A Dreamers Dream

Food at last. Still in Birmingham, England

"Trouble! You remembered! I'm impressed," Harry greets me with a hug as he opens the door. Looks like that nickname has stuck already, great. "Please come in. I thought for sure I'd have to send Barry off to look for you" He says, flashing me a huge smile as he gestures for me to make my way into his suite. Harry is dressed in a loose-fitting yellow T-shirt with 'camel' etched over the pocket. Funny, I wouldn't have pegged him as a smoker I think to myself as I enter, and a pair of black jeans.

The room is... palatial. That's the only word I can come up with for it. It's bigger than my entire flat back home, and every single piece of furniture seems to be made of shimmering glass or sleek black leather. I am almost scared to touch anything. As well paid as this job is, I don't fancy having to give up half my salary to replace some stupidly over-priced trinket that I manage to bop off a shelf with my slightly over-sized arse.

"Sit, sit," Harry says as he flops himself down onto a sofa and pats the seat next to him. "I'm impressed you got here on time."
"Ahh well, you've got Sammy to thank for that. She started hammering my door down at some ungodly hour this morning and woke me up."
"Ungodly? Jesus, how early did she get there?" He asks, his eyebrows shooting up in alarm. I feel the heat rising in my cheeks as I lower my gaze before answering him quietly.
"Erm, like a half-hour ago."
"Hahaha! Remind me not to wake you up early in future." He chuckles "I hope you don't mind, but I already ordered room service, I'm starving."
Wake me up early? Why on earth would he ever be in a position to wake me up early, I wonder. Nope, don't go there Mads, he's your boss, he's just being nice.

"Not at all, although I am dying for a coffee, any chance we can call and ask them to bring me one?" I ask him, looking around for the phone to call reception.
"Figured you might be, don't worry, already ordered," Harry reassures me, and I notice that he never seems to break eye contact when you're talking to him. It's like he wants to make sure you know that at that moment, you are the only thing he is concentrating on. Even though I am sure that in a creative mind such as his, his thoughts are buzzing around at a hundred mile an hour, similar to the way mine do.
"You might just turn out to be my favourite boss ever," I say sincerely and curl my legs up underneath myself on the sofa rubbing my temples as discreetly as I can trying to rid myself of my headache.
"Do I have much competition? What did you do before this?" He asks, his green eyes boring into mine, blimey that's quite intimidating.

I wonder for a moment what I should tell him. I know I'm not supposed to let Jeff know about my singing 'career' if I can call it that when I am sat in Harry Styles' penthouse hotel room. But is Harry himself off-limits too? Fuck it, I am too hungover to lie and decide to just go with the truth.
"Well, when I was sixteen I worked at Greggs..." I begin
"I used to work in a bakery too!" Harry chimes in excitedly before I can finish. How is he this energetic after being up half the night I think, shaking my head slightly in amusement at his interruption before continuing,
"I didn't stick it out long, just a few months after my GCSE's finished until I was old enough to pass my driving test. Then I started gigging."
"Ahh, so it was a guitar case I spotted in your car last night then. It was kind of dark, but I thought it was," He says, turning slightly to face me on the chair and giving me his full attention
"Where do you play?"
"Anywhere, everywhere, basically anywhere that will have me. I've spent the best part of the last four years dragging my arse up and down the country just about making enough to cover my petrol costs. Lately, I've been doing the holiday camp circuit. Which seems even more pathetic than usual now that I am explaining it to you of all people. Especially after seeing your show last night." I admit and find myself lowering my eyes again. It's difficult to hold his gaze for any length of time, I feel like he's staring straight into my soul.
"Still you got to do what you love for a living right? Not many people are that lucky" He says before taking a deep breath and continuing, "Believe me, no one is more surprised than me that this is my life." he finishes, gesturing around the plush hotel suite.
"It's certainly an upgrade from the caravans I normally get shoved in if I need to stay at a venue overnight" I giggle, just as there is a knock at the door. Harry jumps up, and I go to stand with him, but he waves me away, so I sit myself back down and wait patiently whilst he goes to retrieve what I assume is our breakfast, which at nearly eleven-thirty is really more of a brunch at this point.