Falling for the Rockstar

Chapter 30 - Louis

The morning begins with a bang. Literally. The door to our hotel room flies open so hard that I almost fall out of bed. With one arm, I grab the sheet, and with the other, I instinctively hold on as Paul storms into the room like a hurricane.

"Louis William Tomlinson, what the hell did you do last night?!" he yells, throwing a newspaper onto my lap.

"Good morning, Paul," I mumble sleepily, rubbing my eyes. Grace beside me grumbles quietly, her forehead digging deeper into the pillow. I pull the sheet further over her before sitting up and opening the newspaper.

"1D BABY? LOUIS TOMLINSON IS GOING TO BE A DAD!"

I blink. Two seconds. Three. And then I jump up. "What the hell is this?!"

"That," Paul growls, massaging his temples, "is the chaos you caused last night. The whole world is talking about this photo." He rips the newspaper out of my hand and waves a big picture in front of my face. It shows me and Grace, along with the others in the hotel lobby – my hand on her stomach as we kiss.

"Fucking hell," I mutter under my breath, feeling panic rise inside me. Grace has now sat up and is staring wide-eyed at the headline.

"Oh my God..." She presses a hand to her mouth.

"Oh my God?" Paul's voice nearly cracks. "That's an understatement. I've already had three calls from management. They want a statement! Now!"

"Paul, calm down." I reach out to him, but he shakes his head.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Paparazzi followed you all night, Louis! You had the hotel staff running around like crazy."

 I want to protest, but Paul doesn't let me speak.

"And this!" He waves another photo. This time, we're all sitting at a table, Niall with a plate of fries and peanut butter in front of him, while Grace is laughing brightly. "I don't know who came up with the brilliant idea to pull this nonsense in the middle of the night, but the headlines speak for themselves!"

Grace slowly reaches for the newspaper, her hands trembling slightly. She reads some of the article titles out loud: "The first One Direction baby? Louis Tomlinson and girlfriend surprise with sweet news." "Who is the woman who stole Louis' heart?" "1D baby bump? Paparazzi reveal romantic night in the hotel lobby." "Spoiled brats throwing a baby party in the hotel lobby."

"Shit!" she whispers softly. "This is my fault," she says sadly, looking down ashamed.

"No, Grace, it's not your fault," I say immediately, stroking her hand, but she pulls it away and buries her face in her hands. "Stop telling yourself that!"

"Louis is right," Paul mutters, though with an annoyed undertone. "It was a team fail. You're part of the problem, but definitely not the cause."

"Wow, thanks, Paul. Very charming," I shoot him a sharp look, but he ignores me and pulls his phone out of his pocket.

"I'm giving you two minutes to get dressed and meet the others. They're already awake, and we need to talk. Immediately."

"What's there to talk about?" I grunt. "We explain what really happened, and that's it."

Paul just scoffs. "Oh really? And what exactly are you going to explain, Louis? That you're going to be a dad? That you wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, including management? Do you think they'll just let that slide?"

I bite my lip and say nothing.

Paul motions toward the door with his thumb. "Two minutes. Not a second longer."

*****

The guys are already sitting in the hotel conference room when we arrive. Harry has the newspaper in his hand and looks at us with an unreadable expression. Liam looks tense, while Zayn silently sips his coffee. Niall... well, he looks like he hasn't noticed any of the drama.