Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

E I G H T Y - N I N E

It was quiet, too quiet. Reagan had walked into the office expecting ominous music, shouts, screams, something, anything. But there was only silence, and somehow that was just worse.

Lydia was not in yet, neither were any of the boys. She had been so incredibly anxious to get to work through, that she had gotten there forty-five minutes early. She was sure Hailey was going to pull something. She just had to, she had been quiet for almost 24 hours, that meant she was plotting something huge...didn't it?

Reagan sat down at her desk, turned on her computer, and waited for her screen to load. She was so sure that when she opened her Twitter tab that there would thousands of posts about her and Harry, that their names would be all the trending topics. That all the worst-case scenarios she had thought of before would finally come to fruition. But there was nothing. Something still about Zayn signing to RCA, something about some other celebrity, something about a dog, but other than that they were safe. Somehow they were still okay.

She sighed loudly, now not completely sure that she was ready to face this all. It was just too good to be true, there had to be some twist. Somewhere Hailey had to be planning their demise. But god, at the same time it was so worth it. She still felt electric currents pulsing through her body as she thought of Harry. He was finally all hers, finally. Her mind hadn't even processed what had happened between them the night before.

Luckily Kennedy had been asleep when Reagan had snuck into the house for a quick shower and change of clothing, because if not she would have to face her younger sister and she knew that the moment she looked at her, she would know what had happened between her and Harry. She wasn't even ready to admit it to her little sister, who was rooting for them, how could she possibly admit that she and Harry were together to the world?

"Boo."

She jumped at Louis' voice in her ear, smacking him in the process.

"Fuck!" He yelled, rubbing his cheek.

"Don't scare me then!" She said loudly, clearly not caring if she had hurt him or not.

Louis smiled, his hand still upon reddened skin, "Still worth it." He plopped down in the seat beside her, smirking. He breathed in and slightly shrugged, "News came out today." He nodded towards Reagan's computer screen where a picture of Zayn signing a contract had popped up. Reagan quickly closed it and faced him.

"Are you still sure this is the right course of action?" She asked, praying that he would change his mind. On top of Lydia finding out Harry didn't go on his date, this was the last thing she needed.

"You're not going to talk me out of it, Reagan Bailey, you should know better." Louis looked at her head on and furrowed his brow, "You look wrecked, have you even slept?"

She mumbled something incoherently and quickly changed the subject, "There is no way." Reagan said shaking her head, "You can't just drop this music video in the middle of the night. Lydia will literally murder you, Louis."

"Like I give a fuck."

"I give a fuck! I give many fucks!"

"That's the problem, you care far too much, Rae." He leaned back in his seat, "You just have to ride it out. Whatever happens, happens."

"Seriously? You realize I'm in PR right? Whatever happens, I have to fix it."

"There's literally nothing to fix. Everything is going to go perfectly, just you wait."

"How can you be so sure?"

Louis smiled brightly, "Sometimes you just are."

And right then Reagan wished badly that she could be so easy going, so confident. She was though, last night she was. She took that final leap and now there was no turning back. Was she scared? Yeah, there was doubt that she was scared, but she was ready. She couldn't be as easy going as Louis or as optimistic as Harry, but she would get there.

"When are you dropping it?"

"Midnight."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!"

"Reagan, it has to be in the middle of the night!"

"Why!? Who's going to see it at that hour!?"

He smirked confidently, "You think too little of our fans. That song will be number 1 by morning."

"Let's be realistic, Lou-"

"I am being realistic!" He breathed out, his smile never faltering, "You can just feel when things are going to turn out alright, Rae. You just feel it, even though everyone else thinks you're going to fail." He didn't say it pointedly, or with any kind of hostility, he knew Reagan was just genuinely worried. But it didn't bother him. She'd see soon enough.

"Louis, I just don't know if you should be doing this just to spite Zayn. Do you know how much the press is going to spin this?"

"I stopped caring about the press long ago."

She sighed, "You love making my job hard."

"I also love showing you that there's more to life than following the rules." He winked, getting up from his seat, "By the way, tell Harry to restrain himself from being so obvious when he comes in."

"What?"

"He called me this morning," He chuckled, "Told me he hadn't gone out on the date, that he had spent the evening with you instead."

She blushed furiously, "I-"

"He didn't say anything else, don't worry. He's a gentleman. Fucking obvious, but a gentleman."

"Okay." She nodded curtly, turning away form him.

"No, come on now. Cheers, Reagan! Everything's coming together!"

She shook her head, fighting a smile, "Get to work, Tomlinson. T-minus 15 hours."

"Aye, aye captain!"

He ran off somewhere, probably to have a few final listen to's of the song. While Reagan remained, anxiously awaiting for Lydia to come in. She hoped it would be before Harry did, because as Louis so eloquently put it, he was just too fucking obvious. Lydia would immediately know that something was up between them. Hell, who was she kidding, by the end of the day everyone who Harry knows is going to know that they were together. Ultimately it was inevitable, but she hoped it would be as painless as possible

Reagan lifted her head at the slamming of a door, and knew that it was Lydia. She only slammed the large wooden door whenever she was in a foul mood.

"Reagan." She heard Lydia curtly say as she passed by her briskly, "My office, now."

Reagan gulped. Whatever happened next, she knew she had to face it with her head held high. She had made her choice, and she wouldn't go back on it now. Not after everything she had been through.

"Reagan! Now!"

It wasn't going to be easy though, not by a long shot.