Common Knowledge

Chapter 9

It's 3:41 a.m. and can't sleep. So I'm posting this extra early on Saturday.

Also, just saw the photos of Harry dressed as Elton John for Halloween!!!

Nine

The filming of Harry Styles at the BBC - The Television Special was finished, and we were going back to London. I survived my time in Holmes Chapel on the coffee and Cadbury's Harry kept supplying. To be honest -and we're all being honest here- it wasn't all Cadbury's, I also dipped a bit into Nestlé's chocolate and had the occasional Kit Kat.

The pattern established in my first two days in Harry's home remained I was exhausted all day and unable to catch more than a couple of hours' sleep at night. There was always something exciting going on, and I relived each day's events at night jotting down my ideas in the tour journal. Usually, a good chat with my girls (not only my sisters Allegra and Felicity, and friend Joy, but also my mum) would help, but that was not something I could rely on at the moment, because of the confidentiality of Harry's work. Sleep seemed to be thinking: "She's having too much adrenaline in her. I don't like adrenaline much, better not show up tonight."

At the beginning of our morning work sessions Harry and I, always had a little, silly made-up game going, we expanded the initial game of "find the object in the messy pile" to a version in where we each could pick a thing that belonged to the other and the owner would explain why is what necessary to bring on tour. Harry was impressed by my modest St. Ives face scrub, it worked as well as pricier stuff. I lusted after his Bleach hair care products (I knew it was Lou Teasdale's recently launched line. I mean, the woman had looked after the heads of One Direction for five years, surely she knew what she was doing). We added another challenge: Whoever got up first would make breakfast. Needless to say, I never won the breakfast game, due to my sleepless nights.

"Admit it, you're oversleeping on purpose because you really, really like my cooking" Harry would tease.

"I don't know. I've never really seen you cook anything. Chances are, you are forcing your poor mother to wake up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast, and then pass it on as your own." I'd countered.

"That is so not true. I do all the cooking at breakfast, I even cook for mum." He'd respond outraged.

"Mmm., you are only doing this to get in my good graces. So when I write about you in the tour journal, you come out looking good." I'd taunt him.

At our second work meeting, I had plucked up enough courage to show him my writing. He liked it so much he cupped my face with his hands and gave me a peck each cheek as well. His reaction made me feel relieved and delighted (and also a little weak in the knees, might I add). From then on, we maintained constant communication. When I finished a bit I thought he'd like, I emailed them to him right away. He always answered. "Love this" "Great!, hadn't noticed that" "I don't talk that slow". There were times when he would look up from whatever activity he was doing at that moment, to catch my eye and direct thumbs up and huge grin my way. There were even some rare occasions when he'd just look at me and wink. Neither the thumbs up, nor the grin, nor the wink was making my sleepless situation any better.

As the actual taping approached, it really dawned on me how hard he actually worked. He was always the first one to rise, squeeze in a workout, cook breakfast, attend our work sessions, and then go over the filming details and rehearse with his new band. He reviewed every single detail as many times as needed, no matter how tired he was. I knew One Direction had a very tight schedule with very little free time, following them for Common Knowledge had made that obvious. But seeing up close how had Harry worked, was something else. The whole fandom complained about Harry not being more active on social media, but honestly, when would he find the time?