Confessions of a Gay Disney Prince

Chapter 18: Ullagone

[Splash Mountain, Walt Disney World in Florida, 2:24pm, Meet & Greet]

HARRY: (smiling) "Hey Louis. How was lunch?"

LOUIS: (mock sadness) "Hey, buddy."

HARRY: (smile immediately falling off) "What's wrong? You're sad."

LOUIS: (surprised at the speed of the reaction ) "Uh..."

HARRY: "Is something wrong?"

LOUIS: (back on the act) "Well, yes and no..."

HARRY: "What is it? What happened?"

LOUIS: "Harry, I think..." (almost losing it and bursting into laughter, covers it up by palming his face, fake sniffles) "I uh..."

HARRY: (whimpering) "What? What happened?" (wraps an arm around him awkwardly) "Are you hurt?" (realizes what he is doing, jumps back) "Are you sad? Did I do something wrong?"

LOUIS: (can't help himself, incredulous, snappy) "How is it that that is the first thing in your mind?"

HARRY: "I did? I did something wrong?"

LOUIS: (unimpressed) "Harry..."

HARRY: (urgently) "I didn't mean to!" (pause) "Whatever it is."

LOUIS: "You're unbelievable."

HARRY: "I'm sorry."

LOUIS: "No, you idiot. I just got fired."

HARRY: (speechless, devastated) "What..."

LOUIS: (ranting) "No longer working here. Fired. No more Disney. Hasta la vista this job. Time to be homeless."

HARRY: (shell-shocked) "You're lying."

LOUIS: "No...I'm..." (realizing Harry is not taking it well, torn as to whether to keep going) "I'm not."

HARRY: "So you're leaving for good?"

LOUIS: (can't even get himself to smile he's so surprised) "Yeah..."

HARRY: (palms his mouth, looks left and right, shuffles, under his breath) "Shit..." (anxious) "Why?"

LOUIS: "Because I'm fired?"

HARRY: "Why are you fired?" (shakily) "Why did they fire you? Why would they do that? You were good at this."

LOUIS: (half-hearted) "They think I'm too mean for this job."

HARRY: (angry) "That's not true!" (frustrated) "You're good at this. You don't deserve to be fired. You have to be here...you didn't do anything wrong. Why would they do this? Is this legal? Like with the contract? Is this—they can't do this...what about the contract? They can't fire you."

LOUIS: (smiling slowly) "You're seconds away from bursting into tears, aren't you?"

HARRY: "I'm sad. I'm sorry. I don't know...It's sad. Is there anything I can do...."

LOUIS: (blurted) "I was joking."

HARRY: "What?"

LOUIS: "It was a prank. I'm not fired. Simon loves me. I lied."

HARRY: "Why would you..." (trails off, opens his mouth, closes it, walks away, shaking his head)

LOUIS: "Hey!" (runs after him) "Hey, hey, it was a prank, harmless...hey." (intercepts him) "Hey..." (sees how embarrassed Harry is, chuckles) "It's okay."

HARRY: "I..." (palms his face) "This isn't fair...that wasn't a good joke. That wasn't funny. I was worried." (sees Louis grinning) "That's not funny."

LOUIS: "It was stupid—I didn't think it would...Harry." (actually worried) "I just wanted to see your reaction."

HARRY: (frustrated) "Well now you have." (walks past him) "Hope you're happy."

LOUIS: "Harry." (groans, follows him again) "It wasn't a big deal. I didn't mean to worry you. Well, I did, but I didn't think you were going to get so...so...hurt over it. I thought it'd be light...a joke... Harry, can you stop walking away for a second?"

HARRY: (irritated) "What did you think was going to happen, Louis? What did you think? Of course, I'd get worried. And sad. And..." (mumbles the rest)

LOUIS: "What?"

HARRY: "Nothing. Just nothing. Good prank."

LOUIS: (sighs) "Maybe I took it too far."

HARRY: "It's fine."

LOUIS: "I honestly just wanted to see you celebrate. I didn't mean to upset you."

HARRY: (genuinely confused) "Why would I celebrate?"

LOUIS: "Well, you wouldn't have to put up with me all day long."

HARRY: "You're the only person I really talk to."

LOUIS: "That's not true."

HARRY: "It is. You're the only kinda friend—acquaintance, interaction thing I have other than Zayn, who has to talk to me because he's my best friend, and if you left then I'd just be back to square one again. I thought I was making some progress...I thought..."

LOUIS: "I'm not going to leave." (sobers up) "I didn't think it'd be..." (sighs) "I feel bad...I suppose...about how hard you took it."

HARRY: (shrugs) "It's fine. I overreacted."

LOUIS: (blurting) "You did."

HARRY: (embarrassed) "Yeah...I do that...sometimes." (sighs) "Yeah..." (starts walking away awkwardly) "I'm going to...go now because I have something to—I need to—uh, meet someone—I just, uh, wanna leave really..."

LOUIS: (interrupting him) "It was cute."

HARRY: "Huh?"

LOUIS: (blushing against his will, forcing the words out) "The overreacting, it was cute. I liked it. It made me feel better about myself. It was flattering—I'm flattered. Don't feel bad."

HARRY: (lost) "Okay..."

LOUIS: "It's good to know you want me around."

HARRY: (painfully confused, trying so hard) "Should I not want that?"

LOUIS: (immediately) "No, no. It's nice. I'm not used to it but it's a good nice..." (making fun of himself) "Like there's such thing as a bad nice, Louis." (snorts) "I'm trying to say you shouldn't stop caring about people just because I made this stupid prank..." (mumbled) "Shouldn't stop caring about..." (wince) "Me...in specific."

HARRY: "I won't. It's not like I can... I don't really decide that. I just..." (shrugs) "Care...just happens. If I like people, I care about them."

LOUIS: (smitten unconsciously, smiling faintly) "I'd care too...if you were fired. So you know...I'd be upset too. I'd make more of a scene probably, curse a bit and such, lead a protest. It'd have been a ton more embarrassing."

HARRY: (smiles, warm) "I know."

LOUIS: (smug) "Do you now?"

HARRY: "Yeah... You watch out for me. Have since the start." (walks away, hands in pockets, leaving Louis stunned)