Behind The Camera

Chapter Twenty Two

I woke up to the sound of Simon's alarm and groaned as he stirred next to me on the couch, reaching around blindly to turn it off.

It seemed JJ had also crashed on one of the couches because the alarm woke him up too and he started mumbling profanities until Simon finally found his phone and turned it off.

It was 6am and our flight was leaving at 9am, which was already a crazy concept to me because I would normally already be at the airport. I was definitely the type of person to show up as early as possible and still be paranoid about missing my flight.

The boys slowly got up and collected their things while I waited by the door, shuffling about on my feet, already counting down the minutes until our flight left.

"Y'alright?" JJ asked with a laugh, clearly finding it amusing that I was so anxious already.

"I don't know how you guys are so relaxed?" I questioned as I checked my phone for the time again.

We left the apartment at 6.22 and it took 40 minutes to get to Gatwick Airport. We looked to be the last people to arrive and Josh told us off for being late before we all checked in and started heading through customs.

It took us another thirty minutes to get through customs and by the time we sat down at our gate it was almost time to board the plane.

I looked around at our group and couldn't help but notice how different everyone seemed to be when it came to travelling.

JJ, Simon and Tobi were all stretched out on seats with headphones on trying to get a quick nap in. Simon had his head on my lap and I was absentmindedly running my hands through his hair as he slept.

Ethan and his girlfriend Faith were doing some duty-free shopping with Josh and Freya, spending an alarming amount of time by the alcohol.

Harry was standing by a vending machine munching on a bag of crisps while Lexi stood next to him and talked his ear off about how many calories were in one of those bags. He looked over at Ethan in desperation before telling Lexi he was going to buy some vodka.

And Vik was sat next to me showing me a new video on his main channel, a tour of his house, which I had to admit was absolutely massive. I couldn't imagine making the type of money to afford a house like that but I was in awe of it and let Vik know that the video was a banger.

It wasn't long before we started to board the plane. Ethan and Harry both handed each of us some bags with alcohol in them as to not go over the duty free limit.

We found our seats and it was only once I'd sat down that I realised I was sat in a window seat with Harry to my right and Lexi on the other side of him. It was like a sick joke had been played on me that nobody else knew about.

Simon was sat directly in front of me and had already put his head on the side of the window to fall asleep again.

Harry shuffled about in his seat and put his arm on our shared armrest before looking over at me and deciding against it.

"It's fine, you can have it." I said with an awkward laugh.

Lexi wasn't as intolerable as I thought she'd be to sit by. She had given me a dirty look as she sat down but after a few minutes she pulled out a travel pillow and a sleep mask, put her headphones on and fell asleep.

Harry was on his phone but kept sneaking glances my way thinking that I wouldn't notice. The truth was, I was very much aware of his glances because I was doing everything I could to keep myself busy, but I couldn't help but sneak glances his way either.

My phone buzzed and I looked down to see who had texted me.

From: Harry
This is a wee bit awkward am I right?

I softly laughed and looked up at him with a grin.

To: Harry
At least your wonderful girlfriend is asleep and not staring me down like she wants to kill me.

He looked over at Lexi and then typed back on his phone.

From: Harry
*Fake girlfriend.
I'll admit she's a lot nicer when she's passed out.

I had to stop myself laughing out loud as I read the message and Harry was watching me the whole time with a smirk plastered on his face.

A flight attendant came over and reminded us that we had to turn our phones off or on flight mode and we quickly obliged. She gave us a grateful smile and moved on.

I looked out of the window as the plane started to move towards the runway and felt Harry leaning over in his seat to look out too.

Once the plane started to take off I naturally grabbed onto the armrest to steady myself as I felt the rush of the plane on the tarmac, pushing me back in my seat.

Harry's arm was still there and he let me take the armrest before putting a comforting hand over mine as we took off. I smiled an uneasy smile at him as the plane started to lift upwards and after a few minutes of climbing I took my hand back and thanked him.

"Sorry I always get a little bit anxious with the take off and landing..." I started to explain and he laughed.

"Just half the plane ride then?" He joked and I playfully nudged his shoulder and rolled my eyes.

I always enjoyed sitting in the window seat, being able to see the ground below as we took flight and watch the buildings shrink beneath us until the plane reaches the clouds.

I yawned as I finally tore my eyes away from the window and looked over at Lexi's travel pillow in envy. The fact that I'd only had the bare minimum of sleep the night before was starting to set in.

Normally sitting next to Harry would be enough to keep me awake for hours but I was fighting a losing battle with exhaustion and I knew I had to get some sleep while I could.

I slowly started to close my eyes and could hear Harry move in his seat next to me before I felt a light weight on top of me as though somebody had placed a blanket on top of me.

This wasn't a blanket though, I knew just from the sweet smell of it that it was Harry's hoodie and I cuddled up in it with a smile on my face as I let sleep consume me.

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Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, thank you so much to everyone who is reading and voting and commenting. You literally make my day when you do.

Anybody else get Side+ yesterday?