Jen's POV
"What the fuck happened in here?" I barked.
"Luke kissed her." Niall yelled.
I walked over to him, "Sit down!"
"Kat, go clean up Luke then come back please."
She nodded and the two of them walked into the bathroom.
I turned to Niall, "You can't just punch people."
"I can if it's for a good reason."
"That wasn't for a good reason!"
"He kissed her!"
"So what?! They're dating!"
"But she's supposed to be mine."
"Stop saying she's yours! She's not yours!"
He ran his fingers through his hair, "You are the last person I should be taking relationship advice from."
I gave him a look, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"How's Harry?" He smirked.
"Shut up. That's none of your business."
"Well this is none of your business." He countered.
"Niall," I sighed, "Everything that happens on this tour is my business because I'm the tour manager. I need to keep you all in line and I can't fucking do that if you're throwing punches at each other."
Niall chuckled, "There was only one punch. Katie stopped the other one."
I rolled my eyes at him and was about to respond when Katie and Luke walked back into the room.
"Alright. All three of you. Sit!"
They all sat in separate chairs.
"This has gone on long enough! We're talking this out right now!"
"What's there to talk about? Luke and Kat are dating and I'm just the Irish asshole who threw a punch."
"You are being an asshole," Katie muttered.
I shot her a look, "Kat, stop it and talk this out."
"You want me to talk this out?" She cocked a brow. Her tone completely testing.
I shot her a look, "Don't."
She completely ignored me, "Fine. Luke, I like Niall. Niall, I like Luke. But I'm dating Luke."
"Not anymore," Luke mumbled. He stood up and walked out of the room.
I could see the smile Niall was trying not to break out.
With the tears filling Kat's eyes, she stood up and looked at Niall, "Don't talk to me." Then she stormed out of the room.
I adverted my eyes to anything but Niall, "Okay, um I'll go get Maddy and she can do your hair."
"Alright." He mumbled.
I walked out of the room, "Maddy! Niall is ready." She bounded around the corner and into the room I just left.
I walked to the room next door to find Kat putting her sketches into her notebook. "Kat?"
"What, Jen?"
"Can we talk about this?"
She shook her head, the tears still present. "It was a bad idea for me to come out this weekend."
"C'mon Kat, just stay the rest of the weekend. You, me and Maddy can go get coffee and have a girl's night."
She shook her head, "Thanks for the offer but I think I'll just go back tonight."
I sighed, "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, bae."
"I feel like it is. I told Niall to go talk to you."
She met my gaze, "But you had no idea Luke was in there, right?"
"Of course I didn't."
"Then it's not your fault. I'll go home tonight and you'll cover the next concert. I'll leave my sketch book here for you."
"Kay." I turned and walked out of the room feeling a bit defeated with myself.
I found the 5SOS boys and sent them toward the stage to go on. Luke and I shared a small nod before he ran out with the others.
I turned and saw the blue couch calling my name. I plopped down on it and let out a huge sigh.
"Why do I have to fuck everything up?" I whispered to myself.
"You don't." I heard a British accent say quietly.
I looked toward the voice and saw Harry standing a few feet away. "Hey, Haz."
"Hi, love. Can I join you?"
I nodded. "Sure." I scooted over to give him plenty of room to sit. But as soon as he did he pulled me over and we were right next to each other.
"Let me tell you something." He said quietly, "You've got the biggest heart of anyone I know. Right now you feel like you're the reason Kat's unhappy but it's not true, J. Shit happens, a lot more than we want it to, but you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. It'll be okay in the end."
I sighed and my head fell on his shoulder. "Thank you" I said quietly.
"You're welcome, love."
His arms wrapped around my shoulders as 5SOS played their set. No one really questioned us as the walked past us. Which of course I was thankful for. As far as I know, Kat is the only one who knows that every time Harry looks at me my heart beats at 100 miles an hour. And that every time he brushes past me in the hallway my skin feels like its 100 degrees. And that right now in this very moment, I wish I could tell him how I feel.
"Hey, you okay?" Harry's voice brought me out of my daze.
I nodded and sat up, "Yup. I'm good. Should we make sure the others are ready?"
He gave a small smile, "Yeah, that sounds good."
I hopped up and went to the dressing room. Maddy and Louis sat on one of the couches talking quietly to each other, Liam was playing a video game and Niall was on his phone on the other chair.
"Hey guys!" I said, getting their attention.
Liam looked up and chuckled lightly, "Where were you two?"
"Don't worry about it." Harry snapped.
"Whoa! Okay!" I said trying to cover up my now reddened cheeks. "Let's get you lot ready. C'mon!"
Louis and Liam got up and followed Harry out the door.
"Niall!" I said louder.
He looked up, "Am I allowed to skip this one?"
I sighed, "No. Now c'mon!"
He sighed and got up and stopped at the doorway. "She left didn't she?"
I nodded, "Yeah. I'm sorry."
"Me too."
************
After the show, I decided to skip the hangout in Niall and Harry's room. There was a knock on my hotel door shortly after midnight.
I opened it and Maddy let herself in.
"Hey." She chirped.
"Hi." I chuckled as I followed her into my room. "What's up?"
"I don't know. I just don't think you should sit in here alone." She laid back on the bed. "They're just drinking and having a laugh."
"Yeah without Kat I'm just not in a cheery mood."
She smiled, "I'm here to listen."
"What?"
"You want to talk to Kat about something but you won't call her because it's so late. Tell me instead."
"It might be a little weird though. I mean, you've known the boys a long time."
"Yes, but I can probably help you with whatever it is."
I sighed.
"Can I guess?" She asked.
I shrugged, "Sure."
She met my gaze. "You're definitely crushing on one Harry Edward Styles."
"H-how did you know that?" I asked.
Maddy chuckled, "I figured it out tonight when the two of you walked in together."
"What? Oh c'mon. He was like 30 seconds behind me."
"Yes, but he got very close to you."
"The doorway was small." I countered.
She rolled her eyes, "That doorway handled Liam, Louis AND Niall all at once after the show, I think it can handle you and Harry without him being so close to you."
I groaned and plopped down on the bed beside her. "Maddy, I have never felt this way for someone before in my life! Not even the guy I was with for three and a half years."
"I will admit, it is easy to like Harry. And the two of you are very similar in many ways. I will also tell you that as good as the two of you would be together, you'd be in for a lot more hate if you date him."
"I could handle it if it makes me not so flustered around him."
"You could go solve this right now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Go get drunk and then kiss him."
I gasped, "Oh! Ok! Yeah cuz I'm gonna do that." I chuckled. "No."
She shrugged, "Just a thought."
"Thanks for the suggestion but I'll pass. I'm mostly just worried that he'd say no if I ever said anything."
Maddy shook her head, "From my observations over the years and just from the last couple of weeks, no way would he say no to you, Jen. There's something there. I can see it."
Maddy eventually left and I was left to ponder it.
*************
The next morning, my patience was tested.
At the hotel.
"Niall!". I yelled through the hotel room door. "Get out here right now!"
"I don't want to get up!" I heard him snap back.
I groaned and sat down on the floor frustrated.
Just then Harry walked up. "What are you doing on the floor?"
I scrambled to stand up. "Niall won't get up."
"Oh." He used his key to get into the room.
I ran in and went straight to Niall's bed ripping the covers off of him. I'm so glad he was wearing boxers.
"Get the fuck up right now Niall! I'm not fucking kidding! I was supposed to be at the stadium an hour ago but I told Paul and Helena that I would bring you lot with me! So get up!"
He sat up and looked at me, "It's because I'm Irish isn't it?"
I groaned and pulled on my hair. "No! Now get up!"
As I walked away I could hear Niall and Harry laughing. I was not impressed today.
During rehearsal.
"Louis! Do I need to go get the water gun?!" I screamed at them.
"You don't have it! It's Kat's!"
I groaned and walked into the dressing room. I opened up the bottom drawer of our make-up cart and pulled out Kat's water gun. I huffed back onto the stage, loaded it and hit Louis once in the back and Niall once in the stomach.
"Fucking hell, Jen!" Niall exclaimed.
I glared at them. "Thirty minutes and I want you all in the dressing room."
I turned and left them to finish rehearsal with Paul.
In the dressing room.
"Can I switch shoes with Lou?" Niall asked.
"No. This is what Kat wants you to wear, boys."
"Can you fix this?" Harry asked holding up a shoe with a broken sole.
I groaned. "Shit. Come on, we have to go out back and find a new pair." I motioned Harry to follow me.
We weaved in and out of the crew getting ready for tonight. Finally we made it to the spare box of shoes.
I riffled through it until I found a new pair of black suede boots tied up with a rubber band. Turned around to hand them to Harry and his head shot up to look at my face.
"Uh, here." I held them out.
He took them and looked them over. "Perfect." His gaze met mine and he leaned forward pressing his lips to my cheek. He lingered a bit and then stood up straight again. "Thank you, love."
"Y-you're welcome. Now let's get back."
He gave me the broken ones and I tossed them in the discard box of clothes we had that had piled up before following Harry back to the dressing room.
Off stage before going on stage.
"Hey Lou." Liam chuckled as he slid a small water gun into his front pocket.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I said quietly.
"Liam!" I said a bit louder. I held my hand out and he sighed handing over the water gun.
"C'mon, Jen let them have some fun." I heard a raspy voice in my ear.
I shook my head despite wanting to just give into the voice. "I can't deal right now, so no one is getting away with anything today." I responded.
Harry stepped in front of me, "What's wrong?" He wrapped his ear-in wire around the back of his neck and moved his hair to go over it.
"I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well."
"Why didn't you sleep well?"
I shook my head and focused my eyes on my notebook in my hand, "No reason. Just couldn't sleep."
"You need to get good sleep."
"I'm trying Harry." I snapped a bit.
"Is it because Kat left?"
I sighed and dropped my arms to my sides, "You know, I think I'm going to go. I'll see you guys later."
I walked around Harry and took a few steps before I felt a hand around my arm holding me back, "Jen wait."
"Harry let go." I hissed.
"I-I didn't mean to upset you."
"Just let me go."
He did as I said and I walked away. I went to the dressing room and packed up what I could and then packed up my personal things. I grabbed my bag and left the room. The boys were starting the opening to Clouds as I stepped out the back door of the stadium and headed back to the hotel for the night.
"Katie!" I said as soon as her face popped up on the Skype screen.
"Hey Jen, what's up?" She stopped. "Wait, have you been crying?"
I shook my head, "No. I'm just sleep-deprived and stressed out! Boys are so stupid!"
She laughed at my outburst.
"Boys giving you a hard time?"
I sighed, "Yes. Terribly." I told her all about my day, not leaving out any detail.
"Oh, and I got word today that they were scheduled to do a charity ball but no one planned anything. So we get to! Yay!" I said half sarcastically.
Kat's face lit up, "Oh, c'mon bae! This will be fun! It's like playing dress-up."
I shrugged, "Yeah, maybe for you. Simon's email basically said, "plan everything and don't fuck up", I may as well plan my own funeral while I'm at it."
"Would you relax? Damn, Jen. You need to go to sleep." She looked down briefly and then back up. "Wait, did you leave the concert early?"
My eyes widened and I looked everywhere except at the computer screen. "Jen! You can't just leave!"
"Kat! He grabbed my arm, whipped me around and looked at me with those puppy dog, green eyes! I wanted to cry! So yes, instead of giving into the green eyes I decided to leave. No harm was done. Mark was informed."
I heard Kat sigh, "Good thing you come home soon then huh?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Okay, well I'm falling asleep so I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Alright, good night bae."
"Good night bae."
