Before The End (One Direction)

2. Worse Not Better

Thankyou so much for the views votes and comments so far! It really means alot to me!! The song for this chapter is Fun by Troy Sivan. I think it reminds me of how Cory is interacting with Harry, pulling him into her definition of fun. I especially listened to it during the end part of this chapter when Harry is on the car. Enjoy!

Harry's POV~

Louis had tried his best to conceal his anger the following morning, but I could see the upset bubbling deep in his eyes. He kept asking questions about me and Cory but all I could say was "I dont know." To be honest, most of it was a blur. I remember drinking the tea and then immediately feeling as though someone had stuck cotton balls in place of where my brain should have been. I couldn't stop laughing. I remembered Cory dragging me out to dance despite my protests and I remembered her body incredibly close to mine, moving in tune to the music. I vaugly remembered kissing Cory and tasting cigarettes and booze. It wasn't a pleasant taste, but also strangely sexy and intriguing in a backwards way. I didn't remember how I'd gotten hurt, or going to Louis house. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the glaring realization that I'd been high. I didn't really know how to feel about that.

At the end of the conversation Louis had looked incredibly disappointed. His final thoughts on the subject were, "I care about you Haz but if you fall down the same path as every other celebrity your age...I won't be able to help you then." The look he'd given me sent chills down my spine.

After that morning me and Louis didn't discuss what had happened again. We were content to move past it and I managed to push all of the confusion and excitement from that night to the back of my mind. I thought it would stay there until the next day during a meeting about our new album. One of our supervisors, whom the boys and I generally referred to as cupcake due to the unfortunate appearance of his gut, requested to see me alone after the discussion. I'd thought nothing of it and agreed. Once the rest of the boys had filed out he walked over to me where I sat and very quietly asked, "Do you plan on meeting with Cory Bleu again?"

I was caught off guard by his question. Up until this point, management had stayed completely out of our social and private lives outside of work. Now with the growing popularity of one direction and our first albums scheduled release, I supposed it could've become relevant. It was alarming to me none the less. I thought hard on it for a moment before I shrugged and chose a vague and open ended answer. "I don't really know yet."

"Call her," he instructed. The direct harshness of his tone caught me off guard. "And next time you see her, make it more public."

I raised my eyebrows. After the previous night out I was already feeling something of regret towards my actions. On one hand the rush of adrenaline I'd rode through the night on gave me a feeling of absolute power. On the other, I hadn't really felt like me during or afterwards. And the uneasiness I felt towards managements sudden desire to be involved in my life made me want to run the other direction. "Why?"

"Because the baby of one direction dating the older adult model with a bad rep is going to attract headlines. One direction is still in its first phase and any publicity it good publicity at this point." I sighed with a disgusted expression on my face. I hated being called the baby. I was the youngest one in the band and everyone seemed to make it there absolute goal to remind me. Thinking back on it, I believe that one of the main reasons I was so desperate to feel rebellious was to reject this notion of being the baby.

Late that night I was kept up by the word baby swirling around my mind like an anchor that kept me from drifting towards sleep. I wasn't the baby. I was just as mature and capable as anyone else in the band. I would have done just about anything to rid myself of that title. As a result, I complied with their demands.