One At Last?

Chapter 10

"Congrats Lou, you are now a "single" man," Zayn says making air quotes.

"It's a relief," Louis exhales deeply.

It doesn't take long for the article to go viral; it's everywhere. After People Magazine, The Sun publishes a piece, and many other articles follow suit. His fans are celebrating; he knows the fans realized it was all a stunt, and he is pleased to see that everyone is happy. And somewhere in the thick of all the tweets and bustle generated by a breakup article between him and Eleanor, he wonders what will happen when Harry and he come out to the public. How will their fans react? He is terrified, but it also seems like a weight has been removed from his chest. He thinks about how he could post Harry's most embarrassingly charming images online and refer to him as "mine" in front of thousands of people. He considers how they will no longer have to hide in VIP boxes at each other's concerts, how they will be able to go on dates, and how they will be able to share some of their most important moments with their fans.

He is overcome with emotion as he considers the freedom they do not yet have; in fact, their freedom appears to be further away than it was at the end of 2022. They had a master plan, but a stupid tweet brought everything crashing down, and Harry's management, of course, added extra tour dates. Harry's contract was set to end in January when he finished the American leg of the tour, and any further dates added would be under a different label, but Jeff managed to push it all the way to July. It's merely a hiccup in their plan. Every time they talk, Louis assures Harry, yet deep inside, Louis is afraid. He knows Jeff would not let go of Harry easily, so they need a better plan. The first few steps have been successful, but there is still a long way to go.

He gets the home to himself not long after Lottie, Zayn, Liam, and Niall have left. He is lonely because, despite the fact that it is their house, Harry is not around to make it seem like home; it simply feels like a place to eat and sleep, which he does. It's dinnertime, and he simply reheats some leftover spaghetti from the day before, watches something, and then goes to bed early. He tries to tell himself that it's been a good day. He considers phoning Harry but instead texts. Harry isn't all that far away, but he can't just go up to his house. Jeff has clearly stated the implications of them seeing each other.

February 9th, the day Harry signed with a new Label.

When the meeting is over and Harry has said his goodbyes to everyone, he calls Louis. He's scared to tell Louis what he's done since, let's be honest, even if it was a good decision, Jeff was angered by it. He wonders if he behaved impulsively and made a mistake. He didn't even mention anything to Louis.

"Lou! Oh, I miss you so terribly," he sobs, tears streaming down his face. There is no response at the other end, only sniffling and weeping. "Louis? You there?" Harry asks, with wet eyes.

"Mhm yes love, of course, I'm here. I am always here," Louis says sobbing attempting to wipe tears off his face. "You wanted to tell me something? Is everything ok?"

"I met with Jeff," there's a pause on both ends, Harry breaks the silence, "I met with Jeff and my contract ends in July and I signed with another label that supports us and... and I got Jeff to agree for us to talk on the phone, but he won't let us meet and he added more tour dates and somehow sabotaged the contract, or it would have ended at the end of January, but I don't kno-,"

"Peach, slow down, I can't understand anything except the panic in your voice. Deep breaths love slow deep breaths and then tell me what happened," Louis says attempting to calm Harry down. Both of them take some deep breaths which relaxes Harry a little bit, "Okay, now it sounds like you're calm. What is it?" Louis asks.

"So, I got fed up with waiting you know, so I met with Jeff and somehow, he managed to push the contract till July. He added more tour dates, well anyways, I was talking to a new record label, and they agreed to meet with me and get the paperwork signed today. So, now I work under a new record label that supports us," Harry pauses for a second and heaves out a deep sigh.