There's A Reason - A Larry Stylinson Love Story

Chapter 28 - Prove That He Loves Me

Louis gripped my hand the entire van ride there. I squeezed his hand tightly, glad for the support. “We’ll be fine, Hazzabear. They can’t do anything to us this time. We’ve done exactly what they wanted. Everything will be okay.” I try my hardest to believe him, but I can’t bring myself to find comfort in his words.

I keep thinking of the call Simon made to me back in the first few weeks of our ‘relationship’. The one where he told me to act in love, but it turned out he never told Louis the same thing. Why was that? Was he going to reveal some secret behind this whole scheme? Was he going to break us up?

No, he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t dare break up one of the world’s power couples. Our fans had really taken us in stride and supported us all the way. The die-hard Larry shippers were extremely excited by our announcement. Overall, the world reacted very well to two international sensations being gay for each other. I was pleasantly surprised.

As for our real relationship, it was complicated. We both wanted to be more than friends, or even friends with benefits. But we hadn’t really confirmed anything and we both knew my brain and heart were messed up at the moment. However, it was nice to know that when we made it real, we wouldn’t have to change anything. We had basically come out to the world before we knew we were in love with each other ourselves.

Before I knew it, we were in front of the management office building once again. We hadn’t been here in a few months, but I remembered it like it was yesterday. Déjà vu swept over me as I looked around. The arrangement of the lobby was the same, the same receptionist was here, and the same pictures and banners were hung along the walls. Liam waved a hello to Rachel again before we headed up to the meeting room.

It was eerily similar to the last time. Management officials were seated around the edges of the huge table, with Simon at the head. There were five empty seats on one side, which we filed and took. Everyone sat in silence for a minute before Simon cleared his throat.

“As you all know, we’ve had to call another urgent meeting. There have been some… developments that we need to discuss. I don’t care if you don’t want to tell me. You boys need to answer my questions, because we don’t know what you’ve been doing with yourselves. Clear?” We nodded.

“The last time we were sat here like this, I introduced you to the idea of Louis and Harry pretending to be in love. You carried through with this as planned, and the media reacted poorly. I sent you on a quick vacation to clear your heads. What some of you may not know is that I spoke with Harry while you were there.” I heard a gasp come from Louis and Zayn, the only two who didn’t know by now.

“Haz? Why didn’t you tell me?” Louis looked upset. I gave him a quick hug.

“I didn’t want to worry you.” He seemed content with this answer, facing Simon once again.

“I told him you two needed to be more convincing. When you came back, you both did very well in your act. Even I believed you two were together. Then, you were sent to Florida to record.” I sucked in a breath. What did he know about what happened there?

“What were you boys doing? You were a total mess in Florida. There were pictures all over the Internet of Louis and Harry kissing and snogging, but then there were pictures of the two of them screaming over a table in a restaurant. There are cute pictures that match how we told you to act, and pictures of Harry with tears in his eyes driving way out to a far off beach. What did you do?”

So the public knew more than I thought. How had they gotten pictures of us all those times and I hadn’t noticed? I sighed, knowing I had underestimated the paparazzi. They were everywhere; I should’ve known that.

I turned to look at Louis, who had a similar expression to my own. He was shocked at how much they knew. Liam looked determined, Niall looked scared, and Zayn looked confused.

It was time to tell Simon what was going on. Well, part of it. I was not going to talk about extremely personal thoughts, but he needed to know that Louis and I were no longer pretending. What we had was real.

Glancing once more at my Boo, I saw he had the same expression. He was steeling himself for what was to come, but he was ready to talk. We needed this.

So we did. Little by little, piece-by-piece, we told Simon the story of our real love. Not what the media saw, but what was true. Purely Louis and I.

By the end of the story, I was feeling very emotional. Louis already had a few tears streaming down, and I’d rubbed my eyes to prevent myself from crying multiple times. The moment had come.

Louis and I had been switching off, telling parts of what had happened. He knew I would want to tell this last part, the part about what we were now. After all, it was my decision.

And just like that, I knew why I hadn’t been able to forgive Louis. I had doubted his love. He’d left me hanging, and my heart had broken. He tried to fix it, but it was unwilling to accept his words. My heart had wanted a real action from him, to prove that he loves me. My heart was trying to protect itself from being shattered all over again.

He had stepped up and told Simon his part of our story. And hearing it from his point of view showed me that he did care. Everything he did was for me, he always was thinking of me, worrying about me. Louis loved me, and I let the knowledge of that fill my heart and soul. My body was burning with passion, and I’m sure my eyes were filled with total love. I loved Louis Tomlinson, and he loved me.

It was time to make our relationship something real.