The Adjacent Room [h.s]

Chapter 25

video credit: youtube.com/watch?v=f2mKv7gD77w

My eyes open to a pitch black room and the shrill of my alarm. It's lucky I'm a light sleeper, because Harry never seems to wake up to my alarm. It takes me a few seconds to realise what day it is and why I'm awake so early, but when I remember my heart skips a beat. The 23rd of July, One Direction's tenth anniversary and their reunion. I'm snuggled into Harry's chest and I never want to leave, but today is quite possibly one of the most important days of Harry's career. He's tried to stop me from working for the last month, but he's not going to be able to get rid of me today. The memories of all of yesterday are still fresh in my mind, including the fact that Harry has slept for less than 4 hours, and I feel uncomfortable just thinking about how little sleep he is going to have had on such an important day.

To give Harry an extra 10 minutes of sleep, I drag myself out of bed and down the stairs to make coffee for both of us. We need to leave by no later than 6 to make it to the Columbia offices, so we've really got no time to spare. I got an email yesterday saying there would be food provided all throughout the day for everyone, including breakfast, which makes things easier.

There's no time to grind any coffee beans today or make a french press, so Keurig it is. I lean against the counter while the coffee pours into the cups, and the smell fills the whole kitchen. Harry and I both love making coffee and grinding the beans ourselves, but on a day like this there isn't time to practice my coffee artistry. While my senses fill with the smell, I watch the sun slowly start to rise from between the trees. This house has become my sanctuary, and the place where I feel the most safe. It's strange to think that some walls and a roof can feel so much like a home, and maybe it's more about the people who are inside the walls and under the roof. With Harry, being Harry Styles, it's hard to find places of peace where he isn't spotted or photographed or filmed, and this home is the only place that feels tranquil amongst a life so crazy. In all honesty, a part of me is scared that with everything changing in his life, this home will change too. If these tense conversations about why Harry can't wear nail polish or why he didn't come home until 1am continue, the bubble that is this house, will pop. I'm not sure where these intrusive thoughts come from, and I don't like them being in my head, so I attempt to leave them in the kitchen and walk up the stairs, two cups of coffee in hand.

'Good morning' I whisper to Harry, turning a lamp on and leaning down to put the cups on his bedside table. It's lucky I put both cups down, because without warning, Harry groans and wraps his arms around me, pulling me on top of him.

'Harry! You have so much to do today there's no time for this!' I laugh into his neck, and he holds onto me tighter. It seems as though he's forgotten all about our 1am kitchen encounter, and I'm glad we're back to normal. I already had my moment of reflection in the kitchen 5 minutes ago, and now that I know Harry is okay, I hope my worrying and paranoia will slowly start to fade. He starts to roll over with his arms still wrapped around me, so he's now positioned on top of me, almost squashing me. He makes it very hard to want to do anything when he's like this, but I'm not about to sabotage a reunion so I can lay here with him.

'I love you, but you're really going to have to get up!' I say, putting both my hands onto his bare shoulders to push him off me.

'Mmm..fine' He groans, rolling out of bed and grabbing his coffee.

'We need to be at the Columbia offices by 6:30, so I'd really like to see you doing something. Preferably something in preparation to leave this house.' I tease, while filing through hangers of clothes to find an outfit.

'Do you want to make it your house too?' Harry nonchalantly asks. What? I snap my head around to look at him.

'Like..move in?' I hesitantly ask. We really don't have time for this conversation, but the reunion is just about the furthest thing from my mind after hearing his latest proposition.