Things We Don't Normally Do

THIRTY FIVE

The next day, Harry was scheduled to shoot a Sidemen Sunday video. He told Alex it was a 'Come Dine with Me' video, but the concept didn't really make ring any bells with her.

But with Harry's sleep schedule being just as absolutely fucked as Alex's, he has totally failed to get stuff ready ahead of time. Thankfully they were divided into teams and their team weren't scheduled to do their part until the day after.

He had a busy day ahead of him though, heading off to Tobi's to try and do as much as he can to help before they had to go and have the other teams' dinner. He didn't say as much, but Alex could feel that he felt a bit apologetic to his friends for having to pick the slack up while he was away with Alex. Alex in turn, felt infinitely sorry not only to Harry's friends but Harry himself, for putting him in a tight spot. She hated feeling like such a nuisance.

"You can come with me, really." Harry said, trying one last time to convince her to tag along to the shoot. He felt bad leaving her at the flat very next day after they had just arrived in London.

He wanted to spend as much time as he can with her, to try and show her around the best parts of his city in a not-so-secret attempt to convince her to stay.

"I'll be alright. I got the wifi password, and your laptop. I'm set." she said with finality, waving Harry off.

"You could at least pretend to be sad to see me go." Harry pouted.

Alex laughed, while Cal who was within earshot in the kitchen started to make fake gagging sounds. This only made Alex laugh even more.

"He's such a sad sap, isn't he?" Alex turned, acknowledging Cal.

Cal laughed, "A secret hopeless romantic, apparently. Crossing oceans just to be with a girl."

"Exactly, who does that? Can he really not get anyone within the UK? Had it been that bad?" Alex piled on, keeping a straight face.

"You're both twats." Harry said, throwing his arms up in defeat.

He was secretly happy to see Alex getting on well with Cal though. It makes him feel more at ease about leaving her at the flat with his dickhead of a roommate.

Cal ignored Harry's comment, turning to Alex instead, "You know, you're alright. I like you. I think we'll get along just fine and have fun whenever Bog isn't around."

"Oh no. Please don't run her against me." Harry groaned at the prospect of Alex teaming up with Cal. They would be quite the duo.

In the end, Cal and Alex pretty much pushed Harry out of the flat to start filming a part of the Sidemen video at Toby's.

Cal on his part disappeared back into his bedroom for a while to film a video. So Alex retreated into Harry's room to try and busy herself.

She's relieved to have the wifi password since she still hasn't figured out her mobile. Racking up international charges wasn't really something she could afford.

The first thing she did was message Stella, who has apparently been trying to reach her while her data was off.

Stella wasn't surprised to hear that Alex was in London. Well, she was surprised in a sense because it didn't sound like something her best friend would do on such short notice. But she already knew about it from Ethan.

They messaged back and forth for a bit but between the timezones and Blanca being busy with her new job as a paediatric nurse, they had to cut their conversation short, making a plan to FaceTime the following day.

"I'm proud of you, babe. Really. I know how big this is for you. I love you." Was the last voice message Stella sent her before she had to go.