That's Just Publicity

Incredibly dirty

A/N: Hi! I'm really excited for this chapter so I hope you guys love it:)))

Harry's POV:

After the dance lesson, we had a couple of hours to ourselves. Liam and Niall went sightseeing, and Zayn locked himself in his room to nap, leaving Louis and me. Everyone zipped off to do their own thing so fast that I didn't have time to think of my own plans before realizing we were now alone. Louis cleared his throat and turned to face me. "So, what are your plans?" He asked. His vibe was totally off, though, it was like he was forcing himself to make small talk, as if we hardly knew each other. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as I shrugged. "Do you think we could actually plan for this appearance thing?" Louis finally asked, shocking me. My eyes went a little wide, "Sure, why not?" 

We got in the elevator, slipping into casual conversation. I felt super relieved. After the awkwardness from this morning, it felt good to be able to talk with him normally. There were already security guards in the hallway, which we both rolled our eyes at. I led us to my room because honestly, I didn't want to go back to his room after sleeping there last night. 

"So, you wanted to plan?" I asked as we took our seats. I sat on the edge of my bed and he awkwardly dropped onto the chair across the room. I swallowed thickly as the mood in the room shifted from easy to stiff just like how it's felt the last few days. "We need to do something good at this appearance thing," he started, his eyebrows clenching and forming two small wrinkles on his forehead. I resisted a smile. "And the show," he added. I nodded. "Like?" 

Louis paused to think. 

...

The few hours went by in a blast. Louis and I spent them talking about the show and the public appearance today, then drifted off into talking about how weird it's been to have all the Larry rumors magnified. Larry was at its all-time peak, the hashtag trending on everything, fanfics and edits popping up all over the internet, and entire fan pages emerging based on our relationship. It felt good to talk to Louis, to tell the truth. He kept words about his feelings brief, but he'd told me that he noticed how the whole thing has made the dynamic in the band a little awkward. He spoke about it as if it involved everyone, as if the awkwardness was general to all five of us. I wondered if he'd also noticed that there was a specific wave of weirdness that had passed over just us. Talking to him was different than normal, while it was easy and simple, all of his words felt like they had a double meaning, like there was this whole other conversation we were having with our minds and bodies that our words weren't catching up to. 

"You boys ready?" Paul asked as we pulled up to the side of the road outside this huge fake Eiffel Tower. We all nodded, looking at each other. There was already a huge crowd outside, screams and chants muffled by limo doors. About a dozen security guards were stationed outside the limo and barricades were put up to keep the crowd from reaching us. I stepped outside, a lump in my throat. Louis and I had planned something for today, and nobody in the band knew about it. It wasn't in that irritating script, either, so there's a chance management could be totally pissed with us. 

Paul stepped out and within seconds the doors to the limo were opening and we were being escorted down a barricaded path up to these steps on the sidewalk. there was a circle made out of barricades where we were positioned, paparazzi snapping pictures from every angle and interviewers shoving microphones out at us, shoving our fans to get by. The script we got did mention that management added a question about romance into the allowed topics for the journalists, so we had to be all ears for a question like that so we could answer accordingly. It was hard to focus on anything right now, though. 

"Harry, do you have anything to say about the rumors regarding your new relationship?" One woman shouted out at me, a huge camera behind her aimed straight at me. I cleared my throat and stepped forward as she stretched just enough for the mic to catch my response. "Um, I can't confirm a relationship at this moment, but I am quite enjoying the tour so far," I said, trying to convey that I'm not actually in a relationship, but that the rumors aren't entirely incorrect. The woman with the mic seemed incredibly pleased by my response, a huge cheeky grin on her face. "And by that you mean you're enjoying the tour, or-" She began, but was cut off by another male interviewer who shoved past her, thrusting a mic towards me. "Harry Styles! I hear you've helped write a lot of the music on this album, do you have an inspiration for the songs? Perhaps another person?" He asked. I stepped back to think about how to answer this. "I find inspiration in a lot of things, so I don't have just one answer for that, but there are lyrics on the album that are inspired by my private life," I explained, again trying to make my words so they don't confirm anything but can also be twisted to confirm everything.