Chapter 30 ~ The Calls
[Louis]
Hannah and I went to a café in town where they sold everything from baguettes, sandwiches to sweets like cookies and cakes. I was more of a salty kind of person though, so I bought a baguette with ham and cheese while Hannah bought a piece of mud cake.
We sat down at a table by the windows, hanging our jackets on our chairs. I took a sip of the coffee I had ordered before setting it down on the table. Hannah was watching me the entire time, her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Has he texted or tried calling you?" She asked.
Honestly, I hadn't even looked at my phone since it all happened. It was like it was poison to me after I saw those pictures. I didn't even want to touch it. However, I still wanted to see if he had tried to contact me since I found out about his affair with that girl.
I fished my phone from my back pocket and the screen lit up when I touched the home button. No messages and no missed calls. "No," I muttered, placing the device on the table with a sigh.
Her eyes narrowed even more at this new fact. "That's actually weird. I thought he would continue with his actions and apologize for his stupid act. Maybe he doesn't know that you have found out about it?" She wondered.
Shrugging my shoulders, I tried not to think too much about it. I honestly didn't want him to be present in my thoughts right now. "Let's not talk about him though. Didn't you tell me that I should get on better thoughts?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.
She nodded in agreement. "You're right."
"How is Brandon doing? Have you heard anything from him?" I questioned, changing the subject.
"Yeah, he texted me earlier telling me that he was feeling a little better. It's actually strange how fast he caught that flew. Only yesterday he was feeling great at the movies," she shrugged.
I took another sip of my coffee before taking a large bite of my baguette. "Getting sick can happen quickly though. Once, I was feeling great all day until the evening when I suddenly threw up. It can happen any second."
"I guess you're right..."
"Does he know you're here with me?" I wondered, not wanting to get in between the two of them. I wasn't sure what Brandon really thought of me yet. If he was okay with me hanging out with Hannah since we had recently ended our relationship.
"Yeah, and don't worry about that, Louis. I told him you realized you were gay while being in a relationship with me."
I let out a gasp at her confession, stomping her on the foot under the table. "You can't just tell him that! It's not even true. I never said I was gay."
She rolled her eyes. "But now he doesn't mind us hanging out together, so you shouldn't complain about it."
I glared at her. "Still. You can't go around telling things like that. Sure, I'm not straight, but we didn't break up because you turned me gay. I liked you very much actually," I said, matter-of-factly.
She raised her eyebrows in amusement. "You liked me? As in you don't anymore?"
"Well, not like that," I shrugged, making her chuckle.
"Alright, I'll take that."
Right then, my phone buzzed on the table in front of me. The screen was turned upwards, meaning that I could clearly see what was happening on the screen. My eyebrows furrowed at the sight of an incoming call from Harry.
"Is it him?" Hannah asked eagerly.
I looked up at her, ignoring my phone. "Yeah..." I trailed off.
She noticed that I wasn't interested in answering the call, and surprisingly she didn't question me about it. Instead, she looked at me the same way she did when we first arrived here.
"So, he did contact you after all," she said thoughtfully.
"I guess."
During the next ten minutes, Harry called me at least five times, and it was getting to the point where it was starting to irritate me. What did he even want? I mean, what could he possibly say that could make this situation better?
The sixth time he called, I decided to put my phone away with a deep sigh. The look on Hannah's face had turned even more thoughtful during the last few minutes, so I finally decided to question her about it.
"What are you thinking about?"
She didn't answer me right away. Instead, she took a sip of her coffee. "Alright, I don't know, but he's called you about a hundred times now. What if he wants to tell you something important? I mean, it does seem pretty important since he's called you these many times. If it was just to continue whatever game we think he's playing, then he wouldn't have been this impatient. I actually think you should talk to him, see what he wants to tell you."
I looked at her as if she was out of her mind. "What? Are you insane? I thought you were on my side with this?" I said disappointedly.
She gave me a reassuring look. "I am, Louis. I'm just trying to see through his eyes. I think I'm not the only one who's curious about what he has to say about these rumors."
Okay, so maybe she did have a point. I also wanted to know what Harry had to say about all this, but on another note, I wasn't sure I was ready to hear it yet. Right now I just didn't want anything to do with him.
"I'm just not ready to hear his voice yet," I muttered, looking down at the surface of the table.
"Or you're just afraid of what he's going to say. I think you're scared that he's going to break up with you and tell you that you and he was all just a lie."
She was right again. I knew she was but I didn't want to admit it. I was scared of getting even more heartbroken than I already was.
With another sigh, I bit my bottom lip. "I'll think about it, alright? I do want to know what he wants to say, but if it's so important, he can just text me, right?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he thinks it's too important to say it over a text message?"
I pouted my lips, my eyebrows furrowing together. "Fine, I'll call him back when I get home."
-
[Harry]
I ran my hands through my hair for probably the tenth time during the last five minutes while pacing the changing room. I was backstage, just about to go on stage for another show, and I had been trying to contact Louis for the last half an hour.
That was when I had noticed that pictures of Leah and I going out together last night had been leaked all over the internet. Paul had been very specific that they wouldn't be posted until tomorrow considering I hadn't had time to tell Louis about the entire thing yet. I wanted to tell him over the phone, but I had been too busy to call him yet.
That was why Paul had given me a day to do this before the pictures would be posted. However, now they seemed to have been leaked somehow, and Louis had probably already seen them without knowing why they even existed in the first place, and I was so worked up over it.
I knew what he must be thinking right now. This was the last thing I wanted to happen. It was this that wasn't supposed to happen. Fuck. And the fact that he hadn't picked up the phone once during the last thirty minutes only added to my suspicions of him already knowing about it.
"Harry! Five minutes until you have to go on stage!" Paul called from the other side of the door.
I grumbled to myself, pulling at the roots of my hair another time. "I'll be there."
Looking at my phone, I tried calling Louis once more in hopes of him picking up this time, but it was to no avail. It went to voicemail once again. I didn't want to seem desperate, but I guess I had already passed that limit a long time ago. Therefore, I sent him a text, telling him to call me back when he saw it and that it was important.
With that, I tossed my phone onto the couch across the room before leaving the dressing room to finally go out on stage. However, it turned out that the whole thing with Louis not picking up the phone affected the show as well. I wasn't as into it as I usually was, and I hated it because I didn't want to let my fans down, but I couldn't help it.
Louis was all I could think about, especially now that I knew I could have hurt him without having any attention to do so in the first place. During the entire show the only thing on my mind was that I wanted to go check my phone to see if he had called me back yet.
Two hours later, I was back in the dressing room. I lied down on the couch and picked up my phone immediately, checking my notifications.
2 missed calls from Louis <3
"Fuck," I muttered to myself, quickly sliding my finger across the screen to open my phone. I clicked on his name and brought the device to my ear, silently wishing that he would pick up.
"What do you want Harry and why didn't you pick up when I called you back?" Was the first thing he said when he answered the call.
I was so relieved that he picked up that I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding in. "Oh my God, I'm so happy you finally picked up," I said, making him huff.
"Well, you didn't answer my question," he muttered on the other end.
Swallowing hard, I inhaled some air to prepare myself. "Alright, first off, I didn't pick up when you called because I had a show that I just came back from. Second off, I tried calling you at least twenty times to talk about what happened."
"You mean the fact that there are pictures all over the internet of you going out with that blonde girl? I know. I already saw them. If that's what you wanted to tell me, I think we're done here. Good nig--"
I cut him off before he could finish that sentence, too afraid that he would hang up on me. "Louis, listen. I called you because I wanted to talk to you about it, not tell you about it. I was positive you already knew, which is why I wanted to explain things, alright?"
He didn't say anything, and I took that as a sign for me to continue. "I didn't want things to turn out like this. I told Paul specifically that I had to talk to you about it before any pictures were posted, but I guess they were leaked somehow. Anyway, that girl you saw in the pictures... her name is Leah and the only reason we were seen together was because we were told to go out. It was all a publicity stunt since rumors are going around that I might be gay, and my Management didn't really like that. Therefore, they set me up with this girl that I don't even know," I explained, hoping to God that he would believe me.
Louis snorted on the other end. "Really now? If that's the case, why didn't you just tell me about it? Why did I have to find out by fucking Eleanor that you were out with this stupid girl?"
"Louis, you have to believe me. I was going to tell you, I just couldn't find any time to do it before it was too late. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just... I am so sorry," I said pleadingly.
I couldn't lose him because of this stupid mistake. If I had just called him on time, none of this would have happened. He would have known before anyone else did.
"How do I know you're telling me the truth? How do I know that she isn't there with you right now, or waiting for you? How do I know that you aren't just saying this because you want to hurt me for some reason?"
He sounded so broken that I wanted to teleport myself to him and give him a tight, warm hug. It broke me that he thought I would be able to do that to him, but I understood why he did. He had very good reasons after the way I treated him last time I left.
"I guess you can't know, but I can promise you that I won't hurt you intentionally ever again, Louis. I understand why you have your suspicions about me, and no matter how much I want to take back the way I acted towards you when I left last time, I know I can't, but I can make up for it. I promise you, Lou, I am not lying. I haven't seen her since we were out."
He was quiet for a second. "Did you... do anything?" He asked cautiously as if he was afraid of the answer.
I could tell he still wasn't sure about whether I was telling the truth or not even if he went on with the conversation. "No, of course not. We only held hands. I could never do anything further than that, not even if I was forced to. I just told you that I don't intend to hurt you, Lou."
He let out a deep sigh. "I don't know, Harry. Will you please let me sleep on this? I'll get back to you tomorrow, okay?"
My heart broke at his words, and I swallowed hard. "S-sure," I said, my voice breaking.
Before he could end the call, I spoke quickly. "Please just... just remember that I love you, alright? And... Sweet dreams, Lou."
"Goodnight, Harry."
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This chapter was so sad :( My heart breaks for heartbroken Louis </3
Do you think Louis should forgive Harry?
Pauline .xx