Chapter 26

The woman who works here gives Harry and I our guns and vests. I thank her, and she just mumbles something rude back. I look to Harry, but he did not hear her. He is too busy with putting on his vest to care what she said. It was not very friendly, but I cannot blame her. If I had to referee a game played by voice-cracking boys all day, I would probably be just as stressed. We move out of the way so everyone else can get their suits.

Everyone is in the waiting room outside of the laser tag arena. Zayn, Harry, Louis, Eleanor and Niall as promised, and a multitude of kids, antisocial-looking people, and annoyed parents who were dragged here by their children. There are about 30 people here. The teams are going to be chosen randomly, so no one will know what team they are on until the suits light up. Then the teams can plan for five minutes and then the game starts. I am standing next to Harry, trying to figure out how this suit and gun-thing works. He helps me buckle it on, since I am clearly unable to do it myself.

"We really couldn't have gone ice skating?" I ask. I still am not in love with the idea of playing laser tag.

"You didn't have to say yes, you know." He finishes strapping on the suit for me.

But I had to. If I declined the offer, what would our relationship be like then? He is already going to find out that he cannot trust me anymore. If I kept us apart any longer, he probably would end up thinking that I do want to be with Zayn.

He catches my eyes and looks at me funny. "What?" I ask with an obvious stutter. What is that look? Does he know? God, he fucking knows.

He shakes his head. "You don't even know how to play laser tag, do you?"

"Wha-" Wait, he does not know. Everything is fine. I am okay. The nerves he gave me melt into pure giddiness for a minute. I smile. "N-no. No I have no idea how to play laser tag," I say confidently.

He stares at me with his attentive green eyes, and one of the corners of his mouth slightly edges up. "Alright. So the first thing you need to know..."

I giggle as he attempts to explain the rules to me. For some reason, I think that the fact that he gets to explain laser tag to me makes him really happy. So I let him do it for a while. He holds up the laser in front of me and points out the trigger, something I should obviously know. Then he starts to explain technique and things I do not care about. He is wearing a black, wrinkled t-shirt and dark blue jeans. He pushed his hair back with an olive green bandana he has been wearing a lot recently. He is wearing black shoes with black laces. His entire outfit makes me feel a bit awkward around him. He seems way more into the game than I will ever be, and it really sucks to have to pretend to be interested in the game for him.

He still has not stopped talking, but I have stopped paying attention. I wrap my hands around his arm and hug it to my chest to pull him closer to me, and I almost make him drop the laser. He still tries to explain technique although I keep distracting him, but I can see his smile forming. "You have to shoot when-" he stops mid sentence and glares at me jokingly. "Are you even paying attention?"

"Of course not," I say, and he shyly looks to the ground when he realizes that his efforts were futile. I grin. Being here with Harry makes me regret even more what Zayn and I did. It makes me wonder why I did not try to apologize sooner. "I missed you a lot," I say. His eyes flicker up to mine, a lot brighter than they were before.

"I missed you too," he whispers. He wraps his arms around me.

"I won't ever leave for that long again," I say, burying my face in his chest.

"Alright." He smiles and tries to kiss me. I do not let him get too touchy, because, well, there are children here and judging parents all around. And those parents can get pretty scary.

Plus, I feel like Zayn keeps looking at us. Actually, I know he is. He is standing with Niall, and they both keep glancing our way. Niall must know about the kiss. The kiss. Why do I even call it that? It was no where near as romantic as it sounds. It was dirty. It feels wrong to give it a such a positive name when all it does is hurt people.

I should call it "the terrible thing that Zayn and I did that will break Harry's trust in me and that makes me feel guilty and afraid that I do not really love Harry". That is accurate.

Louis catches my eye. He looks at me as if everything is okay between us now. Nothing is really okay, but he does not know that, so I force myself to look away. All the lying makes it extremely difficult to even look at those who I have hurt.

I told Louis that I talked to Harry about the kiss. I know I should have not, but Louis kept giving me looks when we first got here and would keep saying things about me that were not exactly flattering. So I lied to him earlier. But it should be okay. I am going to tell Harry immediately after we leave laser tag. And I know Louis is not the one to start drama, so I doubt he will talk to Harry about it in front of everyone.

As long as I act like what I told him is true, Louis will have no reason to doubt me, right?

Our suits light up, designating which teams everybody is on.

My suit shines yellow. Harry's is red. "Get ready to be defeated," I tell him.

He scoffs. "You wish. Have you seen your team?"

I guess I have not. I look around. Harry's team has Eleanor and Louis and a group of older guys that came together. Zayn and Niall are on my team, along with a few small children and awkward looking preteen boys. "You're kidding me?"

Louis calls him to his group. "Nope, see you in the game." He jogs away.

I walk to where my team is meeting, on the opposite side of the room as Harry's.

Some kid makes himself our leader and pairs us up to "watch each other's backs," or something cliche like that. He pairs me with Niall, and Zayn with some teenager. Niall honestly looks disappointed that he got put with me. Niall and I are great friends, of course, but hell, if I was him, I would be a little pissed too.

Five minutes pass and an alarm goes off, sending everyone into the dark room. I have no clue what to do, and end up just standing and waiting for someone to help me. Niall comes up to me. "Come on, we've got to actually go inside to play the game."

"I know," I sigh. "But how the hell does this game even work?"

I struggle to find out how to shoot the laser, wasting even more time. Maybe I should have paid attention to Harry. "Come on," he huffs, and he starts to shove me into the arena. He literally pulls me by the vest to an area in the corner of the arena that hides us well. "We will just stay here and move if anyone shows up for now."

"Okay," I say. I lean against the wall, already relaxing now that Niall is letting us do the easy work. Well, for now it is the easy work.

The room is huge. Weird techno, futuristic shit music is playing loud throughout it. The noises of lasers being shot continue almost endlessly. I doubt people would hear us if Niall and I were to talk quietly enough. Niall notices this too, and tries to teach me how to use the gun. After I have learned the basics of laser tag, I make it a point to ask about the kiss.

"You know, don't you?" I ask as casually as I can.

His blue eyes flicker to mine, brightly reflecting the neon light that is in the room. "What, about Zayn and you?" I nod. "Yeah, I know."

Niall stands up straight when he thinks he hears someone passing by, but relaxes as he sees that the person is on our side. "Does H-Harry know?" he asks cautiously.

"I'm telling him today," I assert.

He crosses his arms. "O...kay. But-"

"But what?" I am telling Harry. And if Zayn thinks he can use Niall to stop me, then he is very wrong.

"I think you need to talk to Zayn first." He puts his hands up defensively. "I'm all for telling Harry, but don't you think that you have to work things out with Zayn before? I think Zayn deserves at least that much."

"Zayn was the one who started this mess in the first place. And what would there be to work out? There is nothing going on between us." Am I lying?

"Well he seems to think otherwise." He shrugs. "And I think that kiss proved otherwise. You did kiss him back, didn't you?"

His bringing it up makes me angry. Partly because it is true, but if I tell him that, then he wins. "It was never supposed to happen," I growl.

"Just talk to Zayn. He really needs to hear that from you." Niall says.

He needs to hear it from me? He should know that it was not good that it happened. I am with Harry and he has Olivia. How could he begin to think that I am glad the kiss happened?

A dark figure with a yellow suit comes jogging up to us. It is Zayn. He and Niall discuss how the other team is doing- something like that. A couple of little kids who are on our team come up to us also, and we talk about how we plan our attack.

That is, until we get attacked. Four big people are coming our way from all different angles and are shooting at us. The little kids are first to get hit. Niall and Zayn do okay, they knock out two of the guys before Niall gets hit. Then it is just Zayn and I against the other two guys while everyone else has to race to some "respawn center". Except, I have no clue what I am doing, so Zayn is the only useful one left on our side. But he somehow shoots them out before they can reach us. The two run away, probably to the respawn center like the others.

I sigh when they have disappeared, dreading what is going to happen next now that Zayn and I are alone. Are we going to act normal? Or are we going to show the tension between us? I just pray Niall and the others come back soon.

*Louis' POV*

A few people run by us to respawn. I spot Niall, but no one else I can recognize. After they pass, no one is around Harry and I. We are pretty well hidden, thanks to myself, and the music is loud enough for us to talk a little.

"So you really are okay with Jessie?" I ask. I need to get to the point quick, before someone hears us.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he says as he occupies himself with tying his black shoelace. Harry took this game a bit too seriously, unlike Jessie, who has not even the slightest clue on how the game is played. I am positive that the only reason she came was to get on good terms with Harry. She had been out of sight for more than a week. Thank God she finally stopped lying and came out of hiding.

"She and Zayn are hanging out on the same team."

He looks up and furrows his brow gently. "Oh, well it's not that big of a deal anymore."

I raise my eyebrows. Harry has always been the jealous one. He cannot be okay with this. "It isn't?"

"Well, she told me at the party that she had been texting Zayn and about high school. But I don't think there is anything to worry about." He smiles. "If anything, I should be worrying about her and Niall." He looks back down at his foot and re-ties it after his failed first attempt.

I chuckle. That lying bitch. I cannot believe I trusted her for even a second. Harry should not have to put up with this. "She didn't fucking tell you, did she?"

He lifts his head. "Didn't tell me what?"