The next morning I woke up with nobody beside me, not drenched, and in the middle of the bed wrapped around a pillow. What a boring way to start the day. Just as I started to stand up I remembered why it was such a peaceful morning, and my bright mood quickly dimmed.

I was not going to let Simon ruin my life. I felt rested and my head had cleared, and I knew this was a stupid argument. Of course Louis still liked me.

Throwing on some interview-ready clothes, I slid down the banister of the stairs. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Louis had the same idea just after me, so he crashed into me from behind and we both fell off the bottom end in a heap with a loud bang.

“Ouch… Lou, get your fat arse off me! Can’t breathe!” I jokingly shoved at his shoulder.

“Watch where you’re going next time. You know I never actually use the stairs, why would you go down the banister right in front of me?” Wait a second, Louis didn’t sound like he was joking… why wouldn’t he be?

“Well, I wanted to have some fun and how was I supposed to know you were behind me, I don’t have eyes in the back of my head you know!” I laughed it off and squirmed out from under him, getting to my feet and offering him my hand, which he refused.

He refused my help?

“Boo? What’s wrong? Why are you ignoring me?” I could feel the pain in my chest once again.

He looked up at me quickly before turning toward the kitchen. “I’m not ignoring you. We’re best friends, remember? And we’ve got that stupid interview this afternoon.” He was still ignoring me! And reminding me why I thought he hated me.

Following him, I grabbed a bowl and poured myself some cereal. Liam was also sitting at the table with cereal, but he had his in a cup so he didn’t need to use a spoon. Smirking, I grabbed the spoon I was going to use for my own cereal, crept up behind him, and quickly stuck the spoon on top of his cup so that the next time he reached for some cereal-

“HARRY EDWARD STYLES! What have I told you about giving me spoons? Ah! Get it away!” He screamed, scrambling behind his chair and pointing at the spoon. I laughed, that reaction was just too funny. Scared of spoons, Liam, really? Of all things…

“I said get it away!” He began to try to use the chair leg to push the spoon off his cereal, which just succeeded in making me laugh harder. “Harry, why are you torturing him? Just eat your breakfast,” Louis grumbled, slumping down in a seat across the table.

I grabbed my spoon back and Liam resumed eating. “Louis, now I know something’s up. You’re the prankster, and normally you’d be laughing right along with me… whatever it is, you can tell me, you know you can!” The more he ignored me, the greater the pain in my heart grew.

“Nothing’s wrong, I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m going to go eat in my room, see you all later for the interview.” He stalked off with his bowl. Thanks for reminding me of it yet again, Lou, I really appreciate it. Groaning, I plopped down in my own chair. “Zayn and Niall up yet?” I asked.

“Niall already ate, he’s making reservations for dinner at Nandos. Zayn claims he doesn’t need food because he’s perfect the way he is right now and rushed back into his room to fix his hair again.”

Of course Niall ate, the hungry leprechaun. He’d probably be back down for more as soon as he got off the phone. Liam placed his cup in the sink and sat down on the couch, turning on the television.

“This afternoon, live at 2 P.M., we welcome One Direction! Keep watching to make sure you don’t miss this interview with the world’s hottest boy band, including members Harry Styles,” it showed a picture of me, “Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik!” It then showed a picture of each of the other boys in turn. “Don’t miss One Direction’s live interview!” Not wanting to hear any more about my ‘coming out’ interview with Louis, I stole the remote from Liam and changed channels.

“Harry, are you okay? You know, with Simon’s arrangement, and the interview and everything? I just realized I never asked… I’m a horrible friend, aren’t I?” Liam looks down guiltily.

“No, you’re a wonderful friend, Li! We were all just distracted. I’m doing fine I guess, I mean it’s not every day you’re told you have to date your best mate but we’ll get through it, right? At least we have each other. I hope we have each other…” I trailed off, remembering Louis’ actions last night and then this morning with the banister incident.

“What do you mean, you hope? We all love each other, and you and Louis are so close, what could happen?” Now he just looks confused.

“Erm, well, so, you see… I haven’t actually gotten to talk to Louis since the meeting so I have no idea how he’s taking it and he keeps ignoring me and pretending he didn’t understand what I’m asking and he’s acting kind of out of it and he rejects my help like he doesn’t want me near him anymore,” I let out in one big breath.

“How did I not notice that? I think you’re just being overly sensitive, Haz. I’m sure you and Lou are fine, I mean you’re best friends, come on! He’s probably feeling the same confusion and distress that you are and is just dealing with it by pushing you away to try and avoid the discomfort. We’ll be fine.” Liam was right, as usual. I’ve just been over-analyzing everything since that wretched meeting.

“Thank you, Daddy Liam! See, this is why we talk to you when we have problems… you give the best advice!” Overcome with my happiness that I was not in fact going to lose my Boo, I threw my arms around Liam and hugged him tight, like I usually do all the time with Louis. Just then, I heard a choking type noise. Releasing my grip on Liam slightly, I turned to face the doorway.

There Louis stood, his gaze icy and locked on my arms around Liam’s neck. If looks could kill, Liam would be dead right now. Wonder what hit his buzzer?

“Oh, uh, hi Louis, we were just going to gather the boys to go to the interview. You ready? How are you feeling?” Liam asked, going father-mode on him.

I let my arms drop to my sides and stepped away from Liam, and saw Louis relax slightly. Good, I wasn’t scared for Liam’s life any more. Smiling, I walked over to him and hugged him even tighter than I had done with Liam, resting my chin on his shoulder and my nose pressed against his neck. Mm, this felt good. We hadn’t had a good hug since before the interview yesterday, and I missed him. I missed my Boobear.

I felt him wrap his arms around me and hug me back, just as tight. Liam was right, we were still close! I grinned happily, taking in the smell of Louis and the feeling of his arms comforting me once again.

Suddenly, I felt him pull away. Frowning, I looked over his shoulder to see that Niall, Zayn, and Liam had gathered outside and were waiting for us. I grabbed his hand and started skipping out the door. For the first time in close to a whole day, I saw his real smile light up his face as he joined me, skipping crazily around the driveway. This felt right, my world felt normal once more.

We skipped right into the van and collapsed in a fit of laughter on Niall’s lap. “Oi! Find a seat of your own, do I look like a chair?” Just to bug him, I righted myself and sat on his lap, pulling Louis into my lap, and re-buckling his seatbelt over the three of us.

“There, we found seats! Let’s GO!” Louis smiled happily. Liam just rolled his eyes at us, coming over to unbuckle Niall’s seatbelt and toss Louis and I onto seats in the back. Niall batted his eyelashes up at Liam, “Thank you, oh my god, Liam Payne is my HERO!” Which of course made all five of us crack up in laughter.

I looked around the van, feeling the pain in my chest float away and my face lose the frown lines. This was what I needed, the five of us just being ourselves and joking around. This was real for us, and normal.

The van stopped and I looked out the window. We were here, at the interview station. I felt my heart start beating a little faster and my palms glistened with sweat. What we were about to do would possibly change our entire careers, and our whole lives. We would never be the same in the public’s eyes.

Louis glanced over and saw the panic in my eyes. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me tight, reminding me that we were in this together and that he would be right there with me. Just that little gesture gave me the courage to stand up a bit straighter and some of the nerves faded. My Boo had that effect on me.

When we walked into the studio, a guy with a headset on pointed out to us where we would be sitting. I, of course, was placed in the middle, with Louis next to me. I took a deep breath, checking my watch. 1:59 P.M., we had one minute left, one minute to be normal, not to be judged, to be real in front of the cameras. One more minute before the real me was lost to who management wanted me to be. I gripped Louis’ hand tightly. One more minute.

“And we’re live in 5… 4… 3… 2… and-“