you're telling me they're making this harry. this fella, this silly little guy into a villain??

Am i the only one who definitely DIDN'T interpret this as harry talking to a girl with whom they were never "official" but rather to someone (*cough* louis) who isn't the "official" partner.

This is from prior to take me home. Harry had "girlfriends" in the public eye. He's telling this person "you're not my girlfriend, so what! Not the person that the public sees me with, we're not official, there is someone else who the public sees me with, but don't pretend that that invalidates that what we have is real".

This feels like a mirror of JALBOYH with "And I don't feel the need to know who you're with, I can't even think straight but I can tell, You were just with her" and "i know i'm not your only, but at least i'm one"

To me this reads like a song that he would've written after they had a big fight, before they officially started dating. They were probably still pretending to be just friends at this point, but something had already happened between them, probably had fully confessed their feelings to each other. Harry probably messed up in terms of saying something like "let's not ruin this friendship by dating" (even though they wouldn't STOP acting like a couple) and louis agreed but he was actually hurt (because he didn't want to live with seeing harry constantly "date" other people when he couldn't be one of them, or pretend to just be friendly when harry still looked at him like THAT), harry realised that he had fucked up and that louis definitely wasn't okay with just being the "good friend", and louis distanced himself. Louis probably said something petty like "why do you care what i do, i'm not your girlfriend, we're nothing, i'm just your 'good friend'" throwing harry's words back at him (i'm p sure that louis also referred to themselves as 'just good friends' during one of the bullshit pseudo larry denials, so harry might be mocking his words in here). Louis also possibly put a stop to any not-so-platonic cuddling, nicknames, fooling around, non-friendly stuff (for his own sanity - baby didn't want to fall more in love with someone who said they should just be friends), which is why harry calls him out: "tell me you don't miss the feeling (of doing those things before louis put a stop to it and distanced himself - harry wants louis to say that he misses him)"

Louis wasn't there when harry needed him (and harry needed him precisely because he was sad that he'd lost his best friend and *cough* soulmate - c'mon how many times have we read this exact same scene/sentence in friends-to-lovers trope fics) They're literally in the same band, harry was "always going to hear [his] name".

"Now you rest everything on these three words" really makes me picture an angry louis screaming "what do you mean just friends?! You said I Love You!" BUT ALSO, that's prefaced by "a story you heard" so what if instead Louis heard a rumour about harry getting serious with some "girlfriend" and instead he screamed "you said I Love You to her!" Feeling cheated by harry? I have read countless articles about different celebrity couples that include a sentence along the lines of "sources close to the couple confirm that they are going steady - they have already shared 'I Love Yous' and have met each other's families". It's irritably common.

Harry says that the other person will be fine, but basically that he himself won't be. He thinks that he messed up for good and that louis will basically move on fast. Louis and Harry pretty much unofficially shared a bed in Princess Park - we know that, hence the "I'm gonna sleep alone tonight". (EDIT: @imbellarosa suggested that this could also be a clarification, to louis, to the world, that he's going to sleep by himself, not with another person. This harry is telling you that he wasn't an easy womanizer who slept around as he was constantly said to be. He either slept with his person, or alone. He shared a bed with louis, or with no one at all).

Lastly, this was probably written at the same time as Don't Let Me Go, which is the exact theme.

"I saw in the corner there is a photograph // No doubt in my mind it's a picture of you // It lies there alone in it's bed of broken glass // This bed was never made for two" (also see "Share a single bed and tell each other what we dream about" for happier content, but i digress).

Again there's the theme of sleeping by himself after a fight (read: broken picture frame). Harry also says "i'll keep my eyes wide open, i'll keep my arms wide open" meaning "i promise to start noticing things, i'll notice when i've done something hurtful, i promise to notice how the stunts and how i act with others hurts you".

"Seems like these days I watch you from afar" again, Louis has distanced himself.

In Half The World Away Harry realises that he's lost his best friend and the guy he loves. In Don't Let Me Go he begs Louis not to actually move on as his fear of this sets in. DLMG is Denial, Bargaining and Depression. HTWA is Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

Edit: this tweet reflects this whole idea of harry's public "womanizer" perception affecting his personal life:

"In 2013, while the media portrayed Harry as a womanizer, he locked himself in to write songs like JALBOYH, two ghosts, HTWA, DLMG, and many others that we may never hear, because he was insecure and was afraid that that person would leave him".