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I had no idea what I was doing here. For the past three and a half weeks, except for Liam’s tell all tweet, Harry and I had flown under the radar. I would sneak into his hotel room while everyone was hard at work at the show so we could spend the rest of the evening together. Every once in awhile he would tell me a story of something funny that happened on stage and I would hate that I had to miss it. But for the most part, it didn’t bother me. They got public Harry, I got private Harry.

Today we were in Austin, Texas and I had spent last night in my own hotel room. After we got into town somewhere around 1:00 AM, Harry headed out to catch up with some old friends who lived close by and I needed my bed more than I needed a night out. So we’d gone our separate ways for one of the first times since the tour had started up again. Now it was 7:30 in the morning and I was being woken up by the pounding of a fist against the door to my room. Throwing a sweatshirt on over the t-shirt I’d slept in, I padded to the door and pulled it open sleepily.

Of all the people to be standing there, the last one I expected it to be was Lou Teasdale. Lou had to deal with wrangling the boys’ hair and makeup issues, a feat that only she could adequately handle. She had more patience than a saint, and when she ran out of it, she knew just how to get her point across to make her exasperation made.

Plus, she always made Harry’s curls a whole new level of gorgeous. Until he got his hands on them, of course. I had a sinking feeling he tried her more than most. But, that still didn’t explain what she was doing standing in front of me so early in the morning. The grimace that flashed on her face told me that she might have regretted it when she saw my disheveled appearance.

“So sorry I woke you, Logan. Really.” She apologized quickly. Lou and I had been around each other in short bursts, when I needed something from the hair department or if I had to talk to one of the boys and they were occupying her chair. But, she had a daughter and a fiancé on the road with her that kept her busy, and the last few weeks I’d been wrapped up in Harry.

“Hey Lou, what’s up?” I motioned for her to step inside.

“Mark just called and said that the television program interviewing the boys today was supposed to send over some type of paperwork. But they thought we were sending someone to pick it up. He wants you to come with me to get it all squared away. Said you would know what it was and what to do with it.”

I groaned out loud. Mark was my boss back at our office’s home location, and he was always mixing up details, which usually just wasted my time instead of his.

“We’re running a bit late though, so if you could just change clothes super fast, I’d be happy to give you a killer ponytail after I get the boys settled.”

I chuckled, nodding in agreement as I fished out a pair of ratty jean shorts, a muscle tank with a dream catcher doodled on the front, and my grey lace ankle boots. Brushing my teeth and dabbing on a bit of concealer, I grabbed my purse and ushered Lou out the door. Three minutes later, we were in a car and on our way to a television studio a few blocks away. I vaguely remembered Harry mentioning an interview, but I hadn’t been paying that much attention when he spoke about it. Lou was on the phone with someone at the studio the entire ride over. When we stepped out of the car, several fans called her by name, but she tucked her head and walked straight into the building. Pointing off towards the right, she told me to gather the stuff I needed and meet her in the green room when I was done.

It shouldn’t have taken very long, but the woman at the studio who was supposed to have the papers ready was out of the office and no one else knew what I was talking about. One of the clueless receptionists finally got ahold of the woman and found me the needed information, but by the time I got to the green room the boys were already on camera. Lou set me up with the sexiest ponytail I’d ever had on my head before we snuck onto the sound stage, hiding in the shadows. Lou needed to be there in case of a hair or makeup catastrophe, but I wanted to stay hidden so I could watch.

All five boys were joking around with the interviewer, being their generally good-natured selves and giving him as honest answers as possible to his overly invasive questions. Did the viewers of this particular show really care whether their favorite boy wore boxers or briefs? I mean, who was I to judge his journalism techniques, but that seemed to cross a personal line. When the other four offered up Harry’s preference of nakedness, I heard myself gasp quietly. I knew he was prone to stripping off the second he entered a room. In fact, it was a habit I didn’t have any intention of breaking anytime soon. But I strongly felt like maybe that was a fact everyone shouldn’t know. Lou laughed beside me, assuring me that this wasn’t the first time they’d brought the subject up on the record. Apparently, all of the die-hard fans were already aware of his nude tendencies.

“Now, Harry. We have a bit of a surprise for you.” The interviewer said loudly, waving his hand out to invite someone onto the stage. As the clicking of high-heeled shoes became louder, shock lit up the boys’ faces. Lou had just taken a drink of water and it took everything in her not to choke when she caught sight of the woman. She started coughing loudly, the water obviously going down the wrong pipe.

“Caroline.” The low greeting hadn’t come from Harry himself, but from Liam, seated directly to his left. No one else said a word.

“Who is that, Lou?” I asked quietly.

“Caroline Flack.” She bit out, her tone voicing her obvious displeasure in seeing the woman. “She dated Harry when he was 17 and she was in her 30’s. Her claws were so deep into him the boy could hardly see straight.”

My stomach dropped. I had come to terms with young teenage girls and even women in their twenties wanting him, but I hadn’t considered the idea of older women being as taken by him as I was. Even though I was an older woman.

“It’s kind of his thing.” Lou explained. “He digs the older ladies.”

There was a dagger I hadn’t expected. I watched the rest of the interview, seeing all of their mouths moving but not hearing a word they were saying. I couldn’t see Caroline, her back was facing us as she and her male cohost continued asking their questions. But I noticed a distinct lack of movement from Harry’s lips as the other boys took on his answers. He sat with his forearms propped on his knees, staring at Caroline in disbelief. When the interview was officially over, she grabbed him by the elbow and steered him towards a dark, empty sliver of space. He didn’t yank his arm away or act like her touch repulsed him. In fact, he leaned towards her, straining to hear what she was saying.

That was the exact moment that I chose to remove myself from the situation. I walked back to the wardrobe room with Lou, helping her pack up all of her tools as we waited for the rest of the group to return. As usual, we heard them before they were anywhere near the inside of the room.

“Caroline Flack, mate! What the hell did she want?” Louis bellowed out.

“Said she made a mistake. That she’s been kicking herself for four bloody years for letting me walk away.”

“She could have said something before ambushing you on TV though, yeah?” Liam spoke up. “Plenty of time for that in the last four years.”

“Whaddid you say?” Niall asked. “Tell’er to go fuck ‘erself, eh?”

Harry sighed. “Not exactly. I told her I needed time to think.”

“Time to think about what, Harry?!” Lou snapped from her spot beside me. “Time to think about how she robbed the cradle when you were first starting out? Or how about time to think about how she sold your story to every tabloid after you guys split? Or maybe -” Lou’s voice cracked with emotion. “- time to think about every single time she refused to let you hang out with your friends because she was too old to feel a part of the group so you couldn’t hang out with us either?!”

We could have heard a pin drop, the room was so deathly quiet after Lou’s outburst. I’d gotten the rest of her things packed while she let Harry have it, so my time hiding from him was coming to an end. I didn’t wait to see if he was going to defend himself to her. I turned around slowly, and grabbed my purse off the chair. Without a word, I pushed past the boys and out the door.

“Logan!” I heard him yell. “Logan, stop!”

I didn’t want my feet to stop moving until I was back in my hotel room and I could bury myself under the sheets. Logically, I knew there was nothing to be jealous about. I was the one who proposed to Harry that we keep us quiet. And then to turn around and be angry because he couldn’t tell his ex that he was seeing someone? I knew it didn’t make sense but it didn’t matter. I didn’t want my feet to stop moving, but they did. Ten feet before I made it to the front door, my feet betrayed me. Harry’s feet, however, carried him to the empty foot of space in front of me, his body shielding mine from the outside world.

“What - What are you doing here?” His voice was timid.

My head snapped up, bending at the neck so that he could see the fire burning in my eyes. “Those are the words you’re choosing right now?!”

“Logan…”

“No. Fuck you, Harry. Your ex-girlfriend shows up all put together and older and hot and you can’t even tell her that you’re not interested?!”

“You’re mad.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes! Yes, I’m mad! Flirting with the fans is one thing. But we’re talking about someone who you’ve slept with! Someone who has seen you naked and who has done the exact same things that I’m doing with you now. And from what Lou said, she had some sort of spell over you.”

“Lou needs to mind her own damn business.” He mumbled. “But you know, if you wouldn’t have suggested we keep this to ourselves in the first place, I could have told her all about us! The boys would have had our back the entire time except that they don’t fucking know!” His voice was gaining volume with each new syllable.

“That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have said “hey Caroline, thanks for the trip down memory lane, but no thanks!’” I jabbed a finger into his chest. “Adam said he made a mistake letting me go too, but did I tell him I needed to think about things for a bit?! No! No, I told him very specifically to get over it and leave me the hell alone and that is what you should have done too. But instead of hurting her feelings, because she’s clearly still so important to you, I’m going to be the one crying on the couch tonight because her boyfriend is being a dick.”

“Baby…”

“No!” I tried to push past him, desperate to get outside and into some fresh air. When I couldn’t budge him, I turned around him to head back the same way I’d come earlier.

“Don’t walk away from me!” His arm shot out, his fingers curling around my wrist. With one quick tug, he’d spun me back around to face him. “Let’s talk about this. I don’t want you to be angry at me from some stupid misunderstanding!”

“Is this a misunderstanding, Harry?! Is it?!” At some point during our heated exchange of words, we had shuffled around and stepped closer together until our noses were touching and we were breathing in each other’s words.

“Uh, what’s going on here guys?” Louis asked from somewhere behind me. I hadn’t seen anyone when I’d tried to escape, but I wasn’t seeing much other than red. Harry looked up, taking note of whoever else was behind my back. I didn’t bother to turn around.

Harry threw his arms out to the side, as if he was expecting someone to run into his now open arms. “We’re together!” His voice boomed off of the concrete walls surrounding us. My eyes grew wide, not expecting him to out us, even if we were in the middle of a fight about it.

“Harry -”

“Shut up, Logan.” He cut me off, glancing back down at me momentarily. “You’re upset because I didn’t tell Caroline that I have a girlfriend. A fantastic, although slightly neurotic, girlfriend. I’m not okay with you being upset because of that. So fuck it. Now they all know! Where’s Caroline? I’d be happy to fill her in while we’re at it.”

“You… You guys are together?” Liam gaped at us, his eyes darting from Harry’s face to mine several times. “You told Liv nothing was going on!” His accusing eyes landed on mine at that statement, since clearly I was the one who had lied to her.

“We wanted to keep it quiet for as long as possible.” I tried to reason. “The second the media finds out, we won’t be able to have much time to ourselves. I just wanted to enjoy him for a little while longer.”

“But we aren’t the media.” Zayn sounded hurt. “We’re family and we would have wanted to protect your relationship as much as you do, Logan. We would have all told Caroline to take a fucking hike to the moon. I know Liam and I would have been personally thrilled to give her a piece of our minds!”

“And as far as what you said earlier,” Harry cut in, pulling my gaze back to his. Except that now his eyes were softer, as they begged me to hear him out. “About Caroline having done with me the same things that I’m doing with you now, you’re so wrong. She was an important person in my life when I was younger, for a couple of months. She taught me a lot, about what I wanted and what I didn’t want in someone. But a month into this with you, we’re already leaps and bounds over what Caroline and I ever were. I need you to believe that. Please.”

The sight of Caroline leaning against a wall down the hall took my breath away. She had heard everything he had just said, and the hurt on her face gave away her intention of trying to worm her way back into his life. Despite that, or probably because of it, I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his. The sound of his band mates cheering as I deepened the kiss made Harry smile against my lips. I wasn’t sure that we were done with the topic, or that I was ever going to get used to the idea that he had so many high profile ex’s who could sweep in at any moment and steal his attention away.

But for the time being, we weren’t keeping the secret from those around us anymore. We had agreed to take a leap of faith together, now we had to take a leap of faith with our friends. If word got out and we ended up going down, at least we would go down together.

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Notes

I know it's been forever! Don't hate me. Things got so crazy and I had a major issue on the next chapter and I know it's a bunch of excuses, but I hope you're all glad there's a new chapter and that you love it. :)

I'm working on the next one now, so hopefully I'll be able to upload another one this week since I kept you all hanging for so long.