[[[all of my flaws]]][[[part ii]]]

9.

I stepped out of the shower, my hair dripping wet. I roughly towelled it dry but left it to hang so it would curl up nicely. I'd not slept at all that night from too much on my mind. I'd nearly quit. I'd gone as far as to ring the record company. I didn't think I could do this. I couldn't work with him. When my boss answered, I realised that I had worked too long and hard to get here, just to walk away. I would just get on with it. Do my job and keep my head down. There was no reason to let Dan ruin this for me.

I'd needed a shower to wake myself up. The moment we got to the hotel in Bristol, the boys had all gone off for breakfast and I'd gone right up to my room. There was a few crew I would be meeting later on when we got to the venue for the first soundcheck. So it was no longer just the four boys I was in charge of, it was now the sound guys, tech guys, guitars and drums, even the very last screw that held up the stage. Each aspect of this tour was in my hands. It was excitingly nerve-wracking.

I began the task of moisturising my skin, head to toe, but became bored quickly in the small, steamy bathroom. Humming to myself I stepped into the bedroom, stark naked and not expecting to see a tall dark haired man stood gaping at me. With a scream I grabbed the nearest thing to me, a pillow, and hid myself.

'Get the fuck out Dan!' I screamed. He was terrified and desperately trying to cover his own eyes.

'I'm so sorry...they gave me this room key and I didn't know you were...oh God, I didn't see anything, I mean...I wasn't looking, I'm not looking.' He stammered. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream. Or if a hole could open up under my feet, that would've been nice.

'Don't just stand there, turn around or something, Jesus.' He did as he was told and I grabbed my dressing gown. I glared at the back of his head as I knotted the belt tightly. No more peep shows for him. 'They gave you this key?' I held up my own key and he turned back around. His face was beetroot red. I wondered what shade mine was. But I had to act cool. I still had a job to do.

'Yeah. For this room. They said something about being fully booked and I'd be sharing but I didn't know it was with you.'

'Right, well this needs fixing. Go sit down or something while I get dressed.' I pointed to the bed. I scooped up my clothes and retreated to the bathroom, the door firmly locked. It was the quickest I'd ever got dressed but my hair and make up would need to wait until later.

'I swear, if Dick has under booked the rooms, I'll go nuts.' I mumbled to myself. I found my phone on the bed near where Dan was sat like a naughty child. 'Lets go.' I told him. He grabbed his bag from where it must've been dropped in shock onto the floor. This was so awkward. Just walking down the hall was crippling. He'd seen me naked. Not that he hadn't before, but I'd been his tour manager for under twenty four hours and he'd seen me naked. And I was mortified. In the elevator, with nowhere to look but at our feet, we stood in silence. It must've been the longest thirty seconds of my life.

'You've just given him the key to my room.' I told the lady on reception. She nodded, as though she was waiting for me to finish a sentence. 'Its my room. He should have his own room booked.' Her eyes flicked down to the screen on the desk in front of her. After a moment of reading she looked back up at me.

'The manager spoke to a member of your party three days ago about this booking, as we could only book three rooms so Mr Meredith said he'd share.'

'Ah, I see. Well, he's not in charge anymore, I am. And we need another room adding.' I told her.

'I am really sorry, but theres literally no rooms available. We gave your party the last three. And there's ten of you. I'm already breaking rules by allowing so many to share. You'll have to sort it out amongst yourselves.' There was no point in arguing with her. I could've just pulled our reservation and gone elsewhere, but that was a lot of time and hassle. Dan and I stopped back from the desk and I tried to think.

'So, who's sharing with who then?' I asked him. How could I not have known this? When we'd checked in an hour ago, none of this had been mentioned. And if they hadn't of all gone off for breakfast straight away, the whole naked episode wouldn't have happened.

'Will and Woody are sharing with Coop and Adam, and Kyle is sharing with his girlfriend, Ben and Greg. Count yourself lucky you've only got me to deal with.' He cracked a smile. I didn't return it.

'Not the time to be funny.'

'Look, it's one night. I'll sleep in the bath tub, I don't care.'

'I don't know...' I mused. It shouldn't have been a big deal. Two grown ups sharing a hotel room wasn't the worst thing that could happen.

'Maybe we'll get to finish our honeymoon.'

'Fucking seriously?' I glared at him with fire dancing in my eyes. How could he not read a situation?

'Sorry. I'll see if Will or someone will swap.'

'Don't bother.' I sighed. If we went swapping people around then it would arouse suspicion. Questions would be asked and people would talk. It was one night and we'd be moving towns in the morning. 'Lets go get ready and head to sound check.'

'Yes boss.'

An hour later and we were back in the car, everyone fed and dressed. The boys were playing about in the back, literally like school children. I probably should've told them to calm down, but it was actually rather amusing. I had to give them a little space to mess around. I didn't want to be a hardass the entire time.

The stage looked amazing. Simple, with just a backdrop of their logo. Everything was ready to go, the production manager had done a fantastic job. I rounded up my four boys from the dressing room and catering and got them up on stage. I watched from the sound desk as they began checking instruments, levels and a last run through of their set list.

I watched him, knowing he couldn't quite see me. I'd done well so far to ignore what was going on. I watched him belt out that amazing sound. It was only when I heard it that I realised how much I'd missed waking up to it. He'd always hummed and sung to himself around the apartment. I was glad he'd finally pulled his finger out and done something with his talent. I watched, nostalgia pulsing through me. I felt a strange sense of pride.

But having thought I was hidden in the shadows, he looked up mid song and caught my eye. I looked away instantly, my cheeks flushing.