The late Dallas afternoon is dimmed through the sunglasses perched on Harry's nose. It's the day of the concert and Harry's hands haven't stopped sweating. Over the course of the last few weeks, Harry's only been able to think about this and how stressed he is. The meet and greet is before the rest of the concert, which only causes Harry even more anxiety. 

Sam, however, doesn't share Harry's anxiety. He's excited, bouncing on the heels of his toes as they wait in the long line to meet the popstars. "I've never met a celebrity before," Sam cheers excitedly. 

Sam's excitement only makes the pit in Harry's stomach deeper. Harry'd been meaning to talk to Sam about his past before now, but he never got around to it. He's praying that nobody brings anything up; however, Harry can tell that's not going to happen. 

He can feel people staring at him. Harry wore the sunglasses to hopefully hide some of his identity, however, he knows that some people will still recognize him with them on. Sam has caught on to the stares they get as people pass them to go into the regular line, but he hasn't said anything about it. 

As they wait in line, Harry happens to overhear a pair of women behind him talking. He catches a glance and they're both in their mid-thirties with brown hair. They wear ripped jean shorts and old One Direction t-shirts, obviously reminiscing over the good 'ole days. 

"Staying up all night because they always dropped shit in the middle of the night," One of the ladies laugh. They talk a bit about the days when One Direction fans controlled twitter and won every award. Sam has joined in on a bit of their conversations, enjoying hearing about the times back when. 

"So, you were into them a lot when they were famous," Sam asks. The woman, who Harry learned was named Kathy, on the left nods. 

"Hell yeah. I was obsessed with them. I even had a couple of cardboard cut-outs in my room of Louis and Zayn. God, I was so in love with them. Jenna, you had a fan account on Instagram, right," Kathy asks, turning to her friend. Harry's heart hammers in his chest even harder. If she knows about Zouis, then she knows about Harry. Everyone who knew anything about Zouis knew about Harry. Fuck. 

Jenna, the other woman, nods, "Yeah I had an account. I never got more than a couple thousand followers though. I mostly posted edits and stuff. Mostly of Zouis until that kind of broke up." 

"Yeah, that was so sad. I mean, at least we got a replacement," Kathy sighs. Sam raises an eyebrow in confusion, obviously still following their conversation. 

"What's 'Zouis'?" The two women look at each other, smiles forming on their lips. 

Jenna starts, "Okay, so basically everyone thought that Zayn and Louis were secretly together. They both had girlfriends, but they had this chemistry that nobody else in the band had. It was intense, so everyone started shipping them together. So, Zayn and Louis became 'Zouis' and if you shipped Zouis, you were a Zouie. Both of us were Zouies." 

"But, you said you got a replacement? Was the replacement another guy in the band or something," Sam questions. 

Kathy smirks as she answers, "Oh no. There was this huge Zouie who met Louis somehow. I don't know all the details, but he completely turned his account around and was seen with Louis more and more. People starting shipping the fan with Louis because every time they went out together they had so much love. The fan ended up producing a self-titled album and then randomly dropping off the face of the earth."

Harry's heart drops. His biggest fear is confirmed with a few sentences. His fingers lace themselves into Sam's, hoping to draw him away from the conversation. Away from Harry's old life. Harry prays that Sam doesn't feel the clamminess of his hands or the tremor in his fingers. Air seems to be optional to his lungs and he has to work twice as hard to take a breath 

"He was like... super hot. One of my mutual friends was a friend of his, actually. Crazy, huh? I wonder whatever happened to him. What was his name... I think it was Harry something. He dated Taylor Swift I think," Jenna answers. Fuck. Harry tightens his grip on Sam's hand at the sound of his own name. Obviously, Sam hears it too and turns to Harry, as if he's expecting him to say something. 

"Harry, yeah that sounds about right. He had that hit Sign of the Times! I still listen to that song from time to time," Kathy laughs. Sam perks up again at the mention of his favorite song.

"Sign of the Times? I love that song! I don't know much about the singer. What did you say his name was? If he has an album I want to listen to the other stuff he put out," Sam explains. Both women look to each other as if they're trying to figure out what the singer's name was. 

All the while, Harry's hand clamps down harder on Sam's, trying so hard to pull him out of the conversation. "It was Harry for sure. I think his last name started with an 'S'. It was a very celebrity name, like Sense or Savvy," Kathy guesses. 

"Styles! Harry Styles was his name." 

Harry's heart drops into his toes. This is bad. Harry might've changed his last name to Twist, but Gemma hadn't. Gemma was still Styles. Sam knew that Gemma went by Gemma Styles. Sam must know. 

Harry can see the gears spinning in his head. He must be connecting the dots. The difference in last names, the large pool of money Harry couldn't explain, the mysterious past, the love of music, Anne's distaste towards Sam, and now this. 

Sam's hand drops from Harry's and he looks at him like he's seen a ghost. 

~_~_~

Hey guys!! Next chapter Larry meets! Who's excited? I think I want to do something to get some more engagement. What are some suggestions? I think I'm going to start dedicating chapters to readers who comment/vote/spread the word. What do you think? Reader of the Week? 

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! ~B

QOTC: What do you think Sam will do? What would you do in Sam's shoes?