Together (Larry Stylinson) ✅

Phone Call

Harry's Point Of View

I paced back and forth in my office, debating whether or not I should make the call. Louis had said to call him on Monday, but he never said what time. I decided on 3pm because it was in the middle of the day, not too early but not too late.

It was hard for me to believe I was back in the New York office, after all the grief I went through to go to L.A. But when they offered me an upper management position with a six month training program in New York, it was an offer I couldn't pass up. I hadn't planned on telling Louis I was back in the city. I didn't want to break his heart twice, coming back to New York temporarily only to return to California again when the training was done.

It had been nice seeing him. Well nice, but also not nice. I still can't get over how worn and sickly he looked, how bad his cigarette addiction had gotten, how he never told me his mom died. I had never for sorrier for someone in my life. It hurt just to look at him.

When he asked me to put together this business deal, claiming that his business was in trouble, I could tell something was wrong. Louis had worked at the same publishing company for years, and I've never seen him so frantic as he was that day he spoke with me in the coffee shop sipping on his 5 calorie coffee.

This had to be bad. So I did what I could. I pulled some strings and I was able to get a deal set up, though I was worried it may not have been as much as Louis wanted.

I took another pace across my office, tugging at the buttons on my suit, and then hit the call button. "Hello?" A muffled voice responded after a few rings. "Hey, Louis? It's Harry," I said, trying my best to be enthusiastic, though part of me began to sink as I realized it would probably be our last conversation together.

"What the fuck?" He mumbled. I heard laughing. Was he drunk? "It's about the deal. I was able to pull it together," I said worriedly. Louis didn't answer for a while.

"Oooooh," he finally said. "That doesn't matter anymore. I already got fired. So it's over." Wow. That was fucking awful. Louis loved his job— it was his dream job at his dream company. It was a large part of the reason he refused to go to L.A. with me.

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?" I asked. I felt my face grow hot and I began to nervously wrap the phone cord around my fingers. "No. You fucked me over enough," Louis said breathily. I could tell he was going to hang up, but I interjected.

"Lou. I know I did and I'm sorry. But I want to make sure you're okay. Are you safe right now? What have you had?"  I asked worriedly. Louis wasn't the most responsible substance user when we were together and something told me he was even less so now.

"Just a ton of vodka. And weed. Cross faded," he said, laughing. I shook my head, my curls falling into my eyes. "Alright. Well do you mind if I stop by to check on you?" As expected, Louis responded with a very dramatic 'No.'

I frowned. Maybe it was better that we ended our interactions here. I couldn't help him with his job anymore, and he clearly wanted nothing to do with me. I should stop. I should want to stop. But deep down I was still deeply attracted to Louis. I still cared, I still loved him. And all I really wanted to do right now was fix him, help him along, make up for all that lost time. I wanted to be the supporter he had always been for me. But I knew I couldn't — I shouldn't. I had made my decision and he had made his, he was done with me.

But wait. What if I could find a way to make this interaction last longer.... what if we had a job at my company... we probably did. There were always openings for new writers.

"Lou what if I got you an interview here. You can work here until you find something else. How does that sound?" I said quickly into the receiver. I had paused for way too long and I was surprised he hadn't hung up.

"I don't take pity jobs," Louis said. He was making chewing sounds now, and I hoped and prayed he would keep his food down, though I knew all too well that he wouldn't.

"Well is you change your mind, just call me or text me. You're always welcome to work here as a writer. I'd like that, honestly," I said. That last part had been a bit much hadn't it? Cringe.

"Yeah whatever," Louis said. I heard a muffled coughing sound as he hung up on me. I just had to hope he would call me back for that job. Our future depended on it.... if we had a future at all...