Your Addictive Heart || l.s

Curtain Call

So the plan wasn't perfect, but it was working. Sort of.

When the dust settled from the storm that was Louis' violent outburst towards Jordan, he realized how bad things could have gotten. Especially for Diana. He should have thought it through...he just got so angry.

In order to not throw Diana under the bus, Louis had to spin some webs. He came clean about the feud he'd had with Jordan. He told them about the scandal with the performance enhancers and how Louis had protected Liam's slip up this whole time. He told them it was their feud that led to the incident with the musical and let them connect their own dots.

They were still pissed at Louis but they didn't shoot daggers at him every time he walked into a room.

They lightened up even more when Louis suggested they rebuild the set. They could make all the repairs and have the show ready for next weekend. It would take a lot of long nights and hard work but Louis was willing to do this for his friends and his sister.

"That would never work." Zayn shook his head sourly when Louis suggested it.

"I- I think we should try." He told them. They were all gathered in Niall's kitchen. Louis wasn't really invited to the get-together so he invited himself.

"We'd need like...double the bodies." Olivia dismissed him.

"I'll help." Anna offered.

"Yeah. And I talked to the guys on the team. They all offered to help,"  Louis added.

"Offered or were forced?" Niall asked.

"Does it matter? They're going to help." Louis snapped defensively. Shit. He needed to dial it back.

"Alright, let's say. We do this. What do you get out of it? Clearly, you didn't want this show to happen. So what changed?" Olivia interrogated him.

"I did want it to happen. I swear it. I just want to make it up to you guys." Louis promised.

"K. Let's do it." Zayn jumped to his feet.

"For real?" Olivia looked around skeptically. He didn't blame her. It was a long shot, but he owed it to them to give it everything he had.

"I'm in." Liam smiled as he grabbed his keys.

"Should we call Harry? See if he can get back to help?" Olivia asked.

"Try," Liam told her. "And while you're at it see if there's anyone else from school who wants to help."

They all filed into their cars to get started at the school. Louis filled his sister in too and she worked her magic getting the word out about the rescheduling of the musical.

Day after day that week they spent fixing things and starting what needed from scratch. Olivia got a lot of her friends helping and running errands. Louis got his team doing the reconstruction and assembly of set work.

Zayn was in his own little world using his artistic ability to reimagine his work. Everyone was on strict orders not to disturb him unless there was a fire or fatal injury that required his immediate attention.

On the third day of work, they started moving some of the smaller pieces to the auditorium to see how it all worked together.

Louis caught sight of a distressed man coming from the administrative office. That looked like...could it be?

"Mr. Styles!" Niall shouted from down the hall. "HEY, MR. STYLES!"

He took sight of the commotion coming from the crew. He hesitantly approached them. "Hey, kids." He greeted them.