Strawberry Fields Forever
Been Giving You Love
“Harry, are you almost done getting ready? We were supposed to leave an hour ago!” I yelled up the stairs as I clipped my earrings in.
“I’m coming!” Harry said as he stood at the top of the stairs, pulling his boots on.
“Gerard is waiting for us at the studio. He’s text me twenty times now,” I said as I grabbed my maroon pea coat from the hall closet by the door. Harry took the coat from my hands before helping me into it and handing me my purse.
“Thanks,” I told him as I pressed a kiss to his lips and tossed the car keys to him. He held the door open for me as I walked out into the snow covered outdoors. I waited for him on the front porch so he could lock up and we walked hand in hand to the Range Rover. Just as Harry opened my door a bunch of paps came around to the gate, blocking them off, and began snapping photos of us and yelling questions at us.
”Abby, how could you forgive Harry?!”
“Harry, why were you a wanker to your ‘soulmate’?!”
I got settled in my seat, and before Harry could shut the door I grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pulled him towards me, pressing my lips against his.
“Ignore them,” I told him as I stroked his jaw, that was very tense due to the paparazzi, until it became slack and he smiled at me.
“Anything for you, love,” he said before closing my door and jogging to the driver’s side.
- - - -
“Alright, Abby. You’re up!” Gerard said as Harry exited the recording booth. I stood up and walked in, placing the very large headphones over my ears. As soon as I situated my papers on the music stand in front of me, I gave Gerard thumbs up. The music to “The Way I Am,” by Ingrid Michaelson played through the headphones and I waited a few seconds until I began singing my part.
‘Cause I love the way you say good morning.
And you take me the way I am.
I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.
After about ten more minutes of perfecting, my short but important, lines I took off my headphones and exited the booth so I could listen to what we had so far. When I was walking over to Gerard, who was seated in front of all the buttons, I noticed Harry wasn’t in the room.
“Where’d Harry go?” I asked.
“He said he needed to step outside for a minute,” Gerard told me, while pointing to the door. I scrunched up my eyebrows, before stepping outside of the studio room we were in. I found Harry, just down the hall, seated against the wall with his face shoved in his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as I sat down beside him and looped my arm through his, and rested my head on his shoulder.
“Twitter mentions.” I took a moment to read a few of the mentions that were directed at Harry in a negative manner, before snatching the phone from his hands.
“Stop reading them,” I told him as I shoved the phone in my back pocket, furthest from Harry.
“Give me my phone back. I want to know what they’re saying,” Harry said as he held his hand out.
“No, it’s just going to piss you off and you’re going to shut yourself away from everyone. I’m not letting you do that, Harry.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Harry said, as he rolled his eyes.
“Says the man seated outside the studio, when he should be inside paying attention to our work, looking at Twitter to see his ‘fans’ bash him,” I told him, with a pointed look.
“They all hate me. They think I’m some giant asshole, they don’t even understand!” Harry said as he placed his head on my shoulder, letting out a giant sigh.
“That’s life, Harry. You’re going to receive backlash for every little thing you do in life. It’s the price you have to pay for being a singer in the biggest boy band of the world. It’s been four days since the interview aired on television, give the fans some time to adjust to everything they had to take in. It was a lot, remember?” I asked him as I played with his hair. I felt him nod his head against my shoulder.
“Now, let’s go finish up the song, so we can be done with this,” I told him as I stood up and held my hand out to him. I pulled him up and just as he stood upright he crashed his lips to mine.
“Thank you,” he told me while resting his forehead against mine. “For everything.” I smiled at him as we laced our fingers together and walked back in to the studio, where Gerard was waiting on us, to finish up the song.
An hour later and we were listening to one of the final cuts.
“Sounds good you guys. It’s a short song, but I think you two pull it off well,” Gerard smiled at us as he spoke over the playback of the song.
“Do you think management will approve?” Harry asked, once the song finished playing.
“Hard to tell with them. I think they’ll be happy, but because it’s such a short song they might want you guys to do two songs. Have any back-ups? We could start them now.”
“I mean, we’ve thought about ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri,” I threw out there, and watched as Gerard tossed the song around in his head.
“I think that’d be a good song for you two to sing together, especially with your history with one another. We could even speed it up, if you want? Or change the lyrics around, for a more male perspective?” Gerard began explaining, as Harry and I looked at one another.
“We finished this song a lot faster than we thought we would,” Harry pointed out and I nodded my head. “Wanna give it a go?”
“Why not? If they don’t like it, then they don’t like it and we won’t have to do anything with it,” I told him while shrugging my shoulder.
“Alright then, let’s do this, Gerard!” Harry said while slapping his hand down on Gerard’s shoulder.
“Brilliant. I’ll work on mixing up the song so it’s a better fit. Why don’t you two go grab lunch? Give me two hours,” Gerard said before turning back to his computer and getting to work. Both, Harry and I, stood up as Harry helped me into my coat, once again, before handing me my purse and holding the door open. We made our way to the streets of London, before turning left outside the studio, to walk to our favorite café.
“Do you think they’re going to want us to perform the song?” I asked Harry as I laced my fingers with his.
“There’s really no telling, love. But if they do, I know you’ll be amazing, “Harry said as he smiled down at me before placing a kiss to the top of my head.
“So, Ellen, the wedding planner wants to meet up on Friday to discuss wedding details,” I told him as we walked past a group of elderly women that were gossiping like teenagers. It caused me to smile at them.
“Have you decided what day in September you’d like to get married on?” Harry asked as he guided me around the corner.
“I was thinking September 14th,” I told him, as I walked into the café.
“Why that day?”
“It’s exactly six months after we met,” I smiled at him, as we waited to be seated.
“So there we have it. September 14th of 2014, you are mine, forever,” Harry said as he brought our interlocked hands to his face and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. We followed the hostess to a table, located in the back of the café, and rattled off our drink orders to her before she walked away.
“What does Ellen want to go over for the wedding?” Harry asked as he handed me a menu to look over.
“Mainly wedding venues, if we want it in a church or not, if we want it inside or outside, stuff like that,” I told him.
“What do you want?” Harry asked me as he set the menu down.
“I don’t know, everything looks so good,” I told him, not taking my eyes off the menu.
“No, darling. I was talking about the wedding venue, what do you want?” He asked as he grabbed my free hand, that was sitting on top of the table, and laced our fingers together.
“I don’t think we should have it in a church, mainly because we both have different religious beliefs. I mean, I’m Catholic and you’re part Jewish. It just wouldn’t seem right,” I told him and he nodded his head along.
“I think you’re completely right, I think to honor our religions we shouldn’t have it in a church. I also think we should have it inside because you never know what the weather will be like,” Harry said as he took a sip of his tea.
“I agree, and it’s safe to say we’re having it in England? It’d be easier to fly my grandparents, dad and Charlotte over than to fly your whole family over to America.”
“Definitely. In plus, England is our home. Are we going to have the ceremony is Cheshire, or London?” Harry asked, once again, after we gave our waitress our orders and she walked off.
“I feel like that’s the biggest thing we need to discuss. My thoughts are that we have it in London, that way my family doesn’t have to do more traveling. But then again, I think we should have it in Holmes Chapel because it’d be easier to find living arrangements for four people instead of your whole family,” I told him.
“I agree, I think we should have it in Holmes Chapel. The boys and the bridesmaids would stay in the bungalow, we would stay at my mum’s. Then we’d just need to find a hotel for your family.”
“Which will be easy, your mom sent me a list of hotel’s by her house,” I told Harry, who smiled at me.
“So it’s final then, wedding in Cheshire on September 14th?” Harry asked me as he rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
“Yes,” I told him, before he lent across the table and pressed a kiss to my lips.
“Splendid. I think it’s safe to say, my part with the planning is done,” Harry said, with a smug smile on his face.
“That’s what you think.”
“What? You mean there’s more?” He asked, in disbelief.
“Yes. You will have a say in everything, and if you even mumble, ‘get whatever you want, it’s your wedding,’ I will murder you, “ I, sternly, told him as I fixed up my tea, because it just didn’t taste right.
“You mean I have to help with everything? Even the center pieces, and bridesmaid’s dresses?” Harry whined.
“Yes, Harry. Even the dresses for the bridesmaid’s.”
“But I don’t care about what they look like! I only care about what you look like, do I get to help pick out yourdress?” He said with a smirk present on his face.
“Nice try, but no. That’d bring bad luck,” I told him as I brought my hand to his face and pinched his cheek, causing him to smile.
“I love you, and I’ll give my opinion on anything when you ask for it,” he told me and I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Good. I love you too.”
“What about our honeymoon? Where do we want to go?” Harry asked, after the waitress delivered our food and he stole a bite of my soup.
“Somewhere warm,” I told him as I grabbed the pepper.
“Australia?” He proposed, and I shook my head.
“You proposed to me there, it’s special enough.”
“Hawaii?” He asked.
“Everyone goes there for their honeymoons.”
“Caribbean’s?”
“No. I’ve been there before and I don’t like it. How about Greece? It’ll be warm and it’s gorgeous. I’ve also always wanted to go there,” I told him, with a pleading smile on my face.
“Okay, I’m up for that. Neither of us has ever been, so it’ll be extra special,” Harry said as he shot me a smile before stealing another bite of my soup.
“Hey! Get your own,” I told him, emitting a few giggles.
“What’s yours is mine now, love,” he said with a wink, which caused me to blush. I don’t know why but every time he winks at me, I always blush.
“I’m coming!” Harry said as he stood at the top of the stairs, pulling his boots on.
“Gerard is waiting for us at the studio. He’s text me twenty times now,” I said as I grabbed my maroon pea coat from the hall closet by the door. Harry took the coat from my hands before helping me into it and handing me my purse.
“Thanks,” I told him as I pressed a kiss to his lips and tossed the car keys to him. He held the door open for me as I walked out into the snow covered outdoors. I waited for him on the front porch so he could lock up and we walked hand in hand to the Range Rover. Just as Harry opened my door a bunch of paps came around to the gate, blocking them off, and began snapping photos of us and yelling questions at us.
”Abby, how could you forgive Harry?!”
“Harry, why were you a wanker to your ‘soulmate’?!”
I got settled in my seat, and before Harry could shut the door I grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pulled him towards me, pressing my lips against his.
“Ignore them,” I told him as I stroked his jaw, that was very tense due to the paparazzi, until it became slack and he smiled at me.
“Anything for you, love,” he said before closing my door and jogging to the driver’s side.
- - - -
“Alright, Abby. You’re up!” Gerard said as Harry exited the recording booth. I stood up and walked in, placing the very large headphones over my ears. As soon as I situated my papers on the music stand in front of me, I gave Gerard thumbs up. The music to “The Way I Am,” by Ingrid Michaelson played through the headphones and I waited a few seconds until I began singing my part.
‘Cause I love the way you say good morning.
And you take me the way I am.
I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.
After about ten more minutes of perfecting, my short but important, lines I took off my headphones and exited the booth so I could listen to what we had so far. When I was walking over to Gerard, who was seated in front of all the buttons, I noticed Harry wasn’t in the room.
“Where’d Harry go?” I asked.
“He said he needed to step outside for a minute,” Gerard told me, while pointing to the door. I scrunched up my eyebrows, before stepping outside of the studio room we were in. I found Harry, just down the hall, seated against the wall with his face shoved in his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as I sat down beside him and looped my arm through his, and rested my head on his shoulder.
“Twitter mentions.” I took a moment to read a few of the mentions that were directed at Harry in a negative manner, before snatching the phone from his hands.
“Stop reading them,” I told him as I shoved the phone in my back pocket, furthest from Harry.
“Give me my phone back. I want to know what they’re saying,” Harry said as he held his hand out.
“No, it’s just going to piss you off and you’re going to shut yourself away from everyone. I’m not letting you do that, Harry.”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Harry said, as he rolled his eyes.
“Says the man seated outside the studio, when he should be inside paying attention to our work, looking at Twitter to see his ‘fans’ bash him,” I told him, with a pointed look.
“They all hate me. They think I’m some giant asshole, they don’t even understand!” Harry said as he placed his head on my shoulder, letting out a giant sigh.
“That’s life, Harry. You’re going to receive backlash for every little thing you do in life. It’s the price you have to pay for being a singer in the biggest boy band of the world. It’s been four days since the interview aired on television, give the fans some time to adjust to everything they had to take in. It was a lot, remember?” I asked him as I played with his hair. I felt him nod his head against my shoulder.
“Now, let’s go finish up the song, so we can be done with this,” I told him as I stood up and held my hand out to him. I pulled him up and just as he stood upright he crashed his lips to mine.
“Thank you,” he told me while resting his forehead against mine. “For everything.” I smiled at him as we laced our fingers together and walked back in to the studio, where Gerard was waiting on us, to finish up the song.
An hour later and we were listening to one of the final cuts.
“Sounds good you guys. It’s a short song, but I think you two pull it off well,” Gerard smiled at us as he spoke over the playback of the song.
“Do you think management will approve?” Harry asked, once the song finished playing.
“Hard to tell with them. I think they’ll be happy, but because it’s such a short song they might want you guys to do two songs. Have any back-ups? We could start them now.”
“I mean, we’ve thought about ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri,” I threw out there, and watched as Gerard tossed the song around in his head.
“I think that’d be a good song for you two to sing together, especially with your history with one another. We could even speed it up, if you want? Or change the lyrics around, for a more male perspective?” Gerard began explaining, as Harry and I looked at one another.
“We finished this song a lot faster than we thought we would,” Harry pointed out and I nodded my head. “Wanna give it a go?”
“Why not? If they don’t like it, then they don’t like it and we won’t have to do anything with it,” I told him while shrugging my shoulder.
“Alright then, let’s do this, Gerard!” Harry said while slapping his hand down on Gerard’s shoulder.
“Brilliant. I’ll work on mixing up the song so it’s a better fit. Why don’t you two go grab lunch? Give me two hours,” Gerard said before turning back to his computer and getting to work. Both, Harry and I, stood up as Harry helped me into my coat, once again, before handing me my purse and holding the door open. We made our way to the streets of London, before turning left outside the studio, to walk to our favorite café.
“Do you think they’re going to want us to perform the song?” I asked Harry as I laced my fingers with his.
“There’s really no telling, love. But if they do, I know you’ll be amazing, “Harry said as he smiled down at me before placing a kiss to the top of my head.
“So, Ellen, the wedding planner wants to meet up on Friday to discuss wedding details,” I told him as we walked past a group of elderly women that were gossiping like teenagers. It caused me to smile at them.
“Have you decided what day in September you’d like to get married on?” Harry asked as he guided me around the corner.
“I was thinking September 14th,” I told him, as I walked into the café.
“Why that day?”
“It’s exactly six months after we met,” I smiled at him, as we waited to be seated.
“So there we have it. September 14th of 2014, you are mine, forever,” Harry said as he brought our interlocked hands to his face and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. We followed the hostess to a table, located in the back of the café, and rattled off our drink orders to her before she walked away.
“What does Ellen want to go over for the wedding?” Harry asked as he handed me a menu to look over.
“Mainly wedding venues, if we want it in a church or not, if we want it inside or outside, stuff like that,” I told him.
“What do you want?” Harry asked me as he set the menu down.
“I don’t know, everything looks so good,” I told him, not taking my eyes off the menu.
“No, darling. I was talking about the wedding venue, what do you want?” He asked as he grabbed my free hand, that was sitting on top of the table, and laced our fingers together.
“I don’t think we should have it in a church, mainly because we both have different religious beliefs. I mean, I’m Catholic and you’re part Jewish. It just wouldn’t seem right,” I told him and he nodded his head along.
“I think you’re completely right, I think to honor our religions we shouldn’t have it in a church. I also think we should have it inside because you never know what the weather will be like,” Harry said as he took a sip of his tea.
“I agree, and it’s safe to say we’re having it in England? It’d be easier to fly my grandparents, dad and Charlotte over than to fly your whole family over to America.”
“Definitely. In plus, England is our home. Are we going to have the ceremony is Cheshire, or London?” Harry asked, once again, after we gave our waitress our orders and she walked off.
“I feel like that’s the biggest thing we need to discuss. My thoughts are that we have it in London, that way my family doesn’t have to do more traveling. But then again, I think we should have it in Holmes Chapel because it’d be easier to find living arrangements for four people instead of your whole family,” I told him.
“I agree, I think we should have it in Holmes Chapel. The boys and the bridesmaids would stay in the bungalow, we would stay at my mum’s. Then we’d just need to find a hotel for your family.”
“Which will be easy, your mom sent me a list of hotel’s by her house,” I told Harry, who smiled at me.
“So it’s final then, wedding in Cheshire on September 14th?” Harry asked me as he rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
“Yes,” I told him, before he lent across the table and pressed a kiss to my lips.
“Splendid. I think it’s safe to say, my part with the planning is done,” Harry said, with a smug smile on his face.
“That’s what you think.”
“What? You mean there’s more?” He asked, in disbelief.
“Yes. You will have a say in everything, and if you even mumble, ‘get whatever you want, it’s your wedding,’ I will murder you, “ I, sternly, told him as I fixed up my tea, because it just didn’t taste right.
“You mean I have to help with everything? Even the center pieces, and bridesmaid’s dresses?” Harry whined.
“Yes, Harry. Even the dresses for the bridesmaid’s.”
“But I don’t care about what they look like! I only care about what you look like, do I get to help pick out yourdress?” He said with a smirk present on his face.
“Nice try, but no. That’d bring bad luck,” I told him as I brought my hand to his face and pinched his cheek, causing him to smile.
“I love you, and I’ll give my opinion on anything when you ask for it,” he told me and I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Good. I love you too.”
“What about our honeymoon? Where do we want to go?” Harry asked, after the waitress delivered our food and he stole a bite of my soup.
“Somewhere warm,” I told him as I grabbed the pepper.
“Australia?” He proposed, and I shook my head.
“You proposed to me there, it’s special enough.”
“Hawaii?” He asked.
“Everyone goes there for their honeymoons.”
“Caribbean’s?”
“No. I’ve been there before and I don’t like it. How about Greece? It’ll be warm and it’s gorgeous. I’ve also always wanted to go there,” I told him, with a pleading smile on my face.
“Okay, I’m up for that. Neither of us has ever been, so it’ll be extra special,” Harry said as he shot me a smile before stealing another bite of my soup.
“Hey! Get your own,” I told him, emitting a few giggles.
“What’s yours is mine now, love,” he said with a wink, which caused me to blush. I don’t know why but every time he winks at me, I always blush.
Should I unsubscribe?
3/11/15