Between The Lines

The tension between Niall and Harper could almost be cut with a knife. The blonde band member was not his usual happy self, and the other boys had noticed. On the way back to the hotel, no one spoke. An eerie and uncomfortable silence was all that filled the limo.

As they all got out entering the hotel, Harper lingered on the sidewalk.

“Are you coming Harper?” Zayn asked her.

“I think I’m going to just head home, I’m a little tired” She told the boys, her eyes flickered over at Niall who refused to look at her. “You boys all have the night off, so I trust that you’ll behave without me”

“As the oldest and most matures of the band I will take on the duty of being babysitter” Louis announced, getting a shove from Liam.

“I’ll see you boys tomorrow; I’ll take you out for breakfast to make it up to you”

Harper didn’t know if it was her pride or stubbornness that was getting in the way of simply accepting the kindness Niall was giving her. It was in her nature to push away that cared. Whether it was because of her past or not, Harper rarely let herself be happy, terrified that if she did for even a moment , it might come crashing down around her. It was easier for her to shut everybody out, to put a mask on, than letting them in.

But Niall didn’t deserve to be treated like that either.

Sighing, Harper turned around and went back the way she’d come to apologise to him. Entering the suite, she found the boys, but Niall, all bickering and shouting as they versed each other at video games.

“Harper!” Louis shouted “We decided to have a night in, I’m keeping my word so far and making them all behave”

“Shut up Lou” Harry said.

“Do you guys know where Niall is?” She asked.

“He’s in his room” Liam told her.

“Sulking too” Harry added.

“Thank you”.

She made her way down the small hallway and paused in front of Niall’s room. Debating whether or not to bail, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Go away” She heard Niall’s muffled voice, laced with anger, shout through the door,. Ignoring his request, Harper opened the door to see Niall perched on his bed facing the city outside with his guitar resting on his lap. “Lou I told you I don’t want to play...Harper?”

“I did knock” Harper closed the door behind her, but did venture any further into the room.

“What are doing here?”

“I came to apologise for what I said earlier” was all she could offer “I tend to have a temper at times and I know you were only trying to help so I’m sorry I snapped at you when you only meant well”
The two stared at each other as a prolonged silence filled the room.

“I’m sorry for pestering you when you’d already said that you were fine” Niall said in a low voice.

“You meant well” Harped told him. “So we’re okay?”

“Yeah, we’re okay” Niall replied, giving her a smile.

The pair left Niall’s room to join the others, both in brighter spirits now that their misunderstanding was behind them. They found the others all on one couch, talking to the laptop perched on the coffee table.

“And here’s Niall to join our New York twitcam!” Louis announced. Niall waved at the camera, proceeding to jump on Zayn, trying to mess up the tan skinned boy’s hair. Harper laughed at their ridiculous behaviour as she sat down out of view of the laptop’s camera.

She watched as the boys all mucked around, answering the questions fans were sending in to them and just being their normal immature selves.

“What is Harper Quinn like?” Harry read out.

“Horrible” Louis said.

“Worst PR assistant ever” Zayn said.

“She’s very bossy” Liam joined in.

“And likes to wake us up early” Niall grinned.

The boys all looked at Harper before laughing.

“We’re kidding of course” Louis was still laughing to himself like it was the best joke ever done. “She’s actually quite lovely”

“She’s also sitting right out of view” Harry said. “Care to join us Harper?”

Harper quickly shook her head at the British boys.

“She’s a little shy” Zayn said.

“Come on Harper!” Liam tried convincing her.

Admitting defeat Harper got off the chair and sat down on the side of the couch next to Louis.

“Everyone, this Harper” Niall said. “Harper, everyone”

“Hello there” Her voice wasn’t as confident as it usually was. The whole being in front of a camera just wasn’t her scene at all. In her line of work, things were done behind the scenes and that’s just how she liked to remain. Obviously the boys of One Direction made that very hard to do. However, looking at the screen, she saw fans responses being sent in and none were negative towards her so that made things easier.

Her phone ringing in her hand interrupted what she was doing. She told everyone she had to take this and left the room, walking down the hallway for some privacy.

“Harper sweetie!” Her mum’s voice rang through, confusing her daughter. She was never usually this happy when talking to Harper.

“What do you want?”

“Do I really have to want something to talk to you?” Her mother paused. “Alright fine, I’m inviting you to dinner Sunday night. I’ve got a reservation at Daniel for seven. There’s something I’d like to share with you and over dinner would be the best way”

“Okay, see you then”

Harper hung up the phone and returned to the boys who had now finished their twitcam. Harper sat back down as if she never left. The boys were now arguing over what movie they should watch, each wanting to watch completely different genres.

“Alright boys I better head off now” Harper announced. “Tomorrow’s going to be an exciting day”
“New music video tomorrow!” Louis exclaimed, grinning like a Cheshire cat. All of the boys loved releasing new music and videos for the fans.

“Right” She nodded “and then tomorrow night you’ll be performing on the X-Factor to promote the new single”

“That’s going to be a lot of fun” Zayn said.

“I’ll see you boys tomorrow for breakfast then”

Stepping out into the cool air, Harper brought her coat closer to her neck. The walk back to her apartment she couldn’t help but let her thoughts wander back to the phone call with her mother. What could possibly be so important she had to tell her in person?”