One Soft Touch

Chapter 4: First Impressions

Harry’s P.O.V.

It’s a hot afternoon in the middle of July. Zayn and I are the first to enter the lobby at the Hampton Inn. An actual bed sounds nice compared to the bunks on the tour bus. The rest are the boys are gathering items from the bus we’ll need here. I was volunteered to check us in.

The young woman at the front desk perks up at the sight of me and Zayn. That’s the usual reaction we get.

“Can I help you?” the woman speaks very loud and chipper.

I give her one of my dazzling smiles. “Yes, we need two rooms.” I hand her a credit card.

She grabs the card but drops it when our fingers touch. Embarrassed, her checks turn a bright pink. Zayn and I lean up against the desk and wait without saying anything.

Liam, Niall, and Louis burst into the lobby ending the silence. Niall is laughing loudly at something and Louis has a mischievous grin on his face. Whatever it was must have annoyed Liam because he’s not joining their laughter.

“You should have seen his face!” Niall shouts to no one in particular. His face is beat red from laughing so hard.

Zayn rolls his eyes. “What did you two do this time?” Zayn asks as he walks over to Louis to grab one of the suit cases.

“We didn’t do anything,” Louis says as if he is shocked we thought it was him who caused Liam’s scowl. “Liam nearly got trampled by a couple fans that slid past security. He looked terrified!” That makes Louis and Niall have another laughing fit.

The fans can be pretty terrifying. Some have no boundaries and no respect for our privacy. But we knew the consequences of being famous. No matter how crazy they may get, I could never repay our fans for getting us here.

“You guys are in room’s 307 and 308. They’re adjoining rooms,” the woman says from behind the desk after the laughter dies down. I pretend I don’t notice her as she throws her blonde hair over her shoulder and pops her chest out.

Zayn shoots me a smirk. We both chuckle as we turn away from her.

“What room is Annabelle in?” Liam asks Niall. Louis, Zayn, and I turn to Niall.

We all know Niall received a text from her confirming which hotel she decided on. I’m still not happy that he went against what Liam said and talked to Annabelle without the rest of us. Liam had everything under control.

“I don’t know. I didn’t text her back last night because she said she was tired,” Niall mumbles keeping his eyes on the floor.

I shoot Liam an ‘I got this’ look. The woman is still looking at me when I turn back around. Maybe she’ll tell us which room Annabelle is in. It’s probably against protocol but a cheeky smile might be able it persuade her.

“Excuse me, love,” I say, laying on the charm thick. “We are meeting Annabelle Young here. Can you tell us which room she’s in?”

It would probably be easier to just call Annabelle but Louis said we should surprise her. Zayn and Niall quickly agreed with him.

The woman seems flustered. “I c-can’t actually…,” she starts and I flash a huge smile. One look at my dimples and we’ll have the room number. “W-well, if we can keep this a secret, I’ll give it to you.” We all grin and nod. That blush makes another appearance on her cheeks again. “Room 216, second floor,” she says after messing around on the computer in front of her.

“Thank you, love,” Zayn’s voice chimes in.

That was easier than I thought it would be.

Liam starts leading us to the elevators. “Let’s put all this in our rooms and then we’ll go surprise Annabelle.” He tries to hide the excitement in his voice.