Rebel Rebel |harry styles| - ongoing

SEVENTEEN

El Barrio: Pa Madrid

Essie

After wrapping up the shoot, Harry and I made arrangements to travel to Spain where we'd meet up with Becks, Pierce, and Ramona. I hadn't bothered with letting Matt know any of my plans, since he didn't seem particularly interested in knowing where I was.

"Have you got everything?", Harry came to help with my luggage just as I was about to do one final sweep of the room.

"Mostly. If I've left anything of importance the hotel can ship it over to Madrid... if not, we'll replace it. There's nothing we can't survive without.", my spirits have done quite a skyrocket, touching the very top of my 'happy ladder', as they usually do whenever I'm getting ready to travel to Madrid. I could tell my travel companion was playing it safe, observing my behaviour and laughing at my silliness, but never inserting himself in this story too much. Harry was excellent at being happy because you were happy, it was something I could see painted all across his face whenever I'd put another bar on the list of ones we must visit together, or point to another village on the map of Spain that we simply have to go to.

"Are you feeling as excited as you look?", he asked me once we settled in our seats.

"Even more... if you can believe it."

"I don't want to remind you of things that could deflate the bubble of happiness, but have you talked to Matt at all?", the smile immediately disappeared from my face. I wasn't blaming Harry for asking the question, but whenever something in my life made me uncomfortable, like this situation with Matt had, I'd usually shove it somewhere in the back of my mind and try my best to ignore it until the absolute last moment.

"I haven't. I think that relationship has run its course. I don't miss him one bit, and that tells me a great deal about my feelings and how deep they run... or don't run, better said.", Harry nodded, turning away from me and directing his gaze towards the front of the plane.

Harry

"I haven't. I think that relationship has run its course. I don't miss him one bit, and that tells me a great deal about my feelings and how deep they run... or don't run, better said.", Essie said and I nodded, blankly staring into the space in front of me. This week has been incredible, it reminded me of everything I adore about her and why I love working with her. I knew she was talented, but I enjoy pushing her to try different things with her art and seeing how well she adapts to any situation you throw at her. Molly came to talk to me on the last day of the shoot, to tell me how I picked the right person for the job and she wouldn't mind sharing her in-house producer title with Essie.

Could I see Essie travelling the world with me, filming the tour and the behind the scenes process for the fans? Yes. Did I think she was going to accept such an offer? Not so sure. I'd have to think long and hard about offering her the gig after we finalise the tour dates. She'd have to share some of the photographer duties with Helene, which I'm sure Helene wouldn't mind. She'd also have to get someone to watch Bono for a couple of months, which is something Essie wouldn't take lightly. There's nothing I'd love more than sharing that experience with her, but once I offer her the job, there is no turning back. Matt's words kept running circles around my head, 'Harry has feelings for you'. If it was that obvious to him, why hadn't she noticed? Or had she, maybe? Maybe she chose to ignore it because she didn't feel the same way...

All the previous times I'd visited Madrid were a mixture of planes, cars, and hotel rooms. It was like that with almost every part of the world I travelled to. Nothing more than a job, a gig, a shoot... no time to enjoy myself, explore or breathe the city in and let it show me its magic. I looked over to Essie who sat in her seat and stared out the small plane window absentmindedly. Her eyelashes fluttered whenever she'd get overly excited about doing something during our holiday and her lips would form a little, almost invisible, smile.