P.S. (Please Stay)

Eleven

It was always an odd sensation, coming off stage after performing a high-energy show for an hour and a half with four other men to being alone in a deafly silent hotel room. He remembered how the group would unite after shows in their early days, crowding onto the tour bus to share memories and laughs about the show. Now, they didn't even ride in the same car to the hotel. They still spent time together, but with the band members having children or wives or girlfriends, it made converging more difficult.

Harry hated being alone with just his thoughts. His thoughts were always Olivia. He'd tried to get her off his mind, but spending each night singing songs he wrote about her didn't make it easy to stop thinking about her. It was now mid-April, nearly four months since he'd seen her, and she was as prominent in his mind as she had been at Christmastime. He loathed how he couldn't get her off his mind while she was likely planning her wedding to Big Burly Ben and not giving Harry a second thought.

A knock on the door snapped Harry out of his pitiful trance. He breathed out a sigh, though not irritated by the interruption, and rolled off the bed. He pulled open the door and saw Zayn Malik waiting in the hallway.

The two men hadn't been very close while in the band, but the reunion tour, and the fact that their girlfriends were friends, had brought the two of them closer together. Harry appreciated Zayn's laid back company, and that he wasn't in the middle of raising a bunch of children – who were usually lovely, but also energetic and exhausting.

"Hey, man," Zayn greeted as Harry opened the door. "I missed you already!"

Harry snickered, stepping aside to allow Zayn to enter. "I've not been able to stop thinking about you," Harry joked back. "Want a drink?"

Zayn nodded. "Sure," he agreed. "Gi said they'd still be a couple hours, so might as well, yeah?"

"Who's they?" Harry wondered, fishing the bottle of tequila from the fridge. He glanced through the dresser mirror at Zayn, watching his friend settle into one of the armchairs.

Zayn met Harry's eyes through the mirror, a curious frown on his face. "Gigi and Hailey," he replied, sounding as confused as he looked. "Gi picked Hailey up at the airport, and then they were going to grab a bite. Thought she'd have told you," he added, kicking off his shoes.

"Uhh... oh yeah," Harry lied, handing Zayn a glass. He couldn't hide his surprise, but he would try. He didn't want Zayn to know he had no idea his girlfriend had joined them in Chicago. It seemed like something Harry should know. "Right..."

Zayn snickered, taking the glass. "What, you didn't know she was here?" he asked, his brow remaining furrowed. "Girl that talks that much, thought the whole world would know!"

Harry shrugged, sitting across from Zayn. He remembered Hailey had texted him earlier in the day, but he'd ignored it. She liked to text him relationship questions and stressful thoughts right before he was to perform, so he got into the habit of ignoring her even more than he already did. "Nah, I knew. Of course I knew," he added. What kind of shit boyfriend would I be if I didn't? He wondered to himself, but he didn't want to hear Zayn's answer to the rhetorical question.