Between The Lines

“I thought you said it’s just down the road!” Niall complained, having walked further than he would have liked.

“I lied” Harper grinned as the pair rounded the corner, before coming across the small takeaway shop nestled in between the skyscrapers. “Here we are”

“Finally!” Niall exclaimed. Harper shot him a glare but couldn’t help but smile anyway.

By the time Harper and Niall had walked there, ordered and returned to the hotel, almost half an hour had past. The other boys were getting restless having eaten nothing all day. The chime for the elevator went off and out came the two blondes with bags of food in their hands.

“Took your time” Louis said “We were about to decide which one of us to eat first”

“It would of been you Lou, don’t sound so proud” Zayn said, earning himself a punch to the arm from oldest member of the band.

“We all know what took them so long” Harry smirked at Niall. A small blush appeared on the Irishman’s cheeks as he glared at the curly haired boy.

As Harper sat down to eat with the boys, she thought about that despite only knowing the boys for twenty-four hours, she’d already deciphered their personalities. Harry was the charmed or the band. He’s friendly, but he’s very flirty and confident. Despite being the eldest, Louis was the most immature of all. He’s the joker and makes everyone laugh all the time. Somehow she can picture him never maturing and being one of those old men in a home who have wheelchair races in the hallways. Zayn is sweet, but is reserved and almost a little bit mysterious. However, a little vain. Liam was the most responsible out of all five of the boys; he was sometimes serious but still had a laugh with the others. Then there was Niall. He was a little tricky. He was carefree but at times a little shy. Even but like this morning when he taught Harper guitar, he seemed more confident.

“So what’s next on that demanding schedule of yours?” Louis asked.

“Nothing” Harper told them. “You’ve got the afternoon off”

The boys all cheered and quickly started making plans on how they were going to spend their evening off. Harper had to stay with them of course, to keep them out of trouble, something she was not looking forward to.

“Let’s go clubbing!”

“Might I remind you that none of us, myself included, are legally allowed to drink in this country”
All five of the boys looked at Harper and then laughed. And here she was thinking Liam was the responsible one of the group.

“Harper you live in the Big Apple, tell me you’ve never sneaked into a club?” Harry questioned.
“Of course I have” she told them “I’ve had a fake ID since I was 15, but none of you do”

“We’re going clubbing” Harry told her, as if his decision was final “Now let’s go tour the city, Harper you can be our guide”.

“Oh what a joy” Harper stood up “Well I’ll given the driver the rest of the day off, the only way to experience New York is by foot”

The group set out to explore the city. Since the boys always had a demanding schedule when on tour, they’d never really experienced the wonders of New York. Harper felt as though she was looking after a bunch of small children visiting the big city for the first time rather than grown men who had already travelled to every continent.

As they trailed along the busy streets of Manhattan, all pointed excitedly at where they wanted to go first. Central Park, the Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty was on the agenda but would be saved for another day. The group had a big afternoon ahead of them.

Aside from the occasional fan, the group made it to The Empire State Building and Harper couldn’t help but laugh at the expressions and gaping mouths of the British boys as they glanced out at the New York skyline. Even having been up here a million times herself, Harper was still mesmerised by the city. It is a truly breath taking view.

“This is amazing” Zayn exclaimed.

“My dad used to take me up here all the time when I was younger” Harper smiled, remembering all the memories they shared on the viewing platform.

“I would never get tired of this view” Liam said.

“You can all go home now” Harry announced “One Direction has just bought the Empire State Building”

Dodging paparazzi after Harry had tweeted about the band's new real estate purchase, they made the short walk to the iconic Central Park. Being their usual crazy selves, the boys immediately ran through the park, ignoring Harper’s call to them to stop. Boys will be boys.

Finally catching up to them, she saw they were all waiting near the ice –skating rink, eager looks on their faces, practically begging her.

“Really?” she said.

“Oh please Harper!” Louis whined, giving her puppy dog eyes. “It’ll be fun!”

“Fine” she gave in, totally defeated. “I’ll watch you guys from the stands”

“Oh no!” Harry told her “You’ll be joining us”

“No I won’t, I haven’t gone ice-skating in years and I’d rather not make a fool of myself in front of such gorgeous company”

“Nice try but this time flirting isn’t going to help you” Harry linked arms with her, and was almost dragging her to the ticket booth and skate hire.

By the time Harper stepped out onto the ice, clutching on the side of the rink, the boys were already out skating like pros. Harry waved to her, she had to resist the urge to flip him off. Her legs felt like jelly on the unfamiliar terrain, she knew this was a bad idea. Little kids make it look so easy.

“Need some help?” A familiar Irish accented voice said beside her.

“Do I really look that bad?” Harper laughed.

“Here” Niall offered her his arm. “I’ll help you practice”

Smiling at the blonde, Harper carefully let go of her safety net and held onto Niall’s arm.

“Ready?” He asked her

Harper nodded, concentrating on gliding one foot in front of the other along the ice, Niall setting pace for the pair slow so they wouldn’t fall over. A few turns around the rink and Harper slowly got into the rhythm of it, although not quite back to being a pro like she was as a child.

Harry and the other boys watched as Harper and Niall skated together, talking and laughing, acting as if no one else was there. The pair definitely had chemistry.

“They looked like a married couple” Louis observed.

“He likes her, you can just tell by the way he is looking at her” Zayn said joining the conversation, the three of them now leaning against the side of the rink as everyone skated past them.

“I’ve got an idea” Harry skated away from his confused band members towards Harper and Niall.

Smiling devilishly, he snuck up behind the couple and gently bumped into Harper knowing the girl was clumsy on her feet at the moment.

Harper lost her footing once Harry had bumped into her, falling to the ground and taking Niall with her , landing on top of him.

“I’m so sorry!” Harper apologised, her cheeks red from embarrassment no thanks to the curly haired boy. Her heart was pounding in her chest at she stared at Niall's bright blue eyes.

“It’s alright” Niall laughed, quickly getting up off of the cold ice, offering a hand to help Harper up.

“I think I’ve had enough skating for today” Harped laughed “I don’t want to go home covered in bruises”

“You did pretty good considering you were a little out of practice”

“Thank you” Harper said “Now I think we should go round up the others, it’s getting dark and knowing you lot it’ll take a while to get ready for tonight”

As Niall left to go get the others, Harper let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. She was going to kill Harry when she got the chance.