GREEN (RL Harry Styles fanfic)

70. All These Lights

"Shit Louis, I'm sorry man. How do you think they found out?," Harry said as he paced near the foot of the bed. He was listening intently as Louis spoke on the other end of the phone. "So you're just going to ignore it? You don't think this is too big to ignore?," he paused as Louis answered. "And since when do you listen to Julie?," he huffed. "No comment is worse! It's confirmation and everything is still left to speculation!," he shouted.

I moved to stand beside Harry and put my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and I mouthed "calm down" to him. He nodded with a sigh and turned back to his conversation.

"I'm really sorry Lou. Whatever you and management feel is best is probably the way to go. I suppose that's their job," Harry said without shouting now. "How's Brianna handling it getting out to the public?"

This afternoon People Magazine had broken the story about Louis and Brianna's baby to be. The two had hoped to keep things under wraps as long as possible, and at least until Brianna was into her second trimester. Louis was freaking out to say the least. He had called Harry as soon as he'd gotten word of the article from management. Harry was nearly as worked up as Louis about it.

"Yeah. Hold on I'll ask her," I heard Harry say and I looked up from my phone at him. "Hey babe, Louis wants to know if you'll come to the studio too."

"Sure. I mean I'm his favorite, so it's the least I can do," I teased. Harry pouted out his lip and pointed at me and I laughed.

"Yeah, she's coming," he relayed back to Louis. "No! You're not her favorite too. Shut up!," Harry warned and I laughed again at him. "Alright, we'll leave soon. See you in a bit."

*****

The vibe at the studio was far different than the last time I was there. There was a tension in the air and I wasn't sure if it was because no one wanted bring up the story about Louis or because everyone wanted to bring it up.

Everybody still exchanged the usual friendly bro hugs and greetings and they milled about to find their places. Liam was rattling off melodies in the corner, Niall was strumming on his guitar, and Harry was passionately talking to Julian about trumpets for a song they had started the other day. I had found a seat in the corner out of the way, but where I could still observe it all. I had been watching Louis leaning against a wall engulfed in his phone. His lips were pulled in tight and his right leg was bent with his toe tapping against the floor.

I didn't want to intrude, but at the same time I didn't want him working himself up with whatever was being said of him online. I also didn't want him completely secluded because of the palpable tension.

Empty seat over here :)

I texted him and watched his response. A smile came across his face and he looked over at me. Louis slid his phone in his back pocket and made his way over. He plopped down sinking into the couch with a sigh.

"You looked like you needed a break from your phone," I said to him.

"Yeah. Probably did. I told myself I'd stay off Twitter, but I just wanted to see how the fans were taking it," Louis said scrunching up his face.

"Not good?," he shook his head verifying my assumption. "Honestly did you expect them to react any differently? They're probably in as much shock as you were when you found out," I said, which made him chuckle.

"I knew it'd be a shit show, I just didn't know it'd be out so soon," Louis said.

"Do you know who tipped them off?," I asked partly out of my own curiosity.

"Not for sure. I've only told my family, and of course the boys, management and the lot know. Brianna said she's only told her family as well. I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything but...," Louis trailed off not letting his thought escape where he was holding it.