DENTON
Time is a strange thing, isn't it? It can go so very slowly and it can speed by. You miss things that you want to remember and endless agonies are in slow moments that don't seem to pass. Time was like the latter last night as I was watching out the window. Agonizingly slow. She is beautiful to watch. I was a bit jealous, had that pang. Because I remember her and how she is. How she was. She was like an anchor for me when I was in the states back then. Young and really stupid, and just so out of my element. I loved that experience, and for awhile I thought I loved her and her bloody freckles, and she is so fucking fit that it still gives me a rise to think about us together.
But you know, she is a whisperer... she can tame anyone that she wants. And I know Louis better than he knows me, and I could see that if I brought the two of them within a mile of each other, this would happen. She sees a skittish animal and she can't resist. She'll make that animal follow her anywhere. And Louis, my god for whatever reason, is cautious and skittish even still. I wonder sometimes about all this fame they have and what it would be like to face that. How do you grow into a man with all of your faults and your mistakes and your imperfections magnified for the world to see and document meticulously?
But part of me knows they all play to that. They could be less seen, less in the spotlight if they wanted, but I know it's a love hate thing. All that attention is just as much a turn on, an adrenaline rush, as it is a burden. So that's why I don't feel bad letting on about them to the paps, or giving away secrets to insiders, or occasionally making a move that management asks me to make, even if I know it may hurt the boys.
But it's morning now at this blasted ranch, and time has sped up towards the afternoon, and if we don't get out of here in the next 15 minutes, we're going to miss the shoot. The show is a few hours after that as well. So after the fifth time I bang on the door to her bedroom, I am angry. Texts and calls to both of them are straight to voicemail and I hesitate to tweet, as my phone will blow up for hours and block business.
"Louis! Tommo, c'mon man. We've got to get going," I yell this time. Carlos and Anna have gone about their business after cooking up some huevos rancheros for us all. She and Lou didn't bother to come downstairs to eat. And now I am just quiet with the minutes ticking by, listening intently at the door to see if I hear anything at all. Are they even in there? And then instead of trying the locked door again for the third time, I am rushing down the hall and out the door to look for the truck. It's there, and I think about the black horse Pouter and I am running towards the barn and somehow, the horse is gone, and I think Louis is too. Fuck. This could be my job gone right here. Is he crazy? I wonder now if I haven't missed something. I thought we were on about a quiet situation not unlike the last one several years ago, where everything worked out fine.
I may have read this situation wrong. My phone burrs in my pocket. Shit. Management. I practically fling it to voicemail. Next is Basil. So, I pick up. "Right. What?"
"Where the fuck are you guys? Shit is hittin' it over here."
"We've two hours and we're not that far out. No worries," I lie. How the hell do I save this one?
"I'm hangin' up now, Denton. But man, get him back here. This is no joke. They're trying to get him for a couple promos before the shoot. Aren't you gettin' yer texts? I'll do my best, but this is tour, and we're 24/7. Alberto is off the rails," Basil says, and clicks off.
"I get it. I understand," I say to a dead line. I punch in a number.
"Did you try Zayn?" a slow voice says.
"I did. I did,"
"You're the minder, Denton. I'm just the friend." Harry sighs.
"I know. Harry. Please." I am about out of options to pursue at this point. I begin to think about how much I love my job, and how I just wrote music to words in the middle of nowhere, and what a great time that was, and how I would really like someone to hear that.
"I've texted him twice and nothing. I am just letting you know that," Harry continues, not wanting to promise me anything.
"Okay. Thank you," I say, because I know he's saving my ass.
****
HARRY
He actually picked up on the second ring.
"Sweetheart. You're not here." I say to him.
"I'm feeling a bit sick," he lies. I can tell a lie on him quickly. And as he says it, I hear a bit of happiness and joy in there. And I can tell that on him just as quickly.
"Lou," I begin. "You are going to miss the shoot."
"Can't they Photoshop me in?"
"No. It's a cover. They'll postpone or reschedule. Are you sure about this?" I ask. He will know I don't mean about the illness.
"Harold. I'm sure. I am quite ill. I must have ate something bad at the Italian place last night," There is silence for a moment and... was that a whinnie? "It's not pretty, H and I don't feel like traveling until I am sure I'll be comfortable."
"Louis, text it to Denton then. Give him something he can pass along, yea?"
"I will, I will," he says a bit too willingly.
"C'mon mate. Be nice and give him something. It seems like he's gone to all the trouble to get you this sick and you do sound quite sick," I smile. Denton just needs to be able to forward any message from Louis that makes everyone understand that they are not going to make it to the cover shoot for the magazine. But it can't be from him, he's the minder. It has to be from the talent. Louis, or any of us, can be ill or refuse to participate theoretically. They like to have us believe that we have some measure of control over life. It is very rare, though, that any one of us does that to the others. I did do it once recently in New York for the blasted perfume campaign. But honestly, I couldn't breathe. Anyway, the option is there with regards to some events. Technically, a cover is not on the list of okay things to miss, just as a show would not be on the list of things one can miss due to "illness". But Denton needs to bear some of the responsibility for this, and if he sweats a bit, well...
I'm trying to imagine what a horse would have to do with the woman he's with. Louis has what amounts to a horse phobia. I am in the middle of this thought when Louis says, "I am sure we'll be along. All of us."
"I am going to ask you a question, Lou, and all I need is yes or no. Are you going to be at the show this evening?"
"Yes."
"Alright, Louis. Please be careful," I say quietly, and hang up.
YOU ARE READING
By Another Name
FanfictionThis is not a story that I wrote. I am publishing for a friend who doesn't have an account! 🙂 "I will continue to make him want me and chase me and he will. And when he tells people we aren't headed for the alter, he's right. I won't marry him. He'...
