The Way I Feel Inside | h.s.

17

Bee's POV:

I walked down a long hallway, trailing shortly behind the very large security guard who scanned the card on my lanyard before letting me through. I kept glancing at him and clutching my purse to myself, suddenly nervous and feeling like a teenager with the drugs in my bag. It was kind of an exciting feeling - one that I haven't had in awhile.

I followed him, taking a right turn here and a left turn there, not fully paying attention like I would if I were sober. But I figured I could chill out a bit at this point, not be so on-edge about the typical things that I typically felt need to be on-edge about when alone in public spaces.

I felt light on my feet and I enjoyed the cool breeze as I walked with a brisk pace to keep up with the guard's gait. We passed by a lot of crew members wearing black who were busying themselves with post-show duties. There was a constant noise of chatter and equipment being moved.

Finally, we made a turn down another hallway and it was much quieter. The guard stopped walking and turned to face me. His hard face was brimmed in fuzziness, thanks to the shrooms in my system.

"Second door on your left," he said casually, vaguely gesturing at the door. Then he started to walk back in the direction we came in.

I turned around with wide eyes and watched his large frame walk away from me, then turned back around and stared at the second door on my left. Suddenly I felt hot and my hands started to shake.

I should have had another beer toward the end of the show to prep for this.

I stood there awkwardly with my shaking hands running down the sides of my thighs, peering all around me to make sure nobody was around to witness me acting like this.

"Hey Harry, it's Bee," I whispered to myself, rehearsing the most sober and casual tone I could muster.

I squared my shoulders and flipped my hair behind them, taking confident strides up to the black door. I knocked twice then took a deep breath, clutching both shaky hands onto my thin purse strap across my tummy.

A few seconds later, the door swung open and my eyes immediately found Harry's sparkling ones. "Hey Bee," he said with a lively grin.

I bit my lower lip into my mouth before letting my grin take over my face as I took in his appearance. His face was shiny and slightly flushed to a rosy pink, his hair wild with one curl dangling to touch his eyebrow. He was still in his black and yellow striped pants, but he had removed his suit jacket. The bow of his shiny black ruffle top was undone and the sleeves were rolled up so his forearms were exposed. He stood with one hand on his hip and the other holding the door open, his colorful fingernails on display.

Beautiful. Always.

His grin stretched wide across his cheeks when my eyes met his again after my shameless once-over. He took a step forward and raised his hand from his hip to land it on my warm cheek. I gasped quietly at the unexpected contact, keeping my eyes glued to his and unconsciously leaning my cheek into his warm hand.

Harry's brows furrowed for an instant as he smiled down at me. His hand on my face moved so his fingers threaded into my hair and his thumb caressed my cheek as my head relaxed to the side into his hold. He brought his face even closer to mine as he searched my eyes. The only way I know I was breathing was because I inhaled his natural scent along with a hint of vanilla.

"Are you on drugs, Bee?" He murmured in a seductive tone while maintaining an amused facial expression.

Physically unable to stop grinning, my teeth found my bottom lip and I giggled softly. "You have no idea how beautiful you look right now." I reached up with both hands to place the pads of my fingers on both sides of his chiseled jaw, then traced them along his jawline as my eyes followed their movements. Although he looked fuzzy, his jaw felt the same under my hands as the last time I touched him earlier today - hard, smooth.