There's A Reason - A Larry Stylinson Love Story

Chapter 9 - They Didn't Believe It

I was all wrapped up in my blankets ready to go to sleep when I heard my doorknob turn and quiet footsteps make their way into my room.

“Who’s there?” I ask groggily.

“Me,” someone whispered. Louis.

“Lou? What in the world are you doing? You do know I was about to go to sleep, right?”

“I… I just checked the weather reports for tonight…” he mumbled, turning to face the window.

“And why does that mean you had to wake me?” I ask.

“It said… there’s going to be another storm tonight,” his voice sounded very weak and I could’ve sworn I heard it tremble.

“Aw, Boo, don’t be scared. I’ll always protect you. Come here,” I gesture to him.

Louis walks over to the bed, sitting down beside me. Now that he’s closer, I can see the look of fear in his eyes and the hunched set of his shoulders. “Haz? Would it be okay if I stay with you tonight?”

“Of course, Boobear,” I reply, pulling him closer to me. He relaxed in my arms, just like the night before.

Gently stroking his hair, I feel my eyelids getting heavier as I listen to the steady sound of his breathing. As soon as I can tell he’s unconscious, I allow my eyes to close and drift off to sleep.

The rest of the week passed pretty uneventfully. There are no more near-death incidents, just the five of us hanging out and having a laugh. Louis pulled at least one prank on each of us, Niall ate us out of food and we had to call Simon to get us more twice, and Liam went on and on about how much he wished he could just get on Twitter and talk to our fans.

Zayn tried to hang a mirror above his bed on the ceiling, so that he would know when he woke up what he looked like. He and Liam got in a good argument over that, but Liam eventually won and Zayn was forced to just get up and use the bathroom mirrors in the morning.

On Sunday morning, Paul told me that I had a call from Simon.

“Hello,” I answered curiously.

“Harry,” said Simon, “We need to talk. The headlining news about you and Louis has died down, and you’ve gained more fans than you lost, so we’re doing fine. But you’re about to lose a good chunk of your fandom if you don’t start really appearing like you and Louis are in love.

It appears some reporters think that it was a publicity stunt and are unwilling to accept what you said. So as soon as you get back, there will be a few ‘Larry’ interviews where you will be answering fan and reporter questions about your relationship.

This means that you will have to talk to Louis about what the background of your relationship will be. Your stories must match, as you will also be doing one separate interview each. I expect it to look very real and convince the world that you two are indeed in love. Do you understand?”

I needed a second to let that sink in. The public was actually okay with two members of the biggest boy band in the world being gay. The comments we’d heard at the interview were probably simply out of shock and spite. But after it died down, they didn’t believe it was true?

“Yes, Simon. I get it. But why wouldn’t they think it was true? I thought you said Louis and I act like a couple all the time.”

“Exactly. The fans think that you and him announced a relationship just for fun, like a massive prank, since you’ve always acted close. You need to act romantic now, not sarcastic and bantering.”

What does that mean? “But that’s how the relationship between us is! You promised us we could stay the same!”

“I’m sorry, Harry. We thought wrong. You’re just going to have to work with us, because if you tell the world the truth now you will definitely lose most of your fans.” Why did he have to be right? I groaned.

“What do you want me to do, then?”

“You need to imagine you are actually dating Louis. You can start when you get back or practice while you’re away, I don’t care, but you need to look romantically involved or you’re done.”

I almost screamed at him. “But I don’t think I can! I don’t love Lou like that and I’m not gay! And why did you call me? Don’t you need to talk to Louis about this?”

I hear him chuckling through the phone. “Oh, Harry, you’ve got a lot to understand. Sure you don’t love Louis, if you say so. I don’t need to talk to him because he’s not the one denying his feelings who is likely to mess this up for all of us.”

“What do you mean, denying his feelings? What feelings are there to deny, ones of hatred to the people forcing us to act gay?”

“Forget I said that. For now, just focus on your relationship. Have fun Harry, I’ll see you and the other boys in a week.” With that, I heard the beep alerting me that he had hung up.

One week. I had one week to convince myself that Louis and I were a couple, at least for the public. If I didn’t, I was ruined. My hand holding the phone slowly dropped to the table. One week before management got even more control over me than ever before.

Head spinning, I sat down on the ground. Did Louis know that the public was rejecting our announcement? No, he couldn’t possibly know that. Simon had just basically said that he didn’t tell Louis anything. How was I supposed to act like a love-struck fool with Louis being his normal charming self?

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard movement from above. Looking up, I found Louis leaning over the side of the bed, rubbing sleep-filled eyes. I glanced around but my phone had disappeared so I assumed Paul had taken it back.

“Haz? What are you doing down there? You do know there’s a bed right next to you… right?” He smirked.

“Um, uh… yeah. I do. I just, you know, erm, wanted to let you get undisturbed sleep and I was already awake. That’s all.” In that moment I really wished I were better at lying.

Fortunately, Louis didn’t notice. “Thanks! What time is it?” I looked at the phone, which I had just realized I was still grasping.

“Just after nine. Get up, let’s go make Niall a surprise breakfast!” I scramble to my feet, heading for the closet.

When Louis leaves to get dressed himself, I heave a sigh of relief. Now that I knew what was going to have to happen, his presence made me extremely nervous and tense. All I could do was hope that he didn’t notice, since it kind of sounded like Simon didn’t want Louis to know.

Or maybe I just didn’t want Louis to know. I didn’t want to push him away, and that’s what had happened last time I acted like I didn’t want to go through with faking a relationship.

Why was Louis so okay with all of this? It had never seemed to bother him in the slightest; in fact, he perked up whenever we were in public since then.

Sighing, I picked a random outfit and quickly changed. There was so much on my mind, and so little time to do anything about it. I felt like my head was going to explode.

I only had one week left to actually act normal with Louis. Without the stress and violation of privacy that came with being around the general public. At least we had one more week together as real best friends joined by the other boys.

Why not just forget about it for now? I could do that. I could just act like nothing had changed for the rest of the week and spend all the time I could with my Boo. I wouldn’t even have to say anything about why I suddenly wanted to spend more time with him, because we all get random urges to be with each other every once in awhile.

Smiling, I’m about to walk to the kitchen when something hits me. Why am I so concerned about everything changing, about losing him? He’s my best mate, sure, but do best mates act like this? Do they get so torn up over each other? Maybe Louis and I are… different?

And why do those pangs in my chest keep happening when I see him hanging on one of the other boys? What was that strange pain in my heart, that choked feeling when I’d thought he hated me? What was Simon talking about when he implied that I was ‘denying my feelings’? My feelings about what?

Was it possible that Louis meant more to me than a normal best friend?