Eleanor Calder.
She's a friend of Harry's and Louis might've, sort of, kind of has a crush on her. It's no big deal, a crush is nothing. He'll get over it. Eventually.
Except he sees her everyday and she's almost impossible to ignore. Well, not really ignore... she's almost impossible to not kiss. Yes, that's what he means. It's almost impossible to not wrap an arm around her waist and glare at other guys who check her out. It's almost impossible to not make her his.
But see, he's afraid if he's with her too long, it won't just be a crush. He's afraid.. well... He's afraid he'll fall in love with her. It should be illegal, being that loveable. But she is, with that lovely chestnut hair and those gorgeous eyes and that playful smile. She's beautiful-
"Mate?" Harry's waving his hand about.
Louis blinks. "Hmm?"
"I lost you there for a minute," he laughs.
Louis shakes his head. "Oh. Sorry."
"No problem. I was just asking what you think of Eleanor."
He immediately turns bright red. "S-she's, um, alright."
Harry chuckles at his friend. "Quite pretty, yeah?"
Louis suddenly frowns. "Do you like her?" He asks forcefully.
He holds his hands up. "Nah, of course not. Just observing."
Louis slowly sits back. "Yeah. I, uh, didn't really notice."
Harry shakes his head. His friend has it bad. "Yeah alright, Lou."
Louis stares at him. "What does that mean?"
"Oh, nothing."
Feeling lost, he watches the curly haired lad strut away.
*
Harry smirks and saddles up to Eleanor. "Hey El."
"Hey, Harry! What's up?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if you wanted to get dinner later."
The brunette beams. "I'd love to. Where at?"
"How about Nandos?"
"Yeah, alright, say six?"
"Sounds good." Harry leaves abruptly.
Eleanor rolls her eyes at her friend's silliness and continues folding her clothes.
Unfortunately, that doesn't take her mind off a certain blue eyed, brown haired boy that's been haunting her lately.
Louis is Harry's friend and she sort of, maybe, a little has a crush on him. But it's alright, she'll get over it soon. Hopefully.
If only he wasn't so... likeable! With those azure eyes and messy brown hair and bright laugh. And if that isn't enough, he's funny. He's practically the definition her dream guy. From ages to four to eleven she imagined herself marrying a blue eyed, brown haired guy with a sense of humor.
And she's pretty sure if she spends a lot more time with him, she might fall in love with him. And that would be distasterous. They have a good thing, they're great friends. He's just as crazy as her and he's her partner in crime.
She doesn't want to lose that.
*
"So Lou."
Louis looks up as Harry swaggers over him. "Yeah?"
"D'you wanna go get some dinner tonight?"
Louis shrugs. "Sure. Where?"
"Nandos, around six."
"Okay."
Harry winks. "It's a date."
Louis rolls his eyes at the flirtaseous lad and ponders what Eleanor is doing.
(that night)
Where's Harry?
Eleanor paces up and down the sidewalk. It's six twenty and her friend isn't here yet. She was annoyed at first but now she's worried.
"Harreh! Sorry I'm late."
She spins around. Louis is running towards her. He skids to a stop.
"Eleanor? Why are you here?"
"I'm meeting Harry for dinner."
"But... I'm meeting him for dinner."
They realize at the same moment what the cheeky bugger was up to.
Louis puts on a bright smile even though he knows it's going to be impossible to resist the call of her across the table and extends his arm.
"Well, Ms. Calder, it looks like we've been set up."
She giggles and takes it. "Indeed it does, Mr. Tomlinson."
"Shall I escort you to dinner?"
"You shall." They laugh and head inside.
*
The dinner is going well. Louis hasn't attempted to kiss her yet, so that's a plus. Eleanor decides it's a success because she hasn't confessed her feelings (yet).
They both know that it wouldn't take much to push them to it though.
So of course, they're eating dessert when she reaches for her water and he reaches for nhis and they're hands brush. The electricity that rushes between them is shocking and sort of an eye opener.
"Eleanor," Louis begins.
"Louis," Eleanor says at the same time. They laugh.
"You first," she says.
He clears his throat. "Erm... for the past few weeks... I've sort of... developed these... feelings."
Eleanor's watching him in amusement. He blushes because she knows what he's trying to say.
"I think I... like you."
She starts laughing and he huffs. "You're not helping."
She calms down. "Your face, Lou! Anyways... yes. I mean, I like you too."
This time it's his turn to snigger and she rolls her eyes. "I guess I deserved that."
"Oh, absolutely."
They show up at the house that night hand in hand and as Harry watches from his window he smirks to himself.
Project Elounor is a success.
