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As the days passed by, it only got worse. The images of Elle’s naked body with Harry’s hands all over her were splashed all over website after website. It was the scandal of a lifetime – Harry being the squeaky clean boy band member after all. The websites told of their story, starting with the night she asked if he was gay, onto the night they were photographed outside of theHyde Loungegetting into the cab together, up until all of the recent racy pictures – proof of their sordid affair.

Elle felt like a pariah. She couldn’t show her face in public without her fellow cameramen hounding her with questions about the affair, directly turning her into the center of attention on the other side of the lens, which she never wanted at all – the whole reason she and Harry kept everything on the down low in the first place. Everyone seemed to want a piece of the pie. And when the pie washer– well, it turned into a fucking free for all.

Kate, her agent, was less than pleased with the fact that someone like Lorenzo was reaping the benefits of such pictures. And Elle couldn’t help but feel angry that she was more put off about not being the one to cash in big on the headlines then how it was affecting her and her life.

Elle only heard from Harry through a couple of short phone calls – andshort, meaning the length and his demeanor toward her. It broke her heart. She knew things would never be the same with them again and it made the bile rise in the back of her throat thinking of what Lorenzo did.

Pushing aside her sadness, she let the bitterness and resentment consume her. She found herself dressing in her regular paparazzi garb – a t-shirt, jeans and herConversesneakers. But it didn’t lead her out to work. It led her to Lorenzo’s doorstep, her body nearly shaking with anger. She wanted him to know how she felt about what he did.

She banged so hard on his front door that she nearly split open her knuckle from the force. It didn’t take long before the door was swinging open, Lorenzo standing in front of her, a scowl ever-present on his face.

“Never thought I’d ever see you back here,” he scoffed as his eyes worked up and down her body.

“Fuck you,” she spat at him, which only caused him to chuckle.

“Well jeez, Elle. You’ve done that, now haven’t you?” He smirked at her.

“You think you’re so fucking clever. Don’t you, Lorenzo? God! I can’t fucking believe that… that—I can’t fucking believe you,” she shouted at him.

“Now, what are you talking about, sweetheart?” He chuckled menacingly, playing dumb – a part he played well. Except she knew better. He was as sharp and cunning as they come.

“You know why I’m here! Why did you do it!?” She yelled at him.

“Do what?” He smirked at her, amused by her anger.

“Why did you steal my camera and sell my pictures!? How dare you! I never thought—whyme, Lorenzo? Why would you do that tome?” She asked, nearly getting choked up.

“It wasn’t about you,” he sneered.

“It wasn’t about me!? They were picturesof me!Of me naked, Lorenzo! What were you even thinking!?” She yelled at him.

“Money, Elle! I was seeing those big fat dollar signs that you and your little boyfriend would rake in. I knew you two were fucking. Everyone knew, even with you two dodging it every chance you got,” he spat at her.

“It’s none of your business! It’s nobody’s business, Lorenzo!” She shouted at him.

“Well now, itismy business, since I got paid for it,” he chuckled, finding humor where she couldn’t.

Everything inside of her just boiled over and she leaned back before thrusting her fist right into his face. He staggered back, gripping onto his cheek, his eyes going dark as he scowled at her.

“You are a piece of shit, Lorenzo! I was right to break things off with you when I did. I shouldn’t have started seeing you in the first place, you fucking sleaze ball! I hope you burn in hell,” Elle yelled at him before turning on her heels and stalking down his sidewalk.

“I’m bleeding, you bitch!” He shouted after her.

“Fuckingsue me, you asshole!” She yelled back at him as she stalked toward her car.

After she sped away from the curb, away from Lorenzo altogether, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called Charlie to meet up with him. The adrenaline was flowing through her and she didn’t want to waste it by going back to her apartment to sulk about her shitty life.

It didn’t take her long to get to the spot where Charlie was – a club calledVoyeurin West Hollywood. Apparently it was a pretty big night for the celeb population at that particular club – some cheesy Hollywood event going on or something. Charlie always had the inside word on things like that. He always knew when things were going down. And then there was her… absolutely clueless.

“How’ve you been?” Charlie asked with a look of sympathy on his face.

“I’m fine. I’m good. I just punched Lorenzo in the face,” Elle told him, feeling hyped up over what just happened. It was a liberating feeling giving Lorenzo what he deserved.

“What?” Charlie gaped at her, wide-eyed.

“Yeah. I went to his house and yelled at him and I just… I fucking punched him as hard as I could. He’s such a god damn prick,” she said, still riled up.

“Wow, Elle. I never thought you had it in you.” He smirked at her.

“Apparently I made him bleed which makes me feel fantastic,” she said, smiling widely.

“I’m sure that would make a lot of people feel fantastic. Lorenzo is a real bastard,” Charlie said as his head turned to see reality star Paris Hilton walk out of the club with her entourage.

Charlie casually pulled his camera up to snap a few shots, but Elle didn’t care enough to get any. If this was five years ago, then sure, she’d get a few shots of Paris Hilton. But now, she was just washed up.

“I feel so… so liberated,” she told Charlie, continuing on with their conversation after the celebutard passed them.

“Good for you,” Charlie said, smiling at her.

“I’m determined to get Harry back and we can just completely bypass all of this,” she told him, feeling more inspiration and motivation than she felt since the whole scandal broke.

“Get him back? You broke up?” Charlie asked, furrowing his brow.

“Well no, but like… it’s all weird now. We’re… we weren’t really, you know, together in the first place…” Elle stammered.

“You were sleeping togetherexclusively. You were together,” he said, pursing his lips at her and it made her feel like sometimes Charlie was more like a big brother than just a friend.

“But like, we didn’t have a title,” Elle said with a shrug, feeling her cheeks heat up.

“It was only a matter of time,” he added.

“Well, yeah… maybe,” she said quietly.

“He just… he stopped talking to you?” Charlie asked, sounding concerned.

“Well, not completely. I mean, this is a lot to digest, you know. He… he used to be in a boy band, you know. This is scandalous. He’s just, you know, taking a break. We talk… it’s just… things are different now,” she said, trying to explain hers and Harry’s pretty fucked-up existence as of late.

As soon as the two of them heard the snapping of their fellow paps cameras, their head snapped in the direction of the door of the club to see who they’d be shooting next. Elle’s whole entire body froze as her stomach plummeted into her ass.

Harry.

There he was, as if her mind and mouth made him appear. But with the shock, came the heart-wrenching realization that he wasn’t alone. His ex-girlfriend, Kendal Jenner was on his arm and they seemed to be quite chummy with each other.

“Elle,” Charlie gasped, looking over at her.

Harry didn’t even see her, trying his hardest to impress Kendall by not being the slightest bit fazed by the paparazzi.

“Elle, let’s go,” Charlie said, gripping onto her arm.

“No,” she said firmly, watching Harry casually smile and joke with the cameramen in front of him.

“Elle,” Charlie warned as she shook out of his grasp.

Elle stepped forward to slide into the crowd of paparazzi, feeling almost numb over what she was witnessing. It couldn’t be real, could it? Harry couldn’t really be that big of a douche bag, right? Not her Harry. Elle pushed her way forward, pulling her camera up, snapping pictures of the asshole in front of her.

“Hey, Harry,” Elle sneered and he immediately registered her voice.

And it took about 2.5 seconds for all the people around them to recognize who she was and what relation she had to Harry, because they all took a step back to try and get her in their view-finders.

“Elle,” Harry said wide-eyed, looking straight down the barrel of her camera lens.

“Lovely night. Are you on a date?” She snapped at him as she pulled her camera down to look him in the eye.

“We’re just friends,” he told her firmly, his jaw clenched tightly.

“Nice to see you, Kendall,” Elle told the girl next to Harry, her voice feigning sugary-sweet, with malicious intent directed at Harry.

“Um…” Kendall said, giving Elle a stuck-up look, like why is this lower form of life talking to me?

“Elle…” Harry said quietly, his voice almost pleading with her as Elle’s eyes fixated on Kendall again.

“My advice to you… don’t let yourfriend, Harry, anywhere near you with a camera. You’re bound to lose all his respect when the pictures get stolen and posted on the internet,” Elle spat at her with as much attitude as she could muster, causing Kendall’s eyes to darken and her jaw to drop from her words.

“Elle, stop,” Harry snapped at her.

“Fuck you, Harry,” Elle snapped back as she shook her head at him, camera flashes going off all around them.

“Can we talk about this later?” Harry asked, looking around at all the people taking their picture.

“Sure, Harry,” she said with an overabundance of annoyance in her voice.

“Come on,” he mumbled to Kendall as he placed his hand on the small of her back.

“Let me get a good one of the two of you,” Elle said sarcastically as she started snapping pictures of them trying to flee.

“Elle, please stop,” Harry said to her again.

“Oh, I’m just doing my job,” Elle told him with a wry smile.

He swallowed hard as he continued to walk with Kendall, but Elle made sure to stay two steps ahead of them, snapping picture after pointless picture of them.

“Why are you doing this, Elle?” Harry asked under his breath through his clenched teeth as the paparazzi following them documenting their petty little fight.

“Because, Harry. This is what I do. And as I recall, you were going toshow me the world, weren’t you? So go ahead. Give it to me,” she spat at him, feigning a pleasant demeanor.

“Elle,” he sighed.

“Show me the world, Harry. Show me the fucking world!” She spat at him, letting the anger seep into her tone as her finger pressed into the shutter button over and over, her eyes burning holes into him.

“A lover scorned,” one of the cameramen chuckled.

“Elle, please. Let’s talk later,” Harry said, taking a few extra steps to grab onto her arm.

“What if I don’t want to talk?” Elle growled through clenched teeth as she looked over his shoulder to see Kendall a few steps back on her cell phone, completely abandoning the side-show Elle made her a part of.

“Please, I’m sorry,” he said quietly, trying to keep their conversation private.

“You’re just sorry that anyone ever found out about us,” she spat at him.

“That’s not fair. That wasyou, Elle. You wanted to keep it private,” he retorted, dropping her arm. She shook her head.

“I wish itwaskept that way,” she said, looking away from him as she felt the tears prick her eyes.

“Elle…” Harry breathed as Elle’s first tears fell.

“Give us some space, please,” Harry growled at the cameramen who were nearly chomping at the bit formore, more, more.

Harry grabbed onto Elle’s arm and pulled her away from the crowd and surprisingly they gave them a bit of distance.

“God!” Elle growled, pulling her arm out of his grasp as she felt the anger rise inside of her. She wiped away a stray tear that still hung on her cheek.

“I went throughhellfor you and this is what you do?” She snapped at him, bitterness heavy in her tone. She couldn’t believe this was how it was all going to go down.

“You made yourself look like a coward. Like, when the going gets rough, you just drop everything – no matter who gets hurt in the process. But you know what the worst part is, Harry? You made me look like a fool – like the biggestidioton the planet! What am I to you? What was I? Just someone to fuck to pass the time? Because it was more than that to me,” Elle lashed out, trying her best to not get further choked up over the fact that he completely broke her heart.

“No, Elle. It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t… I just… I don’t…” He stammered, without a real answer to give her.

“Seriously, Harry. Save it. I can’t even look you in the face right now. You disgust me,” she spat at him.

“Elle, please,” he said, his voice sounding strained.

“I hope you got what you wanted,” she told him as she turned away from him just in time for her tears to blur her vision.

“Elle, wait!Please.Can’t we just talk? I’ll come over,” he called to her. She turned back to him as she shook her head.

“Oh, no. Not that again. You in my apartment? Afterthis? I don’t think so,” she hissed.

“Just to talk,” he growled through his teeth, showing his annoyance.

“You better take your date home, Styles. She looks pretty upset,” Elle said, looking back behind him again. He turned to look at Kendall, and Elle took the opportunity to move away from him.

“Elle,” he sighed when he saw her backing away.

“Have a nice life,” Elle said her parting words as she turned away from him and moved quickly across the road toward where her car was parked.

“Elle!” She heard Charlie shout after her just as she opened her driver side door.

“What?” She answered back.

“What was that?” He chuckled awkwardly, catching up to her quickly.

“That was me letting go of the high hopes I had for that man to make me happy,” Elle said, feeling the tears spring to her eyes.

Elle looked over and couldn’t even see Harry anymore. The crowd of paparazzi was completely fencing him in and she wasn’t even sorry for her part in it.

“Are you going to be okay?” Charlie asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she told him, knowing it was a complete lie.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

“Home,” she said quietly.

“Call me if you needanything, Elle,” he told her, giving her a look of sympathy.

“I will.” She nodded, slipping into the driver’s seat.

Elle cried all the way home and when she collapsed in her bed, she felt a pain wrap around her heart at the thought of all the nights she spent there with Harry, his arms wrapped tightly around her. How could that mean so little to him? How couldshemean so little to him?

She had no idea how long it was, how long she lay sobbing and completely falling apart in her bed over him. She had no idea. But when she heard the banging on her apartment door, she knew it was him right away.

“God,” she choked out, sitting up on the bed, wiping at her eyes.

“Elle, please open the door,” she heard Harry’s impatient voice. And she knew she was about to lose it again in a mess of emotions.

Notes