Chapter 24 ― Louis

I knew I had agreed with Havi that we shouldn’t see each other that day, it was for the best no matter how much I wanted to hold her in my arms and kiss her again; but after seeing those trendings and all the mentions I received, I couldn’t stand there, doing nothing. The fans were already being cruel and unfair, I couldn’t leave Havi alone with that. If I couldn’t stop the fans, at least I was going to be next to her to hold her and give her strength. It was the least I could do for her.

If I went alone, everyone would suspect; so I had to take the lads with me. It was the only way to disguise the situation a bit, with that we could say we went there for a contest matter.

I had to see her. Make sure she was okay.

During the ride to the station, my nerves were killing me. I was beyond anxious to know if she was okay, if she had seen the tweets or any kind of comment related to this new information about us. As we approached the station I could only wonder why. Why our fans had to be so possessive, obsessive and jealous. Why couldn’t they be happy because I was happy? Why didn’t they trust me to choose my girlfriend? Why couldn’t they accept that Harry and I were only best friends?

When Harry and I started with our friendship and this playful flirtation, we never expected it was going to reach such magnitude. Now no one could control those who were obsessed with something that wasn’t anything else but a game.

Once I could finally hold her in my arms, everything felt right again. Her smile was honest, she was happy to see me and if she saw some of the hatred they were sending to her, she wasn’t blaming me. I believed her when she told me she would never blame for something I couldn’t control, but I was always scared that maybe one day it was going to be too much and she was going to see that it was indeed my fault. It was a fear I lived with.

“How are the calls going?” Liam asked when we decided to go to the cafeteria so we could chat a bit and Niall could have food. I also saw Harry very interested checking out the new girl helping in the cafeteria. It was a nice girl, very fit with big brown eyes and short straight black hair, cute smile and dimples, just like Harry’s.

But I had to forget about the girl that had caught Harry’s attention when I felt Havi tensing next to me at Liam’s question. I grew worried immediately, even more when she noticed I felt her change and she tried to cover it up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her and for a second Havi avoided my gaze. There was something there, it was obvious now and she didn’t want to tell me. “Havi, tell me what’s wrong,” I requested taking her chin and making her look at me.

“Nothing important, don’t worry, Lou,” she told me with an honest smile, but I still could see there was something in her eyes, which didn’t leave her at ease. I was learning to read her very well.

“There’s something there, I know it,” I commented and she squeezed my other hand gently, asking me to drop the matter but I couldn’t. “Havi, whatever it is, I need you to tell me. If we want this to work out, I need you to trust me to tell me everything. Please,” I practically begged and for a couple of seconds we just looked into each other’s eyes.

Havi sighed closing her eyes for a second before looking at me again. “Some girls called the station today and they were… they weren’t very nice.”

With those words I understood something very crucial in this situation. A huge difference with Eleanor was that Havi was exposed. More exposed than Eleanor ever was. Havi was, somehow, a public figure as she was part of the radio and was exposed to a growing audience. The fans were able to get her number easily, to call her all the time just for the sake of being mean to her. Havi had less privacy because she worked in the radio station.

Why didn’t I see that before? Why didn’t I realise how much harder it was going to be for Havi to deal with all this?

“I’m so sorry,” I told her almost frantically cupping her face and desperate for her to see I was truly sorry.

“It’s not your fault!” She hurried to say with almost the same expression I probably had. “It’s not your fault those little girls are stupid!” She added and that surprised me, plus I heard Joy giggling, which only confused me more. I noticed that the only one there with us was Joy, who was trying to give us space. The lads were picking food and Harry was trying to chat the cute girl up.

“You should’ve seen her,” Joy murmured. “She was ready to kill someone ‘cos she couldn’t understand how someone could be so stupid. I laughed.”

I looked at Havi a bit confused and she just smiled embarrassed. “I’m a bit confused,” I told her and her cheeks went adorably rosy.

“I got angry ‘cos all those ‘haters’ are stupid. I can’t understand how they can hate someone when they don’t even know their name. I just wanted to slap some sense into those empty little heads.”

Joy burst out laughing and I just smiled. For some reason, I preferred her to get angry at the stupidity of those girls than being all depressed and resenting me for what I dragged her into.

“Seriously, I’ll never understand the haters,” she mused and I just chuckled grabbing her face again to pull her until our lips met. It was easier to fight the haters when you didn’t let them get to you, when you could stop them with a barrier of rationality.

“You’re so incredible,” I whispered against her lips and she just smiled with her cheeks burning. I heard Joy cooed at us the minute the lads joined us.

“Boo-bear! I got her number!” Harry cheered though I didn’t pay him much attention. I was, literally, lost looking into Havi’s eyes.

“You got it because it was the only way you could leave her alone,” Niall added and just then the interchange of words caught my attention.

“The point is I got it,” the curly-haired boy defended himself.

“If that’s her real number. She probably made up a series of numbers so you would leave her alone,” Zayn intervened and Niall burst out laughing and so did Joy.

“I’m hurt! Of course it’s her real number. She was just playing hard to get,” Harry insisted but I could see that even he was having doubts now. He looked at where the girl was before, but she was nowhere to be seen anymore.

“I also believe she gave you that number so you would let her work,” Liam joined the conversation and by that moment Joy was practically crying.

“It’s seems like you lost your charm, Harry!” The blonde laughed at him and he pouted.

“It’s this station! No one here appreciates the curls!” And at that comment, everyone was laughing. “But you’ll see, I’ll call her later and you all have to eat your words!”

“I bet it’s gonna direct you to some creepy man. Or worse, a fan who’s gonna leak the number to everyone!” Zayn shared his theory and Harry’s eyes were wide open. “Imagine the moment when everyone’s gonna call you asking you to marry them, to take care of the child or to just fuck them.”

“Probably the last one,” Niall added and Harry whined, looking at the piece of paper with the numbers and the name written in a very feminine and cute handwriting.

“Don’t worry, Harry. I bet she gave you her real number ‘cos she liked you,” Havi told him to cheer him up but then she mouthed ‘no’ whilst shaking her head just to mock him. Niall and Joy were laughing so hard at Harry. “No, but seriously, Maca is a nice girl, she wouldn’t make up a number.”

“So you know her?” He asked really interested and Havi giggled.

“Of course. She started working here last Friday. She’s very nice, we have talked a bit.”

“So you can help me if this isn’t her real number!” He asked hopefully and Havi just thought about it. “Please, please, please pretty please!” He begged and it surprised me how interested he was.

“Havi, don’t! You can’t do that to Maca! She’s a nice girl, she doesn’t deserve this,” Joy interrupted motioning to Harry to indicate he was what Maca didn’t deserve. Poor Niall, he was crying due to how hard he was laughing.

“You rejected me first, now you have to see me moving on,” Harry told Joy flipping his hair in a dramatic way.

The conversation from that point onwards just was to laugh at Harry’s expense. Havi, at the end, agreed to help Harry only if Maca seemed a bit interested in him, otherwise she wasn’t going to intervene.

We stayed there a bit late and I knew the lads wanted to go home, but they knew I couldn’t stay there alone unless I was ready to confirm my relationship with Havi. Sometimes I just wanted to scream to the world at the top of my lungs what I felt for her and to leave us alone. I just wanted to be with her, without worries.

Joy and the lads left us alone so we could have some time for ourselves and I was very grateful for that. It wasn’t the same that being in one of our flats, chilling out on the sofa watching a movie, but at least I could be with her.

“Do you think we rushed things?” I asked her after thinking that I just met her a couple of weeks ago yet it felt like I’d known her forever. I still had so many other things to learn about her and I was eager to discover all those things. However, I couldn’t stop wondering if maybe we should have waited a bit longer.

“I don’t feel like we did. Maybe for everyone else it might seem like we rushed things, but for me it feels right. In fact, it feels like I waited forever for this moment,” she replied and I chuckled softly as I hugged her tighter. We were in the booth where they broadcasted the show on a sofa they had there. I had my arms around her little waist and her back pressed against my chest, our cheeks were touching

“I understand what you mean,” I told her because for me it was the same. It also felt like I waited forever to have the guts to tell her how I felt and make a move. “Then, Havi,” I said grabbing her by the waist to make her turn around so we could be face to face. “Would you like to be my girlfriend?  I wanna make this official, at least between us,” I asked her tangling our fingers together and looking in the depth of her eyes.

She looked surprised at the beginning but then her smile was so beautiful, so perfect that it made my heart race. She kissed me cupping my face and with that gesture I could feel how happy she was. “I’d love to,” she replied with her lips still touching mine.

I wanted to stay there forever, enjoying the little world we were creating for ourselves, but we had to leave the station at some point. The good news was that we were going to see each other soon.

During the ride home, I couldn’t stop smiling like a fool and the lads made sure to tease me for that, but I didn’t mind. Havi and I were official. And I was damn happy about that, I just wanted the rest of the people that cared about me to be as happy as I was. That was why, before going to bed, I tweeted:

I just hope everyone respects my decision. I’m happy, and you should be happy for me as well.

-:-:-:-

What do you think of Maca? Do you like her? She'll appear more in the story and she's one of my best friends, as well. At the sidebar there's a picture of her. She was in the twitcam with me and Mila. Please, answer this on your comments.

Dedication goes to @nmkoertner because she was my favourite comment on the last chapter.

Follow me on twitter @BelWatson 
Bel, xx