The Opening Act (H.S) {Completed - Editing}

Stupid Tents

"Harry?"

I glance around his house, trying to find some sort of hint that he's home. I'd just finished putting the rest of my boxes into my house so I decided to come see him. We leave tonight for Oregon to camp with my family. He leaves soon and his tour is in two more weeks.

I go upstairs and hear the shower running. I go into the bathroom and slip my clothes off quickly and quietly. I move open the shower door quietly and close it loudly. He spins around and looks at me in shock.

"Christ, Ave," he sighs. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"M'sorry," I mumble with a small smile.

He holds his hand out to me and he pulls me into the water. I let my head fall back once I'm under the water, letting it warm my skin. Harry's lips find my neck, kissing gently down to my collar bone and my chest.

"You're so beautiful," he sighs. "God, I'm so lucky."

I smile and place my hands on his chest. He lifts his head and looks at me with calm eyes. He looks so relaxed.

He steps back and picks up the shampoo bottle. He squirts some into his hand and then motions for me to turn around. He gently rubs it into my hair, massaging my scalp with his fingers.

Harry finishes cleaning up and steps out while I rinse off. When I step out, he's holding a big towel out for me. He wraps it around me and kisses my temple.

"Have you finished packing all of your things?"

He nods. "Yeah. Need to grab some blankets, s'all. And we need to stop by the store and get some water and beer."

"Did you sleep in today?"

"I didn't sleep last night, I went to bed this morning and woke up about ten minutes before you got here."

"That's good. Don't forget that I can drive too, okay? And we can stop to re-energize as many times as you need."

"I figured I'd drive all night and have you take over once I'm tired. You probably know how to get there better than what my GPS will tell me anyway."

The drive from LA to the campground my family goes to every other year is about 17 hours. Usually my mom and I just make it one big road trip over multiple days. Harry and I are only there for the two nights though, then we head back to LA before he has to leave for London.

Harry drys off and slips his boxers on but doesn't get dressed quite yet. I grab another towel and try to dry my hair a little while he goes over to his closet. I dig around in his drawers until I find a hair tie and I proceed to throw my hair up in a ponytail. I towel off and go over to Harry's closet to grab a new shirt. I shimmy back into my jeans while Harry does who knows what. He was wandering around the room and grabbing certain things.

"Ava, babe, can you run downstairs and pack up some more food? I didn't know what all to pack. The cooler is on the floor in the hall."

"Sure," I nod. "We don't need a lot, my mom said she's gonna cook dinner for us every night. And knowing her, she's gonna try to force more food down our throats than planned."

He looks over at me with a smirk. "Well, at least you have a good gag reflex," he winks at me.

"Don't be nasty."

My cheeks flush and I flip him off on the way out of his room. He laughs as I slam the bedroom door behind me. I go downstairs and do as he asked, filling a small storage container of food as well as the cooler. Harry comes down a few minutes later, now clothed.

He starts to take stuff out to the car and then takes my keys and transfers all of my stuff to the back of his car. He helps me with the rest of the food and then we pack up the car with pillows and blankets.

After a quick stop at the store and then at Starbucks for caffeine, we were on the road. It was already seven at night.  Harry had shut off all of his notifications on his phone so the entire ride would be completely uninterrupted. I kept mine on, considering my mom always forgets things and we might have to stop at a store along the way.

Music was plugged in and it filled the moments that Harry and I weren't talking or playing some ridiculous road game. After about three hours and our first stop, I drifted off to sleep. I was woken up again around midnight as Harry was parking the car in front of a McDonalds.

"I need food and more coffee. Wanna come in with me?"

I nod my head and rub my eyes in attempt to wake up some more. Harry just smiles at me and climbs out of the car. He opens my door for me and takes my hand as I tiredly stumble out of the car.

"You're cute when you're sleepy," he mumbles before kissing my temple.

"I must be cute a lot then, yeah? M'always sleepy."

He just laughs as we head into the fast food restaurant. There's only employees inside, no customers. Then again, it was extremely late. Or early. Depends on who you ask.

Harry orders coffee and some food for both of us. I make sure he gets me a soda too, so I have something caffeinated when I take the wheel. I use the bathroom really quick and then Harry does the same before we hit the road again.

I get nearly five more hours of sleeping on and off again before Harry finds a place to park so we can switch places. I get myself situated in the drivers seat while Harry grabs some of the pillows and a blanket to get comfortable. Right before I get on the freeway, he grabs my hand and brings it to his lips.

"I love you."

I glance over at him and smile. "I love you. Thanks for coming with me."

"Of course, love."

He drifts off to sleep after a few minutes and I hum to the music as I drive on the endless roads.

//

We arrived a few hours before the campground check in hour, so we checked in early to get our parking pass and then we went to the beach. We spent two or three hours there before we headed back to the main campground.

My parents were nearly set up completely by the time we got to our spot. Harry backed the car into the spot while I went over and greeted them and grabbed the tent from them. I go back over to where Harry is and he's already laying a tarp out on the ground and staking it down.

I grab the tent out of the bag and line up all the parts on the ground. We lay the tent out on the tarp and Harry grabs the rods to connect them all. I watch with amusement as he tries to slip the rods through the tent. I tried to help, but he shooed me away with small mutters. Eventually, he accepts my help. I've done it so many times that I'm able to do it fairly quickly.

"What... How...?"

I laugh lightly and wrap my arms around Harry's torso. "I'm an old Girl Scout. I'm a pro at things like this."

"You were a Girl Scout? Then how come you wouldn't let me buy cookies?"

"Cause I'm sick of them," I laugh. "After so long of selling those things, you start to hate them."

He pouts. "That's stupid. And so are tents."

"Hey, you two," my mom comes over with a smile. "Hi, Harry. How are you?"

"I'm great," he smiles at her and I lean my head against his chest. "And yourself?"

"I'm well, thanks," my mom crosses her arms, snuggling up in her sweater. "We've started a fire, if you'd like to come eat hot dogs with us."

"We'll be over in a few, we need to actually stake the tent down before it blows away."

"Tents are so dumb," Harry mumbles under his breath.

"Just shut up and help me, you dork."