More Than This

I woke up to the ringing of my phone and groaned.

I fumbled around in the covers for it and picked it up, seeing Louis’ face on the screen.

“Hello?” I mumbled, my voice raspy from sleep.

“Are you okay?” He asked immediately, his voice concerned.

I ran a hand through my hair, confused.

“Yes?” It came out like a question. “Why?”

There was a beat of silence as I sat up.

“Because of what happened today?” He asked. I groaned.

“How the hell do you know about that?”

“I just saw it on the internet.” He admitted. “There are photos.”

I wanted to slam my head against the wall.

“They took photos?!”

There was another moment of silence as I stood up to pace around the room.

“Listen, Bails, I’m sorry. I just love you and wanted to make sure you’re okay and wanted to let you know that you can talk to me about anything. Those photos look like you were having a panic attack.”

I sighed and continued pacing.

“Because I was, Lou.”

I heard him sigh.

“Bailey.” He started, but I didn’t want to hear his pity.

“Listen, Lou, I’ve got to go, thank you for caring. Love you.”

I hung up the phone before he could respond.

Curiosity got the best of me and I logged onto twitter.

The first tweet to show up was from Louis, just now.

Hurt the ones we love and you hurt us.

I groaned. He was only fueling the fire, but I favorited it anyway. This must mean he was the only one to see it so far. It was early, so everyone else was probably still asleep.

I clicked on my mentions and soon enough I found the photos and cringed at a very panicked looking me surrounded by girls.

I looked at the comments on the article and immediately regretting it, clicking out of it and putting my phone down.

Just as I put it down, however, it started buzzing, Harry’s face flashing across the screen. I almost ignored it, but decided to answer it.

“Hi, Haz!” I tried to sound cheery.

“Hi.” I regretted picking up the phone when I heard his tone of voice. He was angry.

“Harry, listen-“ I started, but he cut me off.

“No, Bailey, you should’ve told me about this.”

My mouth gaped open. He was mad at me? This was not happening.

“Wait a second, you’re mad at me?!” I raised my voice.

“Yes! Our fans instigated you into a panic attack in public and took pictures and you failed to mention it to me, Bailey! I had to find out from Louis instead of my own girlfriend!” He was yelling, and I cringed, tears forming in the back of my eyes.

“Do you want to know why you heard it from Louis, Harry?” I seethed. “Because he called me when he heard to make sure that I was okay. He called not to yell at me, but to check on me because he cares about me. Grow up, Harry.”

I angrily hung up the phone and closed my eyes and counted to ten as I picked up my box of cigarettes and lighter and went downstairs to the lobby and then out the door of the hotel.

Just as I lit the cigarette, my phone buzzed with a facetime call with Zayn. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and answered it.

He also had a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

“I figured if we couldn’t have a cigarette together this is the next best thing.” He greeted.

Despite my horrible mood, I grinned.

“You’re the best, Z.” I replied, taking a drag of my cigarette.

We were both silent for a little while, just smoking our cigarettes outside our separate hotels, until Zayn talked.

“He does love you, you know.”

I closed my eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Zayn.” I muttered.

He nodded once, and we just continued to smoke in silence, nothing but the sound of cars driving by.