A love like that // H.S story

Jokes

'Hey, what do you say to a woman with two black eyes?' Adam asked.

'Did you come out of the kitchen' he answered hysterically as the rest of the band and crew joined in.

It was pre-show ritual, everyone was gathered around backstage telling jokes and trying to calm their nerves before they were set to go on stage and preform.

Tonight was Harry's 4th show and you were in Chicago, you had yet to have stayed in one place of the American leg of the tour long enough to explore, but that didn't matter right now, you were happier than you had been for a long time.

You had been part of the styling team towards the end of One Direction and had formed a relatively good work relationship with Harry, you were grateful that he had asked you to be apart of his team in helping him prepare and tour his new album.

But, as you had learned early on in life, happiness is short lived.

As soon as the words tumbled from Adams mouth, and although they were meant with no intent to harm anyone, the air around you began to get suffocating.

You could feel your heartbeat begin to pick up and thump against your rib cage. The ringing in your ears made your mind disoriented.

Your body was suddenly in fight or flight mode, and although you had only met the people in this room a few weeks prior to tour beginning your mind was unable to process you were safe.

You didn't even glance around the dressing room, and before you could process what had happened you were half way down the busy corridor backstage dodging crew members and security.

You managed to find the women's toilets and quickly darted inside and into one of the stalls, quickly slamming the door and closing the seat of the toilet.

That's where you sat for what felt like hours, your knees pressed up to your chest, shielding yourself from any harm or danger that could jump out at you.

You had ignored the constant buzzing of your phone vibrating in the back pocket of your jeans.

You could not ignore the constant feeling of being scared and anxious, even though you knew deep down you were safe here.

What finally brought you out of your trance was the constant drip of the tap in the toilets you could hear loudly once  the stadium had been emptied of fans and crew members. You quietly gasped once you had realised you have been sat in the dingy backstage toilets for what must have been a few hours.

Your body once again filled with dread and worry once you realised you had not done your job, Harry, or more so Jeff was going to angry with you. You had not been there to finish the final preparations of Harry's suit for that night.

You had already made sure he was dressed and ready for stage earlier on in the evening whilst his support act was preforming on stage.

But you were definitely not there right before he had to go on to make sure his outfit was suited and tied correctly, and you were most definitely not there in case he had a costume issue on stage.

Quickly, you scrambled from your place upon the dirty toilet seat and flung yourself out of the stall. You quickly caught a glance of your reflection in the dimly lit bathroom mirror and couldn't help but feel saddened by the pathetic excuse of a woman stood in front of you.

No matter how hard you tried to hide them, the bags under your eyes from your sleepless nights were never fully covered and the tinge of yellow faded bruises under your skin still shone through all your makeup.

You were a mess.

With a final glance at your reflection, you smoothed your hair back behind your ears and made your way out of the bathrooms.

You felt relief as you glanced down the long corridor and realised it was now completely empty, and slowly you made your way down the long and windy halls.

'Beau?' A voice called out making your rushed steps come to a quick hault

'Beau?' the voice sounded again but louder this time as you heard footsteps rush closer to you

'Oh, Hi H' your voice stuttered out as you looked up at Harry now standing tall in front of you

'Where'd you run off to?' He questioned as he looked over your face with concern

'Um I-uh' you tried to think of an excuse as Harry chuckled lightly at your attempt

'That's ok' Harry smiled at you as he noticed your uneasiness, you felt relief rush over you as he smiled gently

'I promise, it won't happen again' you told him honestly, plastering the best fake smile upon your broken face

'That's quite alright, I was worried Adam had scared you off back there'

Harry chuckled as he slung an arm around your shoulder in attempt to walk you out of the arena.

Your body instantly froze at the contact and you knew instantly that Harry had noticed as he glanced down at you worriedly and hastily removed his arm from your shoulders

'Are you ok Beau?' he asked with genuine concern as he tried once again to look at your face

'I'm fine, thank you' you told him, tucking your head down further as you began now walking ahead of him and out of the back doors of the arena.