The "Biggest" Fan (EN)

7.

I spent over half an hour in the shower. A hundred things raced through my mind, and the cool water at least helped clear my head a little. I needed to do something for the band, but are we really in that deep of a mess?

I looked in the mirror, ran a hand through my hair so it wasn't sticking out all over. Dressed in sweatpants and still drying my damp hair with a towel, I headed towards the bedroom.

The silhouette of a guy almost gave me a heart attack. I didn't even need to turn the light on to recognise Harry, standing right there in the hallway.

"For fuck's sake, you scared the shit outta me," I swore, but Harry looked even more startled than I was. Doesn't he have a home or what?

"Oh, I... Sorry," he mumbled quietly, obviously uncomfortable. "I thought you were done in the shower," he murmured, but I managed to catch the words. His eyes were wandered around the hallway, avoiding me.

It was kind of funny to see him so freaked out. I smirked. "Jeez, I'm not naked. And I am done with shower."

That finally made Harry look at me, though his eyes stayed locked on mine and didn't move an inch lower. We just stood there, staring at each other. Awkwardly.

"Yeah, cool. I was... Just going to the bathroom," he blinked a few times, and our eye contact finally broke.

I gave a lopsided grin. "Oh, really? I was sure you came here just to spy on me." My sarcastic remark seemed to make him relax a bit.

"Trust me, no."

"Good."

I walked right past him and caught him finaly glancing at me.

"That looks like it might hurt," he said, nodding toward my side, below my ribs. I hadn't even noticed the big bruise there. Out of sight, out of mind - but now a weird chill ran down my side because of Harry.

"It's nothing," I shook my head. Probably got it yesterday trying to squeeze through the studio doors too fast. I remember bumping into something hard, but I was too distracted at the time to care.

"I thought you were rehearsing, not boxing," he smirked slightly.

"Oh, no way, you have no idea the battles I have with my guitar every time. You should've seen the amp - I had to take it down with a flying elbow yesterday," I mocked him, pretending to show him how it went down. Harry was staring with his eyebrows raised, clearly amazed by my moves.

Alright, enough. I left him there, still a little stunned by my amazing sense of humor, and shut myself in my room. Before going downstairs to see what he and Lottie were up to, I had a few things to handle myself. But where to start?

I dialed a number and held the phone to my ear. Beep, beep. Nothing. Tried another number - still nothing. Is every concert venue just closed today?

After a few more tries, I finally heard something other than a dial tone. "Good evening, this is the MusicLab bar. Please hold," and some jazz music started playing. What the... Am I in a Kahoot waiting room or something?

I kept browsing Facebook ads for any potential venues, but there was nothing decent left.

"Good evening, how can I help you?" a glitchy voice finally answered, and I jumped, having almost started swaying to the hold music.

"Uh... Hi," I stammered, "I saw you're looking for a band for an event next week..."

"Ah, yes. We already found a band," the man replied.

"Oh, uh, okay... Maybe you have more events coming up where you'll need a band...?"

"Next month," hope sparked in my eyes, "But we already have a band booked for that, too. Sorry, we're not looking for more right now."

He hung up, leaving me to sigh loudly. Total crap. I tossed my phone on the bed and held my head in my hands. Now what?

---

A couple of hours later, I heard a quiet knock at the door.

"Busy?" Lottie asked.

"Not really," I got up and watched her as she opened the door.

"I have a suggestion."

"What is it?" I took a deep breath, already knowing that her little grin usually meant trouble.

"Want to play Monopoly?"

"Why?" I asked. It'd been ages since we last played board games together. That used to be our favorite thing to do in the evenings.

"Harry says he's never played Monopoly. Can you imagine that?" She waved her hands as if it was the most unbelievable thing.

Ah, so Harry's still here.

"Yeah, sure," I shrugged. I wasn't doing anything better anyway, and it was obvious my joining would make Lottie incredibly happy.

Downstairs, Harry's face lit up in surprise when he saw me.

"Told you he'd come," Lottie grinned. Ah, they were even betting on me now. Great, might as well open our own casino.

"I just didn't take you as a board game geek. Lottie - yeah, sure, but you? How else do you plan to surprise me?" His eyes narrowed, the corners creased.

"By bankrupting you," I picked up the game box from the table and settled onto the couch.

"Not going to happen," Harry shook his head.

"Just so you know, there's no red carpet spaces here. And no autographs accepted as rent payment," I teased him. I glanced at Lottie to see if she'd tell us to calm down, but she just watched us with a smile, finding the whole thing funny too.

"Ah, shit, I thought this was the 'Pop-star' edition," Harry slapped his palm to his face.

"Yeah, what a shame. You sure you still want to play? Losing might hurt your public image."

"I'll manage, thanks for the concern, Louis," he grinned sarcastically, almost like I would. It was the first time I'd heard him use my name, my real name. Sounded softer than I'd imagined.

Lottie jumped up, grabbed the box from me, like I didn't know how to set up a game, "Perfect then," her eyes sparkled.

Another evening with Harry, what a wonderful way to spend your free time...

Hey hey hey, thank you so much for all the likes and nice comments. It means the world to me!!

I've been enjoying writing this story so much, and I have so many ideas in my head, so you'll definitely get more soon :>

Love you all ❤️