The Adjacent Room [h.s]

Chapter 28

By 9am, all the boys are shooting. As it turns out, management somehow managed to get a spread all about the reunion, as well as 5 covers in the next issue. One for each boy, and then one group cover.

In fear that Leslie and her sidekicks are going to attack again, I jump right into sorting out this payment situation before they find out they've been billed for a trip to a club. I go back and forth via email with the company the driver works for, and manage to get an entirely separate bill for the trip to the club, which we can pay for as completely separate entities.

To fill the time, I go through my personal emails and my assistant emails too. To my surprise, there aren't many emails regarding Harry's calendar or the band, but a plethora of emails from various people he worked with during his solo career. Most of them didn't have any contact with Harry directly, and so they'd go through Jeff or I. They're all congratulating Harry for the band reunion, and wishing him the best, so I take a mental note to show them all to him. I respond to all of the emails, forwarding some through to Jeff, and replying to all the others thanking them and assuring them I'll let Harry know. There's also a massive amount of emails for the blog - all different comments, messages and new subscriptions. I find myself biting back a smile at all the positive comments on the latest post. I didn't ever expect the blog to receive so much recognition so fast, and when I go to check the analytics, my mouth nearly drops on the floor. 300,000 readers in one month. I'm sure some of them are fans of Harry's, but the engagement with each post suggests people actually enjoy reading what I write. The only thing I want to do is to tell Harry, but that isn't an option seeing as he's doing his individual shoot at the moment. Instead, I opt to stand up from my spot on the random couch, and walk over to watch.

I purposely go on the other side of the lights and the photographer to avoid Leslie, who is also watching Harry. He looks perfect, and you couldn't tell how little sleep he's running on. His face instantly lights up with the brightest smile when he spots me smiling at him, and the photographer obviously likes it.

'Harry that's perfect. Smile like that..look at the camera..yeah that's perfect.' He says, while the shutter continues to click rapidly. My heart melts at the fact his smile was for me. The moment ends when I hear Leslie's heels making their way over to me.

'He looks good doesn't he?' She asks, arms crossed and eyes focused on Harry. For her extreme anger just two hours ago, she's obviously calmed down.

'Yeah..yeah he does.' I agree hesitantly. I'm not sure where this is going, but I can't say I'm excited to find out.

'Don't you think he looks better like this?' She pushes.

'I don't know what you mean, sorry.' I respond. I know exactly what she's hinting at, and I don't want a bar of it.

'I noticed he started dressing very feminine once he left the band..too feminine in my opinion. I think he looks better in just a classy black suit.' She says, and it takes all my power to not scream.

'I don't agree. He looks good in whatever he wears, and he can wear whatever he wants.' I say with a disinterested tone. I don't want any part of this conversation, and what she's saying is just wrong. I am so sick of feeding into her snide remarks, and I'm not even sure what point she's trying to make.

'I guess I'm just more traditional in that way then.' She concludes.

'Mm..yeah.' I mumble, focusing all my attention on the rest of the boys who just joined Harry to take their group shots. Just before I think Leslie is going to leave me alone for good, she turns back around on her heel.

'Oh also..are you uncomfortable now that your relationship with Harry has been confirmed? Those paparazzi photos are obvious confirmation.' She snides. I find it quite strange that for someone who was so infuriated by the photos, she now seems relatively unaffected by them. I hadn't given much thought to what these paparazzi photos mean for Harry and I, but I guess I'm okay with it.