The energy on tour is always high, but the energy on the first show day after being on a break is different. Waking up on the day of the first show comes with a mix of nervous and excited energy. Even though I'm not taking the stage, I always feel a little pre-show jitters for the boys, and being in a new country is always a buzz. I have been fortunate enough to have attended each first show of each leg of the tour this year. London, Mexico City, and Adelaide tonight as the first show in Australia.
Despite the underlying tension, I couldn't help but wake up with a smile on my face, especially when Harry's was the sight I opened my eyes to. While cuddled up in each other's arms we discussed the day ahead, and came to the mutual decision of telling our friends about our relationship before the show tonight when the adrenaline and happiness is running high. We knew we wouldn't be able to conceal our intense feelings for each other much longer than a day.
Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was a happy affair and a reunion of friends. After doing my rounds of greeting everyone I didn't see when we landed yesterday, I joined Harry at the table he was occupying with Lou, Niall, Preston and Liam, where they were making and establishing their plans for the day ahead.
Niall and Harry decided to go for a game of golf since there is a golf course a few minutes from the hotel. While they went out for the day, I decided to crash Liam's training session with Mark which was followed by a walk around the hotel grounds, since the weather was warmer than it is at home right now.
Since arriving at the arena around an hour ago with Louis, Liam and Zayn, I have been sitting on the sofa next to Louis in the boys' communal dressing room for the next three days. Liam has just returned from the hallway after taking a phone call from Sophia, while Zayn has gone to kick the football around with Josh. Harry and Niall are due to arrive straight from the golf course at any moment now, since soundcheck is around half an hour away.
While I chat with Liam and Louis, I try to keep my flurry of emotions towards Harry's arrival under wraps. Seeing him after we have gone our separate ways for the day is something I always look forward to, and I know that today I'm going to have to act casual in front of the boys.
"Hey, Liam?" Harry's voice comes from the doorway of the dressing room and my composure goes down the drain as I turn to look at him.
I am surprised to see him still dressed in his golfing attire. Clad in all black minus the white shoes and grey beret with his curls peeking out from under it, I come to the realization that this is the first time I have ever seen him dressed like this, and I have to put all of my willpower into acting neutral as my eyes roam his tall frame.
"What's the deal with the snake habitat tweet?" Harry continues, as he looks up from his phone with a frown on his face, completely oblivious to the affect he's having on me.
Luckily, his question takes my mind elsewhere, and I cannot stop myself from breaking into a fit of laughter as I recall the situation. While smiling and shaking his head at me, Louis playfully shoves my shoulder in a silent plea for to settle down while Harry looks to me in surprise, pressing his lips together to fight a smile.
"There she goes again," Liam chuckles as I try to reign in my laughter. "What happened was-"
Another loud laugh from me that sounds more like a maniacal cackle stops Liam from telling the story and prompts me to clamp my hand over my mouth in surprise. There is a small bout of silence in the room before we all collectively and inevitably lose it. Harry is laughing so hard that he's leaning against the doorframe with a hand clutching his stomach, while Liam leans his arms on top of the other sofa so he won't crash onto the ground from standing up. I cannot help but lean my head on Louis' shoulder, unable to sit up properly from laughing so hard and so much.
"Pull yourself together, woman," Louis teases when we manage to stop laughing.
Suddenly, Zayn appears in the doorway to enter the dressing room, but he stops in his tracks when he notices the smiles on our faces, causing him to nod knowingly with a smile of his own.
"This about the snake habitat?" Zayn asks as he looks at Harry before taking a seat on the other sofa.
"I'm trying to hear about it, but Liv won't stop laughing!" Harry exclaims as he throws his hands up in mock frustration, which just makes me laugh again.
"I can't-" I take a breath and wipe the tears of laughter from my cheeks. "I can't wait for you to hear it!" I finally manage to get out, earning another laugh from the boys in the room.
"God, I lo-" Harry stops himself from finishing his sentence when he realizes what he was about to say. Fortunately, none of the boys seem to pick up on Harry's near slip, and I cannot help but smile like an idiot as he recovers with his eyes on me. "I'd love to hear the story now."
"The only reason she's laughing so much is because she was kind of there," Liam defends me.
"We were all kinda there Payno," Louis quips.
Before Liam can make a comeback, Niall appears in the doorway by Harry's side, changed out of his golf clothes and back in his casual everyday attire. He places his hands on his hips and his eyes sweep the room incredulously.
"You lot are carryin' on like a pack of hyenas!" Niall remarks, making me giggle again. "Can hear you from all the way down the hall!"
"Niall, we just got Liv to stop laughing," Harry whines and dramatically stomps his foot. It's like he's purposely trying to keep me laughing, no matter how much he says he wants me to stop. The corner of his mouth twitches to fight off a smirk as he turns to Liam. "That's it. Liam, we're going to my dressing room. You can tell me the story there."
"No!" I complain through my giggles as Liam starts to clear out. "But I wanna see your reaction."
Harry playfully sighs as he peers around the doorway, once Liam has disappeared from view into the hall. With a hand on the doorframe, he takes a brief moment of pause as though is reassessing what he is about to say.
"I want to hear the story before soundcheck which is less than twenty minutes away." He finishes with a cheesy grin before disappearing down the hall.
I am left with Louis, Zayn and Niall, as Louis begins to fill Niall in on this mornings' events.
The snake habitat scenario has got to be one of my favourite tour moments so far.
On our walk with Mark this morning, Liam and I saw a sign at the hotel which warned guests of a field where snakes resided. Knowing how many dangerous and deadly creatures call Australia their home, we moved on from that area very quickly. But not before having a little laugh about the wording of this warning on the sign.
When we got back, Liam and Mark wanted to continue training and started boxing, while I hit the shower and got dressed for the day. I decided to knock on Zayn's door and found Louis in his room with him, so the three of us spent the rest of their free time lounging around Zayn's room together.
While Zayn was telling us about his time with his family over the break, we started to hear what sounded like girls' screams from a distance. As it turned out, there were fans behind the hotel in the supposed 'snake habitat' field, and they were screaming because they could see Liam and Mark boxing on the balcony on the opposite side of the courtyard of where we were.
Since Louis happened to be scrolling through his twitter feed at the time, we saw Liam's tweets warning the fans about the snakes, and we lost it in laughter when we saw them and just by the entire situation as a whole. Australians are so laid back, and the girls didn't seem to pay any mind to knowing they were running through a field infested with snakes.
In the van on the way to the arena, Liam was telling us all about his encounter with the group of fans. How he actually had to take them back to the front gate of the hotel on the back of a golf cart after meeting them all. All the while, expressing his concerns for their safety and slight shock of how laid back they were by the whole ordeal. Snakes are not a laughing matter, but Liam's tweets about them certainly are, and I don't think I will ever stop laughing about them.
Liam coming back into the room a couple minutes later, and Louis urging him to tell Niall the story from his perspective, prompts me to excuse myself and make my way down the hall to Harry's dressing room.
After I peer around the half open doorway to see where Harry is, I press my lips together while smiling. As stealthily as possible, I sneak into the room through the space between the door and lean back against it until it closes with a thud.
The sound of the door closing prompts Harry to pause from looping his belt around his jeans. He slowly turns around and visibly relaxes when he realizes that it's me. We only manage to hold eye contact for a few seconds before we burst out laughing about the situation.
"Alright, I take it back," he finally admits when our laughter settles. "It is a great story."
"See, now you know why I can't stop laughing about it!" I quip as I push myself away from the door.
I make the short walk to the sofa and plop down on the arm of it while Harry continues to loop his belt through his black jeans. He turns around and softly smiles at me when he's done, before leaning down to reach into his holdall on the coffee table between us. He pulls on a grey t-shirt and takes the beret off his head, dropping it in the bag to run his hand through his hair a few times.
"How is it?" He asks as he straightens up before me, referring to his hair as he rests his hands on his hips. "Be honest."
I press my lips together, fighting a smile as my eyes travel up to the top of his head. Without me having to speak a word, Harry already knows my thoughts, and he throws his head back to releases a dramatic huff.
"It's not that bad." I giggle as I stand and make my way around the coffee table. As I stand before him, I raise my hands up to run my fingers through it but then decide against it at the last second. Should probably leave hair to Lou. "Yeah, on second thought, you might need to go see Lou real quick."
"Great," he huffs again, though I know he is playing along by the grin on his lips. "Will you come with me to find her?"
"We better make it quick, before you're late again," I tease, earning a good natured eye roll from him as I pull him by the hand towards the door.
"Hold on a moment."
"Hmm?"
As I turn around, Harry's hands find either side of my waist and my back meets the wood of the door. With a soft smile on his face, his eyes flick between my lips and my eyes.
"I love you," he says, sweet and quiet, before his lips land on mine and I am putty in his hands.
His kiss is as it always is; slow, gentle and passionate. But at the same time, holds an intensity to it, as though each kiss may be the last.
With one last chaste kiss, he leans back enough to look at me and I am left in a bit of a daze before remembering to return the words, "I love you," making him smile. I bite on my bottom lip to fight a smile when I realise my hands found his hair while we were kissing, and that it's even more messed up now than what it was moments ago.
"Now we really do need to go find and Lou," I remark, making him affectionately laugh and shake his head at me before following me out of the room.
*****
I come to a sharp halt in the doorway of the communal dressing room when I see and hear the chaos. As I tuck my phone into the back pocket of my denim shorts, I cannot help but laugh at the scene before me. There's music playing at a volume that would be deemed as a little louder than appropriate, and between the boys half yelling and half singing along, I cannot decipher what the song is. All the while they're also ridiculously dancing as they get themselves dressed for the show.
Thankfully, I've arrived at the time where they are putting their tops and shoes on. It would have been quite unfortunate and awkward if I arrived at a time they were putting their pants on. A few members of the sound crew are also inside the room to mic the boys with their in-ears, transmitters and receiver packs. Paul is also standing inside by the door, making sure the boys stay on time, with the other members of security milling around.
"Hey, here she is!" Liam announces, loud enough for everyone to hear as he pulls on a black muscle tank top since his sound equipment has finished being fitted.
"Here I am," I agree as I hold a hand up and grin.
I catch Harry's eye and he immediately relaxes and smiles when he sees that I am here. He was clearly starting to worry about my whereabouts and if I was going to make it in time before they walk down to the stage, but it seems as though I have made it just in time.
Paul suddenly grumbles about how loud the music is and thankfully turns it down to a suitable background level as I lean against the doorframe. I gratefully smile at him as he resumes his post near me, which he returns with a good natured eye roll.
"Where'd you go, Masterson?" Niall asks as he adjusts his in-ears.
"Got a call from my mum, which then turned into speaking to my dad for just as long," I explain as I glance over Harry again. He gives me a comforting smile, which then becomes a mischievous grin as he tucks his receiver pack into the back of his jeans.
A couple minutes later it is time to make the walk to the stage, or more technically, the small backstage area for the boys to collect their microphones before heading onstage. Tonight is different though. Usually the boys have their own pre-stage rituals to go through together. But on the first and last shows of each leg of the tour, they have been leading a collective group huddle for everyone to join.
As we round the corner, everyone on the crew who could be there is waiting and cheering the boys on in the hallway. At least two thirds of the couple hundred people on the crew are here and I cannot help but smile as I feel the love in the room. I keep an arm around Harry and the other around Lou as we form a tight huddle. It's like a collective group hug as everyone stands close enough to hear each of the boys speak over the screams of the crowd and the pre-show music playing.
We listen and cheer along with everything the boys say, as they express their excitement to be back in Australia and gratitude to everyone for being here with them to make it possible. My heart starts pumping faster against my rib cage as Harry's turn to speak draws closer. As if sensing my unease, he gives my shoulder a reassuring squeeze while Niall speaks on his right side, and I return a gentle squeeze to his side in response.
"Alright, Harry, bring it home," Paul calls out over the noise. "You've got a couple minutes left."
"As Liam, Zayn, Louis and Niall have just said, we're back in Australia and I am so grateful to be here with all of you," Harry begins, earning a collective cheer. "Thank you to each and every one of you for making the journey with us for the next few months to make this show happen, it wouldn't be possible without your incredible hard work. So let's just have fun and give our best each show! And just quickly," he adds before the cheers get out of hand. "Most importantly, I am grateful to have Liv, my beautiful and supportive girlfriend here with is."
Just as when we told our families, everyone around us starts cheering and freaking out. The circle around us starts to become smaller as people try to reach us, turning into a gigantic hug of sorts. With that bomb dropped, Paul announces that it's show time with a rare smile on his face.
Through all the happy chaos, I only just manage to give Harry the good luck kiss he so cheekily requested before he follows after Paul and the boys to collect their microphones and head onstage. I cannot help but laugh as I have Lou, Caroline and a few other friends on the crew hot on my heels as I jog towards the side stage area I always watch the show from.
Now is not the time, but I am sure Harry and I are going to be inundated with excited questions, joyous hugs and more congratulations once the show is over, and I can't wait.
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