Joy of Missing Out

Chapter 18: Love with tongues on fire

At the start of the year both Harry and I put our houses on the market so we didn't live in separate houses when we got back together. After his tour ended, as well as his relationship with Camille officially, we spent a lot of time in LA and I would occasionally go back to England to shoot The X Factor. When we ran out of things to do at the end of August, Harry implied that he would want to meet up with Briana and meet Johnny for the first time. I'm not sure if he wanted to meet them exactly, but he wanted to play with children and Lux was in London so he found an alternative.

Harry insisted on buying ridiculous amounts of ice-cream. He stopped at Trader Joe's so I could run and get it and he reclined his car seat to avoid being seen. We figured I would get in and out of the store much quicker, I had less chances of being recognized and it often served me good. So I came back with seven flavors and we rushed because it was hot and we didn't want them to melt. It was Harry's first time meeting Briana's family and he was especially excited to meet Johnny so he wanted to make a good first impression, as good as you can do with a 20-month-old. He surely did, as Johnny was over the moon with happiness when we arrived. He was surprised I wasn't bearing any gifts for the first time (I've met him a few times, they told him I was a family friend).

After introducing them, Tammi and Brett went to the kitchen to serve ice-cream and Briana joined them. I was still seated by the kitchen island and Harry was playing pretend with Johnny behind me.

"Which one will you have?" Briana asked me.

"Mint chip," Harry answered for me.

"Not you. I'm asking Louis."

"I know. He bought mint chip for himself. No one likes that one. And for me...I'm feeling vanilla."

"Sure you do," Brett replied jokingly.

"What does that mean?" Harry said.

"He's kind of right. Everything about you is unique but you always go for the most basic foods and flavors," I explained. He nodded affirming.

We talked for a long time about anything but Briana being my former flame and Johnny, or shall I say Freddie, being my son. I tried to keep a conversation while Harry played with Johnny. I mentioned that The X Factor I was judging was airing in a few days. They weren't interested but at least pretended to be. Why would they, it aired in the UK. Then Tammi bragged about their forthcoming vacation to Hawaii as I counted how many times they had been there since they were paid off. I can neither say I love nor even particularly like the family, but what they did with the money sometimes bothered me. Briana got lots of procedures done, but on the brighter side, their sons seemed very happy with everything they got. I am always in two minds if I should blame them for agreeing to do this farce.

In the meantime, because we were talking and they let Harry look after Johnny, Harry let him eat a lot of ice-cream, almost as much as him. Soon afterwards, Harry was lying down because he had a headache, and Johnny ran around complaining his tummy hurt.

"Don't be such a baby," Harry joked with Johnny.

"Shut up, you're lying there for the exact same reason," I said.

"You really shouldn't have given him three bowls of anything, let alone cold ice-cream. Come here, baby," said Tammi as she was reaching for Johnny.

"We don't have any yet, so you understand I am not to blame."

Yes, biology was to blame. If it were up to us, we would've had children long ago, even in secret. The first time we talked about it was after an interview with Barbara Walters. She asked us if we wanted to have kids and we both confirmed, unknowing that the other one wanted them as well, but also surprised because we thought of having them with one another. Our schedules are also in our way. It's been less than a decade of our careers, we still need to work in order to have a worriless life when we settle down and decide to start a family. Of course we're aware we couldn't have biological children but it's not a stretch to say that something might change by the time we seriously start thinking about it.

"I've heard some women don't smile so they don't have wrinkles when they're old. Might try that," Tammi said randomly, or perhaps they were having that conversation while I was dreaming about children.

"That's sad! How else would they react to Louis?" Harry added from the sofa where he was still resting from overeating ice-cream.

"Oh, you two lovebirds!" she exclaimed jokingly but I knew he wasn't joking. After every break, Harry returned to me with more love than before. He was quick to compliment me whenever I needed it or not. He really puts all his feeling in his songs, but I need people to know that he tells me even more wonderful things face to face.

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Due to being a judge on The X Factor in 2018, Louis didn't release music. 'The Power Of Love' was Dalton Harris' (Louis was his mentor) winning song, and this title is a line from that song. Also, I am not sure about their whereabouts and when TXF was being filmed but I don't care I just guessed they were in LA. I didn't know what photo to put and since there is mention of ice-cream I went for it.

Q: Do you think Harry also has some relationship with Brianna and her family?