Chapter 2 ― Louis 

“I don’t wanna go. What part of that don’t you understand, Harold Edward Styles?” I asked, arms folded and a serious expression on my face. I was sitting on the sofa and I wasn’t willing to move. Nope.

“We have to go, Lou. I don’t understand why you’re so difficult sometimes,” Harry complained and I just shook my head with my eyes closed.

I didn’t want to go to a radio station and most certainly I didn’t want to do an interview. I was tired of people asking ‘so, who is single?’ Ugh, it infuriated me because all I wanted to say was: ‘me, thanks to all those fans who won’t let us have nice things.’ Yes, I knew I seemed like a spoiled kid but I didn’t care. At least not that day.

It had been seven months since Eleanor and I broke up and though I got over her –and that was bloody difficult– and it didn’t hurt anymore, I still had this bitter feeling in my guts when I remembered that I had to go through all that pain because of our fans, the same fans that swore loved us unconditionally. Yes, I knew not all the fans were the same, there was a high percentage that was really sad and upset about my breakup with Eleanor, however I couldn’t just forget about what that other percentage did.

And that day my resentment was even worse.

I just got the gossip that Eleanor had started dating another guy.

No, I wasn’t jealous that she moved on, on the contrary, I was happy for her that she found a guy who didn’t hurt her or who didn’t bring her death threats from his fans, I just felt bad for me, because she could move on but I couldn’t because if I even tried, someone was going to end up as hurt as she was at the beginning.

Eleanor and I were still kind of friends. We talked from time to time and by now things weren’t that awkward, though at the beginning I couldn’t hear her name without breaking down. I had to be thankful to the lads, they helped me greatly to get over my heartache. I didn’t know what would have become of me if I hadn’t had them with me.

“C’mon, Lou. We have to do this, it’s part of our job. If you want we can ask George to request that no one asks us about our love life,” Harry proposed and I opened just one eye to see him.

“But why do we have to go to this radio station? I thought we were having this day off,” I whined and the curly boy sat next to me.

“George asked us this as a favour and we accepted ‘cos we’re good boys and we’ll have tomorrow free.”

“But did you hear him? He mentioned something about a contest,” I moaned and Harry just laughed at me. He laughed! Why was he so mean to me? “I don’t wanna be part of a contest. What if it’s something like ‘Date A Member Of One Direction?’” I questioned, pleading with my eyes for him to deny what I was thinking.

“Sorry, Lou. I don’t know anything about that but we can always refuse to be part of that. Surely we can talk about that first, right?”

I hoped he was right. I had enough with the fans ruining my relationships, I didn’t want management to try to control my love life as well. “Okay, let’s go,” I finally agreed and Harry hugged me tight. I just sighed, hoping nothing bad was going to come out of this.

* * *

We were in front of Joy, the blonde girl who was also the host of the show. She was nice and very pretty, she had so much energy and even though I didn’t want to come at first and I was all gloomy, she just bumped me up with her enthusiasm. She wasn’t the only one in the room, besides the lads and George, there was this other girl, Havi, who was sat behind the glass in the DJ booth. She was shy and it was obvious she wasn’t comfortable with us there. She was also cute, she had this adorable thing surrounding her and when I saw how Harry was flirting with her and obviously making her even more uncomfortable, I had to do something. I noticed she had this adorable smile and when she was embarrassed she looked down that made her eyelashes very noticeable. They were tick and dark, and made her eyes look brighter.

“So, tell me guys. What’s behind this new song of yours? Your fans are crazy about it, you can’t imagine how much they ask for it,” Joy asked and I noticed she gave a quick look at Havi with a smile that said there was something behind that. Could it be that Havi was a fan of us? For some reason, I smiled at that idea.

“We just thought it would be great to tell a story, you know? Leave the first person’s point of view for a chance,” Liam replied talking about our new single, a song that talked about a girl tired of been left behind but that despite everything, she never gave up. It was a really inspired song and we were really proud of it. It was great that our fans loved it, too.

“I personally think it’s a really mature song, so congratulations for getting another number one.” Joy was really nice and I was thankful that she limited herself to ask only about our career. “And tell me, what’s on the agenda right now? Any plans for a tour anytime soon?”

“We can’t talk about that yet, but we’d love to start a new tour soon,” it was Harry’s turn to reply.

“Right now we’re taking things slowly. The world tour was great but we definitely got really, really tired,” Zayn added with a smile.

The world tour ended one month ago and tired was a euphemism. We ended up practically dead. That was why management allowed us to take things easy for the months ahead. We still had some gigs, interviews and things like that because we couldn’t just disappear, but it was definitely calmer now for us.

“That’s great. You need a break from time to time. You may be popstars, but you’re still just five boys!” She said with a soft laugh and Niall laughed too. He always did that. “Louis, you’ve been really quiet today. Aren’t you supposed to be very loud and outgoing?” She asked, her eyes fixed on me.

“Um, I just don’t have anything important to say. I’m here just trying to seduce Harry but he’s not even looking at me. I blame you,” she laughed and I smiled, hoping that would be enough for her. I still wasn’t in the mood for an interview. I hadn’t been in the mood for seven months.

I had to admit it, many things had changed with me since that day Eleanor and I broke up, and the biggest change was my relationship with the fans. I just couldn’t forget what they did, what they cost me and even if I tried, I couldn’t be the same as before, I couldn’t just be as nice as before. I didn’t ignore them, of course not, I was still grateful with them for getting us where we were, but I just didn’t feel that unconditional love anymore.

Joy asked some more questions and in one occasion Harry elbowed me to answer for a change. The interview ended with Havi playing our last single and Joy and us saying goodbye to all the listeners. At the end, the whole thing wasn’t that bad and I had a great time. Joy was really funny and easy-going, it was really easy to make friends with her. The interview hadn’t been that bad either.

“Thank you so much for coming today. Uncle George, thanks!” Joy practically yelled whilst throwing herself into George’s arms. Ah, that explained why he insisted so much on bringing us here: they were relatives.

“So that’s how you got One Direction to come here. I was actually considering that you sold your soul to the Devil for this,” someone commented from behind and I turned around to see Havi standing up there with a big smile and an amused expression.

“I was about this close to doing that,” Joy replied showing her index finger and thumb almost touching each other. “Then I remembered that George works for Modest and it was like magic and rainbows on my mind. Everything fitted together.” Everyone laughed at the way she expressed what had happened. “And talking about brilliant ideas, can we talk about the contest?” Joy requested and I froze.

“Contest?” Havi asked almost choking. Apparently, she didn’t know about Joy’s idea. “But, Joy!” She complained and I was impressed of how displeased she seemed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with this, you don’t have to worry and you won’t have to even talk to them.” And I was officially confused. I looked at Joy frowning and so did the other lads, trying to understand her words. She realised we were looking at her trying to get an explanation. “Oh, right. Lads, here, please meet Havi, a hater of yours,” she added and probably my jaw hit the floor. I turned around immediately to look Havi. Did she really hate us? It didn’t seem likely when we met her.

“I don’t hate them, Joy! Oh, for the love of God! Stop saying that!” The brunette said all blushed then her eyes looked for us, finally stopping on me. “I don’t hate you, it’s just that… um, it’s hard and really awkward to explain.”

“You don’t like us,” Harry offered and you could see his puppy eyes pleading her to love us.

“It’s not that either.” She really looked troubled and I felt sorry for a moment, but I wanted to know. I didn’t want her to hate us “Ugh, it’s… it’s the whole phenomenon the thing I don’t like. It annoys me that everyone seems so obsessed with you and you have no idea of how many times I have to say to girls that we can’t play One Direction again. I don’t have anything against you or your music, it’s okay in fact, but I would like, for once, to have a break from you all, you know?” She explained and I tried to follow her idea, tried to put myself in her position and I kind of could understand what she was trying to say.

Joy was actually laughing and for a moment I was even more confused. “She doesn’t hate you, I actually believe that now she met you, she even likes you. I just wanted to mess with her a bit,” the blonde kept laughing and Havi really looked embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry.” She went towards Havi, hugged her and kissed her cheek.

“Meanie,” Havi mumbled and I chuckled at the adorableness of the scene. It was obvious Joy had this very dark sense of humour and I wondered how Havi coped with that. She seemed so shy and fragile. “You have to make it up to me later.”

“I’ll do anything for you, babe,” she replied in a very, very flirtatious tone and I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows in surprise. And then the way Havi looked at Joy just made this even more interesting. That kind of flirting-joking thing reminded me so much of Harry and I… well, the lads and I in general, that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing so hard it hurt. “Hey, we’re trying to have a moment here. More respect, boy!” Joy reprimanded me and I just laughed harder, getting the other lads to laugh as well. In a matter of seconds we were all laughing.

“Okay, stop this. Are we going to talk about this contest or what? It’s already seven fifteen and my wife is waiting for me. Plus, I have to get these boys to their flats.”

It took us a few moments to calm down and go back to a more serious state, though I still felt like I could burst out laughing again in any moment.

We went to another room to talk about this contest idea. I still wasn’t sure about the whole thing, but I liked these two girls and maybe I could give them a chance. Maybe the contest wasn’t going to be something bad. I had to listen to the proposal first, though.

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Bel, xx!