Finished this chapter just in time to post it in H's 25th birthday!
Wishing everybody a lovely weekend!
Twenty-seven
"I can carry my own stuff, Harry," I said.
After almost five hours the tour bus finally made it to the SF Nob Hill Masonic Center parking lot.
When the bus finally braked, all of us started to get off our seats, stretching our limbs and gathering our things.
All of us except Harry that is, since he hadn't brought anything with him. Lambert and Lou had packed the clothing, makeup and hair stuff he'd need. And Adam was in charge of all the musical instruments and equipment the band would use on stage.
"I can handle your rucksack, Bliss," he retorted, "I have nothing with me and I like to pull my weight around tour."
"I don't like feeling useless," I replied, "I'm a grown woman, not a baby."
"Hopefully you'll be my baby" he whispered in my ear and started to walk off with my stuff on his arms.
I just stood there with a goofy smile on my face. Of course, I had been working with Harry long enough to know that he was the utmost gentleman and would always insist on carrying a lady's luggage for her. But now that things between us had been changing, I was unsure about what rules apply. I didn't want him to think I was the kind of woman who expects the man to do everything whilst she paints her nails. And there was also the fact of being other people around to consider. We had had The Talk, we were supposed to be in a relationship, but we hadn't talked about whether we would be telling people or not, I mean we hadn't even had sex yet.
I was afraid that he would appear to be paying too much attention to me, and people would begin to wonder. Luckily things had worked out well, as Adam carried Clare's suitcase, Lambert's boyfriend carried Lou's, and Mitch, obviously carried Sarah's. Harry carrying mine, seemed to be expected, besides everybody had been in a hurry to get off the bus they hadn't paid any attention to me and Harry on the back.
Clearly, they all needed to use the facilities.
And of course, they were starving and wanted lunch.
I too wanted to take a wee, but Harry was near and I was holding it in. He didn't need to know about my bodily functions.
The time inside the theatre flew by. Maybe it was due to the fact that an empty bladder after a long road trip made me feel lighter. But mostly it was because of the constant- never-ceasing-activity since we set foot on the premises.
It had been six hours till show time when we arrived. Harry had been dragged on by his trainer for his workout, followed by a massage session. I joined in the workout, as did the rest of the band. Harry offered me his services as a masseuse, I declined because I didn't think I could control myself with his hands all over my naked body, even if it was covered by a towel.
A delicious salmon lunch came afterward. Followed by sound check.
I took a seat in the almost empty theater watching Harry and his band on stage tuning their instruments, mucking about a bit. Some crew members were scattered around, ready to jump in and fix anything that might not work properly.
A curtain dropped with the same design as Harry's album, pink with flowers and petals floating around as if drifting in water. Soon a spotlight was thrust into the curtain, and Harry's silhouette could be seen. He was holding his guitar and the first chords of "Ever Since New York" could be heard.
It was absolutely amazing.
Mesmerizing.
Enthralling.
Harry's portentous singing brought me out of the trance-like state I had fallen into. The curtain dropped and Harry Styles Rock God came out to conquer all and brake many a heart.
He was magnificent.
He went on to sing "Sign of The Times" and "From The Dining Table." It made sense since he'd told me during our bus ride that when rehearsing before a gig it was customary for artists to sing both their loudest and softest songs, in order to test both ends of the spectrum and see if the microphones, speakers, amplifiers and all the equipment was functioning properly. Then if the artists felt there was something else that they needed to work on at times, they would also test it. Testing the curtain was a given since Harry had been obsessing about it functioning adequately.
"I think that went rather well," Adam said, "Is there anything else you'd like to go over H?"
"Yeah, it was good. I'd just like to try 'What Makes You Beautiful' if it's all right with you" Harry answered.
I shook my head in disbelief at his words. My mouth also might have dropped. Surely he was not talking about his first One Direction hit song, was he?
Could I be so lucky?
Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, Harry was prancing around the stage belting What Makes You Beautiful at the top of his lungs. He had made some changes to the song, though, regarding his solos. For his first solo he planned on having the audience sing it; as for the second one, he cut some of the lyrics and amped the tempo. The result was amazing, and it showed how self-deprecating Harry could be at times, which made him absolutely adorable.
"Gotta hand it to him," I heard a voice say by my side, "when it comes to his music Harold knows what he is doing."
I turned around to find Jeff taking the seat next to mine.
"Hello Bliss, glad to see you again," Jeff said.
"Hello, Jeff. Likewise lovely to see you." I replied.
"I must extend my apologies, you've been in LA for a while," he told me, "and I haven't taken care of you. Glenne and I should have had you over for dinner. But work got a little hectic, and I was away in New York. Just flew from there today, I couldn't miss my boy Harry's opening night."
"That's quite all right," I assured him, relieved Harry had told me some things about Jeff, and I knew Glenne was his long term girlfriend, and that they worked together, so in a way she was Harry's manager.
"It's not all right," he said adamantly, "I need to make you feel welcomed in my hometown."
"Thank you very much," I answered, "but you don't need to go into any trouble on my account."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all." He countered "I plan to remedy it right away, I'll join Harry and you on your flight back to LA tonight and then both of you can join Glenne and me for a late dinner. How that's that sound?"
"Wonderful, thank you very much," I said, swallowing down my disappointment. Tonight, Harry and I had planned on going on a date and doing something else besides kissing. If I was lucky, I'd be having mind-numbing sex with him, but it seemed that was not to be.
"It's all settled then! Now, let's go backstage." Jeff said, motioning for me to follow him, "I've got to say hello to Harry, and make sure he's all right. He always gets first night jitters, ever since 1D."
I obediently followed Jeff. Making sure he walked in front of me, so he wouldn't catch a glimpse of the tears that were threatening to burst out of the corner of my eye, at the disappointment of having my plans with Harry ruined.
We made our way backstage. There was CHASM joined by three ladies, they all were happily talking about chords, and acoustics and all type of music-related things I knew nothing about. Jeff seemed unfazed by it all, as he explained the trio was MUNA, Harry's opening act. Realizing I hadn't met them, he introduced us. They were lovely and explained they were rushed for time because they were on their way to their own sound check, but that they would be delighted to get to know Harry's tour blogger better, they even suggested having lunch sometime.
"I'm sorry to inform you ladies that Bliss has the highest professional standards" and cannot be bribed with food offerings to write favorable things about your sorry lot." Harry declared in a very somber voice.
With cries of "Well, there's always alcohol," "Our music is good, we don't need to resort to bribing" they laughingly took off to start their sound check.
Harry didn't bother to reply, as he had already turned to Jeff greeting him with a cuddle and saying "Happy to have you here mate. I thought I'd just be seeing you on the second night, at L.A."
"I dropped everything I had to do in New York to be here tonight." Jeff answered, "I wouldn't miss my main man's opening night."
"I appreciate it very much," said Harry simply.
"You seem to be holding up very well," Jeff replied, "I expected you'd be a bundle of nerves by now, but you aren't so if you'll excuse me I'm gonna give Glenne a call about plans for after the show. Bliss will fill you in."
Jeff walked away from us to say hello to the band and then busied himself in his phone.
Harry looked at me inquisitively "What's up, Bliss? You're not ditching me for Jeff now, are you?"
"Of course not! As a matter of fact, he's my least favorite person at the moment." I cried out in frustration and proceeded to explain to Harry how Jeff was crashing our date tonight.
"It's very nice of Jeff to invite you to a welcome to America dinner," Harry said after listening to me intently, "he needs to work on his timing, though."
"That he does," I said, feeling the tears starting to build up again.
"Here, here love," Harry said, taking my chin in his hand and running his thumb up and down my cheek, "don't cry. I'll sort it."
"I'm not crying" I lied.
"Baby, just go into my dressing room. Nobody's there." Harry said, in a soothing voice. "Wait for me there, please. I'll fix everything and will come to find you."
I just nodded without attempting to speak at all because I was afraid if I opened my mouth I'd start bawling my eyes out.
I took a seat on the sofa in Harry's dressing room. In an effort to distract myself I checked my Twitter account Harry Stiles Live On Tour was trending, there were photos posted of fans queuing outside the venue and singing. I couldn't help but feel happy at how much people loved Harry.
"It's all settled baby, the plan's back on," Harry said bursting into the room, "We'll be dining on our own, Jeff will take a raincheck."
"What did you do?" I enquired.
"I just told him he was being an even bigger cockblock than Gem and Mum yesterday" Harry answered, grinning like a mad man.
"You didn't," I said mortified.
"Yap, I told him I'm planning on fucking my girl to oblivion tonight," he told me.
"Haaarrry, how could you?" I said, covering my face with my hands in embarrassment.
"Calm down Bliss," Harry said laughing, "I didn't tell him that."
"How did you make him change his mind then?" I asked wearily.
"Well, I explained how you wanted to go to Nobu and that your heart was kinda set on it, and that he was welcome to join us. I knew he would decline at the mention of Nobu."
"Why?" I asked perplexed "Isn't' Nobu a nice place?"
"It is, it's way too nice."
"Why isn't Jeff going then?"
"Because last time he was there he had way too much sake. He threw up all over the hallway when he got to his house and Glenne has decreed a three-month ban from Nobu for him" Harry informed me.
"Oh," I said eloquently and smiled.
I felt happy,
"Bliss I can't resist the smile you have on your face right now, come here baby," said Harry and pulled me to him.
He crashed his lips onto mine, cupping my face. As a reflex, my arms circled his waist and I pulled him closer. He moved his mouth to my neck and chuckled when I let out a whimper. His hands became restless and in seconds found their way underneath my shirt to my breast. "Baby, do you think..er...mm.. could we...er...could you take your shirt off for me again, like last night, please?. I'll lock the door."
"I can do one better," I answered him; "I can also take off my bra."
"Bliiiiiis," he said, as he rushed to lock the door.
Once my top clothes came off he attached himself to me till I was backed against the wall. His mouth found its way back to my neck, and he took my full left breast with his hand, applying a little pressure till his fingers found my nipple and his lips traveled to my collarbone and settled on my right breast sucking and licking.
My hands began to follow the example his hands had set getting busy under his shirt and onto his chest, hungrily searching for his skin I tugged at the end of his shirt.
I had managed to pull Harry's shirt all the way to his shoulder but was prevented from continuing by loud knocking on his door. "Five minutes till ping-pong H" a voice yelled.
Harry stopped playing with my body. "I'll be there" he yelled out. "sorry baby, we'll continue this later. I'd rather stay here but it's a tour tradition and I can't be a no show."
"Sure," I accepted. Putting my clothes back on and opening my laptop.
"What do you think you are doing?" Harry asked me.
"Gonna do a bit of writing whilst you play," I told him.
"No way," he said closing my laptop and grabbing my hand, "the tour rules state that everybody plays ping-pong."
"I can't" I whined, "I'm rubbish, I can't play at all."
"You've gotta play at least one round" he insisted, "you might get eliminated soon and go back to writing. Come now"
There was no way out of it, as Harry took hold of me and carried me piggyback style all the way to the where two ping-pong tables stood.
As predicted, I lost in the first round but wasn't allowed to leave. Instead, I was tasked with keeping score since there were always two games going on simultaneously. The winner of Table 1 would play the winner of table 2. In the end, Harry battled on Mitch.
Harry lost. Jeff consoled him, blaming it on pre-show jitters.
Mitch claimed a kiss from Sarah as his price, she blushed and giggled a bit but frenched him in front of the entire crew.
On our way back to the dressing room Harry asked for a second place price and kissed as he said: "Can't take your shirt off now baby, gotta go to hair and makeup soon but I'll have you completely naked by the end of the night."
Bear with me a bit longer. Harry will indeed get her completely naked.
Please hit the star if you read and liked. Each and every one of his comments is cherished.
Loads of love,
E! xoxo