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Chapter 3

We live in an age where, everything is staged, all we do is fake our feelings."

-James Bellion

Louis' mother had been mostly supportive when he'd decided to move to LA six years earlier. She had a general "You do you, honey" attitude towards most of Louis' aspirations, but she had still been slightly concerned that her precious son might be corrupted by the god-forsaken valley of sin that she believed California to be. To placate her fears, Louis had sworn he would never touch anything harder than marijuana or alcohol. He'd been able to stay true to this promise since he was eighteen, but with friends like Zayn and his pill-popping model posse, Louis had been hard pressed for entertainment that wouldn't break his vow. And thus, the addiction to crap telly had begun.

He had very real opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the Maury show versus Jerry Springer, he'd followed every plot line on General Hospital for years, and his DVR was completely bloated with old episodes of TMZ that he just wasn't ready to part with yet. Currently, he was sprawled across the couch watching a vaguely interesting E! News segment about Jennifer Lawrence's cat when Niall's face flashed onto the screen.

He was joined by four other men with sultry expressions and rebelliously black clothing, and Louis immediately recognized it as a press photo of Status Solo. The picture was soon accompanied by the female anchor's commanding voiceover.

"More Harry Styles drama is coming out of London tonight, as the Status Solo lead singer was recorded giving a bizarre interview to a reporter on the street." The anchor explained as the image switched to an unsteady iPhone video. "The sexy singer was bombarded by press after rumors surfaced this week about tension with his longtime girlfriend, Arrienne Brant."

Harry pushed a pale hand through his hair, the dark brown tresses tumbling in loose curls toward his shoulders. He stepped toward a reporter, his features briefly illuminated by each camera flash, his vividly green eyes flicking to the source of the iPhone video briefly. The small crowd continued to shout his name, but his attention settled on one off-screen reporter.

"Why weren't you at Arrienne's birthday party in Paris last week?" The reporter asked, thrusting a skinny microphone towards Harry's particularly pink-tinged lips.

"You know what I want? A boat." Harry responded, ignoring the question in a low, musky voice. "Do you want to get a boat with me? The two of us, just us, on a boat." The reporter stammered out an unintelligible response to the proposition before Harry continued. "Don't tell Arrienne, though. She can be quite mean."

He pouted theatrically for a moment before walking away, a chorus of questions being shouted at his retreating back. The screen switched back to the anchor, standing in the E! News studio.

"All this, only a week after Harry tweeted out that he is the love-child of Pope Benedict and the Queen of England, and reportedly got completely naked at a London night club. With Status Solo's most recent album set to be certified platinum in the US and the UK by the end of the month, we have to wonder if the success is starting to get to the curly haired front-man's head. Is Arrienne finally tired of his behavior? Tweet us what you think."

The show faded to a commercial break as the security gate buzzed throughout the house. Louis already knew that it was Liam, who always arrives fashionably early to any and all social events. The football match started in about an hour, so this was right on time for Liam. He'd yet to see the new house, so Louis gave him a quick tour before showing him the back veranda.

"I've got news for you." Liam said, donning his adult voice. Louis could tell that Liam had been wanting to talk business since he'd stepped inside. "They're committing to next October for Metal Heart 2 . Four weeks in LA, Four in Chicago." It had been almost three months since filming wrapped for the first Metal Heart movie, and Liam had been negotiating his schedule for the sequel for the last few weeks.