Chapter twenty-eight

The lights came on with a bang, a stream of bright and vibrant colours flowing throughout the arena. The boys appeared on a screen, on a beach, in a house, driving cars. The crowd screamed as the opening video played on, but reached decimal levels when they actually appeared. I was standing just to the side of the stage, not quite backstage but in the sidelines, out of view to everyone but the lads. Harry winked and stuck his tongue out playfully at me while he danced on stage with the rest of the guys. When the video ended, the real show began. They were brilliant, and everyone in the building knew it. Girls were screaming everywhere, crying and some even passing out. After several songs, the boys did their twitter session with the group.

“HELLO CALIFORNIAAA!” Liam called out resulting in an eruption of screams and cheers.

“Waasssuuup,” Zayn laughed into his microphone while Niall and Louis danced around peculiarly.

“How is everybody tonight?” Harry asked.

“GOOOOOD,” the audience called back at him.

“I can’t hear you…” Harry teased, leaning forward and cupping his ear, urging them to scream louder.

“GOOOOOOOOOOD,” they sounded back at him.

“That’s more like it,” Harry beamed at the crowd.

“Now, who’s ready to answer some questions, boys?” Liam asked the lads.

“Well I know I am!” Louis answered with a cheeky smiled for the audience.

“Well then, let’s get to it!” Liam said. “If we could get up the first one,” he continued before the twitter question appeared on the screen. “Alright, @1Dloverxoxoxo in section 34B row 21 seat 16, where are you love?” Liam asked as the boys all searched for her.

“There she is!” Niall said, pointing her out to all the other lads.

“Hello!” They all called out to her, blowing her kisses and waving.

“And you want to know who goes to the gym the most,” Liam finished.

“Oh come on,” Louis groaned dramatically. “I think we all know who that is…” he trailed off as the audience laughed.

“Yeah, it’s obviously me, right Louis?” Niall joked showing the crowd his guns. This resulted in a lot of screaming and cheering.

“Definitely, my Irish friend,” Louis said in his mock serious tone.

“Right,” Harry laughed. “Because it’s definitely not Liam,” he rolled his eyes and the crowd laughed.
“Well then lads, shall we get another one up then?” Liam asked and the next question popped onto the screen.

“Okay,” Louis took over. “So Laura S. in section 113, row 13, seat 44, let us find you… oh! There you are, good to see ya love!” Louis said, as they all greeted her. “And you would like to know, ‘Is Sarah (Harry’s gf) at the show and if so, can she come out’?” Louis looked to me where I was standing off the side and laughed.

“Well Harry? What do you think?”

“I can confirm she’s here…” Harry said dramatically and slowly. “But I don’t know if she wants to come out. Sarah, babe?” he looked over to where I was standing and he had the widest grin on his face.

“SARAH! SARAH! SARAH!” They began chanting. All the lads were laughing at me, my expression no doubt priceless. This was so unexpected; I couldn’t believe how much fanfare I was getting! This was not something I had been anticipating.

“Come on Sarah!” Niall called out to me. Harry then came running over.

“Do you want to?” Harry asked me. I laughed, looking out at the crowd once more before answering.

“Make it a show,” I told him. With that his smile grew larger and he scooped me up in his arms and carried me out to the middle of the stage. I threw my arms about his neck and laughed as he ran with me. The crowd went crazy when Harry set me down, all the while maintaining his hold around my waist. The other lads came over. Louis threw his arm loosely around my shoulders and the rest of them gathered. Harry looked at me and winked, holding his microphone like a reporter.

“Hello there,” he smiled cheekily. “Will you tell the people your name?” he asked.

“I’m Sarah,” I played along and the crowd laughed.

“Yes you are. And what is your relation to the band?” he asked me.

“I’m your girlfriend,” I answered in a mock serious tone.

The crowd “awww’d” and cheered once again.

“I’m a lucky guy,” Harry said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Now, an exclusive question for you all,” Harry said the to the audience, pretending to be dramatic. “Who… is your favourite member of One Direction?” He asked me. All of a sudden Liam, Louis, Niall and Zayn were all in my face trying to get my attention causing the audience to laugh once again.

“You look mighty beautiful today, Sarah,” Louis winked at me.

“I think you look beautiful everyday, Sarah,” Liam said, waving his arms at the audience asking for their cheers of support.

“It’s your personality that I think is beautiful,” Niall laughed, not able to maintain a straight face.

“I just think you’re great,” Zayn said simply giving me a peck on the cheek. At this point everyone in the audience was screaming out whom they thought I should pick. I pursed my lips, crossed my arms and began pacing in front of them; pretending to deliberate. After a minute I turned to the audience and took Harry’s mic.

“Who do you think is my favourite?” I asked the crowd.

“HARRYY!!” They screamed in almost unison. I laughed at their response and went to stand beside Harry again, analysing him and feeling his arms with my hands. Eventually I wrested my arm on his shoulder, leaning against him.

“My favourite member is…” I paused and Niall gave me a drumroll. “All of them!” I laughed and the audience cheered.

“Awe, group hug, group hug!” Louis called out and I was immediately enveloped by five large boys; my five large boys.

“Everyone give a hand for my wonderful girl, Sarah!” Harry called out, grabbing my hand and forcing me into bowing to the audience. I laughed and smiled at all the girls before me who were screaming and cheering. Harry drew me in and kissed my cheek, although it was closer to the edge of my mouth. “I love you,” he told me, obviously forgetting about the microphone because he looked surprised when the audience let out a loud “aww”.

I took the microphone from him.

“I love you, too,” I told him so that everyone could hear and he grinned back at me. With that, I left the stage and let the show go on.

--

After the show, backstage became a hectic place to be. People were everywhere, particularly the media. Men with cameras were taking pictures of everyone and everything. Luckily I’d managed to find Lou Teasdale.

“Sarah!” She called over to me, waving her hands so that I’d be able to find her. I met her gaze and immediately battled through the crowd to get to her.

“Hey,” I greeted her. “Is it always like this?” I asked her, looking around at the mayhem around us.

She nodded as she too stared off into the crowd.

“Pretty much. You never realize how big they truly are until you’re at one of their shows,” she laughed.

I laughed too.

“I guess not,” I agreed.

Just then, I saw the lads walk into the room, changed and cleaned up. I began searching for Harry, standing on my tippy toes to see over the heads that surrounded me. Finally I spotted him, although I’m pretty sure he’d already seen me, a perk of his height. He disappeared as he began making his way through the crowd until he emerged right in front of me, his face lighting up instantly as I’m sure mine did.


“Hey babe,” he said pulling me into his strong arms. “Why weren’t you in my dressing room? I was hoping we could escape this madness and have some alone time,” he breathed into my ear instantly making me want him right then and there.

“I know, there were just so many reporters every time I tried to get near it that I just gave up. I’ll leave the show earlier next time,” I smiled pulling him back to kiss his perfect lips.

He looked around seeing that we were all alone now, Lou having left to probably go and find Tom, before breathing into my ear again.

“Let’s get out of here. We’ll have the bus to ourselves for at least a couple hours while the rest of the guys to clubbing,” he whispered.

I pulled back and nodded at him, grabbing his hand to make our escape; to just be alone together.

--

We made it to the bus and, sure enough, we had it all to ourselves. We made our way to the back, past where all the bunks were, to where there was a master bedroom that on any other tour would’ve been rotated amongst the lads but for this tour was strictly ours. I jumped on the bed and kicked my boots off. Harry locked the door behind him and stood there for a moment just looking at me.

“What?” I asked him coyly.

He shook his head gently.

“I just adore you,” he said with a soft smile. I smiled back and, unable to endure the distance between us any longer, crawled across the bed, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him back down with me. He ran his large hand up and down my thigh before taking my hand and fiddling with my fingers. We stayed like that for an immeasurable moment.


“What are you thinking about?” I asked him.

He smiled and looked at our hands.

“You,” he answered simply.

“And what are you thinking about me?” I asked him again, a smile playing on my lips.

“How amazing you’re handling all of this. You know, just how amazing you are in general,” he laughed.

I rolled my eyes at him, snuggling a little bit closer.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked in return.

I looked up at him from underneath my lashes, my need for him back instantly. It was strange, but within the last couple days. I wanted him with an intensity that was sometimes as alarming as it was constant. Right now, it was back in full force.

“This.” I whispered, releasing his hand and pulling back his shirt to reveal his perfect, chiselled torso. I rolled on top of him, grinding my pelvis into him, rotating my hips, and feeling him rise beneath me. I reached for his hand and brought it up to cup my breast before leaning down to kiss him. His other hand grabbed the back of my neck, welding my face to his, deepening our kiss. I felt his other hand slide down until both hands were gripping at my waist and suddenly I was beneath him as he left trails of kisses across my neck and down my cleavage.

“You’re such a tease,” he breathed roughly into the crook of my neck. I laughed at his words which were full of the angst I’d been feeling all day.

“I could say the same about you,” I retorted, running my hands through his hair and revelling in the texture. His light stubble was gently grazing the soft and tender skin of my breasts as he removed my crop top and flung it to the floor, leaving me in nothing but my cut off jean shorts.

--

The next morning, Harry and I were awoken by two shrill knocks on our door followed immediately by Louis who walked right in and sat at the end of our bed, despite the fact that we were completely indecent.
“So we didn’t see you guys at the club last night,” Louis said automatically, startinga a conversation as if we weren’t half asleep. Harry still had his head under the pillow with his eyes closed. I sat up, holding the comforter over my boobs.

“You really know how to read a situation, Lou,” I said ignoring his previous statement.

“Relax,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I haven’t seen anything… yet,” he laughed.

“Ew, gross,” I said, actually feeling quite violated at the thought.

“Not funny, Louis,” Harry sounded from underneath his pillow. Louis simply laughed in response.

“I’m joking, I’m joking,” he said, still giggling to himself. “You need to lighten up, Harry,” he said before turning back to me and shaking his head. “Seriously though Harry, you’ve got to get up and go down to the studio, you’re going to be late,” Louis said, suddenly serious.

“Oh no,” Harry whined as he pressed the pillow down on his face more.

“Yes, we’ve got a schedule to keep to! Albums don’t make themselves. Chop, chop!” Louis continued, trying to coerce Harry into getting up. I rubbed his back soothingly and looked to Louis.

“Go on, Lou, he’ll be out in a minute,” I told him. Holding up his hands he backed towards the door.

“Chop, chop,” he repeated with a smile before exiting the tiny room and shutting the door behind him, leaving me alone with Harry. I bent my lips to his neck and kissed him softly.

“You really to have to get up, Harry,” I whispered, waking him gently instead of using Louis’ more forceful tactics. He groaned beneath me.

“Five more minutes,” he said with a yawn.

“Babe, you don’t have five minutes,” I said with a laugh. He stirred under me and eventually sat up, leaning his back against the headboard. He yawned once more and then took my hand in his.

“This sucks,” he said like a pouting child in his raspy morning voice.

“You won’t think so when you’ve got a kick ass album,” I reminded him while hugging his arm. He smiled down at me and gave me a kiss.

“You’re right,” he said getting up and slinging on his black skinny jeans that were lying in the floor. He looked back to me where I was still snuggled in the comforter, with no indication of getting up any time soon. “Are you not coming?”

I laughed guiltily.

“Louis never said I had to get up,” I teased and Harry rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Well that makes this even worse,” he said, throwing a t-shirt on and swooping in to kiss my forehead.
“Although if anyone needs rest it’s you. How are you feeling?”

“Still not right,” I told him. That was an understatement. It had been days since I’d eaten any solid foods, unable to keep them down, it just wasn’t worth the risk.

“Make sure you eat something,” he said reading my thoughts. “I’m going to tell the lads to fix you up something nice.”

“Now I’m afraid,” I laughed and Harry did, too.

“I’ll see you in a couple hours. I love you,” he said halfway through the door.

“I love you!” I called out after him and then with one last whimsical smile, he was gone.

Notes

Here's a new chapter my lovelies! Kind of a filler chapter, but gives us a glimpse of life on tour :P Let me know what you guys think and as usual please rate/comment/subscribe <3