"Ah, Louis, I've been expecting you," Simon smiles. He leans back in his dark black chair and smiles lazily at Louis. Louis tries to make his face as neutral as possible, but he fears that it isn't working too well. 

Honestly, Louis' been more and more moody than ever before. He hasn't spoken to Harry in nearly a day. From what Louis knows, Harry's been enjoying his vacation with Taylor in France. Louis only wishes he could lazily relax on French beaches, instead he has conference meetings with Simon. 

Of course, Louis isn't complaining. Louis signed up for this when he agreed to Simon's terms. Louis works for Simon and Simon leaves Harry alone. Harry's free to do whatever he pleases and release all the music he could ever dream of. The tours and excitement of the music industry without the constant fear of contracts stabbing you in the back. All paid for by Louis. Louis who, now, has to take on the load of contracts that would've been given to Harry. Simon's puppet, Golden Boy, whatever term you feel fits. 

"Wipe the scowl off your mouth. If you walk into every meeting for the rest of your life with that scowl you'll wrinkle before you turn 30," Simon chastises. This only causes Louis to scowl deeper, hoping he wrinkles pre-maturely if it means that Simon will deem him unfit for the public eye. 

"Sorry, this is my face's natural reaction when I see you," Louis hisses. It's taken less than a minute for Louis' temper to grow short. He fears what the next couple of years will look like. 

Nonetheless, Louis takes his seat across from Simon. Pretty soon, they'll have to write Louis' name on it with the amount of times Louis' found himself sitting before Simon in the last couple of months. 

"All jokes today, aren't you," Simon murmurs. He sits up in his chair and places his folded hands on his desk. "You've bought the ring and rumors are already circling about a potential engagement," Simon explain as if Louis has been able to avoid the headlines bombarding him from every angle. 

"Obviously." 

"How far out to do you want to put the wedding? Obviously, we're going to wait a couple of days--or maybe weeks--before you propose, but how far out after that will you and Eleanor want to schedule the wedding? We can go for a more traditional route and wait a year or so, but if you want to speed everything up we can do that as well. You two have already been dating for 6 or 7 years now, so nobody will blame you if you have a quick turn around after the engagement," Simon explains. The words swim around Louis' head, not quite taking shape. Weddings and engagements? Louis knew that they would make rumors and he knew he'd have to buy ring, but he never actually considered that he'd have to marry Eleanor. 

"Who said anything about marriage? I agreed to buy the fucking ring, but that doesn't mean that I agree to actually marrying her! Does she not get a say in any of this? She has a fucking life too you know," Louis shouts angrily. He can feel his heart racing in his chest and he reminds himself to calm down. Slowly, he counts to ten in his head, forcing his breaths to even. 

"I would make it a habit to learn some manners, Louis. I have tolerated your toddler like tantrums for far too long. You are old enough now to control your emotions, so do so if you know what's good for you," Simon threatens. His voice low and barely above a whisper, but still echoing in the room and into Louis' head. Louis' jaw tenses and he wants nothing else but to reach across the table and smack the daylights out of the man, but he remains in his seat. 

"As for Miss. Calder, when she signed her contract, alongside Mr. Styles, she agreed to do whatever it is we asked of her. She knew the terms when she signed her contract. So, yes she does get a say and she made her decision. Please talk with her about future wedding plans. I do not have the mind set to deal with you much longer than this," Simon grumbles. He rubs the sides of his heads soothingly. Louis has no clue what possibly could be stressing Simon out, it's not like he's being forced into a marriage. 

"Speaking of Mr. Styles, I'm not sure if you've talked to him recently or not, but he has decided to... terminate his contract with us. When he arrives back from France he will no longer be considered an act under Modest management, therefore making him not my problem anymore. I thought I would just... let you know," Simon smirks. 

Louis' head pounds in his skull. He ended his contract? Why didn't Harry tell him? Neither of them would've been in this mess if Harry had told Louis this earlier. There would've been no point in Louis agreeing to cover for Harry if Harry wanted to leave anyway. Emotions flood through Louis' body at a pace he can't even begin to comprehend. Anger, sadness, confusion, betrayal burn like a fire inside his chest. 

"What do you mean he's... terminated his contract," Louis asks. He doesn't release he's spoken aloud until he sees the slimy smirk play across Simon's lips again. Of course Simon's told him. He wanted to see Louis' reaction first-hand. To see that Louis' plan for protection was utterly useless now and that there was nothing to protect, making Louis Simon's slave for virtually no reason. 

"He sent me a letter saying that he'd like to terminate his contract because... oh what was the wording? Oh yes... he 'didn't feel he was a good fit for the musical industry'. Perhaps he's had a change of heart on his trip to France. You'll have to talk to him for more information on that. For now, get back with me in two weeks with a rough idea of wedding dates and perhaps a location," Simon explains. He sits back in his chair again, showing to Louis that this conversation is over. 

Louis makes sure to slam the door extra loud on his way out. 

~_~_~

Hey guys! Hope you guys had a good week. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B