Chapter 27 ― Havi
“So…” Maca mumbled whilst she was preparing my coffee. I really liked her, she was a nice and sweet girl, and when she smiled, all her face lit up. “You know these boys that came yesterday, don’t you?” She asked and I knew she wanted to talk about that.
“Yeah, though I think everybody knows them,” I commented and she giggled.
“I know, but I mean really, really know them. Them. Because, um… The curly-haired one, Harry, asked me out and I’m not sure what I should tell him. I thought you could help me as you know them,” she explained to me and I remained in silence a couple of seconds.
Harry was, without a doubt, a great guy. He was a gentleman and so far from a lady’s man as the media liked to portray him. He was a flirt, yes, but never a player. So I didn’t fear for Maca to get hurt by him or that maybe he just wanted to play with her. That wasn’t my concern in that situation. I knew that Harry would never do such a thing. What worried me were the fans. I knew, by own experience now, how hard it was to date one of the boys and probably to date Harry was the hardest. If I told Maca to say yes to Harry, I was going to send her to something really hard to face. And she needed to know that.
“Only if you really want to. Dating Harry will be hard, believe me, really hard. Dating one of the boys is like when you need the family’s approval to feel like everything is fine. Well, in this case the family consist of millions of obsessive, jealous and possessive teenagers who won’t give you that approval easily. It’s not only saying yes to Harry, it’s more complex than that and you need to really think about it. He’s great, I can tell you that. He’s nice, he’s sweet, he’s funny, he’s a great friend and a gentleman who will treat you right. You need to figure out if he’s worth all what you will have to face if you decide to say yes,” I told her honestly. She needed to know because it was hard. It wasn’t just dating one of the guys. It was so much more than that.
“You’re dating one of them, right. Louis, am I right?” She asked me and I knew she had listened to my words very carefully. I nodded and she smiled. “Is he worth it?” She asked and it was the second time someone asked me that in the same day. Though the way she did it was completely different to the way Kevin did.
“He is,” I replied and I could hear my voice softening as my own heart started beating faster. “He is totally worth it,” I added with more conviction.
“Well, I guess I have a lot to think about, huh?” She told me with a sweet smile, her brown eyes had a cute sparkle that made her look adorable.
Maca handed me my coffee and I knew I had to go. I really liked her and I hoped she would make the right decision. “See you tomorrow, Maca,” I told her and she nodded without losing her smile.
“See you tomorrow,” she agreed and I turned on my heels to walk away from the cafeteria. If she decided to tell Harry yes, then the boy would have got a really good girl.
I walked to the parking lot where Joy was waiting for me to drive me home. Luckily, at that time of the day there were no more fans outside the station. Security had to threaten those girls with calling the police if they didn’t go and even though, it had been hard. Those girls were surely stubborn.
“Louis asks if everything’s okay,” was the first thing Joy told me when I got in the car.
“I can’t believe I forgot my charger. That’s the thing I hate about my iPhone: the battery runs faster than what it takes you to eat a biscuit.”
“And that’s very fast. You should have another charger here in the station, don’t you see your boyfriend gets worried if he can’t call you?” She teased me and I just chuckled softly. “However, I told him you were fine, that you just didn’t want to talk to him since you met this new gorgeous man…”
“Joy!” I scolded her and she just burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry, I told him you were doing fine. I didn’t tell him about the calls ‘cos I assumed you didn’t want him to worry even more. And that you’re gonna call him once you get home. Is that okay?” She asked and I giggled as I handed her the bag with all the biscuits I had bought for her.
“Thank you very much. Now drive me home!” I demanded and with a soft laugh, she started the engine.
* * *
The next day wasn’t easy and I wondered if I was ever going to have a normal day at work again. Fans were outside the station and when Joy and I walked in, they attacked us again. Yes, us, because even Joy received some hatred from those crazy girls. They called us all kinds of things, from gold-diggers to heartless cunts. How did they know? They didn’t, they couldn’t know because they didn’t know us, yet they thought they did. Stupid fans. I was running out of patience with all their bullshit and I was scared I was going to lose it. It wasn’t just the hatred in the station, it was on the Internet, it was in the calls, it was even in Starbucks that morning. A random girl recognised me and decided to insult me right in the middle of the shop because I was dating Louis.
I was nice to people if they were nice to me. I couldn’t be nice if they treated me like that. I couldn’t stand there and look at them being arseholes for too long. I had a limit and those girls were quickly getting closer and closer to it.
“You don’t know how much I wanna slap those little girls in the faces right now!” Joy ranted out once we were inside the station and the little bitches were outside. I hoped it would start raining in that exact moment. Even better, snowing.
“I can hand you the chair for you to slap them,” I offered and my blonde friend laughed.
“Let’s go work. The boys should be here soon today and we still need to narrow a few more calls,” Joy reminded me and I froze for a second. The boys were going to see those crazy girls outside. Louis was going to see what their fans were doing to us.
“Shit,” I mumbled and Joy looked at me confused. “Those girls need to go before the boys get here.”
“Shit indeed! Wait, wait. I’ll call them, they need to get in through the back door so they won’t have to see the little bitches outside. We must warn them!” She stated solemnly, which made me laugh. I could see her with a soldier suit, trying to keep the boys safe.
“You do that, I’ll talk to James,” James was one of the security crew.
Soon we had everything done, at least everything related with the girls outside. James had to insist on them leaving for two hours and the boys were warned to use the back entrance so no one would see them.
We had to check the show twitter because it was part of our job, but it was hard when more than half of the mentions were hatred addressed to me. There were many pictures the girls took this morning when we got to the station with so many different legends. I had to give them credit for their creativity, though. And for their skills with Photoshop. If they weren’t acting so childishly, they could have a future in the graphic design field.
In the afternoon when there were almost no girls outside and just a few paparazzi waiting for something, the boys arrived at the station. I had been in a bad mood the whole morning, seeing all kind of awful tweets and listening to horrible calls, but it took me one glimpse of Louis to forget all about it and to remember that he was worth everything. That I could face all that because I loved him.
I didn’t care that Joy was going to make fun of me, or that I was acting like a silly teenage girl; I just had to get to him faster. I literally ran to his arms. Harry ran towards me too, but I avoided him in the last minute and jumped to Louis’ arms.
“Hey there,” he greeted me spinning a couple of times with me still in his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and I didn’t reply, I just kissed him.
“Oi, cut the PDA!” Harry protested but I just ignored him. “First you reject me now this? Why, oh cruel world, why?” I heard him dramatizing but I couldn’t care less. All I had in my mind was Louis.
“I missed you,” I whispered once we pulled away. He still had me firmly in his arms and we were ignoring all the others. To be honest, I didn’t even know if they were still there in the middle of the hall.
“I missed you, too. How’s everything?” He asked and I knew exactly what he meant with that question. I kissed his lips softly again because it was sweet how much he cared about how I was dealing with everything.
“Haters gonna hate, right?” I replied and he didn’t seem completely pleased with my answer. “I’m fine now. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I saw some nasty things on twitter. I’m sorry,” he said, not bothering with letting me stand on my own feet.
“Stop apologising for what those crazy fans do. It’s not your fault, Lou,” I reminded him looking into his eyes, trying to make him see that I would never blame him for everything that was happening. It was true that I had to face all that shit because of him, but I chose that, I chose him because I loved him and because he was worth it. I didn’t regret, not even for a second, the choice I made.
“I hate that the rest of the world can’t see how amazing you are. If they really knew you, I’d worry that maybe someone would try to steal you from me,” he said and I giggled. “And I first thought that management was being a bitch for asking me to keep us secret, now I know they are trying to protect me from the rest of the world wanting to have my girl,” he teased making me laugh.
I absolutely adored how he called me his girl.
“That’s not fair! I have to compete with millions of girls and you don’t have to worry about that? Let the world love me!” I joked dramatically and he joined me in my fit of laughter. “No, but seriously. You should put me down now. And the guys must be waiting for us,” I added noticing that Joy and the lads had indeed left us alone in the hall.
“I like to have you here,” he teased and I raised my eyebrows in a very flirty expression. “What if I kidnap you?”
“We have work to do, so you can’t. And if you’re not gonna put me down, then you should start walking to the conference room at least.”
“You’re no fun,” Louis pouted so I pecked his lips.
“After we finish with this we can have loads of fun,” I promised him and it was his turn to look at me with a hopeful and flirtatious expression.
“I like how that sounds,” he commented kissing my lips slowly.
“Yes, I’ll beat your arse at poker again”. And he pulled away to look at me disappointed, I just laughed.
“Wait… strip poker?”
“Maybe. We need to finish today’s work and you’ll know,” I said and he started walking towards the conference room immediately. I was still in his arms, laughing at how fast he was walking.
Oh God, how I loved him.
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Dedication goes to @funnybunny96 because you should read her story and fan her. She's amazing and I truly love her.
Bel, xx