Paparazzi

Chapter 18

The two of them spent the rest of the day lying in the garden smoking and shutting out the world. When Harry got too hot, stripped naked and plunged with his head first into the pool, Louis went inside to check his own phone, which he hadn't bothered to do until then. A look at it showed him that he had almost as many missed calls as Harry and a lot of unread messages. And he didn't feel able to answer even one call or message. Instead, he turned it off and decided to get back to it as soon as he got home. For the next few hours, he wanted to devote himself exclusively to Harry, whose tension didn't entirely leave him, no matter how encouraging Louis spoke to him.

The mood was depressed all afternoon and when he now says goodbye to him, it's hard for Louis to leave Harry behind. But they have decided that Louis will go home at least for tonight so that he can call family and friends in peace. And can pack a bag, a big one, with a lot of clothes and things that Louis needs because tomorrow he will come back here for longer. Neither Harry nor Louis feel capable of being separated in the current situation and want to take advantage of every second they can get in the shelter of Harry's big house.

Harry has already checked to see if there are any paparazzi in front of the fence, but it is late and dark and there is no one to be seen. Louis is already afraid of tomorrow when they want to check social media together, and doesn't want Harry to be as sad as he is today.

"I'll drive now, my love. Please don't turn your phone on today. Wait until I'm with you tomorrow. Unless you need me, but then you can only use it to call me," Louis smiles softly at him, hoping the light tone he's chosen spills over to Harry and lifts his spirits.

"Take care and come straight back to me as soon as you wake up tomorrow," Harry replies, and like the hours before, they kiss again. Louis feels like he didn't do much today other than kiss and cheer up his favorite person.

"I'll do that," he says, picking up his bag from the floor and before opening the door he breathes a tender "I love you" at him.

"I love you too," Harry whispers back, and again there's that cute nose scrunch he loves so much about him.

He needs to get out that door now otherwise he'll never get away from Harry so he yanks it open, quickly shuts it behind him and runs to his car.

As Louis pulls out of the driveway, he just wants to breathe a sigh of relief, but the fuckers have just settled down a little further away from the house, out of sight, and this time he's the one driving away from the flashbulbs.

"Shit," he exclaims quietly and panic rises in him because there's absolutely nothing he can do about it. Jess screams shrill through his memories - that Louis should best hide until they figure things out, but how is that going to work? For the first time he understands what it's like when stars are photographed at every turn, what it feels like when everyone's attention is on you. Of course, many stars want it, but their case is a bit different and it's the worst thing that could happen right now. Jess has made it clear that there will be consequences for Harry if he doesn't keep everything low from now on and instead new photos will appear of Louis driving out of Harry's driveway. It was probably the dumbest idea to go home, but that's the way it is now. Louis tries not to panic on the drive because that's not him. He never let anyone put him down, and certainly not Jess or his threats. He firmly believes that everything will be fine and he also wants to protect Harry and be the strong shoulder he can lean on.

⊷ ❤︎︎ ⊶

Louis has packed his clothes, toiletries and everything else he will need for the next few days and has avoided his actual plan - namely to contact his loved ones. He's scared of revealing too much and doesn't want to dig Harry deeper in, actually waiting for the meeting they've both been told about. But there's one he has to report to - and that's Luke. When he turns on his cell phone and sees what time it is, he wonders if he should really call him now, but decides to at least try. He ignores the many unread messages and is only looking for the contact of Luke.