Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

THIRTY-SIX

Reagan wasn't quite sure why something felt off. It happened the moment she stepped into the studio the last morning before the boys were to go on their break. Perhaps it was because she hadn't carpooled with Harry that morning since his car was in the shop and she sure as hell wasn't about to come into work on the back of his ridiculous motorcycle. She just knew he was going to make her wear his glittery helmet and she just wasn't going to have it. But then again the actual reason why Reagan had that weird feeling was probably due to the fact that tomorrow morning she and Harry were leaving on their "road trip". She knew that they wouldn't get to see as much as Harry would like, but they would be driving around places neither of them had seen and would of course get the amazing burgers at Flintridge Proper. Reagan figured that she would most likely have to eat in front of Harry, given that they would be together for perhaps longer than 24 hours. She didn't know how to feel about it quite yet, didn't even know if she was ready to take that step. But she had been feeling more and more comfortable with Harry, and just the other day even ate her lunch with him. She figured it would all just take baby steps. So she walked into the studio alone that morning, with the weirdest feeling in the pit of her stomach, and plastered on a smile.

Louis had been the first to arrive, eager to get the day over with. He had a flight leaving LAX at 9pm heading towards London and he was just too excited to sleep. He hadn't done anything non-one direction related in what felt like forever. He knew he was going to miss the lads though, as he always did when they left on an extended break. The distance only made them stronger though.

"Morning Reagan." Louis said as he turned to look at her coming through the door.

"Hey Lou." She said, putting down her purse.

"You excited for some time off?" He said, the smile on his face the biggest Reagan had ever seen it. There was a steaming mug of tea on his desk, per usual, and Reagan swore she could smell the English Tea blend across the room.

"With you boys? There's never any time off."

"Ouch. Harsh."

"Try not to get into much trouble at home."

"Just gonna play some football and spend time with the family, Reagan."

"Yeah, well, knowing you four, something's going to happen. It always does."

"Well, can't argue with you there."

"Even though it's inevitable that the lot of you get in trouble, can you please, PLEASE try to avoid it for me?"

Louis smirks, "I don't know, that's asking a lot."

"Do you leave this office wondering how exactly you could make my life more difficult?"

"No, we leave that job to Harry."

Reagan sighed as Louis laughed loudly. He swiveled his chair around to face her, and held his steaming mug in his hand, "No, but really. How are you two doing?"

"As in?"

"As in, he told me he plans on going to eat burgers with you. That's massive."

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen what he eats?"

Reagan laughed, "Yeah. I guess it kind of is a big deal." She figured that if Harry was going out of his way to eat something that obviously seemed to mean a lot to her, than maybe she should try too. She knew it would be hard, and that the anxiety could kill her, but she wanted to try nonetheless.

"When we come back to LA I expect to be hearing great stories about your road trip."

"Ah yes, when you come back you'll all have your work cut out for you. You have the James Corden show and that Ad for your new perfume to shoot."

"And a bunch of other bullshit too, I bet."

"Yeah, but at least you get another mini break before the tour resumes." Reagan said, trying to make Louis see the brighter side of things.

He shrugged, "At least you'll be with us on tour."

"Yeah." She paused for a second and processed what Louis had just said. She nearly jumped out of her seat,"WAIT. What!?"

"...Aren't you...going on tour with us?"

"Why!?"

"Our PR person is supposed to go with us. Quickest way to resolve any bumps in the road we might encounter."

"But, I'm not even really your PR person! I'm a fucking intern."

He looked at her smugly, "We both know you are not just an intern."

"I can't do this."

"What? Why?"

"How can I possibly go on tour with you guys! I start school again in August! I have a fucking life here. This is not in my job description."

"When was your internship supposed to be over?"

"By the drop of your album."

"Then this is in your job description."

Reagan sighed loudly, "I'm not about to drop out of school to go on tour with you. This isn't a fucking cliche fan fiction where I magically get noticed by one of you and am invited to go on tour, I'm not going to drop everything and leave. I can't."

"Well, I would say not even for Harry, but that would sound like a line from one of those fan fictions you mentioned."

"Do you actually read those?"

Louis shrugged and drank from his mug.

"What am I going to do?" She said, laying her head upon her desk.

"Why don't you just go on tour with us until you start school?"

"Yeah, because you can just do your job right for half the year."

"Hey, that's the standard I live by."

"Oh my god, don't even joke like that. I asked you to please not cause trouble."

"We're not halfway through the year." He winked.

Before Reagan could respond the door slammed open and in walked a furious Niall yelling at an oblivious Harry.

"First the fucking boots now the helmet!? Glitter, of all the fucking things you had to love glitter!"

Harry shrugged as he put his bag and the glittery helmet upon Reagans desk.

"You should seriously just dunk yourself in a pool of it so you don't waste time."

Harry considered it, but replied "it would get in my eyes."

"Seriously!?" Niall yelled, obviously at the end of his wits with Harry.

"No wait," Harry said leaning against the desk and holding up his index finger, "I could just wear goggles."

With that Niall turned away from Harry and back towards the door, "that's it, I'm done."

"You just got here, mate." Louis said with a smile.

"Fuck off." Niall replied, slamming the door behind him.

Harry turned to look at Reagan, "is the glitter really that bad."

"I hate it." She said frankly, "but you shouldn't care about that anyways."

"Yeah?"

She shrugged, "You're kind of cool the way you are...I guess."

Harry realized that was probably the closest thing to a compliment he would ever get from Reagan.

"Thanks."

She nodded.

"You ready for our trip tomorrow?"

And the moment he said that the pit of her stomach dropped, but she smiled nonetheless, "Yeah, totally."