this side of paradise l.s.

chapter x.

sorry this took so long, i had finals and then accidentally clicked on a dream smp video on youtube, and now I'm emotionally attached to a homeless green tellytubby who traumatizes children. i don't even like minecraft but roleplay brain go brr.

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someone told me, "stay away from things that aren't yours,"
but was he yours if he wanted me so bad?

pacify her
she's getting on my nerves
you don't love her

- pacify her, melanie martinez

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‘Haylor’ was the biggest load of bullshit Louis had ever seen. He almost tweeted it too, but he was already in deep shit with his management and didn’t need more reprimands. As fun as it was seeing how grey Simon Cowell’s hair turned every time he talked to Louis, he wasn’t sure it was worth how shitty he felt after every meeting. 

This entire ‘Haylor’ thing wouldn’t even bother Louis as much as it did if it wasn’t shoved in his face every ten seconds. 

It first began when they were at an awards show for something or other - they all blended into each other after some time - and were being interviewed after winning yet another award. Louis was high off the kind of euphoria you could only get from beating a bunch of wildly talented musicians with a song about sex (although to be fair, most of their songs were about the Devil’s Tango, for some reason). Louis had been messing with Liam, pinching him and poking his sides with the award while the other boys were at least attempting to answer the nice interviewer's questions. And by “other boys”, he meant Niall. Zayn had disappeared with Perrie Edwards somewhere and Louis lost track of Harry after his third glass of champagne in under five minutes. 

The interviewer turned to Louis after some time and shoved the microphone into his face. “And do you boys have anyone catching your eye, tonight? We already know Harry is getting cozy with Taylor Swift-” She cut herself off with a laugh and Louis frowned. 

He should have said something about his girlfriend Eleanor, the same speech he always gave when he had to explain why his “wonderful girlfriend of - wow, two years now, isn’t that amazing?” wasn’t there, but what came out of his mouth instead was a dumb, “What?” 

“Well, we’ve seen Haylor out and about since July, and we’re just waiting for them to make it official,” the interviewer explained, not actually explaining anything. “How do you feel about them being dubbed the hottest couple of 2013 already?” 

Maybe it was all the champagne, or maybe it was (Maybelline) the heat sticking to his skin, but Louis felt something strange twisting in his throat. “What the fuck is a Haylor?” He demanded around the lump.

The perpetual smile on her face slipped a little. “Taylor Swift and Harry Styles? That’s their couple name-”

“They’re not a couple, though,” Louis interrupted. His brain was whirring, all the cogs chafing against each other like the beginnings of a bruise. He was sure Harry wasn’t seeing anyone. It was just another dumb rumor the internet made up because they were bored and had nothing better to do. He opened his mouth to say just that, upset that Harry’s stupid ‘womanizer’ image was still a popular topic of interest, but Liam tugged at his arm harshly. 

Liam laughed tightly. “Louis had a bit too much to drink, I think.” He took control of the situation enough to lead the interviewer into a different conversation about the writing process for their third album. Niall then pulled Louis away because he thought he saw Lady Gaga (because they were apparently famous enough to just go up to Lady Gaga and say hi, holy shit), distracting him into forgetting about the weird conversation.