Behind The Camera

Chapter Twenty One

Once we got to Simon's house I practically collapsed into his bed, overwhelmed by the night and all of the feelings that came with it.

He joined me soon after, placing an arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him. The gesture in itself was usually enough to give me butterflies but my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Harry and replaying our encounter from earlier in the night.

I wasn't the type of person to move that quickly with anyone, let alone in the type of situation I was in at the moment, but with Harry everything just felt so right, even though we both knew it was wrong.

Simon and I lay in comfortable silence, our breathing in sync, before he quickly sat up.

"Shit Hailey I completely forgot to ask you!" He said rubbing a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Ask me what?" I replied with a yawn as I sat up to face him.

"The boys, we've all got a trip to Barcelona next week. It's like the only proper holiday we've got booked for the year. Did you want to come with us?" He asked and I was completely taken aback by the question.

"Is this like part of the contract?" I asked with some hesitation.

"No not at all, I mean it wouldn't hurt and we can get you a free ticket, but this is just me asking you." He replied with a shy smile.

"Yeah I'd love to come with you Simon." I replied and gave him a long hug, beyond grateful to be asked.

"Sound. Alright well we leave on Tuesday, are you going to be okay with work?" He asked and suddenly I remembered that I had a few shifts next week.

"I'm sure somebody will be able to cover them." I said sounding more convincing than I felt.

I knew in my heart that I'd have a hard job convincing anyone to cover me with such late notice but it was a problem for tomorrow.

Right now I was exhausted and I lay back down with Simon, snuggling into him as I fell asleep with the idea of Spain fresh in my head.

****

Finding cover proved to be harder than I thought and after practically selling my soul to Sue, she told me she would cover it herself.

I knew that it would mean I owed her big time but I was happy to agree. I hadn't been on a holiday in a very long time and I'd never been to Spain.

As part of my making it up to Sue I had agreed to work a long shift today so I said my goodbyes to Simon and headed home to get changed.

Even walking into Dominos didn't feel the same anymore, knowing that every single time I did I would get flashbacks of something Harry had said or done there.

It was weird knowing that I hadn't even known the Sidemen for very long and in just two days time I would be jetting off to Barcelona with them.

And fake dating one of them.

I clocked in and got to work, trying to push any thoughts of Harry to the back of my head.

The best thing about working in fast food is that any shift seems to go quickly as there is always something to keep you busy and before I knew it I was clocking out and closing the store.

As I walked in the door to my flat my phone started ringing. Looking down I saw that it was Harry and I took a deep breath before answering.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked trying to sound casual and not like my heart was racing at a million miles a second.

"I'm sorry it's late, I just needed to know if you're coming to Barcelona." He breathed out and I could almost imagine him playing with his hair in his nervous way on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah I am. Is that going to be okay?" I asked with a bit of hesitation.

"I kind of hoped you'd be coming, not that I um... I'll keep my hands to myself is what I mean to say." He stuttered out and I had to catch my breath at his last sentence. My body was screaming at me to tell him that he didn't have to do that but thankfully my brain was in control.

"I think that would be best." I lied and waited for his response.

"Well goodnight Hailey, I'll see you on Tuesday. All the best with Simon and whatnot." He said and hung up before I could say goodbye.

I went to bed once again thinking about Harry and had to remind myself that Simon was the one I needed to focus my attention on. There was nothing wrong with Simon.

I knew that I'd be able to enjoy being with Simon as long as I worked hard at ignoring my feelings towards Harry. Because that's what Simon deserves, especially after his breakup. Somebody who wants him and only him.

I wanted so badly to be that person for Simon so I purposely took a sleeping pill to stop the late night thoughts of Harry and let myself drift off to sleep.

The next day I started packing in preparation for Barcelona and picked up another shift at work. The day passed by quickly and I couldn't hide my excitement about Barcelona, much to my coworkers distaste.

Simon met me at my flat after work and we made our way to his apartment, deciding that me spending the night there would be a lot easier to sort out travel in the morning.

JJ was still packing while Simon and I stood in the doorway to his bedroom giving him shit for leaving it to the last minute.

"Talk to me when you've got a number one album fam. I don't wanna hear it." He said with a laugh and threw a pillow at Simon's head.

Simon got hit and looked briefly at the pillow on the ground for a second before deciding against picking it up.

"Nah you know what, us in a pillow fight just sounds like a fanfiction waiting to happen so I'm not gonna feed into it." He joked which sent JJ into hysterics.

Simon and I walked back into the lounge and sat on the couch, him grabbing my legs so they were sprawled across his lap.

"I'm completely buzzing for this trip y'know!" He said and I could see the excitement on his face.

"I know! How on earth are we supposed to sleep tonight?" I said matching his enthusiasm.

"I could think of a few things we could do instead." He said with a smirk and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks at the comment.

I looked around for the nearest cushion and went to hit him with it but he was too quick and grabbed it off me, tossing it to the side before pinning me down on the couch, arms at my side.

I had to catch my breath at the sight of him on top of me and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he brought his face closer, seizing the opportunity and giving me a soft kiss on the lips

"Nah if I wanted to watch porn it sure as fuck wouldn't be you two on my couch." JJ said as he walked into the room and pretended to cover his eyes.

"It's not what it looks like!" I yelled out in innocence and JJ just shook his head as he walked to the kitchen.

"I mean we could move it to the bedroom if you wanted to?" Simon joked with a wink as he looked down at me.

I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed as he released my hands and we both sat back up on the couch as JJ joined us with some snacks.

All of us were far too excited to sleep and ended up staying awake and talking until the early hours of the morning.

When I did fall asleep it was wrapped up in Simon's arms on the couch, a smile still on my face from the laughs shared throughout the night.