nonetheless. The next obstacle stood, or rather sat, no fewer than ten feet away. It was more of a challenge to get to the lift than it was to actually get inside the building.
She nodded at the security guard sat in his box as she approached him. He handed her a clipboard and a pen over his small counter with a wide smile.
“How are ya, Barry?” she asked as she wrote her name in block capitals along with her arrival time on the sign in sheet.
“Not bad, my darlin’. How are you?” he replied, his Jamaican accent thickening as he eased into conversation with her.
She looked up at him and grinned before signing her name; “Same old, Barry. Same old.”
He nodded and she passed back the clipboard in exchange for a visitor pass and an elevator key card. Not that she really needed one; she did have her own set of key cards for the apartment she was visiting. It was just mandatory that anyone who didn’t live in the complex was required to sign in and provide a clear form of identification – even if she was on first name terms with the security guards. It kept criminal activity and the opportunity for wild parties to a minimum – something the building management wasn’t keen on but had to relent to in some cases due to the level of networking that went on in some of the apartments that were rented out or bought by celebrities and music management companies. In return for them providing secure, serviced housing for the musical elite they would turn a blind eye to the multitude of guests some of their residents allowed into the building – provided they gave ample identification. Semi-permanent guests who stayed over in the facilities like were also made to meet the building’s manager so that they could conduct an informal interview of sorts just to make sure they were allowing the “right” kind of people into the complex.
took her purse out of her pocket and flipped open the note section to flash her driver’s licence. Barry might’ve known from her numerous stays over the years but he still had to be seen doing the correct procedures. Security measures were strict when it came to providing for some of the world’s talent and given that there were CCTV cameras at every angle, one breach of conforming to the rules and he would find himself out of a job. He might’ve been given his post to sign in guests and survey some of the footage as it occurred in his sector but there were eyes everywhere and management were surely lurking in the shadows so that any missed protocol could be corrected as soon as possible.
“Cheers, darlin’,” he looked over the card and nodded; a sign she could put it away. He looked over her form taking a mental note of who she was visiting, “Mr. Styles, again? Finally asked you to be his girlfriend, did he?”
She gave a soft laugh as she shook her head, “We’re just friends – best friends. Plus; it’s not him I’m into; it’s his roommate.”
Barry laughed as he held up his hand to wave at someone, “Speaking of…”
felt her cheeks glow a shade of red that only appeared in the presence of a certain someone as she turned to face the man.
“Mr. Tomlinson!”
“Barry, ,” he nodded at the pair, surveying them. His smile widened as he placed his gaze on .
“Tommo,” she nodded back. She felt the usual awkwardness that she felt around him creeping up through her veins. She took in the sight of him from his olive green parka with faux fur trim down to his boots.
“Here for Harry?” he pulled the collar around his neck a little more before cupping his hands and blowing warm air into them. It had to be at least minus four outside.
She nodded again. She had become practically mute – something that usually happened in his presence. Not out of embarrassment of being ignored or rejected but simply because she could listen to him speak all day. Not that that had ever been the case. They had never had a conversation beyond the stereotypical pleasantries in the few years she had known Harry.
Barry interrupted the pair, “I was just about to tell that Mr. Styles hasn’t returned home yet.”
whipped her head around, “But it’s eleven in the morning! He’s usually in bed! Are you just getting in too?”
Louis laughed; “We had a bit of a late one at Liam’s. He was supposed to get a lift back with me but I haven’t seen him since the back of ten last night, though. He went out to Grimmy’s or somewhere…”
“But… he asked me to be here at this time!” she rooted around in her bag for her phone. Flicking through her contacts she scrolled down to his name and pressed the green call button. She waited rather impatiently for the call to connect. She growled as it rang out and went to voicemail.
“Styles; you’d better get your ass home NOW!” she hung up to the sound of laughter. Louis just stood there shaking his head at her; it wasn’t unusual for Harry to make plans to meet her at home and just not show up. Barry spluttered away at his post. She glared at the pair.
She fired off an angry text to him for leaving her alone with Louis. She just knew he was up to something.
sighed heavily as she looked down at her phone. Now what?
“Do you have anywhere else to be?” Louis flashed his ID at Barry as he signed himself in. Even residents had to sign in and out. It was more so that their record management could keep tabs on them than anything else but they had to do it.
She shook her head, “I was just gonna hang with Harry and beg to use his bath. My hot water’s on the fritz again so it’s been hard to even shower without freezing to death.” grimaced. Why had she just said that? She might as well have admitted to not washing her clothes in a month. Hoodies can go weeks without being washed. Can’t they?
She sighed again, “I can try my brother but I really don’t fancy being in when his leach of a wife is there. She’s a bit too friendly; if you get what I mean?”
Louis gave her a look indicating that no; he really didn’t.
“Let’s just say the last time I was over and had to use their bath she burst in and spent the whole time sitting on the ledge just watching me and slagging my brother off. I just wanted to bathe in peace!”
“Oh,” he tilted his head and his eyebrows up.
“Yeah…” she really didn’t feel like having an awkward phone call. She groaned outwardly.
“Fancy coming up anyway? You can have a bath whilst Harry is out and I’ll even make you a cuppa. I know you like to have one in the bath sometimes.” His eyes widened. Had he really confessed to knowing something so intimate about her when they had barely said a few words to each other over the years? He sounded like a stalker.
tilted her head to the right as she gave him a look, “OK… sure.” She really didn’t have anywhere else to be and she was freezing. Stopping in for a few minutes – even if it was just to borrow his friend’s bath – wouldn’t be too awkward, would it?
“Awesome,” he tried not to sound too enthusiastic. He knew that he didn’t really know her but at the same time she was such good friends with his best friend and roommate that everything and anything she told him, he knew too from either being in the same room as them or having listened to Harry talk about her whenever they were away. He felt like he already knew her which is why he hadn’t stopped himself from asking if she still wanted to go to their apartment.
followed him as he made a start for the lift, trailing ever so slightly behind. They paused in silence as they waited for the doors to open. No sooner had Louis pressed his key card to the panel than they prized apart. He stood to the side allowing her to step in first. She nodded a “thank you” to him as she stepped past him and made her way to the back of the lift. She held onto the bar that lined one of the three mirrored panels surrounding them that made up the interior walls. Louis swiped his card and the doors closed. He pressed the button for his floor. rubbed her hands together. It was cold in the lift even once the doors had closed. She looked at the numbers changing from “00” to an upwards facing arrow above the door. The lights in the small elevator flickered momentarily.
Louis offered her a warm smile, “Won’t be long until we’re in the warm. I bet you’re gonna kick Harry’s arse when you see him.”
She turned the corners of her mouth up at him in reply, still keeping somewhat of a distance between them. He held her gaze for what seemed like forever. Her cheeks flushed crimson. She had found herself unable to talk again. She had wanted to get to know him for a long time now but unless they were talking about Harry she found that she didn’t know what else to talk about. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a lot to say; she just couldn’t for fear of becoming tongue-tied or coming off as boring. The man travelled the world for God’s sake and she? She had a regular nine-to-six, Monday to Friday job in town as a sales rep. She watched out of the corner of her eyes as Louis bit his lip ever so gently.
“3.”
Louis puffed out his cheeks and blew out warm air in an attempt to warm up the air around his face. You’d have thought that with the amount of money in rent the management pocketed at least some of it would go to investing in a warm air vent but no; his breath still appeared as a cold cloud in front of him as soon as it hit the air. The lights began to flicker again. looked up at them worriedly.
“Don’t worry; they’ve been on the blink all week.”
“4.”
drummed her free fingers against her leg. A flap of material on the back of her hand flipped back and forth entertaining Louis’ line of vision. His face contorted with a wave of confusion and couldn’t help but giggle;
“They’re mittens with built-in gloves so I can text without taking off my gloves.
“Oh, right.”
“I suppose you’re not home long enough to actually need anything like this.”
A loud pinging sound cut Louis off as he was about to speak. The doors to the lift opened on his floor and again he stepped aside to let her out first.
He fumbled in his pocket for his keys as he followed her out into the hallway that stood between his apartment and his neighbours; whoever they may be this week. He seemed to have new neighbours every time he came home. Finding his key chain he plucked it out of his pocket and found the right key. Unlocking the door, he sighed; this was going to be a social experiment and a half.
Louis walked towards the dark green tartan housecoat covered woman perched on the arm of the sofa with a towel in his hand. He handed it over to her and she immediately started drying her hair with it, tipping her head to the right and rubbing the hair between two ends of it.
“Sorry about that. I could’ve sworn he had more than one towel.”
She shrugged, leaning further forward, “S’ok. Harry’s more one for running around naked.”
His mind unwillingly flashing back to the numerous times Harry had casually strolled around naked in their apartment and in the tour bus. He rubbed his face with the palms of his hands as if they could somehow erase those memories from his mind.
“Don’t remind me.”
snorted lightly as she continued to rub her hair. She, too, had caught him out on one too many occasions and it had all but scarred her for life. She took it with a pinch of salt these days, often literally pinching him on one of his bare cheeks for invading her line of sight.
“Oh! I meant to say…” Louis trailed off as he walked across to the coffee table where had left various bits and bobs. He picked up her phone, “this went off a few times. Looks like Harry’s been trying to call you.”
She extended her arm out as he passed it to her. She pressed the on/off button and the touchscreen lit up to reveal three missed calls, two voicemails and multiple unread text messages– all from Harry. She cleared her call list and scrolled to the text conversation. She sighed; he had texted her to cancel and another to apologise. The other texts were of him asking if she was mad at him because she hadn’t answered. She guessed that that was the nature of his voicemails as well. She dialled the number for her voicemail. Sure enough; she was right. She sighed again and chucked her phone to her left and onto the other end of the couch.
It didn’t take much for Louis to figure out why she was irritated: “Let me guess; he’s cancelled.”
“Yep…” she drew out the word, “I’m not really surprised; he’s been doing it a lot ever since he became friends with Grimmy and the American lot. Had I known he was out with him then I would’ve cancelled on him for a change. It’s like he wants to be anywhere and with anyone else but with people he’s known since you guys started.”
Louis nodded; he knew exactly what she meant. He rarely saw Harry when they were home even though they lived together and worked together because he was always out with other people. Ever since the fans had started with the “Larry” rumours their friendship hadn’t been the same; especially in public. They couldn’t have play fights anymore or inside secrets because the fans would go crazy with screenshots and captions stating that they were a couple and were looking at each other in a “certain way”. He saw nothing wrong with anyone being gay or bi but the rumours were far too intense. He felt like he couldn’t be close friends with Harry anymore and it sucked. He sat across from her on the opposite couch, perching on the edge.
“Did you guys have specific plans or…?”
She shook her head, “He never mentioned anything so I assumed he just wanted to hang out. I was actually going to guilt him into buying me lunch at Garfunkel’s but I guess I’ll be seeing what crumbs of cereal I have left.”
Louis tilted his head at her, an idea forming in his head; “How about we have lunch together?”
She pretended to mull it over for a while. She didn’t want to seem too eager.
He took this as a sign that she didn’t want to, “You don’t have to. I just thought that it would be nice seeing as we’ve known each other for a few years now and we still don’t really know each other.”
She gave him a broad smile, “Sounds good to me.”
Louis sighed inwardly with relief.
“I’ll just borrow Harry’s hair dryer and get dressed and then I’ll be ready to go,” she stood up and took her hair towel through to Harry’s room and shut the door over with her foot.
Louis grinned to himself. He was looking forward to getting to know her first hand and without Harry in tow. As much as he was their best friend, he relished any time he got alone with . He’d taken a shine to her when Harry had invited her along to one of their very first shows. Harry had pointed her out to him in the audience and he had spent the rest of the gig trying not to get caught looking at her. She’d then turned up backstage and he’d tried everything in his power to get to know her but she’d had to leave not even five minutes later. This signalled the start of five years of playing gooseberry around her and Harry, longing to get her alone but unless Harry was around, he had no way of spending any time with her. Even when she turned up only to have Harry cancel on her she would leave sharpish. She really had no reason for sticking around and she’d never been one for talking if he wasn’t there. The timing had never been good for either of them and he’d never gotten round to asking her out even just for a coffee but today was finally the day.
Hearing the door click shut she leaned on the back of the door and let out a tiny, audible squeal making sure he couldn’t hear her. When she had composed herself she gathered her clothes that she had left on the bed and got dressed, spraying her underarms with a good inch of deodorant. She scoured Harry’s room for the one item she definitely hadn’t brought with her; a hair brush. Tugging it through her hair, she was surprised she still knew how to brush her hair; it wasn’t something she did on a monthly basis, never mind daily. When was done she spritzed herself with something girly-looking she had found on Harry’s dresser. When the smell hit her nostrils she slightly gagged. It was a bit too… flowery. She looked at the label; it definitely was another woman’s perfume. She rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to know. She left Harry’s dressing gown and the hair towel on his bed. It would serve him right to get into a wet bed tonight.
Picking up her bag, headed out of the door and back into the living room to collect her thick winter jacket and brown pixie boots. She smiled at Louis when she saw that he was waiting for her with his own coat and boots on. Her jacket was slung over his arm and he had placed her boots at the foot of the couch she had been sitting on. She placed her bag onto the settee and sat down to put them on. She silently thanked the powers that be for her ability to have dressed herself semi-decent this morning.
When she finished buckling up her shoes she looked up at Louis, “Ready?”
“Yeah,” he handed over her coat to her.
“Thanks” she slipped it over her shoulders, pulling it closed to button it up. She grabbed her bag and followed Louis out towards the hallway, pausing only to allow him to lock the door before proceeding to the lift. She pressed the “down” arrow rather impatiently. The doors opened, the inside briefly lit by the light emanating from the corridor. The lights started to flicker again as the pair of twenty-three year olds entered the elevator. Cold air whipped around them as the doors closed; the air vent on the roof had somehow come undone letting in the frozen December air.
shivered as she fumbled in her bag for her gloves cursing at herself for not having the foresight to have put them on before setting foot back in the lift. Finding them near the bottom of her bag she took them out, untangled one from the other and slid them on. She then placed her trusty beanie over her head. The dark grey in the dye of the wool had faded over the years and the thread from the red and white detailing was starting to unravel but unless it perished in a fire or was lost forever, it would firmly be a part of her headwear for years to come. It was one of a few items of clothing she knew that looked good on her.
Louis pressed the garage button and the doors closed over slower than they had on the way up and with a rattle causing the small metal room to tremble. and Louis looked at each other slightly alarmed. This was new. It continued to shake before settling and moving downwards. The journey down to the first few floors went by without a hitch. The lights, however, continued to flicker and dim the already poorly lit room down even more to the point where the pair had to squint to allow their eyes to adjust. All of a sudden the lights completely shut off and the elevator juddered to a halt causing the pair to grip onto the bars as they fought to stay upright from the sudden disturbance in the gravitational pull that threatened to cause them to fall to the ground. It wasn’t as severe as to cause the lift to plummet to the ground – which had been the first thought to cross their minds as soon as the metal contraption had started to fail – but the shaking was enough to make them lose their footing a fair few times. ’s bag slipped off of her shoulder and landed on the floor, the chestnut brown leather slapping the floor. Her mind was too busy reeling with panic to care, so much so that she had barely noticed it tugging her sleeve as it slid off. “What the…” the pair called out in unison, clearly shaken by the turn of events. The lift stopped wobbling just as sharply as it had started, causing Louis to throw his arms out as stumbled and fell towards him crashing straight into his chest with a resounding “oof!” He clasped his arms around her immediately, steadying her as she planted her feet firmly back on the ground. “Are you OK?”
She nodded, frozen to the spot. She daren’t look him in the eyes for fear of babbling or breaking into tears from sheer fear.
“Sure?”
She nodded again still not finding the courage to look into his eyes.
Louis slid his hand into his jeans pocket to retrieve his phone, his other arm still wrapped tightly around . He lifted it high above their heads, willing the bar to clear from the no signal symbol to even one bar.
“Ah fuck!” he cursed as the phone failed to pick up a signal, “Try yours.”
pulled away from him and crouched down to their left to grab at the bag’s strap. With a swift tug she managed to pull it towards her. She threw the front flap over and began to dig around for it only to discover that it was nowhere in sight. She groaned; she could picture it now still lying on the couch where she had thrown it.
She muttered numerous expletives under her breath. She pulled the flap back over and stood up again, giving her bag a swift kick.
Louis looked at her questioningly.
bowed her head as she mumbled, “I’ve left it back at the flat.”
Louis looked upwards to the ceiling as he groaned, “Great.”
She looked at him, the apples of her cheeks tinged pink with cold and embarrassment, “I can tell you exactly where it is though…” She tried to make light of the situation.
His head moved back down and tilted to the side, raising an eyebrow at her. He did not look amused.
Thinking better of it, kept quiet. Instead she watched him standing there quietly as he thought about what to do, chewing on his bottom lip. Even looking slightly frazzled he was definitely the best looking man she had ever seen. She could watch him for hours… laughing… running… stripping… Louis’ mouth opening and closing rapidly shook her out of her little daydream.
“Hmm… what was that?”
He snorted, stifling a laugh, “I asked if you’d be OK on your own for a second?”
“Why? Where are you going?” was just short of sounding completely frantic. She mentally hit her head with the palm of her right hand; stupid question. As if he could go anywhere when the doors to this tin can were most likely jammed tight.
“I’m going to try prising the doors open. We’re between floors so I should be able to jump down to the next one.”
looked at him as if he were crazy, “Have you gone mad?”
“What d’ya mean?”
“Even if you could prise the doors open and jump down there’s no ledge for you to land on, ya twat. You’ll end up breaking your neck!”
Louis rolled his eyes, “Then what do you suggest?”
She gave him a smug look and strolled over to the button panel. She pressed the call button; nothing. Not even so much as a crackle.
Louis took in a breath and proceeded to give an almighty belly laugh.
balled up her fists, “What are you laughing at?”
He spluttered, “There’s no electricity!”
She huffed at him, crossing her arms and trudging over to the corner furthest away from him, kicking her bag as she went. She slunk down and sat on the ground, backing herself into the corner. She pulled her bag to her, sitting it to the side. She noticed that not even the tinkle of royalty-free music could be heard over the elevator’s radio. There was, however, a strange sound that reminded her of the white noise that her dad’s old television used to emit when it wasn’t tuned properly.
Just as suddenly as the lights had shut off they flicked back on. Their heads snapped up to the ceiling. A shrill screeching over the radio caught them off guard immediately causing them to cover their ears with their hands.
“ and Louis you are live on the elevator version of Big Brother, this is Harry. Please do not swear.”
Their eyes darted along to the built-in security camera that was in the centre of the roof. The green record light flashed consistently. Somehow there was enough power to feed it. The elevator, however, still showed no signs of moving.
“Please give me a sign that you hear me and then await my further instruction.”
and Louis held up both of their middle fingers up towards the camera.
They heard Harry give a laugh, “I said please do not swear.”
“That wasn’t swearing ya prick. That was gesturing rudely. What do you want with us you fucking arsehole?” shouted, unsure of where to aim her voice. Her voice echoed through the small room vibrating off of the metal wall, “Now that was swearing.”
Louis snorted. She really was one of a kind.
“I swear to God Styles; as soon as we are out of here you are dead!”
“Can I continue?”
“That depends. I assume you’re behind all of this seeing as you’ve gone all ‘Big Brother’ meets ‘I’m a fucking Celebrity’ on us; so are you going to restart the lift or are you going to continue torturing us? You know I hate lifts as it is!”
There was silence.
Louis looked at , “Answer her, Harry.” “Well… there’s a bit of a problem.”
Louis strode closer to the centre of the room, looking directly at the camera, “What do you mean that there’s a problem? I swear once ’s done killing you that I’m next in line!”
spluttered. Louis thought for a moment that she was thinking about him trying to kill an already dead Harry but shook himself back to the situation at hand. In all honesty, she was really just stunned that he had called her by her nickname – something he had never done before.
“You see guys… I have it put on a timer.”
“And what does that mean, dill-hole?”
“It means that you have the next hour-or-three,” he rushed, “to get to know each other.” Their eyes widened in shock. The whirring of the radio stopped abruptly as it cut out. Louis clenched his fists, ready to rip out the camera from its socket. He fumed silently, his chest noticeably puffing out with every exhale as he glared violently at the lens.
“What the hell did you just say?” stood up and met Louis in the middle.
“I’m pretty sure…”
“- Three hours! You’d better get someone to restart this otherwise you really will be a dead man!”
“I told you; it’s on a timer! I can’t do anything; my hands are tied!”
growled as she turned back and threw the flap of her satchel open, taking out an object. She gripped it firmly in her hand as she walked back over.
Thrusting it upwards, she wielded it at the camera; “Do you see this pencil, Harry?”
“Barely but –”
“Well; if you get us out of here then this pencil will go back in my bag…”
He audibly gulped, “And if I don’t?”
“If you don’t then your eye will meet the very sharp tip of said pencil after I RAM IT UP YOUR URETHRA AND PULL IT OUT THROUGH YOUR EYE SOCKET!”
A loud cackling echoed through the aluminium lined room as Louis erupted with laughter. He was beginning to like her more with every one of her comically aggressive outbursts.
There was silence for a while before Harry dared to speak, “I’ll see what I can do…”
Two full hours passed as the pair awaited Harry’s return. Most of it had passed in an awkward silence as they tried to calm down. Louis had spent most of his time heavily sighing and trying to find a signal for his – now dying – phone. ’s stomach grumbled. She had taken to sketching in the blank-paged notepad she carried around with her in a bit to forget the hunger clawing at her insides.
“So, er, about that lunch…”
turned to face him, a scowl placed on her face. She really didn’t need reminding that she hadn’t eaten at all that day. Her stomach gurgled in protest.
He slid down next to her deciding that now would probably be a good time to start getting to know her better; “How about we make it a dinner instead? As soon as we get out of here and kill Harry I will take you to the nearest restaurant and you can order as much as you want.”
She mulled it over for the briefest of seconds, “Can we kill him after we eat?”
Louis gave her a wide grin, “As long as you promise to go out with me on a proper date when I get back from interviews tomorrow.”
“Only if you can guarantee that I never have to set foot in this elevator again then I will consider it.”
“I will move out if it will secure me even one date with you.”
She threw her head back and laughed, “You don’t have to go that far but OK.”
“OK,” he nodded once, elated. Suddenly it didn’t matter that they were stuck in an elevator.
He peaked over her shoulder, “What are you drawing?”
She manically shut it over and clutched it to her chest, “Nothing…”
“Oh, really?” he made a grab for it but she moved it around to her left out of his reach.
“Really.”
He snaked his arm around her in an attempt to steal it but he wasn’t fast enough. She leaned forward, cutting him off. He tried to do the same with his other hand and again she blocked him off, trying to trap his hand between her back and the wall. They went back and forth like this a series of times before she caved.
“OK,” she exhaled deeply, “I will show you on one condition.”
“What?” he leaned back, resting against the cold wall. He was grateful that, even though he was still freezing, his jacket gave him some protection from the chill.
“You don’t think I’m weird or something.”
He nodded.
She took a deep breath before flipping the pages over to her latest sketch, “Keep in mind it’s only a rough sketch and it’s not been coloured or properly shaded yet.”
He nodded again, “OK.”
She turned the book so that the page faced him and handed it over. She looked down at the ground. She had never shown anyone her artwork before – not even Harry – and it was making her feel uncomfortable. The anxiety was beginning to set in and her cheeks broke out in a deep blush as embarrassment swept over her. The terror of waking up from a dream where she had appeared naked except for a purple and lime green feather boa in front of a stadium full of people was nothing compared the feeling of unease that sharing her work brought her.
The page garnered Louis’ full attention. He was stunned; she had sketched a portrait of him. He took in every single line, clearly impressed; her technique was flawless.
“Wow,” he puffed out his cheeks as he blew air out of his mouth.
She dared to look at him, “What do you think?”
He could only stare at pencil marks and her style of shading, “I love it.”
No other three words had given her such a feeling of euphoria before. They were simple yet to the point and she couldn’t help but feel he had meant every single one of them. She gave him a small smile.
His brow furrowed, “Why me, though?”
She shrugged, “Do you want the honest answer or the one I was going to give you?”
“Is there a difference?”
She gave a slight nod, “The answer I was going to give you is that there’s not much else in here to draw.”
He couldn’t help but feel a little sad, “And the honest answer?”
“I like you – really like you.”
The sadness he had felt was quickly replaced with joy. He placed the book onto her lap and took her right hand in his left one. She looked down as he gave it a gentle squeeze. In a split second they looked up at each other. They both began to lean to lean into each other, softly closing their eyes.
The elevator shook as it rumbled back into action. Louis sighed. Trust it to be now that Harry would choose to ruin their plans once again.
“Seems like our dinner is back on,” Louis noted as he stood up. He stepped back and helped to her feet.
Harry hid behind the computer chair in the security guard’s office as he waited for them to step out of the lift. He peeked out just as the doors opened to reveal his friends who, upon spotting him, began charging towards his location. He prepared to hide again, stepping behind the chair and braced himself for the onslaught of expletives and the barrage of pummelling fists. Only; they never came. He stepped out of the room and looked around. They were nowhere to be seen. He looked at the monitors but again saw no one. Indeed; the only evidence of anyone else being nearby was the outside gate swinging in the wind. He gulped, terrified, knowing they would be back.
The pair laughed as they ran out into the cold air, clutching each other’s hands. They were going to enjoy making Harry squirm over the next few hours.
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