Any Other Heart

The next morning, Lou let me sleep in a little before waking me up to head over to the venue. I had slept right through my alarm, so I apologized and showered quick before meeting her in the hall.

“I’m sorry!” I kept repeating as I walked out.

She waved me off, sipping on her travel mug of coffee with Lux on her hip. “It’s fine, love. How’d you sleep? How are you feeling?”

I laughed at her motherly tone before giving Lux a quick kiss on the top of her little blonde head. “I’m fine, mum.” She gave me a playful scowl. “But really. I slept well. I was exhausted last night. I think my head hardly had time to hit the pillow.”

Lou laughed as we waited for the lift. “Good. I take it the lads didn’t keep you up then?”

I looked at her funny before we both entered the lift. She sighed. “You didn’t hear the commotion in the hallway?”

I shook my head. I had absolutely no idea what she was on about.

“Apparently they still had a bit too much energy when we got back last night. If I recall, I heard something shatter, but that could have just been my memory.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Bloody boys. Can’t take them anywhere.”

“That’s true. You did well yesterday though, Mia. Really. You fell into the swing of things, even with the boys acting mental. You’re a natural, love.”

I couldn’t hide my smile. Lou’s praise meant the world to me, because the bottom line was I wanted nothing more than to do this for the rest of my life. Hearing from someone as talented as Lou that I was doing a good job, well... it meant a lot.

We took cars over to the venue, where we met Caroline and the rest of the crew. When Lou and I walked into the dressing room, Caroline was sitting in a chair steaming clothes, relaxing music playing in the background and a glow of candles lined up on the make-up counter.

“Trying to relax a bit, are we?” Lou asked with a smile.

Caroline sighed and nodded. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over the lads’ energy. It’s like... just when you think they can’t go any more, they go, and for three more hours.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I walked over to Caroline and took the steamer from her hands. “Let me do it.”

She thanked me. “I’ve been steaming for an hour already. I need some sustenance. Or maybe just coffee.”

She stood up, kissed my cheek, and walked out of the room. I took her spot and started to work.

The morning went well. Without the lads there, everything flowed nicely, but even when they showed up to soundcheck they were more well-behaved. I could almost tell this meant they had something planned, but I tried to ignore that because it was nice to have significantly less chaos than we had twenty-four hours ago.

The actual show was a little more rough than everything beforehand though, but Lou blamed that on the fact that it was only the second show. She told me it’d take at least a week for everyone to get situated and used to things.

I could handle that. Everyone was adjusting, getting used to everything, and I could handle that.

But then during the second stage outfit change, things went to hell and then some.

It started with a few little things. Louis couldn’t find his belt, Niall and Liam couldn’t find their shoes. There were a few extras of things, just for such an occasion, so I remedied the situation quickly.

During the third outfit change, Harry couldn’t find his trousers and Zayn’s jacket was mysteriously missing. That was when I knew it wasn’t a coincidence.

I saved the day, finding extra pieces of clothing for the two of them before we sent them on their way. Not before I snatched Louis’s arm right before they ran back out on stage and hissed, “Whatever you’re doing, don’t.”

He grinned. “No idea what you’re on about, love. I have a show to do!” Then he ran out on stage, leaving me to stew in my anger.

I should have known something bigger was going to happen for the fourth and final changing. If I had been paying more attention, I probably would have fixed the problem before it even arose. I would have tried to find duplicate outfits for all the boys and everything would have been fine.

But I didn’t.

When the boys came off stage for the fourth and final change, Caroline made them check their outfits to make sure they had everything.

“Um, Mia?” Harry asked, his voice more tentative than usual. “Where’s my rack?”

I’d never whipped around faster than I did in that moment. Harry’s rack was there, but the clothes were not. “You’re joking,” I deadpanned. Harry shrugged, a slight look of panic in his eyes. I absolutely did not have time for this.

“Louis!” I called, gesturing him over.

He was smirking when he got to me. “Yes?”

“Where are they?”

“What are you on--”

“Louis,” I hissed with much more anger than I’d intended. “Where. Are. Harry’s. Clothes?”

Just as he was opening his mouth to tell me, obviously sensing that I was absolutely not joking, Paul came in to round the boys up. They were behind because of the earlier stunts, so I didn’t even have time to say anything about the case of the missing clothing. “Just... find him something,” Caroline muttered, glancing at Harry’s almost-completely-naked state, before hurrying out with Lou to do final touch-ups before the boys went on stage.

Everyone hurried out of the room, leaving Harry and I alone. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I hissed, tearing the room apart. I didn’t even have time to focus on the fact that Harry had completely stripped down to only his underwear and socks, because I was too focused on finding his clothes.

We both searched high and low, before eventually finding the clothing hanging up in the bathroom, of all bloody places. I helped Harry dress in his trousers and white button up before throwing on his blazer and pushing him out of the room. “My tie!” he tried to protest but I shushed him.

“Absolutely no time. GO!” I yelled, shoving him harder until he was running down the hall.

It was only when he was out of sight that I let myself process the fact that I had spent a considerable amount of time with a half-naked Harry, and then proceeded to help dress him. My fingers had touched his ridiculously toned chest and I had even helped button his trousers.

I blushed so hard I was certain my entire head was red. I fell back against the wall, giving myself a moment to recollect, before I headed back down the hall, back to the dressing room.

***

The rest of the show went smoothly, or as smooth as it possibly could. I wouldn’t even look at Louis, I was avoiding any and all eye contact from Harry, and I wouldn’t talk to Lou or Caroline because I felt awful. I had one job--to make sure the lads’ costume changes stayed in their proper places--and I had already screwed that up. Third show in and I was fucking things up.

We had to pack everything up before we could load out, and then we were driving to Glasglow. The boys, thankfully, had a day off tomorrow, so even though it was going to be a long night it didn’t matter. Once we were all loaded out, I would be free to climb into my bunk and sleep the entire drive to Scotland.

While we were packing up the lads’ clothes, Lou must have noticed my silent act, because she nudged me while putting away her hair and make-up things. “You all right, love? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“I just cannot believe I screwed up so early,” I muttered. “I have one job...”

Lou laughed, which surprised me and confused me. “What?” I asked her.

She waved me off. “You’re mental, Mia. You did just fine. That was the lads’ fault if anyone’s, you know that. They like to play tricks and sometimes we get pulled into them, but I would never blame you for that. In fact, I should be thanking you. I’m sure if it wasn’t for you, they would have been going onstage in their street clothes, yeah? So hush up, love. You’re doing just fine.”

I didn’t argue because I knew it’d be pointless, so I just smiled and thanked her and finished helping pack up.

When we were done and heading out to our bus, the lads were heading to their bus as well. I saw Louis looking at me, trying to get my attention, but I ignored him. I didn’t want to deal with him right now. I was still mad.

Lou and Caroline almost immediately retired to their bunks when we got inside. Unfortunately, Lux and Tom went home. They had plans to come out soon, so I knew it wouldn’t be the last we saw of them, but I knew it was hard for Lou. I knew it wasn’t exactly pleasant for Harry, or any of the boys really, but that was Lou’s daughter and she couldn’t be with her twenty-four seven. I couldn’t even imagine not being around my own family like that.

Suddenly I remembered my own family. I knew I should call my mum, but I didn’t feel like dealing with it, and plus it was late. It was well after midnight and I knew she’d be fast asleep. I knew there was one person who wouldn’t be though.

I dialed Loren’s number immediately and waited for her to answer.

“Mia!” she practically screamed into my ear. I smiled and sat down on the couch in the front lounge. “How are you?” She spoke enthusiastically (and loudly), so I knew one thing: she was pissed.

I sighed. “Where are you?”

She laughed. “Out! About! Having a few pints with some mates, you know. The usual. Where are you?”

I frowned. “Didn’t you have exams?”

“What? Love, speak up, I can’t hear you!”

I sighed. “Nevermind, Lor. Call me tomorrow, the lads have an off day.”

“I know, I was planning on it. Love you!” Before I could say anything else, the line was dead.

I shook my head. That was Loren, in a nutshell. Loud, intense, and a full on partier when she wanted to be. I missed her, and I hadn’t realized how much until I heard how much fun she was having while I sat alone on the tour bus with no one around.

Just then, the door opened. I heard footsteps and then Louis’s head appeared. “Hi,” he said with a big smile.

I rolled my eyes. “Piss off. I’m not speaking to you right now.”

“Well that’s a shame,” he said, making his way further into the bus until he was sitting beside me. “Because I think you’re my best mate, so I’m pretty sure you don’t have a choice, yeah?”

I stayed quiet.

“Oh come off it, Mia. You aren’t seriously mad at me, are you?”

I looked down at my nails, the polish chipping. I made a mental note to re-paint them tomorrow.

He nudged his shoulder into mine. “Come on, Mia. It was a joke. We pull--”

“You couldn’t have waited, oh, I don’t know, a week? Until I was settled and felt comfortable? Do you have any idea how awful I felt? I felt like I let Lou down, let Caroline down.”

Louis sighed. “I’m sorry, love. But it was just a joke. Today was the lads and I, it was our day...” he trailed off, as if this explained everything.

I gave him a look that said I have not a bloody clue what you’re going on about right now.

“We have a day, once a month, where we’re just... we’re allowed to let all hell break loose, basically. Unfortunately, that day fell on today. We weren’t going to do it, but I wasn’t going to let the day go by so we’d have to wait until the end of next month to be unabashedly terrible.”

I scowled at him. “You could have warned me.”

He smirked and put his arm around my shoulder. “Ah, yes, but think of it as an initiation. You passed with flying colors, doesn’t that make you feel good?”

I rolled my eyes and shoved him off of me. “Get out of here, you tosser. Bus is leaving soon and there’s no way I’m putting up with you for the entire ride to Glasglow.”

He chuckled but stood. “We’re all right?” he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants and looking, for once, worried that he had actually made me mad.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. “We’re fine, twat. Now get out of here, yeah?”

He laughed, leaned down and planted a sloppy kiss on the top of my head, and ruffled my hair. “G’night, Mia.”

I smiled and watched as he walked off the bus. “Night Lou.”