The Hotel - H.S.

Chapter 25

Zoey's POV

The restaurant was kinda shitty, in the best way possible. It was loud, informal, a bit of a disaster. Within an hour of being there, you could describe our group exactly the same way. Loud, informal and a bit of a disaster. Within minutes of meeting them, I ADORED these people. They were so kind, genuine and fun. They were welcoming and warm and made me feel so comfortable immediately. They listened well and smiled a lot and, most importantly, made fun of Harry constantly. 

We were 6 or 7 bottles of wine deep and had ended up just passing all our food around sharing it while telling stories and asking questions. The laughter just literally never stopped, and I could tell my face would be sore from the constant smile position. Harry looked happier than any of us, eyes always moving between all of us with strong affection shining so bright in them. He made no effort to hide the love he was obviously feeling, and it made my feelings for him swell in my chest every time we made eye contact. 

"I fucking loveeeee San Francisco.." Mitch called out, a bit drunkenly, as we talked about my home base. "The history is so insane and cool, and you can find so many cool pockets of culture if you wander enough."

"Truth!" I agreed, cheersing him with my wine glass. "It's a true melting pot, you can find pretty much anything in the world you might be looking for." He set his wine glass down and his smile dropped for a moment as he looked at me. I tilted my head to the side a little in question, looking right back at him, curious about his change of expression.

"That was just a really fucking beautiful sentence and extremely true. You should be a poet or write music. You have a way with communicating that is really gorgeous and unique." Mitch told me. I blushed furiously and covered my mouth with my hand to hide my gigantic smile. I couldn't think of a better compliment.

"You know, if I remember correctly I think she mentioned to me that she likes writing music earlier today." Harry said casually, tossing a wink my way that made my blush grow even more. I dropped my face down into both my hands with a laugh as I thought back to our piano bench fun earlier that he was clearly teasing me about. I finally caught my breath and coughed a few times, laughing.

"Yes, I do write music, and poetry actually as well. Not on par with you guys at this table of course but its a huge outlet for me and I love it." I explained, smiling and nodding at Mitch. 

"You should come to the studio and help us with the album sometime! I would love to have some more feminine energy around there once in a while" Sarah suggested. I nodded with wide eyes.

"That sounds like so much fun, I would love to check it out sometime!" I responded, and I noticed Harry beaming out of the corner of my eye. Originally I had been sitting next to him but throughout the night we had all shifted about and now I was between Sarah and a gentleman they called 'Kid' who produced music with them. He was hilarious, and kept my wine glass full. Harry sat across from me and mostly just watched us all with pleasure on his face. "If it's ok with you of course." I added, looking up at him.

"I'll allow it." He joked, smirking at me. "Anytime, Kermit." He added more quietly. I smiled back at him widely before turning back to Sarah to listen to the tail end of a story she had just launched into about being the only girl in the studio. 

More hours passed and more wine was consumed. We seemed to be closing down the restaurant, no other patrons left there but us. I think everyone had sang me happy birthday at least 10 times tonight, and we had outlasted almost all the staff. I glanced down at my watch and was shocked. It was already past midnight. "Guys it's 12:15! Are we even going to make it to the dive bar?!" I laughed out, looking around. Everyone's eyes widened a little and we all laughed more. "We can still go if you guys want, let me just find my shoes." I drunkenly stood a little to try and look around my chair for the boots and socks that had somehow come off my feet at some point. I almost immediately lost my balance and fell back down into my chair again, laughing.