Chapter 8

                                    

                                          
It's short I know, but it's heartwarming and necessary because I know something like this must've happened in real life 
Enjoy!
Lila x
A bottle of rose on the table. Louis opposite El, Harry opposite Taylor. Roses placed strategically at the edge of the table. Soft music. It could not have been a more romantic setting. Except for the butt plug in Harry's arse. He had begged Louis to let him keep his come inside for the date earlier on, and Louis being the absolute sucker that he is for Harry's kinks, went with it. 
Harry sighed dramatically and shifted a little in his chair, feeling uncomfortable. He shot a quick message to Louis, who checked his phone and smiled before Harry excused himself and came back looking much more relieved. He needed to concentrate, but the plug was nestled inside his purse now and he felt like he could think. 
"Feeling okay baby?" Louis asked, smirking a little
"Feeling great," he grinned back
Elanour rolled her eyes and grinned at Taylor who was next to Louis, 
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" She giggled
Taylor threw back her head and laughed, "I'm thinking something obnoxiously kinky just went down here,"
"Yeah we're on the same page," El said dryly, recieving a kick from Louis under the table. 
Harry looked affronted 
"None of your business ladies" he scoffed
"Can we veer away from your sex life for a few minutes guys?" Taylor said, pointedly reaching across the table to Harry's fruit salad, and rolling her eyes when he covered it protectively with his hands, before giving in with a dimpled wink 
"Like we were the ones who brought it up or something," Louis snarked, eyeing Taylor disapprovingly. He always hated when others flirted with Harry, although he knew Taylor was completely uninterested in dating anyone at the moment, and needed her relationship with Harry to give her a break as much as he needed a cover. Safe to say they both had shutty management 
"Okay, let's talk guys," Harry leaned back. 
It was a little while and a few glasses of wine later that Elanour finally let out a sigh of relief. 
"So in short, if there's a pap walk or a stunt, Louis and I have to be full on, but Harry has to know in advanced and be comfortable with every single motion previously." She dimpled prettily, "perfectly understandable, H"
Both men shot her a grateful look at that comment, and Harry turned to Taylor,
"You okay to go with the narrative that we want to keep things low-key?"
"Course London-boy, you've made it perfectly clear, you feel used by the media and you don't like how any and every move you make is turned sexual. To be quite frank, I'm on the same page, I hate that I'm only worth it when I have a guy with me."
Harry reached for her hand across the table, "that's bullshit, you're one of my best friends, and you have a stunning voice even though you're single as fuck. And it's also bullshit because I'm from Holmes Chapel MANCHESTER, get educated," he scoffed, and noticing that the paps had somehow discovered them, he lifted her hand and pressed it to his lips, waiting for her to relax before letting go. 
"This stays between the four of us," Louis suddenly said, causing everyone else to turn to him, confused at the outburst. "I'm serious," he went on, his blue eyes missing their ever present glint, "I'm considering this a pact of trust, if one of us ever, and I mean ever, wants out, either of a stunt or of the entire fake relationship, we stand up for that person, no questions asked." He caught each of their eyes and waiting for a nod from them before reverting back to himself with a cheeky, closed lipped smile. "I do believe we have a photoshoot to attend to for a new years photo dump ladies," he stood up, reaching across the table to kiss Elanour's cheek as he groped for her jacket to slide it over her shoulders, "we have a year long worth of scenarios to pose for the public and we're drunk as fuck so I also have some excellent poses for just us. Ready to head?" 
The girls giggled, Taylor slipping her hand into Harry's proffered arm, leaning slightly into him, prying his face away from where he was watching his boyfriend treat a woman right with pride bursting inside him, "showtime London-boy" she whispered, gripping a little tighter
"Not so tense popstar," he whispered back leaning down so he was close to her ear, brushing her blonde hair back, "were in this together"
He felt her relax and stepped out of the restaurant, keeping his eyes trained downwards and focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, ignoring the handful of photographers who were trained on them. Opening the door pompously, he grinned as Taylor giggled and helped her climb in
Louis finished consulting with the driver and gave Elanour the same treatment, reveling in the way there were no hints of awkwardness between the foursome as before. Instead there was a clarity, each knew how to be respectful of the other in a perfectly disrespectful situation. Damn, that Niall truly was a genius in so many ways. He smiled at the thought, catching the way Harry cocked his head questioningly at him. 
"Just thinking about Niall,"
Harry snorted at that and turned to El. "is okay if I take the pics of you guys? A certain Irish guy thought it would be a hilarious plot twist and I have to say I agree." 
"Sure," Elanour smiled, flicking her lustrous hair out of her eyes
The rest of the ride was spent in silence, Harry and Louis feeling too exposed to sit with each other despite the partition and tinted windows, and the girls seemed lost in their own thoughts as well, Taylor playing mindlessly with the hem of her dress and Elanour tugging gently on her hair, occasionally twisting it around her finger. 
The silence was broken only briefly when the driver called back that they had lost anyone following them and would head to the recording studio. They were going to take some pictures there that seemed like Elanour was watching Louis record at some point over the year, while Taylor set up a small side room to look christmasy for the seasonal photos. 
It all went off without a hitch, they giggled through their poses, too daydrunk to care that they would have to go through an entire SD card worth of useless photos of the four of them to pick out the 5 or 6 for Elanour's '2014 photo dump' 
When they finally stumbled out of the studio and made the quiet ride back, it was safe to say they were exhausted. 
Harry and Taylor got out first at a mall, the plan was for each couple to get spotted in separate places before heading back to Harry's separately, and the girls would catch their respective flights back. 
As they browsed through the racks at a second hand store, Taylor seemed subdued, lost in a bubble of thought. 
"Whats on your mind Tay?" He asked gently, pulling her over to a vintage looking patio bench sitting unobtrusively in some forgotten corner of the cluttered store. 
"You love this store don't you?" the blonde haired singer looked over at him, without a trace of teasing in her eyes
"S'got charm." Harry said determinedly, "I don't care if Gucci itself comes for me, this will always be my favorite place to shop." He looked over at her, gently removing his fingers from hers knowing they were well out of sight, but keeping his eyes locked with hers, to signal that he hadn't lost interest, "you're not gonna get away without answering you know" 
Taylor sighed, and looked up at him, at his green eyes that refused to leave her face. "I don't have many friends H." She said softly, "too many people think im either plastic or a total sugarcake that gets on everyone's nerves," she looked away, fixing her gaze on a random jewelry stand that was overheaped with tangled bracelets. "but I have you, and I care for you so deeply. I hate that you have to hide. I hate that we have to pretend to be something we're not to please some people who have no business being in our business," she rolled her eyes and snorted, "that's just the indhstry I guess," she tried and failed to inject some humor into her voice
Harry reached over and pulled her under his arm, forcing her to snuggle into him. 
"You will always have me Tay," he said softly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "you don't have to prove nothing to me. And for the record, your bitchiness highly cancels out any sense of sugarcakeness to anyone lucky enough to get close to you." He met her eye again, "okay?" 
She laughed lightly, standing up and reaching for his hand, "c'mon London boy, we gotta get you back to your boy before he has my head,"
"He won't," Harry laughed, "member? We have a whole agreement, boundaries, I'm not hurting him by hanging out with you right now. So you are going to close your eyes and pretend you have no idea I just spotted the perfect gift to buy for my friend."
Taylor smiled at that and pushed him lightly before she obliged, keeping her eyes closed until she felt long, clumsy fingers encasing her wrist and the brush of cold metal. 
"Open," Harry demanded
"H," she breathed, "you're too sweet," 
"Nope. Niether of us are sweet, we're bitches right? Bitches who are definitely NOT sex symbols."
"That's what I like to hear," Taylor giggled, "bitches for life."
"For as long as you wear that emerald bracelet m'lady." Harry agreed, pulling her gently out of the store, his other perfect purchase stowed deeply into his pocket. "let's get me home."
Home. Home under the covers, curling into Louis and stroking the 28 tattoo on the hand that rested gently on his cheek. 
"I'm glad we did that baby," Louis said gruffly, pressing his forehead against Harry's and letting his eyes flutter closed
"Me too, love," Harry whispered back, knowing full well that his boy was already fast asleep.