The Adjacent Room [h.s]

Chapter 23

video credit: youtube.com/watch?v=f2mKv7gD77w

I open my eyes and am instantly hit with a scent of coffee. Harry is missing from the bed, so I can only assume he's up and making coffee. In the last month I've spent most of my time at Harry's house but I rarely see him in the morning since often he's out working, so this is unexpected. He's hellbent on not making me live his busy reunion schedule too, so often I just spend the days doing work or writing a blog post from home. That's what he wants me to do, and since he's my boss I don't really have an option. Before I realise what I'm doing, I'm out of bed and standing in the middle of the kitchen.

'One day to go..' I smile at Harry, while he kisses me good morning. Harry's record player is playing Van Morrison this morning, and the morning sun is streaming through the windows.

'..are you doing anything today? There isn't anything in your calendar as far as I know' I add in, pouring myself a cup of coffee.

'Yeah..yeah I am. We're filming the video again.' He says. Since the band hasn't had time to record any new music, they decided to just announce the reunion on Twitter. The fans have been guessing for months what will happen on the big day, and the boys agreed on the idea of a compilation video being posted, of all the times they said 'Hi, we're One Direction!'. The plan was to trick everyone into thinking it was just a video of old moments, but then at the end there would be a final clip of them now, saying the exact same thing. Louis actually came up with the idea, thinking it would be funny to announce it in such a low key way.

'You're filming it again? I thought that was done two weeks ago? It's being posted tomorrow, I hope they can have it edited by then.' I ask, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl and taking a bite.

'Yeah..they want to film it again because my nails were painted.' He answers, and my glaze shifts to his bare nails. I'm so used to seeing Harry with various colours and patterns on his nails, that he almost looks bare without it. What the fuck? This is exactly the type of shit that used to happen in the band.

'Seriously? That's not okay Harry, this is what happened last time. Nobody even told me about this, and as your assistant I should know.' I'm starting to lose my calm, which may be a slight overreaction but I can't bear the thought of Harry not being able to do what he wants with his fashion because their management won't let him. Harry has found himself in the last 5 years, and I refuse to watch that be forced away now that he's back in the band.

'It's okay. Really, it's fine. It was chipped anyway and probably looked unprofessional. They called me this morning and asked me to come in.' He responds, and wraps his arms around me. Is this why he was up so early? To answer a phone call from his management? It's only 7:30 now, and it's clear he's been awake for a while. He doesn't sound bothered by this sudden schedule change, but I am. It's the little things like this that just rub me the wrong way.

'I feel terrible that they're making everyone come back in, just because of me.' He adds in, and I can tell how upset he is.

'Harry, that's not on you. It's not even fair in the first place to not let you wear the nail polish, but if it was such an issue it should've been resolved when you first shot the clip.' I reassure him. It's not fair that Harry has to feel this guilt.

'Do you want to come with us to the set today? Louis said Eleanor is going to come. They want to start at 8:30, so we should probably leave in like half an hour..if you want to come.' Harry says, changing the topic while kissing the top of my head. I'm surprised by his offer. In reality, he shouldn't be offering because it should be assumed that I'll be there. Of course I want to go as his girlfriend, but I should be there as his assistant, and that hasn't been happening much lately.