'And don't you worry your pretty little mind,
People throw rocks at things that shine,
But they can't take what's ours,
They can't take what's ours'

"What?"

I think I'm literally on the brink on insanity.

"Yeah. Didn't you read the schedule?"

More like skimmed through it....

"So let me get this straight" I said trying to wrap my head around this new found information "we have to fly to Glasgow first thing in the morning for the Radio 1's Big Weekend and right after we have to fly back here for the show that same night?"

"That is correct" Paul confirmed.

"Oh sweet baby Jesus" I sighed flopping back on to the couch.

"Is it possible for us to return to the hotel now?" I inquired knowing that if that was the plan for tomorrow, I was going to need all the sleep I could get.

I wonder how the boys handle this. The way Paul just brought it up, it seems like this is not something unusual.

How do they cope with the exhaustion? I bet they probably live on coffee.

Performing from one venue straight to the next. Wouldn't that put a strain on their vocal chords?

I mean....not that I'd know anything about that anyway...

I guess they've been through this for quite some time now and have their different strategies of coping but jeez...this should be illegal!

"Of course! Sure you don't want to watch the show?" he suggested.

"No thanks. I have more than enough chances to see them" I declined politely.

"Well there's a car out front. Just ensure you have everything before you leave" he informed walking towards the door.

"Thanks Paul" we said in unison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knock. Knock.

Ignore it and they'll go away.

Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Rise and shine Mia" a muffled voice sang out.

A tired groan escaped from my lips as I squinted at the neon coloured numbers displaying the time on the hotel alarm clock.

I close my eyes tightly and try to will myself back to sleep, shutting out the voice outside and Lily's snoring on the other side of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15 minutes later...

Something feathery tickles my nose, making it scrunch up.

My half asleep mind doesn't pay it any mind until the tickling becomes incessant.

My hand mindlessly tries to bat it away from my face but to no avail.

The tickling then moves from my nose to my ear. I hear a snort from somewhere in the room.

I try to swat it away but in the process, I end up slapping myself in the face drawing my comatose body to life.

My brown eyes snap open meeting bright emerald green eyes.

Not fully recognising the owner of said eyes, my first instinct is to scream.

However, they beat me to it, muffling my shocked scream with their large, soft hands.

"Now, now Mia. There are other people on this floor as well. Wouldn't want to wake them up" he tutted, reusing my words from yesterday.

My brows furrow and I feign annoyance but the truth is, his face being the first thing I see when I wake up improved my day by 100%.

Maybe it's my new favourite thing.
No...let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

I look up at him and he looks back at me just as intently. That is until I noticed his pink lips tugging upwards and the sight of the discarded makeup brush next to him.

"Your face okay? It took quite the smacking" a snicker echoes through the room.

I look behind him and find Lily whistling, walking innocently into the bathroom and shutting the door.

"What are you doing here?" I ask looking back to him, my voice slightly croaky.

"Well you wouldn't let me in" he says casually "so Lily did"

"But why?" I whined rubbing my eyes.

"Because" he mocked "we have to be at the airport in like, an hour"

"What?" I bolted up straight in shock so fast I bumped heads with Harry.

"Ow" we winced in unison, rubbing our foreheads.

"Christ! What is your head made of? Bricks?"

I shoved his shoulder "why were you so close to me? You know I'm a walking hazard"

"I thought you were going through a phase" he groans in pain still rubbing his forehead.

The longer he sits there trying to relieve the pain that I caused, the more guilty I feel.

"Why can't you just be normal?"

"That clumsiness will get you no where in life. All you can do is cause disasters"

"You always ruin everything!"

I gulp as I come back to reality, shrugging off my mother's words that seem to be coming to life.

"I'm so sorry, really really sorry. I didn't mean to, I swear-I" I start rambling off apologies.

"It's okay" is all he says. Or at least what I heard through his hands covering his face.

"I'm really sorry, again" and he nods "Hey! If it makes you feel better, at least I didn't give you a concussion" I say trying to lighten the mood.

However, I don't get the response I wanted. Or any response at all.

At the silence, mother's words come barreling back with a force, being the only thing I can hear at the moment.

"What did you just say?" I hear Harry ask suddenly snapping me out of my thoughts. The expression on his face is unreadable.

I watch him confused. What did I say?

"Who told you that?" he snaps but I still don't know what he's talking about.

He must see the confused look on my face because he elaborates,

"That you're not normal and you cause disasters and you ruin everything"

I feel my face drop at his words. I didn't realise I said it out loud. Hell, I didn't even know my mouth opened to speak.

I can't believe I just did that.

"It's nothing" I try to brush it off but he's not having any of it.

His eyes pierce through mine intensely ensuring to hold my gaze.

"It's not nothing" he says softly grabbing my hands gently in his without breaking contact.

"Of course you're not normal! You're extraordinary. Being clumsy doesn't make you a bad person. You're human, it's part of who you are and I wouldn't change it for the world" he says firmly, leaving no room for objection.

I feel my heart burst at his words.

And it's hard because I know that he means them with every little fibre of his being but I can't bring myself to accept them.

Sure, at this moment I believe him. I can see the seriousness in his eyes and I feel my body react in a way it never has before at the thought of that being his opinion of me.

But what happens when he's not there to tell me again. To reassure me that what he says is true. When I'm by myself in a dark, quiet room wrestling between my mind and reality as my anxiety takes over.

"And if ruining things means me getting bumped on the forehead then by all means" he puts his hands out "ruin me all you want"
That didn't me feel better at all...

"I'm joking" he grins "accidents happen. It's not the end of the world"

I nod suppressing a smile.

"Besides, I think we broke our record for 'best good morning'"

I roll my eyes "of course you remember that"

"You didn't?! It was an iconic part of our friendship! Mia should I be worried" he exclaims dramatically and this time I can't hold back the smile that threatens to appear.

"There it is" he says smiling softly.

"What?" I ask still smiling.

"Your smile" he says staring at my lips.

Under different circumstances I'd say this would've been cheesy. But oddly enough, I find myself...liking it?

I clear my throat abruptly causing him to look away from my mouth and go to stand.

"Right, well I better go get ready before we miss the flight"

As I make my way to the bathroom, I feel a slight tug on my wrist.

A serious expression adorns his face when I turn to face him.

"I meant what I said"

"I know" reassuring him that I knew he did.

"Good because I don't want to ever hear you say that about yourself again" the finality in his voice makes me want to gulp. I look at his eyes and for a brief moment, I see hurt flash across them before they soften again.

All I can do is nod before going into the bathroom.

"That was so cute!" Lily gushes as soon as I enter with a black pencil held to her eyelids.

Choosing not to feed her curiosity or find out what she heard, I replied

"I forgot you came in here"

And I really did. I forgot she was even in the room. It really felt like it was just Harry and I alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay! I'm ready!" I exclaimed walking out of the bathroom after getting ready.

However I don't get a response. Looking up, I now understand why.

Harry and Lily are standing near the floor to ceiling window facing each other with intense stares. You can feel the tension rolling off of them in waves.

I watch amused as Lily lightly squints her eyes and Harry follows her exact movements not long after.

It appears that they are in the middle of a staring match.

Observing Harry's body language, you can tell that he's going to blink first and by Lily's expression, you can tell that she knows.

Not preparing to lose, he pulls a goofy face at her causing her to burst out laughing and in the process doing what he intended, getting her to blink.

Cheek boy.

"Ha! You blinked! I win!" he yells excitedly.

Her laughter dies in her throat as she realises what took place.

"You slimy bastard! You cheated!" she accuses.

He feigns offense and puts a hand over his heart "I would never do such thing!"

She huffs and turns to look at me "Mia, you saw it! He cheated!"

We turn our eyes to him but he looks up at the ceiling innocently.

I can't help but laugh at their contradicting expressions.

A buzzing sound echoes throughout the room. Harry takes his phone, unlocks it and stares at the screen for a bit before saying,

"Time to go"

Knowing what he means, Lily and I walk over to the makeup suitcases and carry them to the door. It was only then that I noticed Harry sling a small duffle over his shoulder.

"You brought down your stuff?"

"I figured I'd bring it with me since I planned on spending the morning with you" he says as a pink tint covers his cheeks.

"With me?" I questioned, slightly flattered.

"Well after yesterday, I thought it would be fun if we made it 'our thing'"

Our thing. Has a nice ring to it.

"So breakfast every morning is 'our thing'" I clarified.

"Now you just make it sound boring" he says "and somebody slept through it this morning, so I guess we'll have to do it on the plane" the determined look on his face is almost adorable.

After rejecting his many attempts at wanting to carry the suitcases, we finally made it down to the lobby where everyone else was waiting.

We were lead outside where three sleek black, dark tinted SUVs were parked and we separated into them.

For some reason, Harry decided to ride with us instead of the boys but I'm not complaining.

"Hey, you guys never told me what the prize was for the staring match" I said as I sat between them in the back seat.

Lily rolls her eyes with a huff so I look to Harry knowing that I won't get an answer from her, who wears a triumphant smile.

"We're gonna be seat mates!"