Manolo García: Pájaros de Barro
I got up before the rest of them did, wanting to repay them for the lovely surprise by making breakfast and coffee. The summer sun was brighter in Madrid than in any other place, and it was the prettiest sight. Sitting out on the terrace with a coffee in one hand and my phone in the other, I read the morning news quietly.
"You're up quite early.", a thick accent appeared from the inside and grabbed my attention.
"There's pancakes inside, if you're hungry and the coffee's made.", Zayn grabbed a cup and joined me in the sunshine shortly.
"Not much of a breakfast person, either, I presume."
"Correct. But I wanted to make some to soak up your hangovers and to thank you for doing what you did last night.", it felt weird sitting on a beautiful terrace in the plain heart of Madrid, next to Zayn, thanking him for singing with One Direction once more, for my ears only.
"It was long overdue, you were just the catalyzer in this situation, which we lacked. Besides, I cannot imagine how awkward it must have felt having us sing only to you."
"I didn't want to say it, because it was a dream come true at the same time, but it was awkward as hell. I didn't know whether to sing along, since I know the words to any song you'd choose to sing or to just sit there and smile really big.", we both laughed at the thought and a little cough soon interrupted us.
"Zayn... just because she said you were her favorite doesn't mean you can try and steal her from me, y'know.", Harry slowly walked over to the sofa where I was sat and kept pointing two fingers from his own eyes over to Zayn, to make sure he knew he was being watched closely. The rest of them got up one by one and we had breakfast together.
"How about we all get showered and ready and then I'll take you to my favorite spot here in Madrid. The owners of the restaurant are really close friends of mine so we can make sure nobody spots you."
"How about we all shower together, that could be fun, don't ya think?", Louis wiggled his eyebrows and the rest of us just rolled our eyes at his suggestion.
"I didn't know you had friends here, that's very lovely of you to offer, miss international.", Liam teased, unattractively shoving the last of the pancakes into his mouth.
"I lived in Madrid for a while back in uni, so I really know my way around it. Would it be too much to ask for you all to be ready in half an hour?", we got up from the dining table and the boys all tried helping with the dishes which resulted in a lot of loud noises and them stepping over each other's feet.
Surprisingly, they all got ready in time and we ordered a van to drive us to the south side of Madrid, where my friend's restaurant was located. I was really looking forward to seeing them, it'd been a while since I last visited my Spanish family, as they called themselves. When I studied in Madrid, they truly were the closest thing to family I had, and they took me in, fed me and kept me company whenever I got lonely. The nicest feeling was always having a place to come to when in Madrid. The taxi dropped us off in the middle of the very familiar, quiet street that was home to a restaurant only locals frequented.
*A/N: The parts of the conversation with Ramón, José and their mother would obviously be in Spanish, but there would be no point in writing those exchanges in Spanish, since everyone wouldn't understand, so we'll just use our imagination for this one*
"Corazón! It's been such a long time since your last visit, how have you been?", a tall man with a signature Spanish beard and a warm smile welcomed us inside. We hugged for what felt like an hour, and even if it were an hour it still wouldn't have been enough to make up for all the time we'd spent apart.
"I know, I promise not to stay away for so long ever again. Let me introduce you to Zayn, Louis, Liam and Niall and this is my boyfriend, Harry.", I pointed to each of them as Ramón greeted them with kisses on both cheeks, which would've seriously freaked them out had I not explained that it was the way people introduced themselves in Spain. We were shown to a private part of a large room filled with tables and chairs. The place looked exactly as I last remember it, like no time had passed. All of the staff remained the same and they all welcomed me back with open arms. The boys kept sharing funny glances, but Harry explained my knowledge of Spanish came from when I was a little girl and they all seemed a bit intimidated by it.
"So Ramón is a really good friend of yours, huh?", Louis questioned after the first round of plates left our table empty.
"Yeah, he was my best guy friend when I lived here. I used to come to the restaurant at least once a week and I'd always help out behind the bar. The people I met while in this space are some of the best out there, community is the backbone of Spain if you ask me and it's lovely to see the same faces come here everyday for a beer and a bit of conversation with their neighbors.", my eyes must've lit up when I talked about this restaurant and what it meant for me, because all of them paid more attention to me than the food in front of them... and the food here was to die for! All of a sudden, I felt a hand wrap around my shoulder, making me turn around.
"Hola José! What are you doing here?", I embraced the man that stood in front of me.
"Contrary to popular belief – I do come here often. I should be asking you that question, we haven't seen you around as much, beautiful."
"Life has been busy...but, meet my friends.", another round of introductory kisses over both cheeks happened and we soon got back to our food. I would've loved to stay longer, but Harry had to get to the WiZink Centre for rehearsals and there was no point in us going there separately. We said goodbye to my wonderful adoptive family, with promises to be back soon.
"You really loved it here, didn't yer?", Niall sat next to me on the way to the venue, which was a welcome change from having Louis and all of his loudness sit next to me.
"Yeah, the best time of my life, hands down."
"Then I'm really glad you wanted to share this part of you with us, it was wonderful and we all thank you."
I'd never been backstage at the WiZink Center, even though I'd been here multiple time for different concerts... it was kind of scary when empty. Harry will get up on that stage tonight and there will be almost twenty thousand sets of eyes fixed on him, waiting for his voice to give them everything they ever dreamed of. The crew moved fast, fixing lights and making sure the sound was perfect, makeup and wardrobe groups set up in the dressing room and the boys and I were making the green room our temporary home. There were drinks and snacks, someone pulled out a set of loudspeakers to play music, the place didn't feel like a generic green room that thousands of artists inhabited over the years, it felt like our own little private party.
"Did you ever dream you'd get to where you are now?", I asked them all after we sat on the large sofas and all the ruckus settled down.
"Not in a million years, not ever.", Lou spoke first.
"I think we new that it was possible, but we never thought it would happen to us, not even after X Factor ended and we started recording the first album. Maybe it caught up with us around the time we went on our first world tour for TMH, but not even then properly.", they all nodded along as Niall shared his thoughts.
"You all did pretty well, even after being left alone on that stage so suddenly... well done lads.", we raised our glasses to them just as Harry walked in and joined the toast. He was wearing a white button up shirt with ruffled sleeves, the most romantic outfit he'd worn on tour, I thought. The way they were all so comfortable around each other, it was hard to imagine them spending any time apart, let alone having separate careers. The conversation flowed naturally, the boys cracked jokes and it would've continued long into the night had Jeff not come for Harry, saying it was time to get on stage. Our drink station moved with us to an area that allowed us to watch the concert without being seen by anyone.
"Y'know, he told me he wrote that one about you.", Louis leaned in closer, so I'd be able to hear him from all the noise, as Harry sang 'Sunflower vol.6' and the crowd screamed.
"That was such a nice day... I'll never get used to hearing thousands scream the lyrics of a song that personal, but I like that he got to share it with the world."
"I get it, it doesn't stop being personal as more people know it, because nobody will ever know the story of how it came to be... but at the same time it takes away from it's special meaning. That's art for ya. Imagine how we feel after we write a song so meaningful and then share it with everyone. They are able to tell it's special and how we feel about it, but they don't really know what it represents.", he continued and his words really resonated with me. I always downplayed the work musicians and artists in general did. I admired them for it, but it never really crossed my mind how they must feel after sharing bits of themselves with their fans. How strange it must be to hear crowds of tens of thousands of people screaming their lyrics back at them, without knowing what inspired those lyrics to be born in the first place.
After the concert ended the boys all said goodbye, and left for the airport one by one, because they were all going in separate directions. I could tell they had a hard time saying bye, the memories of spending weeks and months by each other's sides flooding their minds. Harry decided not to shower at the venue, which I objected to but in the end didn't have the heart to force him to.
"Did you have fun?", Harry laid next to me on the bed after showering. Funny how just 12 hours ago there were six of us in this house, and now it's only us two.
"I had an amazing time, truly. I can't wait to see Portugal tomorrow.", we planned to drive over to Lisbon because a road trip through Spain was something everyone needed to experience at least once in their life. Both of us were pretty exhausted from the day we just had and our conversation slowly disintegrated into deep, peaceful breaths.
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A/N: this song is very special for me, and I really hope you like it and this chapter.
TPWK, always.
T.