Love him or Leave him

Harry popped his headed into the office, “Hello? You wanted to see me?”

“Ah, yes, Styles. Come on in” Said the head of management, motioning with his hand for Harry to come in and take a seat at the chair in front of his desk.

Harry walked in and saw that there were two other management workers sitting at a couple of chairs off to the side of the room.

As Harry placed his bum in the chair, he nodded his head towards the other workers, as a silent way to say hello.

The boss took a seat and placed his arms out in front of him, propping them up on his elbows and folded his hands together.

“So, I’m just going to cut to the chase here and not play any games.”

Harry swallowed the lump that formed in his throat from the nervous anticipation of what he was about to say.

“We know what you’ve been up to.” The boss said as he picked up a clicker remote from his desk, “We even have footage.” He clicked the button and the projector behind him flashed on. It took a minute for the light to adjust on the screen.

Harry’s hands were now lined with sweat as they waited for it to load. Harry began to bite down on his nails and then the pictures popped up.

Harry slumped his shoulders, mumbling “shit” under his breath as he stared up at, an ongoing, slide show. Flashing pictures of him and Louis.

Louis was a boy Harry had met a few years back and who he had been romantically involved with ever since.

The slideshow kept going; it showed pictures from them at dinner, with family and Harry sneaking Louis in and out of places they had stayed. This was something management was never supposed to find out about but then again, they practically knew everything.

“I-I…” Harry tried to speak.

“Save it,” The bosses hand went up to stop Harry’s words. “I don’t need an explanation, we all already know what’s been going on here and we know who he is and what you guys are.” The boss looked at Harry and Harry looked back at him for a moment and then looked down, somewhat ashamed.

“It needs to stop.” The boss quickly cut to the chase, “This cannot happen anymore. You need to cut him off, immediately. We cannot risk anymore media speculation of this matter.”

“But…we…” Harry began to speak but the boss just cut him off,

“It’s either him or your career. You need to pick and you need to pick now!” The boss raised his voice.

Harry’s heart began to pound faster inside his chest as he grew angry, “This isn’t fair! You can’t make me choose! Don’t you understand that I love him?!” Harry looked at the other two workers in the room, his green eyes begging them to but-in on his side.  But they just looked at him and shrunk their heads back; a silent, harsh way of rejection.

“Harry list…”The boss began to say but Harry interrupted his thought as he sprang up from the chair and headed over to lean down in front of the boss.

“NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME!” Harry pointed a finger in his face, “What kind of sick joke do you think this is?! You can’t make me choose between someone I love and something I worked hard for to get!”

“Actually, you did sign this” The boss tapped a finger on the contract lying on his desk.

By this time, Harry was fuming and his face was already red from the anger, as he saw what he had pointed to. Regret had already started to fill his mind,

What did I sign that made me lose all ability to love, Harry thought to himself.

Harry looked from the table back to the bosses face.  It took Harry everything he had not to lay a hand on the man in front of him. He looked back at the desk once more, shook his head in disgust and with an exhale, started to make his way to the door.

“YOU TAKE ONE STEP OUT OF THAT DOOR, STYLES AND I WILL RUIN WHATEVER CAREER YOU HAVE HAD AND WILL EVER COME IN CONTACT WITH!” The boss screamed at him, as Harry’s fingers wrapped around the metal door handle.

Harry took a couple deep breaths, closed his eyes, trying to calm himself and just stood there with his back to the workers and thought.

He thought about the first time he met Louis, how sweet and young they both were and the way his hair used to fall around his face. He thought about his first kiss with Louis and how soft his lips were and the way they felt warm against his. Or the moment when he held his hand, intertwining his small fingers with his large ones and just how perfect it had fit.

These thoughts ran pictures through his mind of each memory of them and made his heart feel warm with remembrance and then he opened his eyes and the pictures disappeared, along with the feeling.

That’s how it had to be, Harry thought. Everything must come to an end, whether our hearts can take it or not.

With a cold stare, Harry squeezed the door handle and let his hand drop back to his side. His eyes began to water and a few salty tear drops landed on his cheeks. He quickly wiped them away.

Shut it out. Shut it all out. He thought, letting his mind turn into nothing but still blackness. There will be another opportunity somewhere in life and if there isn’t, then it just wasn’t meant for this one.

Harry turned around; walked over to the chair he once sat in before, swallowed hard and fought back the burning behind his eyes, looked up at the smiling bosses face and said,

“This is what I choose.”