14 | l.s mpreg

chapter thirty-two

"It's been a week," Louis said as he walked with Harry towards the cafeteria, looking over at him as he spoke. "You told me you wanted to tell her alone and that's fine, Harry. But the longer you put this off, the more stressed you look." He pointed out and then shrugged his shoulders. "Are you sure you don't want me to be with you when you—"

"Lou, I'm sure. Look, I keep putting it off. I know." Harry said as he looked over at Louis. "I've just... been busy." He said. "In between trying to focus on school, you, the baby, and friends... it's kind of hard to figure out a good time to tell my mum. I doubt there will ever be a good time." He said softly, feeling defeated. "I'll tell her today." He promised and then looked over at Louis for a moment before focusing his attention back on the floor as they walked together.

"It's up to you, babe," Louis said softly, bumping his shoulder lightly against Harry's own. "I don't want to add to the stress of things." He said and then gave Harry a small smile, trying to cheer him up a bit, even though these days it was a pretty difficult task. "I talked to my aunt." He informed softly, hoping maybe some good news would help Harry's mood.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, feeling hopeful by the tone of Louis' voice. "Did she say if there were any positions open?" He asked with a small smile as he looked back over at his boyfriend.

"Mhm," Louis hummed and then smiled a little at Harry. "Which means I start work next week." He said and then took Harry's hand into his own. "Which means we can cross something off of our to-do list. I mean, I won't be... breaking the bank anytime soon. But it's good news, yeah?" He asked and Harry nodded. "We'll save up and... figure everything out."

"I know we will," Harry said, deciding he would rather think positively than negatively at least for the rest of the day or at least until he had to tell his mother the big news. "Congratulations. On getting the job, I mean. It's really... good to know that something is going right for us."

"Thanks." Louis smiled and then shrugged his shoulders a little. "So... I just want you to know that even if things go wrong with telling your mum that no matter what, I'm always a phone call away." He said as they approached the cafeteria. "If things go great then that'll be amazing. But if not, I need you to remember it isn't the end of the world, yeah?" He asked and then squeezed Harry's hand gently before the two of them walked to their regular table together.

"I know, Lou," Harry said before they sat down in their regular places just like always. "It'll be fine. And... if it isn't then I'll just try to remember that this is really big news that may take a while to sink in fully." He shrugged his shoulders as he pulled his lunch out of his bag.

"Are you two coming?" Zayn asked, pulling Harry's gaze from Louis', although he had no idea what Zayn was talking about, which must have been obvious because Zayn continued talking. "My brother is throwing an... Anti-Valentine's day party? I don't know. It sounds completely ridiculous to me, but a party is a party." He chuckled lightly as he stole one of Eleanor's fries from her tray of food.

"I don't know," Harry answered honestly. "I have to check with my mum." He said because after today he wasn't sure if his mother would ever let him leave the house again. But he was already pregnant, so how much more trouble could he realistically get in at this point? Still, he doubted that if his mother knew he was pregnant that he would be allowed to go to a party.

"Okay, cool," Zayn said with a small smile and then stole another fry from Eleanor's plate, making her turn to glare at him. "What?" He asked as if he'd done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Will get your own food?" Eleanor asked as she stared at Zayn for a moment, an amused smile on her lips as she spoke to him.

"No," Zayn replied, laughing a little when the girl gave him a questioning look. "If I went and got my own food, I wouldn't be able to constantly annoy you for the entirety of our lunch break." He said and then took another one of her fries. "Ah, Luke... you're alone?" He asked as he watched Luke sit at their table without Bella or Ashton at his side like they normally were.

"Bella's not speaking to me and Ashton is... I don't know what Ashton is doing, but he was really irritated with me earlier." Luke explained to Zayn with a shrug of his shoulders. "And... really for no reason at all."

"Really?" Eleanor asked, annoyed with Luke's attitude about Ashton in general. "He has a right to be mad at you, you know? If anyone has a right to be irritated with you, it's Ashton." She said, defending Ashton because she was tired of watching Luke break Ashton down for the smallest things.

"What do you know about it, El? It's none of your business." Luke said as he looked over at Eleanor with a confused look. 

"Yeah, you're right," Eleanor said and then shook her head. "But you should know that not everything regarding Ashton has to do with you. The whole freaking world doesn't revolve around Luke Hemmings, even though that may come as a shock to you." She said, making him roll his eyes.

"Will you two ever get along?" Liam asked with a soft sigh and then shook his head as he watched the two continually bicker. "I swear you two have been at each other's throats for as long as I've known you both."

"I didn't fucking start it," Luke argued and then stared at Eleanor. "She's always placing herself in other people's business. It's like she thinks she knows absolutely everything when the truth is that she knows nothing." He shook his head.

"I know enough to know that you're a dick to both Bella and Ashton, two people who — for some reason — seem to like you," Eleanor said and then shrugged her shoulders. "And I'm tired of you thinking that you're allowed to go back and forth between them. It's disgusting."

"Shut the fuck up, Eleanor, honestly." Luke shook his head. "I'm tired of you thinking you're allowed to insert yourself into my personal life." He said, sick and tired of feeling like his friends were constantly against him.

"Okay, you two need to cool it," Zayn said before Eleanor could get another word in. "Seriously, we all get on each other's nerves sometimes, but at some point, we have to drop the conversation before it goes too far."

"This is exactly why Aubrey won't sit at the table anymore." Liam sighed softly and then glanced over at the table across the room his girlfriend was seated at with her friends.

"This is exactly why I don't want to sit at this table anymore." Luke shook his head and then stood up, grabbing his stuff and then he walked off and out of the cafeteria without even glancing back at the table of his friends.

"Really, El?" Louis asked as he looked across the table at her. "I get that he's a bit of a dick sometimes, but he's still our mate, yeah?"

"He hasn't been my mate since he started thinking with his dick." Eleanor shrugged her shoulders. "Ashton's really not in a good place emotionally right now and Luke plays a large role in his unhappiness. Then he acts as if he doesn't know why Ashton is so unhappy when it comes to him. It's... sickening to think about."

"It's none of our business," Louis said and then shrugged his shoulders. "I know that... it sucks seeing Ashton so unhappy. But you have to remember that he's the one that keeps going back to Luke in the end. Whether or not Luke is manipulating how it happens, ultimately the choice is up to Ashton." He reminded. "Someone has to play devil's advocate is all I'm saying."

"Why? Why would anyone want to be on Luke's side of this?" Eleanor questioned and then shook her head.

"Luke might have other stuff going on too. Ever thought about that? Ever tried asking him why he goes back in forth between Ashton and Bella?" Louis questioned and then sighed softly. "Look, I don't want to talk about it anymore... it's really none of our business." He said and then hummed softly. "Let's change the subject to something much less... deep and dark, yeah?"

"Like... where is Ash?" Niall asked and then looked around the lunchroom a bit, but he didn't see Ashton anywhere. 

"He usually goes to the library when he wants to be alone," Eleanor informed softly and the picked up one of the fries from her plate. "He's having a rough day. Let's just leave him alone."

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Next chapter is a Luke and Ashton chapter... get your popcorn ready.