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Charly

Chapter 4

While the band was out for their interviews and photoshoots and all the stuff they had to do to promote their shows, Charly stayed back in her hotel room to catch up on the finances. Her job as Paul’s assistant involved budget planning and the management of such, but also planning the band’s days and sometimes arranging interviews. And just like every other member of One Direction’s entourage, having an open ear for the boys and helping out where she’s needed. It was all chaos at first for her, the only thing she got “right” right away were the finances since she had a college degree in financial management. What are the odds to end up as the road cashier of a boyband? She always had pictured herself as an accountant in a big company or the tax offices, but never One Direction.
She had spread out the bills on the table in front of her and the calculator to her right. She had just finished the expense report of the boys and leaned back. The message from Ethan still upset her. How could he cancel on her when they haven’t seen each other for two months? He had never come out to one the guys shows or just to see where Charly was working. She decided to call her best friend Dale that she knew since kindergarten. Dale was the ultimate gay best friend. A few uplifting words from him would make her feel better.
She listened to the dial tone until she reached his voicemail. That was unusual for him. He always picked up his phone because he never let go of it. Well, maybe he was taking a bath. She shrugged her shoulders and collected the bills from the table. The reports were finished faster than she thought and so she had some time left before they had to leave for the venue for tonight. Since it was sunny and warm outside, she decided to go down to the pool and read. She put on shorts that went down to her knees and a wide shirt, grabbed her book and her bag and went down to the pool. It didn’t take her long to find Lisa and Lou. “Hi ladies”, she said and sat down on the empty chair at the pool. “How can you wear so much clothes when it’s that hot outside?”, Lisa asked Charly and put down her sunglasses for a quick look. “What? I’ve got short pants and a shirt”, Charly asked and looked down her body. “Yes, but…Charly, you look like one of those chubby, insecure girls on the beach that won’t go into the water without a wide shirt and long pants”, Lisa lectured her. She didn’t understand why Charly was hiding her body. If she recalled it correctly, she had never really seen her in her underwear. “That’s just the way I dress, I’m not insecure”, Charly defended herself. “If a girl dresses like that, she’s always insecure about her body, Love”, Lou joined in. “You know what, just shut up and let me read my book”, Charly said and got mad. She took out her ipod, concentrated on her book and ignored the other two.
Later that day, when she came out of the shower before she went to bed, she caught herself scanning her body in the mirror. She never felt insecure about her body, at least she thought she wasn’t. That was just the way she dressed, but she had to admit, her style of clothing was influenced by her boyfriend Ethan. He always said to her that he liked her in baggy clothes, so you don’t see everything right away and she just believed him. He was her first boyfriend after all and she had no comparisons. She had met Ethan in college and was going out with him for 3 years now.
She shook her head, blow-dried her hair, slipped in her pajamas and went to bed. A few hours later, it was still in the middle of the night, she woke up because of someone knocking at the door. Lisa didn’t hear it because she had some ear plugs in and a sleeping mask on. Charly got up slowly and wasn’t almost able to open her eyes. “Who’s there?”, she asked with a shouted whisper at the door before opening. “It’s Harry”, the person behind the door said and Charly opened it. “Harry, what happened? Why aren’t you asleep?”, she asked and still could barely open her eyes. “I just can’t fall asleep. Can I sleep on my favorite pillows?”, he asked and put on his puppy eyes. “Does it really have to be tonight, Harry? You know I always sleep on my belly, I can’t sleep well when you’re laying on me”, Charly responded. “Come on, please? Just until I have fallen asleep, then you can just roll me over”, he begged and his puppy eyes got even stronger. “Oh for the love of god, just get in”, she broke. “Thanks, love”, he said, kissed her on the cheek and hopped right into her bed. “Be quiet, Lisa is sleeping”, she shushed him, closed the door and went back to bed. “Move over”, she told him and got in. She got comfortable on her back and then Harry laid down on her. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I can hear your heart beat”, he mumbled after a few moments. “Thank god, otherwise it would be very creepy for me to still talk to you”, she responded whispering. She could rather feel than actually hear him chuckle. “Goodnight Harry”, she said. “Goodnight, Charly”, he also said and she could hear how his breathing got slower and steadier. Her fingers run through his hair in a steady rhythm and she had to admit it calmed her down as well, although she thought she had been calm all along. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep and the two woke up in this position the next morning.
Charly woke up by the buzzing and sound of her alarm clock on her phone. It did take quite an effort to reach it with this tall human on her, but she somehow managed to. She turned it off and with a quick side look she saw that Lisa was still sleeping. “Harry? Harry, wake up”, she said and ran her fingers through his hair again. He just grunted and hugged her tighter. At first, she caressed his cheek, but then started poking it until he opened his eyes. “Time to get up”, she said and had to admit he looked really cute with his sleep eyes. “Oops, sorry, I have drooled on you”, he said with a sleep voice and wiped his mouth. “Oh great, baby Harry”, she joked, but also was a bit engrossed. “Sorry”, he said again and sat up. “Ah, don’t worry, I wanted to wash it anyways”, she said and held the wet fabric away from her skin. She couldn’t manage to keep the disgusted facial expression off her face. “I better get going then. Thanks again for last night, was a great sleep”, Harry said and got up. She realized just now, he was just wearing boxers and a shirt. “Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome, but try not to make this a habit. A few naps every now and then are okay, but not whole nights. I can barely move right now”, she said while he went out. “Love you”, he said as a goodbye and was out the door. “Kids nowadays”, Charly mumbled to herself. Then she got up and could hear the cracking of her bones. “Oh god, ouch”, she whined and stretched. She also needed to wake up Lisa since she couldn’t hear or see anything.
“Lisa? Wake up, it’s 6 am”, she said and pulled up her eye mask. “Huh?”, Lisa asked sleepy. Charly pointed to her eyes to make Lisa take the ear plugs out. “Oh, yeah”, Lisa mumbled and took them out. “It’s 6 am, time to get up”, Charly repeated and still held up the wet part of her shirt. “What’s up with that?”, Lisa asked and nodded towards Charly. “Harry drooled on it”, Charly explained roughly and went into the bathroom. “Oh…okay”, Lisa shrugged her shoulders and laid back down.