Chapter 26

ROSALIE'S P.O.V:

As I finally had a few minutes of my shift done, I grabbed my bag and rearranged all my things as I packed up to go home. I remembered to grab the flowers I received today and held it tightly. It was approximately 4pm since it was only a short day today and as I left the store, my phone went off. I scrambled in my bag, struggling to find my phone as the ringtone became louder and louder. I finally grabbed my iPhone and Harry's face came on the screen and I smiled instantly. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Rose! It's Harry. How'd you like the flowers?" the husky, sweet voice chimed in.
"I love it, thank you so much."
"Cool, anyway. I have some free time off rehearsals. Wanna go grab a coffee, you can come see us rehearse a bit too?"
"I would love to, where do you want to meet?"
"Um, John's cafe. The one we always go to." He exchanged goodbyes as I smiled as I reminisced about that day we officially met. It was the day that I knew he was going to be my friend, and to look back and see how close and how much we've been through these past times have been quite amazing. And never in a million years did I think that I would be here I am today. I freezed my bum off in my blue tailored pants and caught a bus that was near enough for me to walk to the cafe. I carefully held the flowers as I had a lot of looks from people. As I arrived, I noticed Harry surrounded by a group of female admires. Of course, I grinned to myself. I waved at him as he smiled and waved back, he excused himself from the girls which they didn't look exactly.. pleasant about it.

"Rose!" Harry shouted as he gave me a massive bear hug. "Nice flowers, whoever got you them must be very special." He chuckled.
"That person is very special indeed." I grinned quietly to myself. He led me into the cafe and opened the door with many of the female fans following him in. Harry looked quite ill, considering his nose was red and his eyes looked more tired than usual.
"Are you sick?" I asked. "Yeah, got a bit of the flu" he replied as I suddenly noticed how much raspier and unusual he sounded. I then noticed John working behind the counter, still looking absolutely healthy. "John!" I exclaimed as I ran to give him a hug as he chuckled at me.
"Rose, it's been a long time." He smiled with his white hair neatly combed back.
"I know, I've missed you. How have you been?" I asked.
"Better than before thank you. What'd you like? The usual?" he asked.
"Yes please, and Harry would like the same with extra whipped cream. Oh also an extra 4." I said, remembering to buy it for the rest of the boys.
"You know my order?" He asked, certainly surprised. "Of course." I smiled. John gave us the drinks as Harry offered to pay.

The female fans were still surrounding Harry as I greeted them all briefly and chatted to them. They didn't really recognise my existence so I politely sipped my hot chocolate and stared at how lovely Harry was with the fans. How he was so chatty with them all and taking photos. They way his crooked smile would melt people's heart, the way his curls would be arranged so messily but yet so neatly, the way his dimples would deepen every time he would laugh. He was beautiful, both inside and out. And I never felt so appreciative then this moment, that I had him in my life. That he was there for me both through my worst and best times. That fate allowed us to meet when I moved to London. That he accepted me in his crazy, rock-star life and still finds time to come and hang out with me...

"He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" John chuckled as he whipped the tea towel over his shoulder. I coughed a bit too much as he said that.
"Um, what... no haha...no." I replied suspiciously, sipping on my hot chocolate, quite embarrassed. God, I suck at lying.
"The way you look at him, would be the way I look at my wife. And he looks at you just the same." He replied, not convinced with my lie.
"He has a girlfriend though..." I sighed, trying to cover up my disappointment. "Doesn't mean he may not feel the same." He replied.
"You know, it took a long time for me to win my wife over. But it was worth it." He replied as he smiled his sweet grin at me. He patted my shoulder and looked me into my eye. "He's something special, and you know it." He whispered as he returned back to serve another customer. I was shocked at how, just how did he know. Was it really the way I was looking at him? I stared outside the window and sipped on my drink.

"Hey, sorry. We can go now. So sorry you've been waiting" Harry said as he tapped my shoulder. I smiled and told him it was all ok, and that I didn't mind it at all. He waved to all his fans as I waved back and went into his black Range Rover. He turned on the engine and sped away to his rehearsal studio which didn't seem that far. We stopped and there were a mob of fans waiting outside. I cringed and settled back in my seat as I tried to hide of them since I knew that they don't often like me being spotted a lot with the boys. The security led Harry safely inside the parking and I struggled to get out holding the cup tray of coffee with my heavy stuff and books in my bag. "Oh, sorry." Harry said as he gave me a hand and held the tray. I smiled as I grabbed all my things, including the flowers and made our way up to room 4. I stepped in and saw Niall, Zayn, Louis and Liam absolutely drenched and battered, lying on the floor. Niall was eating chips, as Liam was chatting with him. Louis and Zayn were lying on the floor with the phone held up high, on top of their faces.

"Wake up lazy asses" Harry shouted as he went inside. The boys all looked up and ran to give me a hug. Zayn was the first one, since I haven't seen him in a while. They all came and were as excited as they saw a tray of hot chocolate, waiting for them.

"Harry. Where were you? And who is she, you're not allowed to invite girls back to rehearsals. You know that." A man's voice shouted through the room. I shivered as I felt like I really shouldn't be here. I turned around and it was a man who was taller than Harry by a bit and was very buff and meaty. He looked around the age of 30 and didn't look very pleased to see me.
"Hey Paul, this is Rosalie. You've heard of her, she's a good friend of mine and she's only here for a bit. And plus, I just got some refreshments for the lads. Promise." Harry smiled which was enough persuasion for the tour manager. Paul nodded and apologised and shook my hand. I smiled back and sat down with the group of boys who looked like they really need the sugar treat. Niall was slurping ferociously as the rest were taking sip by sip. We were all chatting about our holidays and sharing jokes and recent gossip between us. It was so nice to chill out with them and they never failed to make me laugh or smile.

"Rose, have you ever tried sock sliding?" Louis asked. I looked up with confusion and shook my head. This sounded very interesting.
"Sounds fun, explain."
"Ok well. You just put on a pair of socks and slide across the floors since they're really slippery. You can either slide on your own or grab someone and they'll pull you around. Your choice, wanna play?" Louis said, he ran to a bag and grabbed a pair of socks which looked 2 sizes too big for me. I took off my wedges that I was wearing all day and placed on the socks. The back foot section of the sock was where my ankle was and it looked very dysfunctional on me. There was so much space in the sock and looked ridiculous on me. The boys didn't have any shoes on so we began our game of... sock sliding.

"Grab my hand." Harry said. I grabbed it tightly, his hands were strangely very smooth. He pulled me along the room as I squealed with delight. I couldn't help but giggle as I squatted and slid around the room. We even had a race with Louis & Niall which obviously team Rosarry won! I tried pulling Harry but I have no muscles and struggled but after tugging and pulling, I managed to bring him around the room once. And after I let go, my hands were all red from grabbing tightly and my arms were aching slightly. We decided all to slid by ourselves against the floor. I was hesitant at first since I was afraid to slip. We all started doing spastic moves on the floor and after having several attempts, I successfully did my first actual slide. It was all fun since we were all doing it at the same time, looking like a dance routine. Zayn blasted some music from his iPod speakers as we rocked out to the songs on his playlist. We started sliding down, doing air guitars, making genuine fools of ourselves. As the song was coming to a conclusion, Liam did a very long slide which ended him falling backwards. I ran to his help while the rest of the boys were laughing and cracking up, crying from laughter. Liam smiled and chuckled and frowned as he realised his sweat pants just ripped..

"Oh... no..." he whispered as he stared at his backside.
"What's wrong?" I asked. He pointed to his bum as I walked to the other side and covered my mouth, trying not to laugh.
"I'm...sorry..I don't...mean...to...laugh" I chuckled, feeling really bad for laughing.
"Your pants ripped Mr. Payne?!" Harry laughed as they all went to examine his butt. Niall laughed loudly followed by the rest. Harry couldn't stop laughing which ended up making him cough ferociously as I ran to quickly pat his back to help him. He smiled and gave me the thumbs up to signal he felt better. Zayn got his phone out and took a photo of Liam's ripped trousers. Liam turned around quickly and tried to grab the camera off Zayn with embarrassment. I chuckled as I watched them fight playfully but Liam let him off. As I looked at my phone, I noticed Zayn already posted it up on twitter.

Zaynmalik:
Liam just tore his pants from rehearsals. Haha! Xx

Real_Liam_Payne:
Ripped my trousers... not again... lol!

We all sat down in a circle as we took out our phones and were preoccupied, clearly tired from all the air guitar moves and sock sliding.

"Oh Harry, I finally watched The Notebook that you suggested. You were right, it is the best movie ever." I said.
"You haven't watched it before?! How did you live?" Niall replied, very shocked with his mouth open.
"That movie made me cry so much." Louis exaggerated, pulling his best sad face.
"I know right? What part made you cry Rose?" Niall asked.
"When Old Allie forgot about Noah and had that panic attack and pushed him away. Oh my god, I broke down like a sad baby." I confessed embarrassingly.
"I CRIED AT THAT PART. SO SAD." Liam said as he chuckled.
"I cried when Noah and Allie were fighting and she left, that killed me mate." Niall said as Harry nodded in approval.
"I didn't really find that movie that... great." Zayn confessed, as he frowned.
"SAY WHAT." Niall shouted with Louis shouting at him with disgust. "How could you Zayn?" I asked him seriously, but failed to keep it as I chuckled.
"Wasn't...so..." Zayn tried to explain.
"No. Stop. It's the best sad movie I know. Shhh" Harry said as he placed a finger on Zayn's mouth. I couldn't help but crack up as my voice came off a bit too high. It sounded like a hyena or something, it was horrid. I stopped and covered my mouth and blushed with embarrassment. The boys all looked at me quite confused but one by one, they cracked a massive smile and all cracked up. We were all on the floor laughing at my embarrassing moment as I wiped the tears off my eyes from laughter and embarrassment. I felt my stomach gaining a new pack of abs or something as I clutched on it, feeling a stomach coming on from the hot chocolate.

"Ok boys, get up. Time to rehearse! Come on, get up!" Their rehearsal coach said. I didn't exactly catch his name, but he was very enthusiastic and looked just as tired as the boys. He looked at me for a brief second and didn't bother asking who I was. I shrugged my shoulders as I collected all the boy's drinks and placed them in a cup tray, grabbing a chair and watching them. This should be good!

HARRY'S P.O.V:

"Ok, boys. We'll be rehearsing One Thing, then after Gotta Be you. Get ready, we'll be learning some new steps and movements, so pay attention." Our choreographer and vocal coach, Adam said. He was one of the best, but sometimes can be harsh. I looked at Rose who was sitting on the chair, sipping on a bottle of water. I looked at her and smiled as she gave me the thumbs up, smiling her massive grin. I smiled to myself as I felt so proud that I get to perform in front of her, she was always so supportive of my career. She was cosily sitting cross-legged with just a tee since she was so stuffy after sock sliding and laughing. She was chatting with our tour manager, Paul and they seemed like they get on already.

"Harry. Were you even listening to me?" Adam shouted.
"Sorry Adam" I replied.
"Ok, now... when you sing, this is the positions you'll be in." Adam demonstrated which was quite confusing, considering I didn't know which was which. We were going to come out in a circular position then jump around and interact with the fan and each of our solos we have to stand in the front. It was nothing complicated, but Adam wanted us to perfect it. And when I mean perfect, I mean not even a second of delay to catch in time of the song. We started rehearsing and singing, up first was Liam where we stood by his side, tapping our arms and just pretending there was a crowd. Then was up to my part which I held the microphone to my face and walked to the front, to perform my solo.

"Shot me out of the sky, you're my kryptoniteee. You keep making me weak, yeah frozen and can't breathe."

As I sang it out, I stared at Rose during the whole line. She was looking at me uncomfortably and giving me a big grin as I smiled to the ground as I could feel myself blushing. I smiled softly and went back to the line order for Zayn to start off his part. We all came into our chorus, followed by Niall & Louis. We all came back in and harmonised as when it was over, I was so happy we perfected it after times before where we were a bit out of breath. I looked at Rose who clapped enthusiastically after we finished our performance, she looked very happy and ran to tell us we sounded amazing.

"You guys, that was perfect!" she said excitedly, but was ordered to sit back down by Adam. She looked at me and did a funny, silly, mocking face behind his back and giggled as she went back to her seat. I chuckled softly to myself and got a drink of water. We decided to rehearse One Thing a couple of more times until we were all 100% confident. Next was Gotta Be You, I kinda struggle at this song, mainly due to the high notes and I tend to lose my breath and to plus that I was quite ill today, didn't exactly help with it all. I took off my jumper since it was getting quite hot in the rehearsal room so we got in our positions. This time, our performance will be performed at a V-like shape with all of us being able to be at the front. Liam always started off the song as I came in slowly.

"Can we fall, one more time? Stop the tape, and rewind. Oh and if you walk away I know I'll fade cause' there is nobody else.. it's gotta be youuuu" I struggled at the high note of the "you" as my voice felt more sore than usual. I suddenly coughed out as I felt my throat was closing up every time I tried to hit the high note. Adam looked at me in disappointment as I apologised to him and the guys but the boys were all supportive and patted my back to tell me it was ok. Rose smiled at me to reassure that I was fine and it was enough to try again. The instrumental of the song came back on and we had to start all over again. As Liam started off his usual, I was more anxious and nervous as I felt my throat throbbing. And in the second time in a row, I struggled with the "you" again. The high note put a tough strain on my throat as I stopped and mimed as the rest of the boys did it, but it was really noticeable without my voice in the chorus. Adam looked at me and clapped and told us to start again. I felt myself feeling quite embarrassed as I used to always nail this part. After we got back into our positions, and got back. Rose looked at me and smiled and I nodded and went on, I finally did the first chorus and as we went through Zayn's solo, I got enough time to rest my voice. Unfortunately as the second chorus came on, it was a bit higher and I couldn't do it, I could only stop at a specific note since I didn't want to put my throat into too much pain. I shook my head and stopped as I frowned in embarrassment. Adam suddenly stopped the music and I could feel all eyes looking at me.

"What's the problem Harry?" Adam asked seriously, folding his arms across his chest.
"I have a bit of a flu, sorry." I replied.
"That's not good enough." He frowned, I looked into his eye and felt his disappointment burning through me. I bit my lip and apologised which he muttered something under his breath. "You are going on tour in a few days, and you'll be performing this song for a few times. What would happen if you stuff up? And the fans record you? It'll go on the internet, and you'll be making a fool of yourself. And pray that you get healthy again in a few days because we can't risk one illness to mess up your whole tour performance. Most of the fans will be depending on you to perfect every song and I don't want you to mess up for yourself or for the rest of the boys. We don't want that Red or Black incident again do we?" He replied firmly. I felt myself cringe as he brought up the Red or Black performance, which I wished I didn't have in my mind. It was a low point of my singing career, and never did I feel such embarrassment for that night. Words couldn't explain how I felt after I received so much criticism and hate for it. And for him to bring it up, was over the line. I bit my lip to try to stop myself from crying, I accept criticism. But when you are put on so much pressure, I tend to lose it sometimes.

"Have a break." Adam muttered as he left the room with Paul and other managers as they exited the room. I felt my anger heating up on me as I didn't want to be in this room. I felt so disappointed in myself and the pressure just finally managed to hit me. I excused myself and ran out the room, which I noticed Rose looking at me but didn't have enough time to reply. I went up this small staircase that allows you to enter the roof of the studio. I go there usually ever night with the boys on our break, and we just chill and talk and relax. I sat down, with my legs bent towards my chest. I rested my chin on my knee and thought about possible outcomes if I did mess up. I cringed as I felt my mind working hard out as I felt my nervousness creeping onto me. I sat there for 10 minutes, thinking about it, gazing into the night lights of London. No-one would understand how I would feel, how sometimes I'd feel so hopeless and ... just plain, talentless. I heard someone walk up the stairs but ignored and turned my back, not bothering to look.

"There you are..."A soothing voice entered, which I knew was instantly Rose. I looked at her and gave her my best half smile and looked back. She walked and sat next to me, her legs stretched out with her arms firmly touching mine. She looked at me and gave a small smile and looked out the distance. She didn't say anything, and she knew that I didn't really feel like talking about it at the moment. Although we sat in silence, it did make me feel a lot better.
"Here, just a lolly to soothe your throat." Rose offered as she grabbed out a packet of mints which I took and placed it in my mouth. She also took off her scarf and placed it around my neck, and although I refused, she insisted that I keep my neck warm and cosy at all times. She sat back down and looked at the sky. She just sat there, minding her own business but I wanted to tell her. I needed to get this out of my mind.

"The Red and Black performance was probably a low highlight of my career." I mumbled as she looked at me immediately, focusing her attention on me.

"Well, it was the comeback of our band. We just realised the single, and everyone had such high expectations of me. I was confident, but the song was on a high tempo that I kind of lost my solo. I was so nervous, it was visible in videos that are around the internet. The pressure on me was uncontrollable and by that time, I didn't have that much time to take a breathe. After that, I took a lot of criticism from that. Getting thousands of twitter mentions from people stating that they hate me, that they judge me, that I had no talent. And that broke me, because part of me wanted to listen to those criticisms, like part of me wanted to read what I really did feel about myself. It took a while to gain my confidence back, but it was embarrassing and humiliating. And what Adam just said, it kind of hit me then and there. And I'm worried, in myself. I'm worried I'll let my team down, I'm worried that I'll let my fans down especially. This tour is to prove to the UK that I can sing, but the pressure is sometimes too much for me to handle..." I said, I whispered at the last sentence I said. I tried to stop myself from crying but I felt that stupid urge of tears in my ears. And to make it more embarrassing, I did not want to cry in front of Rose. I could feel her body facing me as she jumped in and gave me a massive hug. I wrapped my arms around her and sniffled into her jumper, I really needed this. She let go slowly and looked at me, her eyes deep into mine.

"Harry. You're one of the most talented people I know. You sing amazingly well, and I know your fans are one of the most loyal and dedicated ones I know. You give yourself such little credit, but that's a good thing. It shows you're humble, caring and appreciative. Adam saying what he said, displays how tired he is, just as much as you. But always look at criticism as something you can work on to improve on. The Red & Black performance is in the past, and look back. Look at how far you came, from performing at award shoes, countless signings and interviews, from international promotion, to your first tour sold out in a couple of minutes. There's reasons why people are falling in love with you Harry, and it's because you're you. There will always be people out there who will target you, look at me. I still get hundreds of them each day, but it doesn't stop me from doing things I want to do in life. The boys are so proud of you, and so are your managers, your family, your friends, Me... In 10 years time, you're going to look back and think about how much is going to change. But I know you'll be proud of what you did, and what you're doing now. Words cannot explain how proud I am of you..." Rose stuttered, I looked at her as I smiled, my eyes still watery and red from before.

She looked at me and bit her lip as I grabbed her into a hug. I whispered a thank you in her ear as I grabbed her more tightly and I could feel her smile deepen into my back. She let go and didn't say a word, as I took a while to function what she said. And she was absolutely right, and it made me feel so much better. I looked out the distance and thought of all the memories I shared with the band, how I came from working in a bakery to performing at sold out tours. I wrapped my arms around Rose as we stared in the distance, in silence as we took in the chill and the calmness of distance car engine noises and voices of people. I looked down at her as I placed my cheek on her head, I was so lucky to have her. She moved and looked at her watch and chuckled.

"The boys must be worried, let's get back in." She said as she took her hand out. I grabbed it and she helped pull me up, I shook out my legs and fixed up my hair as I wiped my ears, hoping no-one would notice. She nodded in approval and held my hand as we walked back in. I looked at her as she led me back into the door. She made everything feel so much easier, she made me feel more special. She made me feel that I didn't have to worry about anything, she made me feel so much calmer and loved. She made me happy, she makes me happy. And I love her for that.

Author's Note: Sorry, bad error. Amy's boyfriend name is DAVE not MAX. Major mistake, hope it didn't confuse anyone. Hope you enjoy the story so far, I enjoy writing it for you! xx