Act Two // Book One

Chapter Nineteen

Samantha woke up the next morning to a barrage of texts from Harry. He wanted her to pick up a ton of food at the grocery store along with more of his coffee order than usual. He also asked her to grab beer and a bottle of wine which was odd. He also apologized for texting her so early. And for piling all of that onto her. And for not being able to help.

The next few texts were from Jeri. She was already at the house and from what Samantha could tell, super confused about what was going on there.

Samantha tapped her phone number and put her ear to the phone,

"What is going on?" She asked when Jeri picked up.

"I don't know. He's real nervous about something though. He had me here super early this morning. But when he called last night to ask me to get here early, he apologized. I'm telling you he's been bodysnatched. We should get him tested."
Samantha rolled her eyes,

"He hasn't been bodysnatched. Tell him I'll be there in an hour and try not to irritate him until I get there."

"I'm staying out of his way...but he seems to be already at a six on the irritation schedule without my help."

Harry rushed out of the front door when he saw Samantha balancing everything he'd asked for in her hands. He reached out to take the coffee and bags from her,

"Why didn't you call to ask for help?"

Samantha looked at him like he was nuts,

"With what hand?"
Harry hurriedly walked behind her into the house,

"I have some food coming. Can you listen for the door? And keep Rufus in the backyard today? I don't want any distractions."
Samantha nodded,

"Yeah." She glanced around the house, "What is going on?" She asked as she followed him into the kitchen.

Harry set down everything she'd brought. He turned to face her but seemed to be unwilling to look her in the eye,

"The boys are headed over here in an hour. We're gonna..." He swallowed, "Talk."
Samantha pushed her hair out of her face, she tried to hide the shock,

"Oh!" She quickly fixed her eyes back to normal, "That's great. What food did you get?"
"Chinese...it's-" Harry stopped. He cleared his throat, "It's what we ate when we were kids...at the X-Factor house...after every performance."
Samantha pursed her lips to keep from screaming out how incredibly cute that was. Harry rolled his eyes as he watched her just about explode,

"Oh my God...say it."

Samantha sprang to life, golf clapping her hands with excitement as she hopped up and down,
"That is the cutest thing."

Harry nodded,

"Yeah, it's precious. So when it gets here can you handle all that? I need to get the stuff handled down in the studio."

Samantha nodded,

"Absolutely."

Harry turned to walk away, Samantha still excitedly jumping up and down behind him.

"Stop it." He commanded as he rounded the corner.

---------------------

Harry was a little nervous. Well...a lot nervous. He'd done a lot of apologizing over the last week for someone who was a novice at it. His fingers threaded through his hair while a deep sigh exited his lungs.

His bandmates had never answered any questions regarding him during interviews. That had to be a good sign. They were respectful of his privacy and never seemed angry when his name was brought up. But that was in front of cameras and fans. Maybe behind closed doors, things would be different.