Before you go... //h.s

Friends

I hovered nervously around the arrivals gate at JFK. Hundreds of other people milled around, holding signs as they looked at their phones in boredom. The sheer number of strangers pressing in and crowding the building was stressing me out slightly and the familiar raising of my heartbeat and slightly sweaty palms was beginning to happen.

Harry was arriving in New York today and I was at the airport to meet him before his concert tonight. He was leaving tomorrow evening and it had caused me to really realise because I had never really clocked exactly how hectic he was, he was never really in New York for longer than 48 hours and I hated that.

It made me realise how rare his three month stay at the start of this year had been and justified his hotel like apartment a bit more because now I truly saw that he hardly ever stayed.

It was strange really how much Harry was unconsciously changed my life. Even small things like visiting the airport had become something almost normal. For my first three years in New York, I hadn't visited the airport since getting off the plane that brought me here. Yet in the past six months, I'd been here quite a few times.

My chipped fingernails became even worse I nervously picked at them, waiting and watching for Harry to appear from the arrivals gate. I wasn't nervous for him to arrive of course, I almost couldn't contain my excitement that I would be able to hug his solid figure rather than just hear his voice drifting down the phone.

What I was nervous about was the only thought that had been travelling through my head since I got here.

Were people going to photograph us?

Was I going to get hate again?

Were people going to photograph us?

It's a selfish thought I know, I had so many other things to be thinking about and so many other people had it so much worse than me, but I couldn't help but worry about it. I shouldn't matter if I got hate really, I should just be able to brush it off and move on like Harry did.

But my skin wasn't that thick, and I hadn't grown up with it like he had. The videos of people criticising him and hating him from when he was only 16 made my blood boil. He didn't even really know who he was then, and the last thing he needed was other people making judgements on him.

Considering the spotlight he'd grown up in, it was amazing that he'd turned into the kind, caring man that the world saw today.

'Iris Burrows!' a deep voice loudly announced, and I spun to see Harry behind me. He was wearing dark sunglasses and a hood over his head to prevent people from recognising him, but it was still obviously him. His curly hair stuck out of the front of his hood and his sharp jawbone was still visible. How the fuck had I missed him coming out the gate? My one job today was to make him feel welcome and I'd somehow missed him arriving altogether. Great job Iris, really fucking fantastic.

'Hi bub,' my heart melted just at the sight of him as he widened his arms and hurried towards me, his long strides covering the distance much quicker than I could.

The moment his arms wrapped around me and his scent encompassed me, the full force of missing him knocked into me and took me under. I'd obviously known I was missing him, but I hadn't realised exactly how much of me he'd taken with him and it was only now that I felt whole again as I hugged his solid figure.

'I missed you so much darlin',' he murmured into my hair and I leant back slightly, our arms still entwined around each other but our faces apart so we could see each other.

My melted heart puddled through my body and my eyes crinkled in a soft smile as I nodded.

'Me too Harry, me too,'