[Harry]

A few weeks passed by, and it was now the middle of December. Even if it was very cold outside, the rain hadn't turned to snow yet, something that wasn't very surprising seeing as it usually didn't snow very much here in Holmes Chapel. But since it felt like you were in the middle of the Antarctic whenever you stepped out of the house, you thought it might as well start snowing any day. To be honest, it was colder than it usually was in December, and that was not a good thing whatsoever. It just meant that you had to wear more clothes and warmer jackets. Not to mention, it was suffocating to walk to the bus stop every morning, especially when you were freezing your hands off.

Louis and I hadn't really spoken to each other after the incident at the restaurant. I still didn't know whether that was better than fighting with him, but the more days that passed, the more I started to realize how much I missed talking to him somehow. It was stupid, really, because I shouldn't be thinking about him in this way. I should be happy that we hadn't interacted in more than two weeks, but sadly that wasn't the case, and that realization honestly scared me.

When it came to what he told me that day at the restaurant, I hadn't really gotten anywhere. I mean, during the last years, I had been sure that he was the reason why we had stopped being friends, and now he just came out of nowhere and told me I was the reason? I just couldn't figure out anything I had done wrong. If I did, shouldn't I have already figured that out a long time ago since I had basically asked myself what happened between the two of us every day ever since we fell apart? Well, I would think so at least.

As for Niall, he had actually taken matters into his hands and talked to me a few times during the last few weeks. He even sat with me and Liam at lunch sometimes, something I found quite entertaining. It was nice to have someone other than just Liam - and sometimes Ed - there all the time, and Niall was a great guy once you got to know him and when he didn't act like a stupid jerk who only made nasty remarks all the time. I was actually starting to grow fond of him, but not in a 'more than friendly' way. I just liked his funny and kind of awkward persona, that was all.

Unfortunately, things hadn't gone that well with Liam and Zayn, though. Liam was trying his best to make Zayn notice him and had even tried to make a move, but so far, Zayn had barely even thrown him a glance. It saddened me to see Liam so miserable day in and day out thanks to this. I just wished I could do something about it, like walk up to the raven-haired guy and demand him to tell me whether he had feelings for Liam or not, or at least ask him why he had decided to kiss him if he wasn't going to do anything about it, but Liam had told me not to interfere with anything, so I didn't.

It was now Saturday, and I was sitting at the kitchen table in a pair of black joggers and a grey jumper, eating breakfast with my family. After living with Louis and his father for more than a month, I had finally gotten used to it. It no longer felt weird to say the word 'family' when I spoke about them, although it should since I still had a hard time understanding that Louis was my stepbrother. But, at least I had gotten used to him wandering around my house constantly.

Since it was only nine in the morning, Louis was still asleep and also the only one who wasn't present in the kitchen. This was nothing new, so mum wouldn't even comment about it anymore, which she had actually done in the beginning since she thought it would be nice for all of us to eat breakfast together. That desire had been forced to disappear, though, because Louis was not a morning person whatsoever, especially not on the weekends. He thought nine o'clock was way too early to wake up when you didn't have school to attend and to be honest, I kind of agreed with him there, but I didn't want to make mum even more upset by telling her I wouldn't join them at breakfast on the weekends either.

So, that was the reason why I was now sitting here, munching on some cereal while spreading butter on a piece of toast. Gemma was sitting beside me, pouring milk into her bowl as mum and Troy prepared their own breakfast. There were cooked sausages and scrambled eggs on a plate in the middle, but I decided a bowl of cereal and a piece of toast would do just fine today. We were having tacos later on anyway, so I would spare for that.

Surprisingly, a feathery haired boy appeared in the doorway just a few minutes later, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he yawned loudly. "You guys are way too noisy. Why can't you just let me sleep for once?" Louis whined as he took a seat beside his father who chuckled at him.

Believe it or not, but the atmosphere had started getting better and better between all five of us. Louis wasn't being his bitchy self who didn't care about anything anymore, which in effect caused my mum to not have to raise her voice at the kitchen table. Though, he still didn't utter a single word to me. He never even glanced my way, just simply acted as if I wasn't there.

"You sleep for too long anyway, my son. Now, eat your breakfast and enjoy," Troy said jokingly, gesturing to the food scattered on the table.

Mum watched the two newest family members' interaction with a smile on her face as she chewed on her scrambled egg. "So, what are your plans for the day?" She asked, looking between all three of us teens.

Bringing a spoonful of cereal to my mouth, I shrugged my shoulders. To be honest, I had nothing planned today whatsoever. Not that I usually did something special on the weekends, but today I had absolutely no idea what to do at all. I had already done my homework due for next week yesterday, and Liam was away with his family the whole weekend, so I would probably have to stay at home doing absolutely nothing.

"I'm actually going on a date," Gemma announced, smiling cautiously while fiddling with her fingers.

My eyes widened. "What?" I asked, shocked by her words. "With whom?"

She turned in her seat to face me. "You know that guy I've been crushing on for months, right?"

I nodded, my eyes only widening by the second.

"It's with him," she confessed, her lips forming into another smile.

"Gemma! Wow, this is great news! Why didn't you tell me? I didn't even know you'd mustered up enough courage to talk to him, and now you're going on a date? Jesus," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. I remembered her talking about the guy a few weeks ago when he had just gotten back from a trip to Spain with a 'hot' tan. Actually, that was the last time she had mentioned him around me, and considering I knew they didn't talk back then, things definitely must've happened since that.

"I guess we just never came across the topic," she shrugged. "Anyway, we started talking about two weeks ago when we were partnered up for a project. Mr. Holmes will always be my favorite teacher thanks to that."

I laughed, taking a bite of my toast. "So, what's his name?" Mum asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly at Gemma who now had a small blush on her cheeks. She probably just remembered that Troy, mum and Louis were there as well, and could hear everything she said.

"Um, his name's Devon Oliver," she replied sheepishly. "He's the same age as me, and we share the same Math and English classes."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and from what I've heard, he's amazing, so don't worry mum," I joked, making her roll her eyes.

"I'm not worried that my daughter will find a bad guy, Harry. I trust her, and if she really likes him and he reciprocates her feelings, I'm absolutely okay with it. But, I'd like to meet him sometime, yeah?" She said, turning her attention back to Gemma.

"Mum," she warned. "This is our first date, so no need to hurry. You'll get to meet him eventually, I promise. It's not that he's shy or anything, but I just think we should get to know each other better before we meet each other's parents," she explained.

Mum bit her bottom lip hesitantly. "Alright, but you know how curious I can get, so you'd better hurry. I'm not a patient woman," she joked, although we all knew it was true. I bet even Louis knew about it, and he was the one who knew mum the least in our family.

"Speaking of dates," Louis suddenly spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "I'm planning on inviting my girlfriend over for dinner tonight if that's okay? She might come over earlier, though, just a warning."

Troy's lips formed into a smile. "Eleanor? Ah, I haven't met her since we moved, which was a long time ago. Why haven't you brought her over earlier? She's always welcome, Louis," he promised, giving his son a pat on the shoulder.

"You have a girlfriend? Why wasn't I informed of this? That's wonderful, Louis. Of course you can invite her over, and she's more than welcome to eat dinner with us," mum said excitedly, clapping her hands together with a bright smile on her face.

So, everyone was basically smiling except for me. They were all super happy that Eleanor was coming over later to join our dinner, but I just couldn't bring myself to be so. Not that I didn't like her or anything, she was a nice girl who had done me no wrong, but the image of her and Louis together just didn't sit well with me. There was just something about it that made my stomach churn uncomfortably.

Louis then glanced my way, but it was only briefly. It barely lasted for a second until he turned his attention back to his dad and my mum. "Eh... I wasn't sure whether I was allowed to bring her over or not, but I thought now that we've been living here for quite some time that it wouldn't hurt to ask at least," he shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes at him because I was sure that was not true whatsoever. He wouldn't have cared a damn in the world if mum or Troy had told him that he couldn't bring her over earlier. So, there obviously must've been another reason as to why he hadn't invited her over yet, and judging by the glance he just sent my way, I had a feeling I was part of that reason. Though, I had no idea what it was about.

Obviously, mum didn't notice, so she gasped at his words. "Of course we wouldn't mind! She's very welcome, Louis. Don't think otherwise, honey. All of you guys' girlfriends and boyfriends are welcome as long as you don't do anything I wouldn't want you to if you catch my drift," she joked, although you could hear the seriousness behind her words.

Covering my face with my hands, I let out an embarrassed groan. "Mum, shut up."

"I was just saying, dear. It's not very polite to do such things when--"

"Okay mum, I think we get it. Thank you," Gemma cut her off, giving her a forced smile.

Mum raised her hands in defense as Louis burst out laughing. Even Troy had a smile on his face. "Jesus, this is hilarious," Louis said, throwing his head back in laughter.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I know you guys wouldn't do anything to be impolite, but you can't blame me for reminding you, can you?" Mum asked, raising her eyebrows at me and Gemma.

I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "Mum, please. Can't you just drop it?"

"Alright fine," she finally said. "I'll drop it, but only because Louis seems to be dying of laughter, and I wouldn't want my son to get hurt by something I said," she chuckled, glancing at Louis who had stopped laughing abruptly. Instead, a frown was now evident on his face.

Strangely, I seemed to be the only one noticing this because Troy, Gemma and mum continued talking about God knows what while Louis remained quiet and stared at the glass of milk in front of him. It wasn't hard to tell that something was bothering him. The question was; what did mum say that made him shut up so fast?

A few minutes later, we were all finished and stood up to bring the plates, glasses and utensils to the sink. Troy offered to wash the dishes, which none of us disagreed with, so the rest of us exited the kitchen except for mum who stayed back to help him even though he told her it wasn't necessary.

I followed Louis up the stairs and was just about to turn to my bedroom when he stopped me by spinning around on his heel. "Pay attention, Harry, and think," was the only thing he said before turning around again and entering his own bedroom. The door slammed shut, and I was left there to stare at the spot where he was just standing, suddenly feeling very confused.

What was he talking about? And what did he mean by those words? Well, hopefully, I would get an answer to that soon.

_____

It was four in the afternoon when the doorbell rang that day. At first, I thought it was Gemma's date who had arrived, but when I heard the door next to my bedroom slam shut, I realized it must be Eleanor. With a heavy sigh, I got up from my bed and pulled my earphones out of my ears. It wasn't like I wanted to, but I knew my mum would want me to be downstairs to greet Eleanor.

After all, I had been brought up nicely, so whenever someone was invited to our house, my mum expected both me and Gemma to greet the person by the door no matter who it was. Well, excluding the plumber or chimney sweeper or something like that. Those people weren't that important if she was home.

With heavy strides, I trudged down the stairs and entered the hallway where mum, Gemma and Troy were watching Louis help Eleanor take off her jacket. I wanted to roll my eyes at the scene, but instead, I quietly made my way over to stand beside Gemma. Eleanor's eyes immediately found mine and widened. "Wait, don't you go to our school?"

Awkwardly, I scratched the back of my neck as I nodded my head slowly. "Yeah, I'm Harry. And for your information, we even share a few classes," I explained, giving her a timid smile.

She turned to Louis with a surprised look on her face. "You never told me you had a stepbrother our age, Louis."

The feathery haired boy gave me a brief look before directing his attention to Eleanor, a somewhat forced smile forming on his lips. "No, I didn't see the need to tell anyone." His voice sounded a little bit harsher than I think he wanted it to because the next second he wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed her hip reassuringly.

Her eyebrows pulled together. "Oh, I see. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Eleanor, Louis' girlfriend," she smiled politely, extending her hand for me to shake.

As if I didn't already know that, I wanted to say, but kept quiet and stared at her hand for a few seconds before hesitantly taking it in mine. "Nice to meet you too, I guess," I said emotionlessly, earning a nudge in the side from Gemma, and when I looked at her, she gave me a warning stare.

Also catching the displeased look on mum's face, I turned back to the brunette girl who was glancing at Louis a little alarmed. "Um..." She trailed off hesitantly. "Louis, why don't you show me your room, yeah?"

"Gladly," he said, moving his hand to the small of her back to bring her further into the house. As they were about to go up the stairs, he looked back to give me a smirk.

"We'll be upstairs," he announced, and with that, they were gone, leaving the remaining four of us to stare at each other. Or well, they were staring at one another while I was stuck watching the spot where Louis and Eleanor were just standing. What the hell did that smirk mean? There was no doubt he had some kind of plan going on in his head that had to do with me. I just wondered what he was going to do and how it was going to affect me.

After exchanging a few words with Gemma, mum and Troy, I went back up to my room and flopped down on my bed where my earphones were still lying. I put them aside and pulled out my phone from my back pocket to send a text message to Liam, hoping that he would reply quickly because really, I was bored as hell and just wanted something to do.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, I finally received a text from him and we started talking about his trip and also about school work since that was a common subject we conversed about. It wasn't until about half an hour later that I could suddenly hear noises coming from the bathroom, or Louis' room to be more specific. Now, don't misunderstand me, it wasn't those kinds of noises, but more like obnoxious giggling.

At first, I wasn't fazed by it and just continued texting away with Liam, but when the laughter started getting louder and even more obnoxious, I started feeling anger boil up inside me. Not only were the giggling sounds annoying, but they were also coming from Eleanor and were probably caused by Louis.

Against my will, images of what they might be doing in there flashed through my mind, and I found myself cringing. It wasn't like I thought kissing, tickling, or what the hell they were doing was disgusting, but I just didn't like the idea of them doing it so loud that I could hear... Yeah, that must be it.

The giggling sounds eventually turned into moans, and that was when I had enough. Without thinking twice, I flew up from my bed and made my way into my and Louis' shared bathroom to bang on the door. "Shut the hell up, would you?" I yelled through the wall, not wanting to witness what I was almost certain was going on in there.

Only a second later, the moans quieted down, and I could swear I heard Louis let out a snicker. The door to his room suddenly flew open, and there he was standing, all of his clothes on (thankfully) but his hair looking a little disheveled as if someone had run their fingers through it carelessly. His lips pulled into a satisfied smile as he tilted his head to the side while leaning against the door frame. "You were saying?" He asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

It was right then it hit me. This had been his plan all along. Somehow, he knew this would be my reaction to whatever he and Eleanor were doing in there, and now he had that stupid smile on his face because he now knew he had succeeded. What he got out of it, though, I had no idea.

Feeling a bit insecure by my realization and the way he was looking at me, I took a step back, biting my bottom lip. "Um, nothing. Just... I'll leave you alone," I said, my cheeks heating up.

To my surprise, he stepped forward and closed the door behind him so we were alone in the bathroom. He gave me this intense look that held so many emotions, emotions I couldn't put my finger on what they meant. "Do you remember?" He asked slowly, now sounding more serious.

"Remember what?" I asked in confusion.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Fuck, you're so oblivious it's not even funny. I can't believe you haven't realized..." He trailed off, making a face as if he had just said too much.

"That I haven't realized what?"

He looked down, shaking his head once again. After a second of thinking, he turned his gaze back up and sent me a glare. "Forget it," he said coldly, spinning on his heel and opening the bedroom door before slamming it shut behind him, leaving me standing there alone and utterly confused.

__________________________________

So, what was Louis' plan and why do you think he tried to perform it?

What is it that Harry's not getting?

And what do you think is going to happen next?

Again, thank you so much for your lovely support! 26k+ reads and 1,9k+ votes! It means the world to me, thank you!

Edited by: Lacy

Pauline .xx