Who'd You Rather? (H.S.) [ONGOING]

Part Twenty-Three

Two weeks without Harry passed by slowly. The only thing keeping Tegan from not going crazy was her daily calls and texts with him. There were a few FaceTime sessions mixed in as well, which really helped because she actually got to see him, but it still wasn't enough. She couldn't wait to be in his superlative presence again.

During that time, she finally met with her manager and publicist to talk about the Ellen hype and to go over a few acting roles she had the opportunity to audition for, which was actually really good. It seemed like her stint on Ellen was working in her favor, which made her happy.

But in a blink of an eye, the meeting went south when her publicist, Penny, brought up her 'relationship' with Harry, asking if she had been online lately to see what's being said about them.

Tegan hadn't bothered to check any sort of media about her and Harry since they met on Ellen because she was a little too scared to see what the fans might say about her — even though she'd been an avid Directioner since the beginning. She didn't think their reactions would be entirely favorable, because any kind of relationship the boys got into usually didn't sit right with the fans, especially in the beginning.

"TMZ ran a story about you and Harry..." Penny told her, grabbing her tablet from her desk.

"Okay..." Tegan said, narrowing her eyes in question.

She didn't think much of it, because TMZ ran a lot of stories on a lot of celebrities. And the fact that they ran one about her and Harry wasn't that much of a surprise. Their story was kind of epic from a fan's perspective, if you thought about it. Tegan — a massive One Direction fan — got to meet her boy band fave on Ellen, which Ellen herself set up. It seemed to be kind of a goldmine for them to report on.

"They caught you being dropped off at your house last week, wearing a Harry Styles sweatshirt. And they've come to the conclusion you're wearing his pajama bottoms as well," Penny said as she swiped across the tablet in her hand before dropping it on the desk in front of Tegan. The smug look on her publicist's face annoyed the shit out of her.

"How did they get pictures of me—" Tegan choked out, cutting herself off as she looked down at the photos on TMZ's site. It was her very own walk-of-shame displayed in living color for all to see.

"The paparazzi are everywhere, Tegan. You should know that by now. If you're anyone in Hollywood, they'll be there to hound you. And you and Harry are it right now," her manager, Will explained.

"I hate this," Tegan grumbled.

"This is good, Tegan, believe me," Penny reminded her.

"I'm not going to use him for publicity," she told them again through gritted teeth.

"We've gotten three scripts for you since you two were on Ellen. This is good, Tegan. Really good," Will reiterated.

"I hate this," she said again, pushing the tablet away from her, feeling like her freedom and privacy was completely being stripped away.

She knew becoming an actress would have some level of exploitation, but this was hard — really hard for her. She didn't want to compromise when it came to Harry.

"So, we assume your date went well with Harry then," Will had the audacity to say, sending her a suggestive smirk. For a moment, all Tegan could do was stare at him in absolute astonishment.

"It's honestly none of your business — either of you," Tegan snapped.

"Actually it is. We're your team, Tegan. We're here to take care of you. And being able to do that means we need to know everything that is going on with you. If you and Harry Styles are dating, we need to know that. We need to be able to protect you if things begin to go south," Penny explained.