Behind The Camera

Chapter Five

I was just curling the last strand of my hair when I heard a knock at the door.

I quickly grabbed my denim jacket and took one last look in the mirror.
Since I had no idea what direction the night was going in other than that it was a pub crawl, I had gone with a little black dress, a few layered necklaces and some heeled boots.
My hair was falling in nice, bouncy looking curls and my makeup was adequate considering the amount of time I had to work on it, which was about five minutes.

I grabbed my phone and wallet and chucked them in my pocket before walking to the front door and opening it to see Harry looking absolutely delicious in a plain black t-shirt and dark blue jeans, a cream coloured sweatshirt in his hand.
It was strange to see him wearing jeans instead of his usual joggers but it was nice to see that he had dressed up a little bit.

"Hi!" He said looking me up and down and then looking around. He was acting a bit differently and if I didn't know any better I would have guessed he was nervous. But he couldn't be nervous right?

Me on the other hand, oh I was nervous alright. I felt like a swarm of bees were in my stomach as opposed to the normal butterflies I get when I'm around him.

"Shall we go then? Most of the lads are just at a pub around the corner." He said and turned to walk away.

I nodded and followed along next to him. I could feel his hand occasionally brush against mine as we walked but he didn't hold it and I sure as hell wasn't about to do it myself.

As we walked I found myself questioning the night ahead more and more. Why was I even invited along in the first place? And why had he come to get me on his own when he could have brought any of the Sidemen along for company?

We small talked the rest of the way to the pub but I couldn't help but sneak a few looks at him.

He had put his sweatshirt on as we were walking and he looked really, really good in it. I wanted nothing more than to snuggle into his arms and feel the warmth of them wrapping around me but I shook the thought away and tried to act normal.

We reached the pub and I was quickly introduced to the other Sidemen.
The friendliest of all of them was Vik who immediately started comparing Pizza Hut and Domino's and was actually interested in what I was saying.
Josh was pretty shy and introduced me to his girlfriend Freya before they both went off to the bar.
Tobi was also a little bit shy but I was told by Harry that he would open up the more he got comfortable around me.
The last person I met was Simon, who Harry had warned me on the way there might not be himself as he'd recently gone through a pretty serious breakup.

He surprised me by pulling me in for a hug and introducing himself.

"Hi I'm Simon." He said and I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Hailey" I replied back with a nervous smile.

I couldn't help but be intimidated by Simon as he seemed to tower over me in height but I also found that I was staring at him for just a second too long, admiring his warm smile and kind looking eyes.

"Shots anyone?" Harry suggested and there were a few groans from the group but most of us were keen.

Personally I needed alcohol to help calm my nerves around Harry, although to fully calm them down tonight I think I'd need at least a few shots.

I downed my first shot and found that a few other people had come along from the Pizza Hut store. It didn't look like anyone else from Dominos had come along but I suddenly didn't feel as special anymore. Harry had probably just brought me along as a friend and I had stupidly hoped it was more.