|Chapter 25

Silence was all that filled the hotel room. Only the small clanks of a tea spoon hitting the edge a mug and breath blowing away steam was heard. It's been this quiet all day. Not even the TV was turned on, neither did a phone ring.

Once again, Harry was called to go out with Kendall M this morning until night to go shopping and have lunch. Why the whole day, Louis didn't understand, but it meant Louis had to spend the free day by himself. He would have gone to one of the other boys, but they were either called in to do some work or they went to see their friends.

So that left Louis to have the day to himself.

He walked circles around the hotel room, sipping his tea from time to time, trying to think of something to do to past the time. He sighed as he plopped down on the leather couch, not thinking of anything interesting to do. But then his eyes landed on Harry's mac laptop and he got an idea.

Harry had previously allowed Louis to use his laptop whenever they were writing together. He sat up and grabbed the slick laptop, taking it to his bedroom. He grabbed up a notebook he brought along on the trip with him, in case a lyric came to mind and such. He placed both of the items on the soft bed, crawling onto it himself.

He booted up the computer and opened a program Harry and Louis would use when figuring out a tune to a song. It had instruments to play on it and can create a track just by recording them all together. It was helpful. Louis clicked on the piano icon and soon a keyboard faded onto the screen.

Louis fiddled around with pressing a few keys, trying to come up with a random tune that could work for a proper song. He tried to get imagination from the light sounds, but nothing was sounding decent enough.

Giving in for now, he decided on thinking about what the song could be about, something new for the album. One that has a hidden meaning like 'They Don't Know About Us'. His mind ran along thoughts but his train of thought would always stop on Harry.

Harry. Harry. Harry.

The way that Harry was there for him, but that when he wasn't Louis was down. And the way that Harry carefully guides him through all of these new experiences that he's never come across before, yet sometimes he loses that guidance when he's gone. How in just a short amount of time they've known each other, they had become so close in a special way.

How quickly Louis has fallen for the curly haired weirdo.

As the thoughts continue to fly around in his brain, he tries to create a lyric that could sound nice and possibly meaningful, but everything he scribbled down onto his little notepad was crossed out right away. Nothing was sounding right.

He groaned softly as he dropped the book onto the bed, rubbing his hands over his face. Writing a song was harder when you're by yourself.

Suddenly his phone started to ring beside him. He uncovered his face and picked up his phone, starting to dread the name on his screen. Management.

Louis took in a deep breath, getting ready for the impact that was most likely to come. He accepted the call and brought the device to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Tomlinson, why on earth would you go out and say something like that, as if you were hinting at something? Unless you have something to tell us, you shouldn't be going out and saying shit like that! That's what we had Liam tell you! We already have one fake relationship to take care of, and we don't need you going out and starting more news stories." Marco clearly shouted through the speaker. "There's already magazines putting suspicions out there that you're with someone. Don't you understand the point of a boy band? Most of the members should not be in relationships otherwise girls won't be so interested in them anymore! And that is exactly what we don't want!"

Louis was taken back from all of Marco's words. Now he really wishes he never said anything. He always finds a way to f-ck up.

"I-I'm sor-"

"This is your second strike, Tomlinson."

"Second stri-"

"The first was you starting all this Kendall bull crap. Three strikes and you're out."

Without a good bye, Marco ends the call, leaving a beeping sound on Louis' end.

Louis' hand started to shake, and soon his whole body. His phone fell from his weak grip as he curled into a quivering ball. His arms held around his legs tightly as the man's words echoed over and over in his head.

Two strikes out of three! One more strike and he's out... He didn't want his dream to be ripped away from him just because he made a few mistakes; and now that he realised just how close he was to that happening, it scared him.

He wished Harry was here to tell him that everything was all right and that he shouldn't be scared or worried, and that he didn't do anything wrong. But he wasn't here.

As the silence grew around him, the darkness of the room dawned on him. Without noticing, his fingertips caught onto the hair tie placed around his wrist, accidently snapping the elastic onto his skin.

"Ow..." He hissed as the sudden sting. "Right now... I wish you were here with me..." he mumbled sadly.

+

The next day consisted of ongoing interviews, performances and promos for the album and the new one coming out soon. All the boys have been a little bit restless, but who wouldn't be when you are sat on a couch for hours, answering the same question to a different interviewer over and over again?

When it was time for performing another of their songs in the small studio set up, all five boys were stood behind their mics ready to sing. But Louis felt a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't standing next to Harry like he normally would, but instead on opposite sides of the line. He overheard the reason being something about the airport photos bringing up silly suspicions and that they needed to prevent anything like that happening again.

It made Louis nervous because they would always stand beside each other, or if they weren't he would have Harry's necklace to give him support. Right now, he felt powerless and anxious.

Throughout the whole day, Louis' fingers would find their way to the hair tie around his wrist and would snap it against his skin. It started to hurt a fair bit after he did it a few times, but he subconsciously continued to do the hurtful action as his nerves escalated.

He would've been calm if it wasn't for the loud voice in the back of his mind constantly reminding him not to say anything stupid or make any mistakes. It caused him to miss some questions or drift off unknowingly. So whenever he would do so, he would make another snap to his wrist.

Although Louis thought he was being subtle about the whole situation, he never saw all the concerning looks Zayn would give his way when he caught sight of some of the painful snaps.

While the boys were waiting for the next interviewer to walk into the room, Zayn took the opportunity to ask the older boy. He tapped the boy's shoulder, making him jump, almost in fright, which made Zayn cautious.

"Louis, you okay?" Zayn asked in a whisper so he wouldn't catch the attention of the others. He's sure that if Louis wasn't okay he wouldn't want the attention of everyone asking what was wrong.

All Louis said in return was a silent and weak, "y-yeah..." with a little nod before he turned his gaze back to his hands.

The answer didn't make Zayn feel any better, only more apprehensive.

What's wrong with Louis?

_________________________________________________________________________________

I'm sorry if what Louis is doing is disturbing in any way, he will stop soon for those who want to know.

Also for those who were thinking, Eleanor will not be in this story. But I do have other things planned "you'll just have to wait and see."

I will be posting what Kendall M looks like in the next chapter which will be up soon!

-chloe x