"Okay and now you push the lever down," Louis explains for the hundredth time today. "Carefully, please."

"Got it mate," Niall nods with a wide grin. He then moves the lever downwards, almost ripping it off.

Louis sighs in defeat with a shake of his head. Niall appears to be the exact opposite of a natural talent when it comes to operating espresso machines. Or any kind of equipment that can be found in a Starbucks store.

"That's enough for today, we'll try that again tomorrow. Just go over there and sell some pastries. They have name tags so you should be fine... wait you can read, right?"

"Umm... yeah!" Niall tells him proudly, totally missing his sarcasm. Time for a break.

After about 15 minutes of hiding in the lunchroom, Louis is actually on his way to get another load of Cheese Danishes from stock when he overhears Niall talking to a customer and peeks around the corner.

"Hi mate, how are ya?"

"Great, what about you? How's your first day going?"

"Awesome mate! What can I get ya?"

"Umm... I think I'm having a Matcha Tea Latte to go, a Chocolate Cheese Muffin and a- Louis?"

"Uhh... Harry, hi," Louis coughs, stepping around the corner.

"Wait you know each other?" Niall asks curiously after a second of confusion, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Well, actually... yeah," Louis says, scratching his head awkwardly. Harry just looks at him with raised eyebrows.

"But that's awesome!" Niall announces, clapping his hands. "Every friend of Harry's is a friend of mine," he says, pulling Louis into a sudden side hug.

"Wonderful," Louis mutters under his breath, immediately trying to escape Niall's grip.

"Hey, I think we should go out together tonight, to celebrate that it's my first day and all. There's this super cool bar just around the block. Drinks on me! What do you say?"

Louis freezes in his attempt to free himself. This is definitely not happening. One whole shift with this Irish leprechaun is more than enough. No way he's spending the evening with him too. He looks back and forth between Niall's beaming expectant face and Harry who is watching him with a lopsided grin, his eyes saying Give it a try.

"Ugh fine," Louis huffs, finally pushing Niall's arm off his shoulder. "But just this one time."

Niall looks utterly pleased with himself and Harry like he's trying to contain his laughter. Louis sighs and begins to prepare the drink Harry ordered as his blond colleague is obviously not going to do that anymore.

"Do you need a lift again? I'm basically finished here," he says to Harry, putting a muffin in a bag. Actually, his shift is not entirely over yet but hey...

"Oh, thanks but no. I still have some errands to run, I don't mind walking home. I do that all the time."

Louis nods curtly, trying not to feel too disappointed. "Alright then. See you tonight?"

"Yeah. I think I'll be taking a taxi then. I could make it stop by at your house to pick you up. I guess you won't drive?"

"Not really," Louis grins, definitely not planning to stay sober tonight. "That would be cool."

"Hey, what about me?" Niall interrupts with a pout.

"You're basically living crosstown, get your own taxi Ni," Harry laughs. The leprechaun seems to consider this obvious fact and starts beaming again. Is there any other facial expression this guy can have?

"Here you go. It's on the house," Louis announces, handing Harry his order after adding a Chocolate Chip Cookie he had pointed at like mad.

"Are you sure? Well, okay then... Thank you! See you later! And Niall, send me the address yeah?"

"Sure thing mate," Niall says, waving as Harry leaves the store. "We're gonna have a great night Louis, I'm telling ya.

"Certainly...," Louis mutters, walking off to finally get the Cheese Danishes.

***

"Are we late?" Louis asks when the taxi stops in front of the bar. It is not completely dark outside yet but the brick walls of the building are already illuminated by colourful outdoor lights.

"Umm... no? Niall's just always early when there are drinks in sight."

Louis nods and climbs out of the car, trying to fix his blue button-up. Harry throws the door shut behind them.

"Then let's enter the fray."

"Mates!" Niall shouts as soon as he spots them from across the road. "Come on in!"

He leads them into the building, past a couple of people snogging in the dark corners of the entrance area, past two guys that look like they're going to beat each other up any second and past a very crowded dancefloor.

"I thought we'd have a chill evening, just some drinks at a bar?" Louis shouts towards Harry over the music who just shrugs his shoulders.

"I should've known that Niall would not just go to a simple bar. He loves some action."

Louis huffs but keeps following the blond man over to the counter. When he plops down on one of the stools, Niall is already busy ordering beer for all of them. After clinking glasses he's soon off, disappearing into the crowd. Louis doesn't really feel like dancing and the buzzing music is already giving him a headache. Maybe he'll loosen up after a few drinks.

"Not having fun?" Harry asks after a while. "Do you wanna leave?"

"No it's fine. Just don't feel like partying right now. What about you? You don't wanna go dancing?"

"Naah, I think keeping you company is good enough," he replies with a small smile.

Niall remains missing most of the evening. Sometimes he stumbles over to the bar, hair sweaty, shirt buttoned down and lipstick stains on his cheek. He then orders another round of drinks and one time even drags both of them to the dancefloor. Louis soon gets lost between all the people and suddenly finds himself next to a girl with bright red hair who smiles at him seductively and moves way too close to him while dancing.

"I have a girlfriend!" he shouts into her ear at one point but she doesn't leave him alone and only grinds her body more against his. After abruptly excusing himself and hiding in the bathroom for 20 minutes, he decides it's safe enough to return to his seat.

When Harry comes back after a while, completely out of breath, Louis wordlessly pushes another pint of beer over to him. Harry seems not interested in any kind of small talk anymore so they fall silent.

Louis doesn't know how much time has passed or how many drinks he's had in the meantime. In the distance he hears Harry's voice but continues staring absentmindedly into his empty glass.

"Lou...?" Harry tries again, softly touching his hand and starting to trace invisible patterns on his skin.

Louis' heart misses a beat. He lifts his gaze to look at Harry whose eyes remain fixated on the back of his hand. "Yeah?"

"I miss you."

And another one. He's certainly going to die of heart failure soon. His head, feeling more and more clouded thanks to the alcohol, is not really able to comprehend.

"But... we've agreed that we can be friends again..."

"Yeah but... it still feels so distant," Harry says, poking Louis' knuckle.

Harry is drunk. Very drunk. And apparently he gets terribly affectionate when being drunk. Alcohol can affect people in weird ways, Louis thinks. Some become reckless and silly, like he usually does, not now though, which is weird. Some become melancholy and silent. Some turn into a version of themselves you would rather not be met with when they come home late at night. Harry, however, is probably the kind of person to come home, crawl into bed and snuggle up to you... Louis William Tomlinson what are you even thinking about?

Louis snaps out of it when suddenly someone bumps into his shoulder, spilling half of their drink over him. He jumps to his feet almost immediately. "What the fuck, idiot?"

The guy has already disappeared into the crowd but Louis is still staring after him aggressively until he feels Harry's hand on his forearm. "It's not worth it Lou."

He mumbles something incomprehensible, finally sitting back down on the barstool. "I think I should get going. It's already quite late. And you too, by the way. You're drunk."

"What? I'm not!" Harry protests, hopping down from his seat. With growing amusement Louis watches him sway back and forth before holding out a hand for him to grab so he doesn't topple over. "Lou are we on a carousel?"

"Not drunk, yeah?" he chuckles, putting Harry's arm around his shoulder to steady him. Although he's quite alcoholised himself, his head is still way clearer than Harry's. "Let's find Niall and take you home, shall we?"

"Ay, Sir," Harry replies, leaning into Louis.

"Hey, stop doing that, you're heavy."

"You're mean."

"And you're drunk."

"Lou?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I stay at your place? I don't wanna go home."

Louis hesitates for a moment. "But you're sleeping on the couch."  

Hey guys, hope you've enjoyed this chapter - feel free to leave a like and some feedback, it's appreciated :)

Stay safe, Ella xxx