There's A Reason - A Larry Stylinson Love Story

Chapter 22 - A Tad Guilty

I blinked groggily, wondering where I was. I appeared to be laid across something soft, with my head cradled in something warm and squishy. Wherever I was, I was moving. As I came more into consciousness, I heard voices around me.

“He fell pretty hard, Liam. Are you sure he shouldn’t go straight to the hospital?”

“He’s probably just passed out from the shock. We don’t need to make the fans go crazy over nothing. How about if he’s still in severe pain when he wakes we’ll take him then?” That voice…

“But he needs to go now! What if he’s dying and he doesn’t make it because you wouldn’t take him to the emergency room?” This voice sounded really familiar, and the hysterical tone of it broke my heart.

“Calm yourself down, Lou! I promise you, Harry will be just fine.”

I was Harry. They were talking about a Harry who was hurt by hitting his head and who might need to go to the hospital. Now that I think of it, my head was pounding a bit.

With one last breath of the peaceful air before the questions I knew would come when I awoke, I opened my eyes.

I was in our van and we appeared to be en route to the hotel, but Louis was trying to take over the wheel and pull off to a hospital on the side of the road. He looked frantic and had obvious tear tracks streaked across his entire face. He cared about me that much? I felt my heart swell.

Suddenly I was hit with a need to cough. I hacked away, watching water come spurting up out of my body. How did I manage to hold so much extra seawater for however much time I’d been out? I felt a hand on my back, rubbing softly as the choked coughs faded.

“Boobear?” I croaked out, and he whipped around to face me.

“Hazza!” he basically screamed, enveloping me in a giant embrace. I weakly wrapped my arms around him as well, cuddling into his body. “You’re awake!”

I chuckled and he shivered as he felt the vibration. “It would appear so.”

“How’s your head? Are you all right? Is there anything I can do? Should we go to that hospital right there? Can you-“

I cut off his nervous rambling. “Calm down, Lou. Like Liam said before, there’s really no need for the hospital. All that will do is draw the attention of the fans and then I’ll be the top news story tomorrow, asking what happened to land Harry Styles in a hospital bed.” He nodded, looking a tad guilty. “My head feels perfectly fine, except it’s throbbing a tiny bit. You could get me some ice for my headache and some painkillers, but I think that’s about it. Oh, and you can calm down so you don’t stress me out.”

He nods again sheepishly before crawling down the middle of the van to reach for water and ask Liam for the pills, which I swallow quickly before laying back on his lap. Closing my eyes, I snuggled into him, curling my body around his. I felt an arm wrap around my waist and smiled.

The next time I was woken was when we got to the hotel. The other boys surrounded me so the fans wouldn’t see my condition and get worked up over it. As soon as we got to our rooms, Liam pushed me onto my bed and began the questions I was expecting earlier.

“Okay, Harry, you know we have to make sure you’re not concussed,” he begins, and I nod. “Do you remember everything form earlier today up to the moment you blacked out?” This receives another nod. “How did you crash in the first place?”

I looked around to make sure we were nowhere near Louis before replying. “You know I get distracted by Lou. I was turned a bit to watch him surf and we were smiling at each other and I saw his face get frantic and I leaned forward to hear what he was trying to tell me. But by the time I turned to see the rock in front of me it was too late and I crashed into it and when I fell I smacked my head on my board.”

Liam looked amused by my story, so I hid my face in my hands as chuckles escaped him. “Don’t laugh at me, this is not funny, Li!”

He didn’t listen and managed to get out in between laughs, “So you’re saying you crashed and almost gave yourself a head injury because you were watching your lover boy?” I gasped and my eyes flew open.

“He is not my lover boy! Shush it before any of the boys hear you! I just happen to be in love with him and he happens to like my kiss is all.” He shakes his head, smirking at me.

“You really think that’s all? Play up the injured act for the rest of tonight. You can tell him in the morning that you feel better, but I want you to see how much he cares about you. He’s in love with you too, as much as you don’t believe me,” Liam suggested.

I thought about it. There was nothing that could go terribly wrong with this. I was just going to act a bit extra pathetic and weak, and see if Louis took care of me. I was sure he would; we always care for each other when we’re sick. How would I tell if he was being extra caring? Whatever the outcome, it was worth a shot.

“I’ll do it, Liam. But you better not blow my cover or tell any of the other boys what’s going on between Lou and I,” I attempted to make a deal.

“Ah, you see, erm, Harry, I love you so much as a friend you know and you know friends should learn to forgive and forget and-“

“Liam, what did you do?”

“I might just maybe have told Niall what was happening,” he whispered guiltily.

“Fine, then you can update Niall on my situation. That’s it.” I don’t really mind him knowing; he won’t do much about it anyway. Maybe he can get close to Louis and see if he likes me? I doubt Liam will go for that plan; he wants me to confess by myself. Being in love with your best friend was really frustrating.

True to my word, I acted weak the entire rest of the night. I made sure to tremble a little whenever I was on my feet and never walk in an even gait or go faster than a walk. I continually asked for more painkillers and went around the house flopping down on whatever looked comfortable while Louis fussed over me.

Liam was right; he did worry more about me when I was ‘hurt’ than he ever had any of the others when they were sick. If I claimed to be hungry, he went to get me a snack. If I were thirsty, a water bottle would appear in my hands. If I shivered even slightly, soft blankets were thrown over me. When I began to look tired, he pulled me into his chest and told me to go to sleep and that he had me.

I yawned and closed my eyes. I was actually tired, but I wanted to see what he would do. I felt him moving beneath me, and then he placed me gently on what I assumed was a bed. He pulled off my shirt and trousers for me and tucked me in before pressing a feathery light kiss to my forehead.

As he went to press another kiss to my forehead, I pretended to sleepily turn my head and his lips landed on mine. I could feel his surprise, and he pulled away expecting me to be awake. But I kept my eyes closed and forced down a blush that was begging to appear. When he thought there was no way I was still awake, he kissed me again, almost longingly.

Before he could leave, I ‘woke up’ a little and grabbed onto his hand. “Boo,” I murmured.

“Yeah, Hazza?

“Boobear, don’t leave me.” Opening my eyelids a sliver, I saw his conflicted expression. His mind thought he should go but he really wanted to stay and be there for me. “I need you.”

With that, he stripped off his own clothes and pulled up the sheets next to me, climbing in. I rolled over, pressing my body into his warmth. We were quickly tangled around each other, and I could feel my body releasing all the tension from the past few days. Louis was always so calming, so steady.

I heard him give a sigh of content and was happy to know that I was the reason for that sound. I, Harry Styles, made Louis Tomlinson content. That was an amazing feeling.

The last words I barely heard before drifting off to sleep. I was sure he hadn’t meant them the way I wanted him to, but just the fact that he said them to me made my heartbeat speed up and brought a gentle smile to my face and a warming sensation in my heart. Now if only I could get him to say those three little words to me when he knew I was awake and mean them.

“I love you.”