It's Complicated

Chapter 23

OOPS! HI!

With everything going on, Louis almost forgot that he was going into retirement.

The only people who knew at this point were his family and his team. Louis was actually surprised he was able to keep it a secret this long.

Usually secrets like this get leaked early, but thankfully no one has said anything. Louis would like to announce his retirement on his own terms, so hopefully it'll stay discreet till then.

It was about 7 am and Louis was surprisingly already awake.

He was making last minute revisions to his retirement speech, making sure that he wasn't missing anything. Louis wasn't the best at inspirational speeches, but he was impressed with what he came up with.

As Louis proofreads his speech on the computer, he feels like there's something missing, but he can't figure out what, so he sends a copy to Liam for a second opinion.

Not even 10 minutes later, Louis receives an incoming call from Liam.

"Louis who did you pay?" Liam asks right away as soon as Louis answers it.

"What?"

"I mean, this speech it's...amazing! There's no way you wrote this."

"Excuse me Liam, I might not have finished school, but I'm not completely hopeless."

"Wait you seriously wrote this?"

Louis rolls his eyes at Liam's shocked tone. "Yes, Liam."

"Wow, it's beautiful Lou. I mean I almost cried. I didn't know you were so good with words."

"You don't think it's too soppy do you?"

"No, I love it and I'm sure everyone else will too."

"Thanks, I worked hard on it," Louis said with a sense of pride.

"Well it's good so far. Can't wait to read the rest of it."

Louis chuckles. "What do you mean? It's done."

It's silent on the other side of the line for a few seconds.

"Louis...you don't mention Harry in here at all."

It's Louis's turn to be quiet.

So yeah, maybe he "forgot" to put Harry in there. It was just that Louis didn't know how to introduce Harry in the speech. Calling him his ex-husband felt weird and just saying that he was his friend felt wrong.

Also with all the public drama between them, Louis didn't think Harry would even want him to mention him in the speech.

"I-I know."

"You're seriously not going to thank Harry?" Liam asked incredulously. "I understand that you guys are divorced, but you guys have so much history. I mean you guys have a family together for god's sake!"

"Well what do you suggest I write Liam? Thank you to my ex-husband, Harry Styles, who broke my heart and is the reason for most of my breakdowns?"

"Lou, I'm not saying that you have to say a whole paragraph, just say a few words to show that you appreciate him."

Louis takes a deep breath. "I just don't want to say the wrong thing."

"You won't. You would look more like a dick if you didn't say anything at all."

"I hate it when you're right." Louis groans. "Well I guess I'll have to revise it again."

"Good but before you do that, you want to take a break and go to the gym with me?"