As they drove in the car Lori gave Harry directions to her house. She apologized if she got the seats wet, but Harry always told her "No worries." On their way to Lori's home Harry began to play some music and Lori instantly recognized it.
"Is this Tom Sawyer by Rush?" Lori asked.
Harry gave her an impressed look. "Yeah it is. I swear we must listen to the same music because I've yet to meet a girl that knew this song until now. I've actually got a Rush t-shirt back at the hotel. They really are incredible and they put on really great shows."
They continued to talk about music until they got to Lori's house. She let Harry inside and threw her bags into her room before she went to the bathroom to take a shower. Her house was a small one level with just two bedrooms, a small kitchen, two bathrooms, and a small sit down area. Harry thought it looked cozy, but that was only because Lori had cleaned it that morning. As Harry waited for her curiosity got the best of him and he decided to go look in her room. It was like a normal teenage girl's room, there were records on the walls, white string lights around her window that held dark blue curtains. She had a small trunk at the end of her bed and a closet. The only other thing on her wall was a full length mirror; everywhere else was bare besides the records. While admiring the records Lori opened the door and gasped. Harry turned around and became a little embarrassed for getting caught, but he had to admit Lori looked adorable with her wet hair on her shoulders and the shocked expression on her face. He licked his lips and tried to calm himself down.
"Uh, sorry. I'll just go outside now."
Harry awkwardly slid past her and heard the door close. For the rest of the time he sat in the living room and waited patiently. It took a little while for Lori to get her mind back in order, she was so embarrassed that Harry had seen her and she was slightly agitated due to his snooping, but decided to get everything back on track. Lori looked through her closet for a party outfit, she knew she probably shouldn't wear jeans, but didn't want to appear overdressed. She decided not to overthink it and just put something together. After she got dressed she blow dried her hair, brushed it, and decided to leave it in it's natural waves, but Lori put a clip in it to keep some strands of hair at bay. Once she was satisfied she walked out to go meet Harry. When she came into view Harry stared for a quick moment before smiling and getting up to stand across from her.
"You look lovely."
Lori gave him a nervous look. "Really? You think so?" Harry nodded while smiling and Lori returned the smile right before she punched him in the arm.
"What was-"
"That was for snooping around in my room."
"Fine, I guess I deserved that," Harry said with a sideways smile, "Are you ready to go?"
Lori nodded and they both walked out to the car. While they were in the car Harry kept making cheeky remarks and jokes about Lori being in a towel. Both of them laughed, but Lori covered her red face with her hands. Harry loved seeing her smile and adored her laugh. One time when they had stopped at a red light Harry reached over to her and began to tickle her causing her to squirm and giggle until the light turned green again.
"Harry stop! I'm going to start crying and then my mascara will run." Lori said in a laughing tone.
"Speaking of crying, you didn't finish the Titanic. Want to watch it while we wait for the party to start? All the lads are out with their girlfriend and Niall's visiting an old friend. No one is really coming until like eight."
"Okay, yeah sure."
They pulled into the parking lot in the back and went inside the hotel through the back door. There were less fans in the back way, but it still freaked Lori out when they walked through the crowd. Harry stopped for a little bit to take photos with some of the fans, but then they headed inside. After going up the familiar elevator they went into the bedroom and Lori laid on the bed as Harry put in the movie.
"What scene did you stop at?" he asked.
"The sex scene," Lori said bluntly.
Harry scoffed at how straightforward she said it and then started the movie. He left the room and returned minutes later with a bag of popcorn to share with Lori. The bed sank as Harry lowered himself next to Lori and placed the popcorn between them. There wasn't much talking during the movie, but near the end Lori and Harry both reached for the popcorn at the same time and brushed each other's hand. Lori slightly blushed, but instead of turning away she took the entire bag of popcorn.
"This is mine, I don't like to share."
Harry gave her a look and tickled her until he got the popcorn back. She stuck her tongue out at him and before he could say something she held her finer up to her lips.
"Shh, I'm trying to watch the movie."
Lori turned back towards the screen and pretended to be interested in the sinking of the boat. After scoffing at her Harry threw some popcorn which she just threw back at him. Before long they were having a popcorn war on the bed as the movie ended. Popcorn covered the floor as they laughed on the bed.
"Why do you always throw food at me?" Lori asked as Harry removed some popcorn from her hair.
"You're the one that starts it."
"Am not."
Before Harry could reply he heard people come into their hotel room. He automatically recognized the boys' voices and smiled. If they were here then that means the party would be starting soon. Footsteps came towards the door and Louis stuck his head in, seeing Lori and Harry on the bed and popcorn everywhere. A mischievous smile spread across Louis' face and Harry knew right away what he was thinking.
"Harry, why are you and Lori naked on the bed?" Louis asked loud enough so everyone in the room could hear him.
Whistles came from the living room and Lori turned red, but was laughing with everyone else. Harry jumped off the bed and tried to open the door to show his friends that Louis was lying, but Louis did his best to keep the door shut. Finally Harry yanked it open. Lori jumped off the bed and followed Harry into the living room. He introduced her to everyone and soon the party began. Everyone except Liam and Lori decided to drink excessively, it was a party after all. She had a few drinks, but not enough to get drunk. Music began to play throughout the room and everyone was dancing with each other. Giggles erupted from Lori’s mouth as a drunk Harry began to dance with her, their bodies pressing against each other. His face was filled with excitement and was extremely close to Lori’s. Their cheeks brushed each other as they danced and every time they touched Harry just wanted to hold her close and kiss her. After a while he took his chance and tried to kiss Lori, but he was too disoriented and missed. Some sense came into Lori’s mind and she saw that Harry should probably go to bed. She took his arm, led him into the bedroom (with great difficulty), and put him on the bed. Suddenly she collapsed on the bed with him, the exhaustion finally getting to her. The last thing she saw was Harry turn towards her, a smile on his face.
Soft breathing woke Lori up and Harry’s curls felt soothing against her skin, causing a relaxed smile to spread on her face. Fear removed that smile quickly as she realized that she was in bed with Harry’s arms wrapped around her body. To see if she was remembering correctly, she looked down and was relieved to see her clothes were still on. Slowly, she unraveled herself from Harry and tip toed around the sleeping bodies. After exiting the bedroom she went into the kitchen and started to make some coffee. While the coffee brewed she walked over to the mirror on the wall and wiped away her smudged makeup. Once she was finished she walked over to the counter to pour herself a mug of the fresh caffeine. Liam walked out of the bedroom and leaned against the counter.
“Want some?” Lori asked as she held up her coffee mug which now had loads of creamer in it as well as coffee.
“Sure, thanks Love,” Liam said as Lori handed him a mug of his own.
They sipped the coffee in silence for a bit, enjoying the quiet that had gone into hiding the night before.
“How’s Danielle?” Lori asked.
“Oh, she’s fine. How come you didn’t drink that much?” Liam asked.
Lori shrugged. “I was already tired from my game yesterday so I guess I just wasn’t in a party mood which is actually okay because Harry got a little tipsy last night so I decided to put him to bed.”
Liam chuckled. “Yeah, I saw you trying to lug him to the bedroom. That looked a little mischievous and then I saw you passed out cuddling with him when Danielle and I were going to bed.”
“We were not cuddling!” Lori replied quickly as her face turned slightly pink.
“Oh yes you were! He fancies you, Lori, don’t deny it. Finally he's picked a girl we don’t mind. Tell me the truth, do you like him? Is there a date in the near future?” Lori smiled into her coffee mug which confirmed Liam’s question. “So it’s true! When is it?”
Lori shrugged and looked up from her mug. "I dunno, we didn't really plan a day. Today might've been the day, but he's too sick so I just want to take care of him."
"Well aren't you sweet? If anyone were to take care of Harry, I'm glad it's you."
Just then Danielle walked out of the bedroom, rubbing her tired eyes. She leaned against Liam as he wrapped his arm around her protectively and kissed her forehead. Such a sweet couple made Lori smile. When Lori was younger she imagined her parents were like that, before she was born; she imagined they actually loved each other.
"Want some coffee?" Lori asked which Danielle responded by nodding. She handed her a mug and a few little cups of creamer.
The three continued to talk until almost everyone got up. Lori decided to bring Harry a banana and a cup of water for breakfast. She found him just getting up when she walked through the door. Most of the boys' friends had already left so they were the only two in the room. Harry smiled as Lori sat on the side of the bed and gave him the banana and water.
"Good morning," he said after he took a sip of water.
"More like good afternoon. How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad now that you're here. So when do you want to go on that date?"
"Harry, we both know you're not well enough to go on a date. You have a concert tonight and you need to rest. Keep drinking water, you don't want to disappoint your fans."
"But this is my last day in Pennsylvania and I really want to take you out. Trust me, I'm fine."
"Please, Harry rest," Lori begged. "When your tour is over then we can go out on a date. I'll be right here, waiting for you. I'm not going anywhere."
The rest of the day Lori took care of Harry, making sure he drank a lot of water and getting him whatever he needed. Every now and then one of the boys would come in, but only for a quick moment to get something. Most of the time Harry would sleep, trying to regain his strength, but when he wasn't sleeping he was talking with Lori. Sometimes they would ask questions or give their opinions or laugh at a stupid joke or story, it didn't matter; they just wanted to be with one another and hear the other's voice. At some point in the late afternoon Lori was curled up on the arm chair with a book she had found in the bed side drawer. Harry was staring at her, watching her tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and bite her lip because she was anxious to get to the climax of the book. Her eyes zoomed left to right, taking in every word.
"Lori?"
She looked up from her book with wide eyes as if she had forgotten Harry was there. "Yes?" she asked with a kind smile.
"Come here," Harry said as he reached out to her.
A small laugh slipped past Lori's lips as she set the book down and laid down next to Harry. He pulled her closer to him and took out his phone. They took a few pictures that consisted of smiles, funny faces, and kisses. Their faces were always grazing each other, like gentle strokes. One picture in paticular was very important to Lori. It showed her wearing a small smile and Harry's lips were lightly brushing her temple, almost like he was kissing it, but kind of like he was nervous and his eyes were closed. Harry put one of their pictures on Twitter captioning it "Isn't she a great nurse? x." Later on management would make him delete it. After that he began to get dressed and Lori helped him pack. Once they were done Lori said she had to go so Harry walked her down to the lobby. There was a small hallway that led to a back door that the fans didn't know about. When they got there Harry backed Lori into the wall and just towered over her, staring at her as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His warm breath and intense stare made Lori bite her lower lip and her cheeks began to turn pink. Both of their foreheads were resting on each other's as they slowly leaned in and began to kiss, neither one of them wanted to leave. Harry held Lori's hips, bringing her closer to him. He broke away and looked into her eyes.
"I'm going to miss you," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I'll miss you too," Lori said sweetly and quietly.
Harry pulled her into him, wrapping one arm around Lori's small waist while his other hand carassed her cheek. She placed one hand on the back of his neck while the other one fisted his soft curls. Everything disappeared, the door, the hallway, the entire world let them drift into nothingness so they could have their moment alone. When Lori finally decided to go Harry gave her his black jacket so she wouldn't be cold. As she headed towards the door Harry turned her around and gave her last one kiss. Laughing, she pushed him off, put on the hood to cover her hair, and jogged outside. He watched her until she became a black little dot in the distance. Reluctantly, Harry went back up to the room to join the other lads. They tried to cheer him up, but they knew the only person who could do that was Lori. Once everyone was packed they all left the hotel so they could go to Pittsburg to do their last show in Pennsylvania. Ten minutes before the performance, Liam was tasked to find Harry. As he wondered throughout the hallways he found Harry leaning against a window, staring at his phone. Liam walked over to Harry and looked at his phone to see a picture of Lori on his screen; the one of her sound asleep on Harry's shoulder.
“You miss her a lot, don't you mate?”
“Like you have no idea,” Harry said as he took one last look of her delicate face before putting his phone away. “Come on, let's go do a great show,” he said trying to convince himself to be in good spirits. “It's only a month” Harry thought to himself. The sound of the fans made his heart a little less heavy.