We're Back || L.S. || 1D Reunion || ✅

Chapter 28

"I don't want to go in there."

I'm pacing back and forth in front of the office we were directed to go to. Harry stands beside the door picking at his nails, as nervous as I am to step inside the room.

"Louis, we don't even know what it's for." Harry tries to calm me down. I stop walking momentarily and raise my brow at him. "Really? H, it's a meeting, with Simon, without the other boys. Any time he talks to us two alone, you know what he's going to talk about."

I continue my walking while Harry takes a moment to contemplate that, eventually just shrugging and agreeing with what I said. It's silent again as I pace and Harry picks his nails until the door opens.

My head snaps up to see a woman standing there with a polite smile on her face that I just want to wipe off. I've never trusted anyone from Modest. "Simon is ready for you boys." She takes a step back, revealing Simon typing on a laptop at a large desk. 

Silently, we approach the desk and take a seat in the two chairs that sit before him. He doesn't acknowledge us as he continues typing and Harry and I share a look of impatience. 

"Do you realize how much work you two have been giving us these past few weeks?" Simon eventually speaks, folding his hands on the laptop keyboard. He raises his brow at the two of us and I just move around uncomfortably in my chair. 

"No?" Harry eventually has the courage to speak, and I mentally facepalm. "Oh?" Simon raises a brow and returns his gaze to the laptop, clicking around before spinning it so we can see the screen. 

I try to keep a bored expression on my face as multiple videos play on the screen. Some of them are interactions between Harry and I, or when we look at each other when we sing, or small movements that may cause sparks of speculation between us. 

It only lasts a couple of minutes until Simon spins the laptop back around. "Do you think we're stupid?" He asks, his tone growing with anger. 

Yes.

I sit up in my chair, leaning against the desk. "Simon, can I ask you a question?" I tilt my head as he slowly nods, sizing me up. "You see how I interact with Niall right? Or with Liam? Even Zayn?" He nods again. 

"You also want to keep Larry rumors at a minimum correct?" I give him an innocent smile. He rolls his eyes, "Yes Louis, but now I see that,"

"No," I interrupt him, "Don't you see that our fans see everything? Talk about everything?" I wait for him to answer as he leans back in his chair, nodding. 

"Isn't it, just maybe, even more suspicious when it's clear, right in front of their faces, that Harry and I are the only ones who never really 'interact' with each other? They knew how close we were from the start, and now it seems like we're strangers. Some of the things you make us avoid are so stupid, even twelve year old girls can figure out how it's not how we want to be." 

"They would think, 'If Larry wasn't real, what's the harm in two best friends talking to each other? What's the harm of them sitting beside one another? What's the harm in making jokes? Why are they instructed to stay away from each other?' Don't you think that's just obvious?"

I raise my voice back at Simon, getting angrier as I see how right some of our fans really are. If they wanted Larry rumors to not be so much, they should've just made us act normal, not avoid each other completely. 

I lean back as I watch Simon stutter over his words. I smirk as he tries to occupy himself by looking down at the laptop. "This video is kind of-"

I throw my hands up out of exasperation, "Simon! Harry literally said he'd 'do Niall' at one of our shows, and you guys just sit back and laugh. I make two second eye contact with him and you scream at me for days. How does that make sense for you? For the fans?" I see Harry glance at me worriedly through the corner of my eye.