The Beautiful Hummingbird - Part I

The 9k Miles Away Edit

When I wake up on Thursday morning the first thing my eyes catch sight of are the photographs in the frame that is propped against the wall by my bedside.

I immediately think about what Harry might be doing now. He was driving back to London through the night as he prefers the lighter traffic. Chances are he arrived home a few hours ago and went straight to bed. Deciding not to even second-guess anything about his London life, I get up and go for a run to focus my mind and bring me back to reality.

Luckily, the day passes quickly with back-to-back lectures. I arrive home and spend an hour with my insecurities, frustrated that I can't contact him to thank him for the photo frame. However my predicament is resolved when my phone buzzes.

"Hi Natasha, sorry I haven't called you before but I got back really late, slept in late and then had some meetings this afternoon. It's great to hear you."

All I can say is "I love it Harry so so much, thank you."

"No Natasha, thank you, the last few days have been well......" he pauses unable to find the words to say to me so I cut in with "your gift says all it needs too."

The awkward part of the conversation over, we speak for an hour about everything and nothing in particular. I think to myself that talking to Harry is so easy. There's no awkward silences or embarrassing moments, we simply share our day and thoughts with each other. Our conversations continue to flow like this night after night as we are getting to know each other.

If things were different we would most probably have been out again but he's in London and I'm in Manchester and we are both busy with our lives so that just isn't possible. Anyway, if I'm honest, however much I would love to see him again, I am enjoying getting to know him via our chats. The more I speak to Harry, the more I want to speak to him, to know about him. He makes me laugh and smile. Doing it from a distance is enough for me right now.

During our Sunday conversation he confirms that he is flying out to Sydney in the morning to start the Australian leg of the band's world tour. He is animated and excited about the shows and tells me all about the tour plans when he's there. He can't wait to catch up with the boys again who are all flying separately. I can tell that apart from his family the band is the most important part of his life. He talks about each of his 'brothers' so fondly.

Tinged with a sadness he says "only downside is that with 11 hours time difference, evening concerts and daytime radio and chat shows, keeping in touch might be a bit tricky."

"Harry please, it's fine, look let's agree that I won't contact you, I know you'll call me when you can, you are 'doing your thang', I get it. Anyway dull Manchester with a load of essays and reading to do or unbearably hot Sydney being screamed at all the time - know where I'd rather be!"

I can tell he is smiling down the phone as he responds, "And that Natasha is why I like talking to you because you simply do just effortlessly get it." These are his final words to me and I am really touched because he had previously said only his mum 'got it'.

Now saying I get it and actually getting it I realise are two very different things and by Thursday as sad as it sounds I am missing my Harry chats.

Out of curiosity I decide to see if I can follow the tour online. Well, I am blown away with what I discover. The fans or 'fandom' as they are known is like a family circling around the band and woe and betide anyone who steps out of line.

Twitter is littered with 'he's on this flight, they are at that hotel, he ate there with them, surfed here, watched cricket there, not to mention the vids of all the band's performances. It appears that Harry has played some golf, got his trousers pulled down on stage by one of the boys and supposedly got another tattoo. Intrigued by the last one I find myself wondering what it is and where it is along with twenty plus million other Twitter users!