The X-Factor Experience | L.S

Thirteen: November

"Hey, Lou. How come you made us leave the restaurant so quick the other day?" Harry heard a male voice say. He was about to enter the X Factor building, dressed in sweatpants and a grey hoodie (travel clothes), and a suitcase in his left hand. He was filled to the brim with excitement about the next part of the process: Judge's house.

"Nothing, I heard some boys at the entrance mention my full name when they talked to the waiter. I really wasn't in the mood to sign autographs in the middle of our lunch," Louis said. "I love my fans, but I wish they'd respect my privacy sometimes.

Harry froze in his position. He felt the suffocating feeling of guilt and shame taking over his body. How stupid was he? He never even thought about how selfish he could be when it came to his own feelings. He was so annoyed with himself.

"Hello, Harry," Louis greeted him when he noticed him in the door.

"Oh. Hi!" Harry smiled. He walked further into the building where he saw everyone standing with their suitcases and duffel bags. The male voice he had heard was Mark. Harry frowned. Louis had lunch with Mark. Maybe they were dating after all? Not that it concerned him, but. "How do you do."

As Louis continued chatting with some other of his contestants, Harry caught sight of Lucas and George standing in the corner of the building with Simon. He approached them and gave Lucas a hug.

"Harry," Simon gave a PR-smile. "You ready to go to New York City?"

"As ready as a man can be, I guess," Harry said. He'd always wanted to go see America. It was just hard to be away from home so much. However, he was grateful for getting to spend this weekend here in London.

"Man alive, I'm so excited!" Lucas shouted, making everyone turn their heads.

"How do we know where we'll sleep this trip?" George asked Simon.

"I think that's up to the individual judge. You should ask Louis what he's decided. I have a lot of different villas close to each other in Malibu, so my contestants will probably have two roommates to share one villa with. I know Louis' apartment in NYC is quite big, though, so don't worry - you're not gonna have to sleep on the floor or anything."

"Wait, each judge is going to their own homes instead of everyone going together?" Harry frowned.

Simon nodded. "Yes. It's a little different this year. But don't worry, we'll all be together again when we get home. Unless those who get eliminated, that is," he laughed obnoxiously, but nobody joined in on his laughter.

Harry shrugged and walked over to Louis to ask him about sleeping spots. He lightly tapped him on the shoulder and Louis turned around, creasing an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Um. I was just wondering if the, uh, the places we'll have to sleep in when we get to your apartment. Are those arranged, or?"

"Why don't we worry about that when we get there? I'm kind of in the middle of a conversation right now," Louis said. Harry stepped back, his hands fidgeting with his shirt. "Sorry."

The bus ride to the airport was uncomfortable with the streets of London being so bumpy. Harry shut his eyes and gripped his seat tightly to keep himself from throwing up. 

They arrived at the airport at noon, and Harry was the first one to scurry out of the bus. It was this huge, squared building made out of steel. He dragged his suitcase behind him and walked alongside Lucas and George as they all entered inside the busy airport where people were moving around chaotically. If Harry thought the exterior was big, then the interior was colossal. The roof was of pure glass, letting so much sunlight in, that it was as bright as a summer day.

For some reason, Harry would've expected an airport to be unclean and filthy, but the floors were pure white and reflected the sunlight.

"Well. I guess this is where we'll be parting?" Louis said to Cheryl and Simon. They gave each other a quick hug before going in three different directions with their respective contestants.

"I've never been in an airport before," Harry admitted to Lucas who gaped. "Really? How come?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, we could never really afford it."

Lucas hummed and took his hand, showing him the way to the baggage drop. 

"Shouldn't we wait on the others..."

"Nah, they'll just slow us down. I wanna go buy something to eat before we board. Trust me, I've done this a thousand times before, c'mon bro, let's go to the security check," Lucas said right after they'd dropped off their baggage, taking his hand again and practically dragging him through the cluttered airport toward the security check.

It was quite a strange experience to Harry. He had to take almost all of his clothes off, including his socks, just to get past the weirdly scary metal detector. Lucas just cackled at him, being used to it.

It was much more serene on the other side of the security check. Nobody was moving around stressfully here. Except for the ones who were running to make it to their flights on time, but other than that, it was actually quite nice. There were a lot of expensive stores and cafés, even bakeries. 

Harry's face lit up when his eyes landed on a candy store. He jogged over there, Lucas following him. They stared, captivated, at all the Swedish candy behind the glass. After a lot of bickering about which candy to choose, they decided to buy a bag of m&m's to share on the flight.

"We should probably head for the gate now," Lucas said, and they slowly walked in the direction of the gate, which, actually, was quite a long walk. It was at least a couple miles. So they ate half their bag of m&m's on the way. Those chocolates were really addictive, Harry thought with a frown.

They met the others at the gate. They were all standing in line to onboard the plane. Louis noticed the two delayed boys and gave them a stern look, but didn't say anything. Lucas went over and got his ticket scanned before disappearing through the gate. Harry copied his actions, through slightly anxious to go on the plane. 

Airplane food. 

Harry was not a fan.

Loud engines crushing his ears.

Harry was not a fan of that, either.

Being crammed into a seat next to Louis Tomlinson.

Harry was a fan.

They hadn't talked much, to be honest. Just a little when Louis was helping him relax right before they took off, convincing Harry that they weren't going to crash. Harry reached behind his seat and tapped Lucas on the arm, making him look up.

"m&m's, please," Harry smiled cutely.

"They're all gone," Lucas smirked.

Harry's mouth fell open and his eyebrows sank down to his eyes in disappointment. He huffed and leaned back in his seat, forced to eat the gross airplane food.

"I gotta go to the bathroom real quick," Harry informed Louis who probably didn't hear him considering the fact that he didn't look up, and that he had airpods plugged in his ears.

When Harry wobbled back from the bathroom, he saw that Mark was in his seat, chatting with Louis. Annoyance washed over him as he fastened his pace and approached them, trying not to fall in the process.

"Excuse me," Harry said coldly. Mark and Louis looked up at him. "This is my seat. You're in my seat."

"Oh. I'm terribly sorry - Louis told me it was an empty spot," Mark apologised and got up at once, pushing a golden stray behind his ear.

"It's fine," Harry murmured, sitting down next to Louis again. He spent the rest of the flight wondering why Louis had told Mark that his seat wasn't taken.