Usually, Mia would need to watch something on TV to fall asleep to, but she could barely keep her eyes open long enough to change into her sleep clothes. Despite being so exhausted from the previous day’s events, and the comfy bed of the hotel room, she didn’t sleep very well that night. Her dreams were muddied with vampire-like creatures trying to get to her. They had Oli’s eyes, but not the shining, kind eyes she saw in the media and on socials, but the dark flash she saw in him yesterday. The creatures would descend on her and attempt to bite her and she could hear Gerard in the background shouting for her to be strong.
Finally, Mia woke, cold and clammy; her heart pounding in her chest. She sat up in bed and picked up her phone to check the time: just before 6am. It was earlier than she had planned to be awake, but every time she closed her eyes, the creatures would reappear. She tried to distract herself with her phone but after about 30 minutes, she decided to get up and shower.
Showered and awake for the day, she grabbed a coffee from the small kitchenette in the hotel room and set up her laptop, taking full advantage of the hotel’s wifi. She sent yesterday's files over and glanced through them, organising them into sections, making a few small edits as she did so. She flipped through some emails and drafted a few replies and soon it was 9am. She rummaged through her suitcase and pulled out a black spaghetti strap top, black cut-off jeans, and slipped on her black vans again. She was really nervous about meeting Oli this morning and considered messaging Gerard for moral support. She stood in front of the hotel room mirror and ran a brush through her hair, pinning her long fringe to one side to stop it getting in her eyes. She took a deep breath, and downing a glass of water to help calm her, she left for the dining area.
Mia was contemplating how the conversation would go the whole way down and she was in a daydream when she stepped out of the lift - straight into Mike.
“Mia!” He exclaimed. “Good to see you, are you heading down for breakfast?”
“Uh, yeah, I was.”
“You can join me if you like?” Mike offered.
“Um, I kinda already have plans…” She drifted off, looking at her feet.
Mike raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah?”
Mia’s demeanour shifted. She fiddled with a bit of her hair. “Yeah, I’m meeting Oli Sykes for breakfast”, she admitted.
Mike’s expression mutated to one of concern. “Mia…” he began.
“I know, I know!” Mia interjected, sighing heavily. “Look, long story short, there was… erm, an incident yesterday. I ended up somewhere I shouldn’t have been and somehow upset him. But Jordan came to find me yesterday when Gerard and the boys were practising, and he said Oli wanted to explain over breakfast. Gerard said he trusted Jordan, and he’s my SOS contact - I trust Gerard’s judgement.”
Mike blinked at Mia a couple of times and breathed a long breath. “I trust Gerard too. I don’t think he’d have let you put yourself in any intentional danger. Just keep your wits about you.”
Mia smiled back at Mike and checked her watch. It was now 9.26am. “I have to go, I’ll catch up with you later?”
Mike nodded, gave Mia a quick hug and hurried back down the corridor to wherever he had been heading.
As Mia entered the dining area of the hotel, she glanced around. It didn’t take her long to spot Oli sat at a table near the edge of the room. He had his head down with a black beanie pulled over his trademark fluffy, brown hair and was nursing a mug of black coffee. He raised the mug to his lips and noticed Mia over the top of it. Quickly setting it down on the table, he hopped up from his chair and hurried over to greet Mia.
Mia’s guard was still up, but she was puzzled by Oli’s apparent amiability. She took a few seconds to take in his appearance. His eyes were not the same ones that haunted her dreams the previous night - his face was instead soft and gentle; welcoming even. She felt her barriers start to slip already as he awkwardly stood in front of her, not knowing what to say or do.
“Um, Mia, right?” Oli began, nervously.
Why was he nervous, Mia thought to herself, reminding herself of why she was here. She smiled, but not fully, just enough to let him know she was open to hearing what he had to say.
Oli rubbed his neck. “Erm, can I get you anything? A coffee?”
“Sure, just an Americano would be great, thanks”, Mia accepted his offer gratefully as she sat at the table he had been sitting at. He joined her after placing the order.
“The server will bring it over in a bit”, Oli said as he took a seat on the opposite side of the table. “So, uh. I guess Jordan told you why I wanted to see you?”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”
Oli was briefly taken aback. “Yeah, I deserve the attitude, I guess.”
“Attitude?! You deserve a lot more than attitude!” Mia hissed, trying not to draw attention to their conversation.
Oli sighed. “I know. And I know that me saying sorry isn’t going to mean much to you, but I do mean it. And I really want to prove it to you.”
“Why?”
Oli furrowed his brow and looked up at Mia. “What?”
“Why do you want to prove how sorry you are so badly? Why does my opinion of you mean so much?”
Oli looked away again, putting his hands over his face and making a weird noise. “Ugh, I don’t know! I just…. Look. We’ve got a few rehearsals lined up before our set tomorrow night. Why don’t you come to one? I promise I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
Mia looked quizzically at Oli. “What does that mean? And what was so different before?”
He pulled off his beanie and scratched his head. His hair went everywhere and Mia tried not to notice how cute it looked all fluffed up. “There was meant to be a barrier and sign to say it was a closed rehearsal. I didn’t see that it had broken until after I was so awful to you. All I knew was that you weren’t supposed to be there and I really want to be honest with you Mia. I don’t know why. But right now, all I can say is that I was… hungry.”
Mia thought she saw the dark flash in his eye again for the briefest of moments, but it was gone before she had time to even acknowledge it. “Hungry?! Wow, I’ve never heard such a ridiculous excuse!”
Oli shrugged. “Yeah, I know it sounds stupid. I just get really shitty when I haven’t eaten and I’m really sorry you were there to get the brunt of it. Jordan usually notices before it gets too bad, but I guess we were so into the rehearsal, no-one realised until it was too late”.
Mia studied Oli as he spoke. He seemed genuine and almost like a completely different person than the one who had almost destroyed the image she had in her head of them; replaced with the monsters haunting her dreams that night. Her coffee had appeared on the table and she took a sip. The server had slipped by unnoticed as she spoke with Oli, and she mused upon how grateful she was that her attention had been focussed on him the entire time. He had somehow managed to break down her barriers a lot more and she had begun to see the reality of who was in front of her. Her inner fangirl threatened to come out again, but she squashed it quickly. She had made friends with Gerard yesterday very quickly, but at least he was nice to her from the start - how could she not like him?
The sound of Oli slurping his coffee snapped Mia from her disassociated state. She looked up at him as he placed his mug back on the table and clasped his hands together. “Okay”, she said quietly.
Oli’s face lit up. “Okay? You’ll come see us rehearse?”
Mia let her face relax and smiled warmly at him. “Yes. I’d be honoured.”
“Honoured?” Oli snickered. “We’re not royalty or anything! I’m really pleased you’ve given me - us - the band, I mean - another chance though.”
Mia blushed. “So, when is the rehearsal?”
“We have a meet and greet planned for 2.30pm, so about 1pm I should think. Same place as you saw us before.” He paused, seeing Mia’s face fall slightly. “I’ll be waiting outside for you,” he continued reassuring her. “We have to put the barriers up just in case… But you’ll have exclusive access. But… I need to ask something of you?”
Mia looked up. His eyes were soft and she thought she might do anything he asked. She didn’t reply, just tilted her head questioningly.
“Er, I know it’s your job and everything, but can you maybe leave the camera?” Oli tore his gaze from hers and started playing with his hands nervously. “It’s something I can’t explain right now, but would you just do this one thing?”
Mia eyed Oli curiously, taking in the details of the multiple inkings adorning his fingers and was mesmerised by the shimmering, purple and black swirls in the stone of the ring he wore on his right middle finger. She wondered about his reasoning, but this morning’s interaction with him had very much changed her opinion of the man she saw yesterday. And for some inexplicable reason, she trusted him. Whatever his reasons were, she knew he wasn’t ready to disclose them right now and in the grand scheme of things, this was just a tiny thing for him to ask of her.
She mused for a few moments more before responding. “Yeah, I can do that. I figure I could do with some time off to just enjoy the music and be in the moment this weekend. Not gonna lie, this is a completely different vibe to my usual photography work and I’m exhausted!”
Oli chuckled. “What is your usual vibe then?” He loosened his posture, realising that Mia was comfortable being around him, and showing that he also was around her. “I want to know more about the real Mia.”
Mia flushed a little, but pulled out her phone and showed him some of the work she’d done recently, even showing him a few sneak peeks of Mike’s family shoot just a few days before. She moved on to show him some of the images she had up in her house, explaining how Mike had stumbled across them and asked her to work this weekend and finally showed him a few of the shots from around the festival site.
“Wow,” Oli breathed after Mia had finished. They’d subconsciously moved closer together, mostly so Mia could show him the pictures on her phone easier, but she suddenly became aware of just how close they were as she felt his hot breath on her cheek as he spoke. “You’re really, really talented!”
“Uh, thanks,” she replied, surreptitiously trying to increase the distance between them by shuffling her chair a little. She shoved her phone back into her pocket and made as if to reach for the coffee mug she knew was empty, but Oli’s hand found hers first. She gasped a little as a chill ran up her spine at the sudden contact and she raised her eyes to meet Oli’s, his smile devilish; eyes dark, but shining. She wasn’t scared anymore, things were very, very different now and she wasn’t quite sure why. She snapped herself away from his gaze and withdrew her hand. Oli chuckled again as she shook her head to try to make sense of what had just happened.
Oli leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out above his head. “Well, I’ve got some things to do before the rehearsal and I’m sure you do too, Mia.”
Mia just nodded open-mouthed as Oli pulled his beanie on and began to get up from the table. He offered a hand and Mia snapped her mouth closed as she accepted his offer to help her up from the table, even though she was perfectly capable of doing so herself. She found her eyes level with his chest as he towered over her, but he still had her hand in his. He bent down slightly, pulling her hand upwards and planted a small kiss on the top of it. “I’ll see you at 1pm,” he added with a smirk as he released her hand and stalked silently out of the dining area.