Stumbling Into Perfection...

Chapter 24

After Jennifer finished the tiny bottle of vodka, she drank two more. The hate and disappointment that passed through her wasn't enough to stop it. Nothing was. She threw the bottles into the trash can next to the dresser, burying them down in the bottom. She contemplated calling the front desk and having them restock the refrigerator, but there was really no reason to think Harry would look in there anyway.

She would try to make it to a meeting later in the week and until then she just wouldn't drink.

It was a stumble. That's all it was.

She got herself ready for the day and emerged from her hotel room, determined to find Harry and apologize. She knew he had a full day of things booked but she didn't care. He didn't deserve what she'd done that morning. Too many things were spiraling out of her control, she needed to at least get one thing back on track so she could build on that.

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Holly was sitting in the chair next to Liam while Lou did his hair. She watched Harry walk into the room, looking like he'd just been told Santa wasn't real. She looked over at Liam for a moment and then got up to walk towards Harry. He was emptying his pockets to start getting his wardrobe on when she got to him,

"Hey..." When he turned to look at her she could easily tell he was worse than she thought, "You ok?"

He'd tried to deal with his emotions before he'd walked into the room. The roller coaster he was on with Jennifer was doing a number on his head though. And somehow talking to Holly about it seemed like a betrayal. He took a deep breath,

"Yeah. Great. They make a decision about your CD yet?"

She frowned and shook her head,

"Still weighing their options. So you're stuck with me on this tour until it ends in two months I guess."

He smiled weakly,

"Lucky us."

She watched him for a few moments. Something was definitely wrong,

"Harry..." She said, calling his attention to her, "You can tell me."

He shook his head,

"No I can't."

"Is it Jennifer?" When Harry looked up at her she immediately knew it was, "What's going on?"

He wanted to resist. To keep their relationship woes to himself. But he was truly at a loss and nothing he was doing seemed to help the situation one way or another. He shrugged,

"I don't know actually."
"What does that mean?"

He pulled his shirt over his head and threw it haphazardly onto the floor,

"I mean that I don't know. I don't know what to say, what to do, if I should be calling someone, or if this is just a thing she's going through and I need to let it happen." When he saw the confusion on Holly's face he sighed, "She took a drink of a beer last night." He finally said.

Holly's eyes widened,

"She what?"

He nodded,

"A beer. Just right up to her lips...it didn't even seem to phase her until we got back to our room and I asked if she was ok."

"What'd she do?"

"She was upset. Scared. Sorry for upsetting me. She said she was going to call Tracy and get to a meeting. We fell asleep tangled in each other and I thought things were ok. But this morning when I tried to comfort her, she got annoyed. I originally said no to this interview stuff today so we could spend time together and she told me I shouldn't have."