A Dreamers Dream

She's mad but she's magic. There's no lie in her fire. Melbourne, Australia

Harry's perspective.

"Maddie?" I whisper quietly from outside her door, straining my ears for any sound or response from within, but I hear nothing. Dammit, she must be asleep.

Tonight was a night of firsts for me. It was the first time I've ever invited anyone up on to the stage to sing with me in an empty arena. The first time I've ever crossed the boss-employee line with any members of my crew. Excluding the drunken kiss with Maddie the night before of course, which I've decided doesn't count as she can't remember it. And maybe most surprisingly of all, it was the first time I can recall ever being disappointed to see Mitch.

When we arrived back at the hotel, and I spotted him lurking in the doorway of the lobby, I knew straight away that my time with Maddie tonight was over and it bothered me a lot, more than it should have done really.

After all, I am in the middle of a tour, it's kind of understandable that my manager might need to actually discuss the upcoming shows with me every now and then. But Jeff's timing really couldn't have been worse tonight.

I had planned on inviting Maddie up to my suite when we got back, no, not like that! Get your minds out of the gutter. Just to talk. I need to establish what she wants, what we are to one and other, where we are going to go from here. I don't want to just be the guy who kissed her a few times then went back to being her friend, I need to know what she's feeling, or I'll drive myself mad thinking about it.

As soon as I saw Mitch's face though, I knew from his expression that Jeff was in one of his moods and I'd have to go and talk to him. Mitch isn't a man of many words, but often the look on his face can tell me more than words could anyways. I had to, begrudgingly, let go of Maddie's tiny hand which I hadn't managed to loosen my grip on the whole ride home, and send her off to her room without so much as a goodnight kiss and that utterly sucked.

The meeting with Jeff had dragged on and on for hours. I couldn't stop myself from glancing up at the clock at regular intervals, and I lost track of the conversation several times. I am pretty sure I agreed to adding fringing to the suit I'm going to wear in Mexico. Because that's what every Guitar players needs, rogue bits of thread to get tangled up in the strings mid-song, but I couldn't seem to make myself focus. All I wanted to do was get out of there as quickly as possible and get back to Maddie before she fell asleep.

That's why I now find myself standing outside of a hotel room door at three in the morning, whispering pathetically at the dark wooden door and debating whether or not I should knock or if I should be a regular person and leave our chat till a more sensible hour.

In the end, it was the energy-saving lights in the long empty corridor that made the choice for me.

Designed to only come on when they sensed movement, the lights had been triggered as I had approached Maddie's hotel room, but now that I was standing idly staring at the door, and had been for several unmoving minutes, they began to dim and eventually flickered off entirely, engulfing me in darkness. That's when I knew it was time to go to bed. Hovering outside a ladies hotel room in the dark is not really something I want to be caught doing.

Shit. Damn you, Jeff. I muttered under my breath as I made my way back towards the lobby, resigning myself to having to wait until tomorrow to speak to Maddie. Walking past the long gleaming oak desk in the main lobby though I spotted a hotel issue notepad and pen on the side and had a brainwave.

"Can I borrow this?" I asked a sleepy-looking attendant behind the desk, who's eyes shot open comically at the sound of my voice.

"Erm, yeah mate, sure." He drawled in a heavy Australian accent. I nodded my thanks and bent over the desk to write.