Sink or Swim

Emma and Lou walked to the terminal where girls were standing around freaking out about the boys leaving hoping to get a glance of one of them. They had noticed the sleeping baby attached to the new girl holding her and started to aw and quiet down as they walked by and out to the plane.

“Alright so here is the thing,” Lou started. “Harry likes to sit next to Lux on the plane because he is one of the few that can keep her happy on a daily basis. So you and her will be sitting with him.”

Emma nodded and followed Lou into the plane. The boys were all sitting around on the plane talking. Lou greeted everyone and pointed to a curly headed boy sitting on the arm of a seat talking to a blonde boy across from him. Emma walked over to him and held out her hand. “I’m Emma.”

The curly headed boy looked at the hand and smiled at her. “The name is Harry.” He replied taking her hand and kissing it. “You must be Lux’s new nanny.”

Emma pulled her hand away quickly and looked over at the two empty seats next to him. “Is this where we are sitting?”

“Yeah, get comfortable.” He said holding out his hands. “Can I have the baby?” He asked wrapping his hands around Lux’s waist. Emma let go of Lux as Harry pulled her towards him. She plopped her bag on the ground in front of her seat by the window and sat down.

Emma didn’t know what to think of the curly haired boy. She knew him, since she was a fan of the band but, he seemed different than what she had imagined in her head. Although, the part where he loves baby Lux is accurate. She smiled as Lux started to giggle as he blew raspberries on her stomach. The flight attendant told everyone to buckle up and turn off our phones. Harry plopped Lux down in the seat next to him and buckled her in before he buckled himself.

Lou came over quickly and dropped off Lux’s baby bag and a set of head phones so Lux can watch a few movies during the flight. Harry plugged them in and put it at a low setting. He turned it off and waited till they had taken off to turn it back on for her. She smiled and clapped as Toy Story started to play on the small screen.

“So, you get to spend your time with the baby while she is awake.” Harry said slowly not making eye contact with the blonde. The blonde girl didn’t respond and just turned to look out the window trying to ignore the curly headed boy.

“Do you ever get sick of people wondering about your life?” Emma asked after a few minutes of silence. She turned to look at Harry and cocked her head to the side waiting for the answer.

The thing was, Harry did get annoyed sometimes about not having privacy. But he also knows what it is like. He was once a fan of bands and wanted to know what they were doing sometimes. “Sometimes, like when we are on holiday or when I visit my mum.” He sighed. His smirk from before had turned into a frown and his eyebrows were furrowed. “I just wish people would let us be us sometimes and not give their opinions.”

Emma nodded and looked at the baby sitting between them. She sat there smiling and laughing not knowing what was going on between the two. Not knowing that at that moment Emma and Harry had a deeper connection than one would realize. Emma now knew something Harry wasn’t about to say to a fan.

[c] * * * [/c]

When the plane landed everyone exited quickly and walked into a sea of girls. Lux was attached to Emma’s hip and was playing with her t-shirt trying to say the word giraffe. Emma laughed when Lux failed at trying to do it again. Fans were trying to get Emma’s attention to see if they can see the little girl she was carrying.

Harry turned around for a split second to catch a glance at the blonde girl that has been in his thoughts since they met on the plane. He noticed that some fans got past the rope and started to block Emma. He walked over to the girls and started to talk to them so the blonde girl could get away. A security guard ended up showing up and guided the girls away from Harry. The curly headed boy picked up the pace until he fell into step with the two of them.

“Thank you by the way, for that back there.” Emma said still looking straight ahead.

“It’s really not a problem. I just didn’t want my Lux to get hurt.” He replied grabbing Lux’s hand. “She is like my little sister in a way. I care about her.”

“That’s really sweet.” Emma replied looking over at Harry. Harry smiled at her and jogged to catch up with a boy shorter than him. They put their arms around each other and started to laugh.

Lou fell into step with Emma and asked her if the flight was alright and everything. Emma replied with a nod and passed the baby to her. Lou cradled her and made silly faces to her at the black van just outside the airport. It was late and everyone seemed a bit tired so they were all going to stay in a hotel for the night.

The drive was short to this amazing building where they all will be staying. Emma was in a van with Lou, Lux, and a few other people. When they all got out of the vans, they piled into the lobby to get their room keys. Emma’s room was a joined room with Lou and Lux.

“So, you can have the night off.” Lou said opening up her door letting Lux walk in on her own. Emma laughed as Lux let out a scream. Lou laughed herself and smiled at Emma. “Thank you for taking her during the flight.”

“It’s my job, literally.” Emma replied nodding in Lou’s direction. Lou slipped in and disappeared behind the door leaving Emma alone in the hallway with security guards at either stairway. She made her way to her door a few steps away where her luggage was located. She smiled at her old suitcases that reminded her of home and took out her room key to scan.

She lifted her suitcase and brought it in her room leaving the door open behind her. The bags were heavy so she left them in the center of the room. She wiped her hands against her jeans and turned towards the door to close it. Instead of her seeing an empty hallway she saw the curly headed boy from the plane.

“The boys and I were wondering if you wanted to grab dinner with us.” He asked leaning against the door frame. Emma laughed thinking of a movie reference in her head about the way Harry was standing there.

“I was just going to order some room service and watch movies for the rest of the night.” She replied looking back at the tv set up near the bed. She had a small room with two beds. Even though she really only needed one.

“Well, that is no fun. Come on, I will even pay for you.” He said running his hand through his hair. Emma sighed and smiled.

“Alright, I’ll go. Then I will come back and watch some movies.” Harry smiled and grabbed her arm and dragged her into the hallway where four other boys stood.