Always You |harry styles| - completed

SIX

Harry Styles: Juice by Lizzo

Coming back to work in the DC office was a strange experience, since we'd enjoyed the thrill of field work so much and the change in surroundings was warmly welcomed by both of us. Our coworkers treated us differently when we got back, some were beaming with pride and had only nice things to say, but others were spiteful and gave us the occasional side-eye next to the coffee machine. Both Lil' and Jack wouldn't shut up about their golden pair of executive producers and how they rocked L.A. with a stellar rally. We'd been told that we could have as many days off as we wanted and that they couldn't be prouder to call us friends and family at L.J.P. It was certainly nice to hear that your hard work was valued, and anybody that ever told you otherwise was lying. The workload was definitely lighter back home, we were back to producing fundraisers and chatting up the crème de la crème of Washington DC.

Harry and I were texting daily, he was preparing for tour and kept sending me weird videos of rehearsals with his band. I found his humor really amusing, to his surprise. His colleagues all seemed like lovely people, and a part of me thought about how fun it'd be to hang out with them. As much as you want to act completely normal around 'celebrities', you still catch yourself blinking a couple of times when their text comes, wanting to make sure it's all real. Being a virtual nobody always remains a part of you and it's only natural to feel a bit starstruck around people that have such huge platforms. The guilt trips about feeling starstruck are another story, however. I was struggling with them a lot. Not wanting to seem like 'just another fan' or a passerby that would only stick around for a photo or two. I was constantly afraid that he'd wake up one morning and ask himself why he was telling a woman he barely knew so much about his life.

"Drinks tonight? There's a jam session at the Blues Alley and I already asked Alyssa to save us a couple seats.", Josh's head popped through the door to our office, which he spent the whole of five minutes in today. Jack needed his help with a client, so we hadn't seen much of each other since we got back.

"Well there's no point in asking, is there? Wanna share a ride there?", he lived two blocks from my small apartment building, which turned out to be very convenient for sharing rides to and from work, clubs and meetings. Josh nodded and grabbed a few folders from his desk before rushing off once again.

My phone and computer both pinged while I was trying to eat my lunch salad away from the desk (a habit of '15 minutes tech-free during lunch' I was trying to form), and I rushed to it hoping it would be Harry. Instead, it was an e-mail by Lilian. 'Come to my office after lunch. Need to talk to you about a client. Thx. Lil', it said. It wasn't really unusual for us to have meetings about clients, but Josh was usually a part of them, since the company was adamant about keeping producers in pairs. It was a little after two when I walked into her corner office.

"You wanted to see me...", she motioned over to the big sofa and made me a cup of coffee.

"I know you weren't too keen on travelling for gigs when you first started, but I wanted to see if things changed since then?", Lil' was referring to my specific request to only work jobs in the DC area, since travelling through the US seemed like a hassle to a European.

"I mean, I'm not against it, if the client and I are a perfect fit. Would it be around the States or the world?", Lil' flashed me a warm smile, a little bit like saying that I could read her like a book.

"It's here first, but then you would go on tour with them, if you turned out to work well together. Which I feel will happen. I have to go to L.A. over the weekend to meet with the client, and I was hoping you'd join me. Don't want to sound like a jackass, but I think owning the company gets me the right to not go on tour with clients. That's what I have executive producers for.", her welcoming personality and honesty could make anyone accept her offers.

"Sure, I'll go with you. What about Josh?", her whole pitch didn't mention Josh once, and I was afraid they'd decided to separate us.

"Jack took Josh under his wing a bit. We've concluded that you were too talented to work together, because both of you could teach a younger EP a lot. That's why we're splitting you up for further events.", her explanation was perfectly logical, but it was still sad news for me, because Josh was my safe haven in all gigs. Having him around made everything less stressful and more manageable.

"I totally understand, even though it makes me a bit sad. Will Anna send me the details for L.A.?", her assistant, Anna, entered the room just as I spoke her name, knowing that she was needed. She handed me a red folder saying that all important info was in it – the client and their history, a brief overview of what this job would entail and details for the flight to California.

I sat back down at my desk, opening up my water bottle and peeking into the red folder. I almost choked on the water when I read 'COLDPLAY' on the first stack of papers. Man, that would be a hefty tour, literally all over the world. I worked similar events before, even though they were far less complicated we also had far less hands available to help out. Instead of getting freaked out by the complexity of the task at hand, I started reading the files and jotting down ideas for the stage, the visuals and the flow of the tour.

On my way home I realized that I still hadn't told Harry I'd be in L.A. over the weekend, so I quickly texted him wanting to make sure he could talk. 'Styles', my phone flashed and I heard guitars strumming and drum sets being reassembled in the background as soon as I picked up.

"What have you been up to today?", he asked me and the noise got far less audible.

"Well, funny you should ask that. I was in a meeting with Lil today, and it turns out I'll be coming to your neck of the woods this weekend", I unlocked the door to my apartment and set my purse and keys on the side table.

"That's amazing Teacup! Make sure you free up some time for hiking on Sunday.", he giggled after my groan at the mention of physical activity.

"Fine, if that's really where you want to take me on my one day in L.A., then I'll go hiking in Hollywood.", I could hear him jump victoriously as he continued to ask me about the reason behind my upcoming trip to California. I tried to fight off his annoying curiosity by saying that I couldn't really speak about it until the contracts were signed, but it was more because of my superstition than legal reasons.

We said goodbye as I promised to send him videos of the jam session, and to say hello to Josh for him.  

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A/N: TPWK, always. 

All my love, 

T