Falling in Love on Tour

Back Home

It is Monday afternoon and I am cradling my friend Marrisa's baby, while I sat at Jess's dining room table with our other friend Rachel. Jess and Marrissa are in the kitchen making lunch as Rachel and I catch up. It has been a few weeks since we have all gotten together and I could not wait to tell them about my trip to Chicago. Marissa hands me a bottle so I can feed her son as I share every detail with my three friends. The story starts slowly, as I tell them about my tourist stops on Friday, but then I begin to share how Harry called me on stage, and they sat with their eyes wide. "There is no way!" Rachel says in disbelief, and I slide my phone to her, showing the pictures Carly had taken at the concert.

My story continues as I show them the morning text from Harry and tell them the details of the coffee date. "Then we walked along the river," I say, "all the way down to Navy Pier. It was gorgeous." The three of them passed my phone around as they looked at the photos Harry and I had taken on the date. "Dude, I was wrong. You had a great time on this trip even though you went alone," says Jess, laughing. I end the story, telling them about the phone conversation Harry and I had on Sunday afternoon.

"I woke up on Sunday and took the train to the Lincoln Park Zoo," I start. "It took me about two hours to walk through and see all the animals. It was pretty cool." My friends look at me, waiting for me to get to the good part of the story, but they are used to hearing my stories drag on. "I was at the hotel room, packing up my stuff, when my phone rang. I answered and heard Harry's voice say 'Hi. How are you doing today?' I smiled as I flopped down on the bed, feeling the butterflies start stirring up in my stomach. He told me about how his show went the night before and now he was on the bus heading towards Nashville, where he was playing on Tuesday night. We talked for hours as I left the hotel and took an Uber to the airport, only hanging up because I had to go through security."

As I continue my story, my voice level begins to grow, showing my excitement, which frightens the baby that was peacefully in my arms and he begins to cry. I had him off to Marrissa and she rocks him to sleep before placing him in his seat. I start to tell the girls all of the little things about Harry that made my heart beat fast. How when he was drinking coffee, his pinky stuck straight out. How he was fidgeting with his hands and the rings on his fingers as I had entered the café. The softness of his hands when he grabbed mine, but the strength they showed when he pulled me closer to him at the pier. The way he ends each text message, signing it "-H x." How natural he is in front of a camera. His slow raspy voice, which speeds up if he is talking about something that he is passionate about, like music or his family. My voice trails off, I take a deep breath and place my head in my hands. It is hard for me to believe that this is not a dream.

After a few moments, I finally look up to see each one of my friends smiling at me. Though they were skeptical at first, after hearing me talk, they could tell that this was not just lust or a basic crush, and the three of them would know. Rachel and her husband Aaron have been married for over ten years. Marissa and Elijah got married about four and a half years ago. Jess and her husband Owen just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. At some point in time, each one of them had been in the same spot I was right now, and they had felt the same things I was feeling right now. I was glad to be back home, but I could not wait until I got to see Harry again.