Chapter 2

Twenty minutes later, I exited my black Audi outside Simon's office. It was raining, water droplets falling steadily from the grey sky. It had been raining for three days now, and even though I shouldn't be surprised since I lived in London out of all places, I couldn't help but feel grumpy about it. It just made my mood decrease even more.

Pulling the hood of my red Adidas jacket over my head, I kept my head down to prevent the rain from hitting my face, but also because I didn't want to be recognized by anyone. Having a camera shoved in my face right now would probably only make me snap.

I entered the building successfully, breathing out a sigh of relief as I pulled the hood off my head again. As predicted, it turned out I was already expected, so it didn't take long until I was standing in the elevator, waiting to get to Simon's floor.

Biting my bottom lip, I fished my phone from the back pocket of my black jeans to check my notifications. I had a missed call from Lottie, which I wasn't surprised about since I hadn't talked to her yet and she must be very confused about the news.

I exited the elevator with a sigh and shoved my phone back in my pocket before stepping into Simon's office. I didn't even knock because I knew he was already waiting for me.

And he was.

With a grey blazer covering his torso, he was sitting there at his desk with his colleague, Michaela, by his side, going through a few papers that were placed in front of them.

The second I closed the door behind me, they both looked up, Simon instantly pressing his lips in a thin line. "Louis, take a seat," he ordered firmly, motioning to the chair in front of them.

I swallowed, doing as told. The second I plopped down, I folded my arms over my chest and looked up at them, raising my brows. "So, you wanted me to come," I said, trying to act as if I had no idea why he had wanted me here in the first place.

He furrowed his eyebrows, letting out a scoff. "Don't act as if you don't know why you're here."

I rolled my eyes, feeling the suspense leave my body. This was Simon, the same man I had learned to stand up to over the years. He wasn't worth getting nervous about. "Well, you never mentioned the reason over the phone, so why did you want me to come?" I replied sassily.

He narrowed his eyes, lifting a finger to point at me. "Don't use that tone with me, Louis. What were you thinking when you agreed to participate in the show with Harry?" He asked with a bite to his tone, his eyes staring directly into my own.

"I didn't know he was going to be asked. If I did, I would have probably not said yes," I explained, furrowing my brows.

Simon let out a flat laugh, shaking his head. "Well, it doesn't matter. You're going to tell them you can't do it any longer. There is no way you will work with him again, especially not like this. I won't allow it," he said bitterly.

"You won't allow it?" I voiced, faking a laugh. "We've already discussed this, and you have already given me your approval."

He raised his eyebrows, looking at me in surprise. "So you're telling me you still want to do the show even if Harry's going to be there?"

I bit my lip, looking down at his desk. To be honest, I hadn't let myself think about it yet. Working with both Harry and Nick at the same time would be very difficult, but on the other hand, I didn't want Simon to think he could do whatever he wanted with me, as if I was some sort of rag doll or a piece of his game. He had done enough of that in the past, and I was done with it. And this was the perfect opportunity to go against him because he had already approved that I could be a judge on the show.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I'm saying," I said, trying to sound convincing, but since I hadn't really thought it through yet, I could tell he noticed that I wasn't sure about it.

He hummed, exchanging a look with Michaela before looking back at me. "Why are you doing this, Louis? We both know that you and Harry aren't on the best terms right now, so why would you want to put yourself in this situation? Do you still love him, is that it? Do you want him back?" He laughed humorously, making me ball my hands into tight fists.

"I haven't said anything even close to that," I seethed, gritting my teeth. "I'm just sick and tired of you trying to control me all the time. Yes, I am under your record label, but that doesn't mean you can make every decision for me. This is my life, and doing the show doesn't even have anything to do with my music, so I don't understand why you're even a part of this. Besides, I've been looking forward to this ever since I agreed to it."

"Louis," Michaela sighed in an attempt to calm me down. "You know we're just trying to do what's best for you and your career, right? We're not making these decisions because we want to control you and make your life shitty. We've discussed this several times before. Being an artist comes with a price. You always have to make your fans happy, so they still want to listen to your music."

I let out a snort, looking away from them. "You're just talking a bunch of bullshit. Besides, being on the show with Harry won't disappoint any fans, rather the opposite. Even if they don't support us as a couple, they most likely support us as two members of One Direction, so they'll only be happy to see us working together again."

Simon swallowed hard, shaking his head. "They're going to start talking, more so now than ever. We've been trying to make these Larry rumors go away for years now, and we're finally heading in the right direction. So, if you go through with this, things are only going to take a turn for the worse again," he muttered.

I pulled my eyebrows together. "Good thing I don't care about that then. You're the only ones who give a damn about people talking about me and Harry. I don't even care now that we're not together anymore," I retorted, glaring at him.

He reached up to pinch the skin between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Jesus, Louis. You're not making this easy for me," he sighed, leaning back on his chair.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, you've already agreed that I can participate in the show, so there's nothing you can do anyway."

The more I thought and talked about it, the more positive I was that I wanted to do this after all. I wanted to be a judge in the upcoming season of The X Factor, just like I had thought I was going to be up until today. Screw Harry and Nick. I was sure I could handle it all anyway.

Simon pressed his lips together, looking at me as if he wanted to strangle me. I was pretty sure he did. "Well then, I hope you'll have a very delightful time doing this, and don't come crawling back to me when things don't turn out the way you wanted them to," he snarled.

I let out a huff, standing up from my chair. "That won't happen. I'd never crawl back to you, that's for sure," I muttered, taking off towards the door.

Before I could exit the room, Simon spoke up again, "You should be happy that you have me, Louis. There are not many labels that want to work with you."

I froze in my spot, feeling every muscle in my body go rigid. Then, without a second thought, I turned around abruptly, glaring at the man who was sitting so proudly on his chair. "Fuck you."

With that said, I exited Simon's office, not even looking back as I strode over to the elevator.

That went fucking fantastic.

-----

When I got home, I was surprised to see that there was already another car parked in my driveway. If it weren't for the fact that it was a familiar white Mini Cooper, I would have gotten suspicious, but there was no question it was Lottie's car.

Once I had parked my Audi, I exited the vehicle before walking over to the front door of my large, white house. I had bought it when Harry and I went our separate ways back in 2015, and even though it was a very long time ago, I had yet to feel at home in it. It was massive, and sometimes, it could get pretty lonely to live here all by myself.

The second I opened the door, Clifford ran towards me while barking happily. He didn't waste a second to get on his back paws to place his front ones on my knees, wanting me to greet him. "Hi, big boy. Have you missed me?"

Kneeling down, I petted his furry head, making him lean into my touch. He then reached up to lick my face, to which I scrunched my nose up. "Okay, that's enough, Cliff. Where do you have our sister?" I asked him.

After taking off my outdoor clothing, I walked into the house, Clifford following closely behind. The second I entered the living room, I could see Lottie's figure on my couch, sprawled out across it with a blanket draped over her. By the looks of it, she had been watching TV until she had fallen asleep because it was on, but her eyelids were closed.

"Wakey, wakey, Lots," I said, shaking her body gently to wake her up from her nap.

She let out a groan, blinking her eyes open. It took a good minute until she was fully awake, her eyes settling on me in confusion. "Where have you been? I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up, so I came here to check on you, but you weren't home. Do you realize how worried I was?" She whined, pouting her lips at me.

I sat down at her feet, giving her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I saw that you had called me when I was about to enter Simon's office, so I couldn't call back. He uh... he wanted to talk to me about the news," I grimaced, almost cringing at the meeting we just had. I hated meetings with him.

Lottie's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I should have known Simon wanted to talk to you about that. Actually, this news is why I wanted to speak with you in the first place," she explained, pulling her eyebrows together. "Why didn't you tell me Harry was going to be a judge as well?"

I let out a sigh, burying my face in my hands. "I didn't know, that's the thing. Didn't I already tell you that they wouldn't reveal who the other judges were until they posted it on social media?"

She was quiet for a couple of seconds until she broke the silence, "I... Yeah. I guess I forgot about that. What are you going to do about it?" She asked hesitantly, probably afraid to hit a sore spot.

Letting my hands drop from my face, I shook my head. "At first, I tried to convince myself that I still wanted to do the show no matter what, but when I found out that Nick is one of the judges as well, I took a step back and told Patrick, the head of the production, that I needed some time to think. But when I got to Simon's office and he said that he didn't want me to do the show anymore, I kind of snapped and told him that I would still do it, mainly because I don't want him to think that he can still control me," I explained, seeing the grimace on her face.

"Yeah, it must suck that Nick is going to be there too. You would think doing it all alongside your ex would be enough," she agreed. "You've never really gotten along with him, have you?"

I shook my head, looking down at my lap.

"But you can't base your decision on Simon's words. This is your life we're talking about. You shouldn't agree to do the show only because you want to get back at Simon. If you don't want to do this and feel like it wouldn't be good for you, then I'd reckon you don't. You should always do what's best for you, Lou," she told me, looking at me pleadingly.

I let out another sigh. "Yeah, I know. The thing is, I was really excited about this, and now it's only four weeks until it kicks off, and I'm still very excited about it, so I don't know. I've been waiting for this ever since I said yes, and I don't want a person to be the reason I drop out. Or, in this case, two people."

Lottie pursed her lips, pulling herself up in a sitting position. Meanwhile, Clifford jumped onto the couch to nuzzle his head into my armpit. I absentmindedly carded my hands through his fur as I kept my gaze on my sister. "I understand what you mean. I just don't want you to do this because it feels like you have to. I want you to have fun while doing it."

"I promise I will," I smiled, but honestly, I wasn't convinced. I would never know if I didn't try, though, right? "Can we please talk about something else instead? I've seriously not thought about anything else all day. Wait, what time is it? It's lunchtime, isn't it? You want to order some takeout while watching a movie with me?"

Her lips pulled into a smile as she nodded. "That sounds perfect," she agreed, pulling the blanket up over her shoulders to get herself more comfortable.

I fished my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, dialing the number of the nearest Thai food restaurant. Once I was finished ordering, I put my phone away before looking over at my sister, narrowing my eyes at the fact that she had my blanket draped over her. "Hey, let me be under the blanket too," I pouted, pulling at the end of it.

She let out a huff. "No, this is my blanket. You can have another one," she whined, hugging it even closer to herself.

"Oh, come on, Lots. Don't be like that. Besides, technically, that blanket is mine too. This is my place, which means everything in this house belongs to me. And why don't you want to cuddle with your older brother?" I asked, pretending to be sad about it.

She rolled her eyes, finally moving one end of the blanket towards me. "Fine, okay, but only because I want to cuddle. I've missed doing this with you, having a day in while watching movies and ordering takeaway. It feels like ages ago."

I nodded in agreement. "It definitely does. I've missed you too. Guess we've both been busy doing other stuff lately," I said, tilting my head to the side. "How about watching a great action movie, yeah?" I sent her a smirk, knowing how much she hated them.

She scrunched her nose up. "Ew, no. We're watching a drama movie. I know you love those as much as I do," she smiled smugly, making me roll my eyes.

"Fine, you win," I chuckled.

Clifford made himself comfortable on my lap after I had gotten under the blanket while Lottie picked up the remote she had placed on the couch next to her. "Who's going to watch Clifford when you're away?" She asked as she flipped through the movies on Netflix.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I was thinking Eleanor might want to do it since Cliff and Bruce get along so well."

She tilted her head to the side while smirking at me. "So people won't get suspicious? That's honestly a great move. People might buy it," she chuckled.

I let out a loud laugh, shaking my head. "I honestly didn't even think of that, but you're right. I'm sure Simon will be ecstatic about it," I said, rolling my eyes.

Once the food arrived, I went to the kitchen to fetch some cutlery and plates while Lottie placed the food on the coffee table in the living room. She was sitting on the couch again when I got back, looking up at my arrival. A smile spread across her face as I handed her a plate, a fork and a knife.

"Let's dig in," I suggested, and so we did.

We plated some food before getting under the blanket again. Lottie pressed play on a movie she had found and seemed interested in. But as time passed, I noticed that she didn't seem to be focusing on it since her eyebrows were pulled into a frown. I tried not to put too much thought into it since it was probably nothing important, but when the crease didn't disappear, I decided I had to ask her about it.

"Lots, what's on your mind?" I asked, chewing on a piece of fried chicken.

She didn't make eye contact as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I'm just worried, I guess," she mumbled, pursing her lips.

Her words made me even more confused. "Worried about what?"

Letting out a sigh, she turned to meet my gaze. "I'm worried about you, Lou. I don't want you to jump headfirst into something you're not sure about," she explained, her lips in a pout.

I inhaled a deep breath, putting my plate on the coffee table so that I could wrap an arm around her shoulders. "I am sure, Lots. I want to do this. Don't worry about me, love. You've got better things to worry about than your silly brother," I chuckled flatly.

She sent me a glare. "Don't say that. Of course I worry about you. That's what siblings do. I just don't want you to get hurt because of this. I know that you and Harry ended it on a bad note, and I know that you still care about him somehow. Otherwise, I'm sure you would have moved on from him by now. So whatever he does and however he acts, it's going to have an impact on you. I just want you to be careful, alright? Promise me you will be," she pleaded, giving me puppy eyes.

Flashing her a faint smile, I nodded my head. "I promise, Lots."

"And if you ever get the chance, you should try talking to him about what happened."

I decided not to reply to that.

-----

Harry's going to show up in the next chapter, guys! I hope you're ready for the show to kick-off, and I hope you're still as excited as me for this story (I literally wrote 2/3 of a chapter yesterday in like three hours cuz I couldn't stop) <3

So happy to see that there are already so many of you reading this x

Pauline .xx