Follow Your Heart

“Harry….Harry…baby, it hurts.”

Harry woke up to Nichole gently nudging him awake. He rolled over and she was sitting up in the bed, with her head in her hands, crying softly.He immediately sat up and started running his hands down her back.

“What’s wrong? What hurts?”

“My head…headache. I need my pills,” she whimpered.

“What pills?”Harry started to panic a little bit. “Nichole, where are they.” She just pointed to her bag on the floor. He jumped up and as he turned on the light, she covered her eyes again and lay back in the bed, pulling the duvet over her head.

“No…no light…baby, it hurts,” she cried.

“I know, I know…one minute and I’ll turn it off. I need to see.” Harry grabbed her purse from the pile of luggage at the foot of the bed. After getting some water from the bathroom he quickly turned the light out and sat on the bed next to her. “Hey babes, here you go.Sit up for me, beautiful.”

Nichole downed the tablets and the glass of water and lay back down, pulling the duvet back over her head.

He moved back over to his side of the bed and slid under the duvet next to her and lay there looking at her.

“Thank you, baby,” she said softly.

“Try to sleep, babes. I’ll stay right here,” Harry whispered while he rubbed her back. She was in so much pain and Harry felt completely helpless.

~*~*~*~

“Hey beautiful, you feel any better?” Harry asked walking into the lounge. Nichole was lying on the sofa with her arm thrown over her eyes. It had been a couple hours since she’d woken up and they’d been able to get her downstairs. Harry tried to get her to eat something, but she refused anything he offered her.

“To bright,” she mumbled.Harry started to pull the blinds closed when she whimpered and he turned around. She was sitting up, holding her head in her hands. Harry rushed over to her,
“Hey, hey…what do you need?”

“I just wanna go back to bed.Hurts to move.”

“Ok, ok love…let’s get you back to bed.” Then he picked her up, bridal style, and carried her towards the stairs. Normally she would’ve been telling her not to drop her or to put her down before he hurt his back, but she just held on, resting her head on his chest.

Harry got her settled on the bed, pulled the duvet over her, then made sure all the blinds were shut and the room was as dark as he could make it. Sitting on the bed next to her, he just rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Nichole said softly.

“Sorry for what, beautiful?”

“I hate that you have to take care of me.”

“Shhhh. Don’t be silly, I don’t mind. I am worried though. Do you need a doctor?” Nichole didn’t say anything, just closed her eyes. She’d taken more tablets and they seemed to be taking affect. At least letting her sleep, if nothing else.

Harry was worried out of his mind, so he did what any respectable boyfriend would do when his girl was ill. He called her mother.

“Harry? Is everything ok, darlin’?” Carolyn asked as soon as she answered the phone.

“Yeah, maybe…I don’t know, to be honest.” He said leaning against the kitchen island. “Nichole woke up with a headache this morning. She’s absolutely miserable and I don’t know what to do for her.”

“Oh my poor baby. She gets these from time to time, since she was fourteen. If she’s a bit stressed or overtired, that can trigger them, or sometimes they just happen for no reason. She has some medication from her doctor. Did she take that?”

“Yeah, she did. But it doesn’t seem to be doing anything other than knocking her out.” Harry ran his hand through his hair and huffed out a frustrated sigh.

“Has she been throwing up?”

“No, not yet anyway. She won’t eat anything. Just keeps saying it hurts and wants to stay in the dark. I don’t know what to do for her. Should I take her to my doctor?”

“Honey, sometimes there is nothing we can do. She just has to ride it out. If she starts throwing up or it gets worse instead of better in a few hours, then yes, take her to the doctor. She’s going to need a shot.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding to no one in particular.

“Harry, even if she starts feeling better, these headaches take a lot out of her. She’s going to be exhausted. Make her rest. Otherwise she is going to get another one, and it becomes a vicious circle.”

“Okay…thank you, Carolyn.I had no idea what was going on. Stress?”

“It can be, honey. Or like I said, she could just be over tired. Or it could be nothing at all. But she will be ok. I know it’s scary, scared the life out of me when she was younger. We had no idea what was happening to her. Took a while but we got it figured out. Just try to get her to eat when she wakes up, if you can. Don’t worry if she doesn’t. She’ll be starving when she starts to feel better though, so be prepared.”

“I don’t want to leave her.”

“I know, darlin’, I know.”

~*~*~*~

Nichole woke up feeling disoriented. She sat up slowly and turned the bedside lamp on. The blinds were closed and the room was pitch black. She had no idea what day it was, or even what time it was. She also had no idea where her phone was, so she had to get up and find Harry. She stood up quickly and ended up back having to sit back down.“Slowly, Nicky Marie” she muttered to herself. She was feeling really drained and weak so she carefully walked across the room and opened the door and started for the stairs. She held on to the railing, but about half way down she couldn’t take another step. Hearing voices from the kitchen, she just sat down on the stairs and called out.

“Harry…”

Harry came around the corner quickly followed by another guy that Nichole hadn’t met.

“Hey beautiful,” he said softly, moving up the stairs towards her, “You alright, babe?” She just nodded and reached out to him.

“Just feel a little weak. What time is it? I can’t find my phone.” He helped her up, holding her steady.

“It’s around six o’clock. I took your phone so it wouldn’t wake you. It’s in the lounge.”

“God, I’ve been out for what…sixteen hours?”

“Yeah, just about. Come on, up you get,” he said, leading her back up the stairs to his room. He turned to the guy standing at the bottom of the stairs, “We’ll be back down in a bit.” Mystery guy nodded and turned back to the kitchen.

He sat her down on the toilet in the bath while he fussed around, getting towels and turning on the shower.

“Harry, I can manage a shower on my own, baby.” He turned to Nichole and gave her a look, reminding her that she couldn’t make it down the stairs on her own. Without a word, he took her hand and helped her up and pulled the shirt she was wearing over her head. She took her underwear off and stepped into the shower. He stripped down and got in right behind her. She looked over my shoulder at him raising her eyebrow.

“Shhh,” he said, putting his finger over her lips, “Relax, beautiful. Let me look after you, ok?”She just nodded and let her head fall back under the water.

He placed light kisses on her shoulder then reached for the shampoo and started to wash her hair. She kept her eyes closed, humming at the feel of him massaging her scalp. Remembering they had a house guest, she had to ask.

“Baby?”

“Hmm?” He said rinsing her hair before slathering some of his ridiculously expensive conditioner through her hair.

“Who is that downstairs?”

“Jeff.” She opened her eyes, turned around and stared at him. He smirked, “What?”

“Your manager? Oh my god…and his first impression of me…lord, he must think I am some sort of…”

“Shhh, he doesn’t think anything of the sort. I had a meeting with him today but you weren’t well, so I told him to come here.”Nichole couldn’t help but groan.

“Great, I looked like some pants-less, homeless person the first time he sees me. And now he’s downstairs waiting for you to finish bathing me. Goodness sakes.”

Harry was trying to not laugh, but Nichole was panicking. He took the bath sponge and poured some body wash on it then continued to wash her.

“Nichole…its fine.Jeff is fine.” He leaned down and looked into her eyes, “Stop stressing yourself out. Just relax, please.” Then he tipped her head back under the water to rinse the conditioner out.

Harry had laid out another of his t shirts for her, along with a pair of leggings, on the bed so she quickly pulled those. Nichole didn’t have the energy or desire to dry her hair or put on any make-up. Figuring Jeff had seen her looking like death, this was definitely a step up.

Harry walked next to her down the stairs, his arm around her, guiding her while she held on to the railing. I still felt a bit weak and tired, but much better after a shower.

Walking into the kitchen, Jeff was sitting on one of the bar stools, with a glass of wine, and another person, a woman, Nichole didn’t know was there, unpacking takeout food. She looked up at them and smiled. She came around the island and gave Harry a hug, talking a mile a minute.

“I wasn’t sure what to get, Harry…I just got a little of everything. She looked at Nichole and said, “Hi, I’m Glenne. Are you feeling better? Harry said you were miserable.” Nichole just nodded and looked up at Harry.

“Jeff, Glenne…this is Nichole,” he said, finally introducing her to them. Nichole just said, “Hi” quietly while Glenne continued to chatter away, but Jeff just sat there, looking at Nichole. Obviously, sizing her up. Nichole felt weird and reached out for a bottle of water. It was too much to think about while she was still feeling ill and very hungry. The food smelled really good and her stomach growled loudly, which made her face go red. Harry couldn’t help but laugh.
“Right, let’s get some food in you.”

~*~*~*~

After they ate, Nichole started to clean up the dishes, but Glenne stopped her, taking over. Telling her she wasn’t well, and she should go sit down. So she just went outside on the deck and stood looking over the LA skyline. Was a far cry from the view from the back porch of the ranch.

“Hey, are you ok?” She heard Glenne ask. “Harry asked me to bring you some tea.” Nichole turned around and smiled, taking the mug from her.

“Thank you. I’m ok...little shaky still. But the shower and the food helped.”

“Migraine?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had one in long time. They wipe me out.”

“My roommate in college got them. Pretty scary sometimes.”Nichole nodded and moved over to one of the sofas and sat down as Glenne sat across from her.

“So you are Jeff’s…?”

“His girlfriend.” Glenne responded, smiling and blushing slightly, “and H’s friend.” Nichole nodded and smiled back at her.

“What are they doing in there?”

“Business…that audition H has. And some photoshoot.”

Nichole nodded again and asked, “So he put you on nurse detail?” Glenne laughed a little and said,

“Not really, but I thought you wouldn’t mind the company.” Nichole giggled a little and said,

“Yeah…I would. I don’t know anyone but Harry here. And yeah, the company is nice.”

~*~*~*~

“Jeff…shut up. She’s my sister’s best friend and has been for a while. My mum loves her…this is not up for discussion.”

“Dude, I’m just saying…publicity wise, dating your sister’s best friend is not…you should at least think about it.” Harry was getting increasingly frustrated with his friend and manager. He didn’t like losing his temper, but Jeff was pushing him and he knew it.

“Jeff…seriously, what part of not up for discussion do you not get? I’m done with publicity dating. I love her. She’s good for me, and fuck it if I am not good for her.”

“So good for you that you cancelled our meeting to take care of her because she had a headache?” At that Harry stood up, raising his voice,

“For fucks sake, it wasn’t just a headache. And I didn’t cancel anything, just told you to come here. If it was Glenne you would’ve done the same and I wouldn’t have questioned you about it! I swear to god, one more mention of this from you and you can just leave.” He held his hands up and said,

“Fine...okay...I’m sorry.I’m only trying to do the job you pay me to do. I’m only trying to do what’s best for you.”

“You manage my career, Jeff. And you are good at it. But this is where I draw the line, my personal life is mine. It’s not for public consumption anymore.” With that Harry walked out of the room and out on the deck with the girls. They were having a giggle over something.

“How are you feeling?” Harry asked sitting next to Nichole, “Glenne talking your ear off?”

“Harold, be nice,” Nichole said, grinning at Glenne, “She’s been telling me about you two boys and a couple of drunken nights in Tokyo.” He laughed and shook his head.

“Really, Glenne?”

“H, she’s friends with you sister, I’m sure Gemma has more embarrassing stories to tell than I do.”

“Oh she does,” Nichole said with a giggle, “and she has.”

“Jesus, the women in my life.”

~*~*~*~

“Still hungry?” Harry asked coming up behind Nichole after seeing Jeff and Glenne out. She was poking around in the fridge grabbing some of the leftovers from dinner. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her behind my ear as she took a bite of a cold eggroll. Satisfied with her choice, she let him move them over to one of the barstools. He pulled her into his lap and just watched her eat, smiling.

“What?” Nichole asked looking back at him.

“Nothing…cold Chinese food is disgusting.” She popped the rest of the eggroll into her mouth and finished it off. Then took a huge drink from his water bottle.

“There, gone.” She said leaning back on him.

“Eat if you want to eat, love.” She turned around facing him, straddling his lap and let her head rest on his shoulder.

“I’m good, baby.”

His arms wrapped around her and he rubbed her back like he did when she was sick.
“Want to watch a movie?” He asked. She shook her head against him.

“Just want to cuddle,” she sighed.

“Ok, you want to go back to bed?” She just nodded against him. “Alright then,” he said standing and picking her up. He started walking towards the stairs.

“Harry,” she laughed, “I can walk on my own.”

“Yeah, yeah…I know. Don’t care.”

Notes