We had reached the end of the countdown. It was finally here, the recording of 'Harry Styles at the BBC'. Me, Grimmy and the rest of the crew had flown to Manchester last night. It was going to take a couple of days and Sarah's birthday was coming up so since everyone was gathered in the same place, me and Grimmy had decided to stay an extra day just so that we all could celebrate her together.
I knew that the band would arrive sometime today, but the rehearsals weren't planned until tomorrow. Harry was already here. He had gone home to his mum after Camille flew back home a week ago. He hadn't seen his mum since he was back home the weeks following Robin's passing. We had texted some during his stay, but not a lot. I understood that it was important that when he finally had time to go home and be with his mum, he wanted to focus on that. I guessed that was the reason he hadn't brought Camille with him, or that she was needed for work elsewhere in the world. Harry had anyway written to me a few times. One thing he mentioned was that he had booked the same hotel for him and his band these upcoming days. I was excited and nervous. It felt almost like a vacation staying at a hotel, away from home with friends. However, it was for work- and not just any work, but the biggest project I had been a part of.
Every time I reminded myself of it I felt this growing nausea in my throat. I tried comforting myself that the first day was the worst one for me. After that everything would be easy peasy. I was going to rip the bandage off and the rest of our days wouldn't be as scary. On our schedule today was the recording of the sequences that would be played in between performances and the interview part. This was the part that I had mostly been in charge of planning. We had decided not to tell Harry too much about it and let it be a surprise for the better reaction on tape. But I was sure he was going to love bingo, charming the elderly and axe throwing, showing his winning mentality.
Since I was the one who had booked everything and had the creative vision for it I needed to go with them alongside the small camera crew. It was going to be a full day, and I was nervous that something would go wrong. My safe place was a creative vision for the studio and radio. Never had I done something outside of it.
With my sweaty hands I stroke them along my light blue levis jeans. Even if it was near the end of August, it was a chilly day today with the grey sky. I had matched the blue jeans with a white deep V-cut crop top, a yellow cardigan to keep me warm and of course- my mary janes. I put the last of my belongings in my small black vintage shoulder bag. In an attempt to breath the nervousness out of me I did one last big exhale from inside my hotel room before I opened the door. We had all decided to meet downstairs in the lobby by 9AM. It was only two minutes till then when past the corner and pushed for the lift. I was definitely out last minute, I hated being late and it was going to be a close call if I made it down in time. Not that anyone would mind if I was down 9:00 or 9:01. The lift finally arrived and I stepped inside, rushing to push the button. I placed myself leaning on the wall of the back of the lift. The doors started to close.
"Hold it please!" I heard someone shout as their footsteps rounded the corner. Even if I was in a hurry I instinctively pushed myself off the wall and was about to put my foot in the door jamb. Just as I did I was met by the other person doing the same by stressing inside.
When I gazed up I saw those soft dimples making their mark on that beautiful face, and his green eyes meeting mine only inches away. By him rushing to catch the lift, and me rushing to keep it opened for him, we had almost crashed into each other in the door jamb.
"Good morning." Harry chuckled in my face, surprised but amused at our whimsical way of meeting. I faced down in a smile, close to letting out a laugh myself.
"What a way to make an entrance." I slowly walked back to my spot from before, now daring to look back up to his piercing greens with space placed between us. Harry followed me, placing himself so that my shoulder rubbed on his upper arm. From beside me he looked down with a cheeky smirk.
"Gotta keep you on your toes Bee." He teased while the doors closed in front of us.
"That's kinda already the thing with heels you know." I corrected him while raising one of my feet for an elegant show of my shoe. Watching my case in point Harry nodded his head until I quickly put it down.
"Touché." He tilted his head back at the wall, trying to hide his enjoyment at my witty comeback but failing with the fighting corners of his lips.
"You're on the same floor as me then?" I changed the subject, wanting to confirm what was already evident. My mind hadn't made up if it was a happy surprise or not.
"Seems so, I'm in room 699." He affirmed while the lift was slowing down as we reached the ground floor. My heart did the exact opposite.
"Wait what- you're next to me?" I blurted out in shock as the doors opened. What were the odds... My mind had seemed to at least made up its mind about it being good or bad news.
"If you're either 698 or 700, then yes." Harry giggled at his own smartass response. He pushed himself to get out of the lift, looking back at me to see if I was going to follow him. I took a step behind him. The conversation was done as we now walked over to the rest of the group who had seen us stepping out of the lifts. I was still processing this new information when Harry waved at them from a distance. I smiled at my colleagues in an attempt to get back in the game. When we reached them he then properly greeted the two camera men in handshakes before hugging Grimmy, while I said good morning to the three of them.
One of the camera men then handed me one of the keys to the two cars we had rented for today. I had given them the mission to set up cameras inside one of them so that Grimmy and Harry could be alone in the car. My hope was that it would come as close to a normal car ride between two best friends and I knew that if we succeeded we would get the best content out from it. As long as neither of them felt like they had cameras in their face I knew that the magic we always managed to catch in the studio would also be noticeable in this segment.
I handed the key to Grimmy since he was going to drive to the first location. Last night I had already given him the address and some few notes about at least some things they needed to talk about during their ride there. It was simple stuff like having Harry guess what they were going to do, him giving fun and witty hints.
Harry and Grimmy jumped in their car and I drove behind them with the two camera men with me. It wasn't long until we reached the first location, a retirement home . We all made our way inside and I walked up to the desk asking for the woman who I had been in contact with. A couple of minutes later she arrived. We followed her while I chatted with her. She informed me that she had already settled the elderly in the room and they were all so excited. Grimmy made Harry stay with him in a distance, knowing that we had to get the greeting on camera. I stepped inside, waving to all of the lovely faces in the room with a big smile. I introduced myself and my two sidekicks with cameras in their hands.
"You're this young and their boss?" A round lady with dark eyebrows and white short thin hair asked curiously from the middle of the room. With my most polite smile I shook my head back at her.
"No I'm not, I'm an assistant." I explained softly, still in the door frame.
"You should be." She blurted out bluntly. My two colleagues on either side of me couldn't hold in their laughter and it rubbed off on me.
The woman who had led us up here jumped in and pointed me to a chair alongside the opposite wall from the door. Before I sat down I placed the only winning price I had needed to bring, which was Harry's debut album. The rest of the prices were already fixed by the retirement home, just like normally. The other two talked a bit to work out the best angles for them to stand in without getting each other in frame but still covering as much as possible. While they figured that I sat down in my chair and looked around the room. I caught myself playing with the ankle bracelet as I did. Seeing all of them made me think of my grandma, and today I missed her love a little more than any other day, wishing that I could visit her in a place like this.
When they had settled I nodded to the woman that she could bring in Grimmy and Harry. The camera's were rolling and now this part was all Grimmy's. I sat back and enjoyed myself, watching the two of them squeeze in the door frame next to the woman. Grimmy was quick to say hello but neither of them introduced themselves like the three of us had.
"Who are you?" Asked the same lady from the middle of the room who had commented on my presentation.
"This is Nick and Harry." The woman introduced them properly. The two of them waved while the rest of the room said hello back now, but not the lady from before.
"Where's Tom?" She asked with a straight face. Harry frowned, confused and Grimmy who never did not wear a smile on his face just looked between the lady and the person in charge of the activity.
"Tom, Dick and Harry." She explained to them and everyone lit up, giggling at the quick wit of the lady. Harry and Grimmy just kept repeating 'Good one' at her through their laughter. The lady, happy with herself, then raised her hand and introduced her as Tina. Tina for sure was a curious and sociable person, and she was a delight.
Harry and Grimmy then sat down for a round of bingo, before Harry quickly was recruited to be the caller for the game. The whole thing was a little awkward at first, but as soon as Harry started presenting the prices it was as good as gone.
"Some body butter... For buttering the body." Harry held up the price to show everyone and they cheered.
"Will you come with it?" Tina once again had no filter and everyone's cheering turned into laughter.
"Tina." Harry playfully scolded her while bubbling up in a surprised but heartwarming chuckle. I was already smiling hard but seeing that big smile glued on his face I couldn't help but to do the same. It seemed like everyone in the room was smiling equally as hard, even Tina pleased with Harry's and everyone else's reactions. If any other one had butterflies in their stomach watching him I wasn't as sure of.
"Tina's like 'full house'!" Grimmy teased innocently by adding it right after Harry. The whole room started laughing even more.
Everyone seemed to truly be having fun. For each game Harry did funny rhymes and comments with the numbers and interacted with his crowd. Grimmy didn't take the game too seriously but rather socialised by chatting over the tables, helping and keeping up the fun and lighthearted mood. It only made it more funny by neither of the winners picking Harry's album. Me and Grimmy made sure to laugh about it and Harry tried to act like he wasn't hurt. Each time he was rejected he looked between me and Grimmy, shaking his head with a defeated smile.
After the last game I made sure that Harry and Grimmy waited outside by the cars with one of the camera men while I did the last bit of filming. I wasn't used to interviewing people. Of course- that was my goal to be able to get to do some of that as well. But now, I got the chance. I did a speed round of interviews between the ones that had been the most chatty. When I later walked out with my other colleague I was all sunshine, fueled up with the energy from the lovely people inside.
"Someone's walking on clouds." Grimmy teased when I was close enough to hear.
"That was fun- right?" I cheesed and looked between them. They both nodded in unison.
"What's next?" Harry asked and I shook my head as a protest to what I knew he was trying to do, but I wasn't falling for it.
"Something just as fun." I teased and he snickered before I went on, not wanting to waste any time, "I think Harry should drive now." I proposed with a questioning look at Grimmy and he nodded, "Yes, it's your turn."
He grabbed a hold of Harry's shoulder from behind, starting to push him forward to get going. Harry gave me a peering and suspicious side eye while one side of his mouth tried pulling itself into the smallest half smile. In return I looked up at him, giving him a mischievous smile and glimmering turquoise eyes. He held my eye contact fiercely as long as he could before Grimmy had pushed him fully past me.
When we arrived at the next location me and the camera guys walked in first. We said hello to the blonde guy who was going to guide Harry and Grimmy through the axe throwing. We prepared everything and I then went to say to tell the two of them that we were ready and they could come inside in a minute, so I just had time to get behind the cameras.
Grimmy had already told Harry in the car what they were going to do. And it didn't take long until you saw Harry's competitive side. He immediately got the technique and was quite good at it. Grimmy however had a different approach, but not a shocking one- he focused more on having a good time and blurting out cheeky comments.
It was a joy watching the two of them. Every time Grimmy threw in the beginning it was a disaster, and I really did my best to bite my tongue and not laugh behind one of the camera men. The hard part about doing a job with two of the closest people to you was that they always wanted you in on the laughter as well. Several times Grimmy looked at me in shame, making it even more impossible to not snort out in a fit of laughter.
"You have to commit to it." Their instructor tried to give Grimmy a tip for better results.
"I can't commit, I got commitment issues." He sassed back and everyone took a moment to laugh. Typical Grimmy...
Harry also stole glimpses, looking at me proudly after nailing his throw- which happened a lot. He was so focused whenever he was going to throw, squinting his eyes, biting down hard in concentration before reaching the axe behind his head and throwing it in full force with a big leap. Grimmy even tried mocking Harry about it, which didn't affect him at all since he knew he had it going for him. I was too busy being spellbind each time to laugh at Grimmy's trash talk. The sight of it was too good to keep my eyes off it and against my will- his competitive side was doing things to me. Watching him walk back with the axe in his hand weirdly made me mess up my breathing pattern, and even worse whenever he gazed at me.
I knew it was bad of me, and I really did my best to get rid of the thoughts that were now clear in my head. Time hadn't been on my side with that as much as I had wished for. Sometimes I forgot about Camille, but whenever I remembered it hurt me while at the same time leaving me feeling ashamed for where my mind more often now wandered off. I wished for that with time I would lose these thoughts, but with me realising the truth time had only made it grow clearer and stronger. It was a lost cause and I had been right in my fears so I just really had to let it go and be realistic, and I hoped that time would be my friend in helping with that.
Grimmy got the hang of it eventually, but not enough to beat Harry. For the last throw Harry got the honours to throw two axes at the same time. It was a hard throw. The camera men made sure to get a dramatic view, even if neither of us expected nothing better than only one of them sticking and an evil comment from Grimmy after. Harry stood in his position, focusing harder than ever before. Everyone went silent. He swinged the two axes behind his head and took a step forward in a big leap. We all held our breaths as he did and watched them flip quickly through the air. It took a moment for us to realise that he had got the both of them inside the target, and even one of them basically in the bullseye.
"OOOOH!?" Harry shouted, proud with himself and his hands still raised up in the air. All of us also being beyond impressed with his throw let out a similar sound, chuckling between them. Everyone was hyping him up, just like he deserved.
"That is good, that is good." Grimmy repeated and met Harry in a high five while the instructor clapped.
Harry turned around to me in a big and adorable beam, searching to see my reaction to which he saw me being equally as dazzled as everyone else. As if I didn't think his face could form a bigger smile, it did. It reached from ear to ear, digging out the biggest dimples in its way. I caught my face mimicking his and when he looked away to high five the instructor I had to fight hard to wipe it off.
We ended our shoot with the two of them grabbing food and stopping at the top of a parking garage, catching a pretty view of sundown over Manchester. It was meant for Grimmy to ask a little more deep questions but for the first thirty minutes they were just acting silly. They kept singing and shouting childish nonsense out at the city, praising it with love.
"Come on, we need an ending shot from here before the sun goes down completely." I said for the millionth time, now putting on a demanding tone for the first time. I had already laughed alongside saying it the previous times. The sight of the two of them acting like children warmed me. Just watching them get going with not taking anything too seriously in the company of one another was enough to keep me smiling. However, they had completely zoned out on their surroundings and me while being in their own silly world together. That was until they heard me being firm that somehow brought them out of it.
"Bzz Bzz.." Still holding on to the railing Harry turned around with a smirk, knowing how annoyed I would be and probably hoping that I would react on it as well. Grimmy bursted out in rapid snickers behind him at the comment.
"Angry Bee." He added on to Harry's first comment, as if it weren't already obvious what he had meant...
"Apparently that's what you sweeties want me to be." I pressed in the most softly and sarcastic tone I could, topping it off with a fake smile. They giggled harder but this time at least tried to control it. Now I had managed to somewhat get them to focus back on why we were actually here.
"Sorry, sorry." Harry tried pulling himself together but not fully since he still had the giggles.
"Yes, sorry Sugar. We'll do it now and then we can leave." Grimmy further assured me, actually being able to say it without laughing.
"Good. I'll wait in the car meanwhile." I spoke lowly and casually, not giving away any reaction while turning in the direction of the car, beginning to head for it.
"No, hold on." Grimmy and Harry argued in unison.
"Still an angry Bee." I admitted in a shout while still walking away. I heard their disappointed sighs and exclaims in protest to let it go and come back. I turned my head to the side, peering my eyes at them from over my shoulder with an amused but nonchalant smirk.
"Bzz Bzz." I teased them back, taking back the power from them mocking me. In perfect timing to look away I had reached the car. I grabbed the handle, pleased as their protests got louder, but this time it was I who ignored them and it made me smile even harder.
As we were done with filming for today I could join them in their car, so I sat down in the middle of the backseat in it. I could then see them actually starting to film the last bit. Harry's giggles got caught in the first bits of Grimmy's talk. I observed them with warmth in my heart again. As I heard the sound of Harry's small giggles seeping into the sealed silence of the car I heard myself giggling just in reaction to it. I couldn't help but smile as I saw his bright smile and eyes over Nick's shoulder.
Breaking through their chat I heard a buzzing noise from the console in front of me. My eyes searched for the source of it instinctively. When I saw the lit up phone I saw that the caller was no other than Camille. My heart sank to my stomach, feeling like she had caught me doing something I definitely shouldn't do.
Just as the call reached voicemail the two car doors in front of me opened. And again, I felt like I had been busted in an act that no one was supposed to see.
"Ready?" Harry asked me like I would maybe answer anything else than yes. I settled for a simple nod while the two of them sat down in their seats.
"Dinner with the band was at 9 right?" Grimmy checked while buckling his seatbelt and Harry started backing the car out of its spot.
"Yeah, but we'll all meet down in the lobby by 8:30." Harry assured him. I checked the clock and saw that it was two and a half hours till then, which meant two hours from when we reached our hotel again.
When I stepped my foot inside the room again the first thing I did was to connect my phone to the speaker I had packed with me and started queuing songs. I then jumped in the shower, washing away the long day and beginning the evening with a clean slate.
Boppin to the music I then went through the small wardrobe I had packed with me. I settled for the dark brown suit set that was a little oversized. I kept the blazer open and wore a simple cream white tee under it.
I took my time to do my hair and to put on my makeup again after washing it off in the shower. I took my time so well that I even forgot about it. Ten minutes before I had to start rushing the last steps of makeup so I wouldn't be out last minute just like in the morning. I still somehow managed to mumble along to the lyrics of 'She's A Rainbow' by The Rolling Stones that were playing. I was scuffing around my hand in my makeup-bag when I heard a knock at my door. Surprised I frowned to myself in the mirror, checking with myself if I had heard right.
I walked up to the door, looking outside and of course...
"Hi Harry?" I spoke, a little confused. He met my eyes while brushing the tip of his nose with one finger.
"Hi, I was just going down. Thought that I could wait for you. Are you ready?" He asked kindly and I shook my head in return.
"In a minute. I just need to grab a few last things." I explained, still holding onto the door. He nodded understanding and softly.
"I'll wait." Harry said and I nodded back in return, quickly turning back around into the room for my last stuff while leaving the door more opened for him as a gesture that he could wait inside. Harry took a step inside, closing the door behind him while I sat on the edge of my bed and put on my classic heels.
"Great song choice." He snorted out in almost an ironic but warm smile to the ground, referring to the same song I was singing along to just a minute ago.
"It really is one of the best ones." I agreed while reaching for the second shoe.
He started to bop his head along the piano playing an ascending scale. His gaze searched mine and behind them I almost saw a distant memory, something he had stored in the back of his head, not really wanting to revisit but with the nostalgic small smile it seemed like it had caught his attention anyway.
"She shoots colours all around, Like a sunset going down." He sang lowly, leaning against the wall in the small hallway. It was still loud enough for me to hear and hearing him sing always touched a soft spot.
"I'm glad you're liking it." I spoke while grabbing my bag from before and passing him to put on some strawberry lip balm and my orange lipstick over it.
"Kinda have to be." He chuckled, now leaning on his back against the wall just outside the bathroom, looking at me applying my lipstick in the mirror. I looked back at him as my eyebrows reached to meet.
"What do you mean?" I asked, going back to make sure it looked okay.
"If I'm quiet in my room and listen carefully I can hear traces of it through the wall." He said softly while holding back a smile. I put the lipstick in my bag and turned around to face him.
"Sorry, I'll turn it down." I scrunched my nose while leaning my hands behind me back on the counter.
"Don't." He rushed to say without skipping a beat. Harry realised it himself and quickly continued, "I like it." He went back to his gentleness while observing me intently and tracing his gaze all over my face, "I like listening to music with you." Harry further explained. I hoped that he couldn't see the heat rushing to my face, but I was too caught up in the warm, safe and enchanting tension between us to look away.
"Or listening to you listening to music." He corrected himself and I snickered down at the ground by the sweet imagery. It caused him to do the same.
"Are you ready?" Harry asked softly as the joy still had its mark on his face.
"Yes, I'm ready." I nodded back, also softly. He pushed himself off the wall and reached for the door, holding it open for me before shutting it after us and making our way to dinner with the rest.
------------------------------------------
I really recommend you to listen to the song if you haven't already- it's a masterpiece.
If you liked the chapter, please vote and comment. It helps me a lot. I would also love to hear where you think I will take this story, so if you have any theories- hit me with them.
Lots of love /R