Follow Your Heart

As the concert was ending, their assigned security came over to where Nichole and Gemma were to lead them out of the venue before the crowds started to disperse. As they were walking away Nichole saw a lot of the fans waving and saying hello to Gemma. She smiled and waved back at them. Like her brother, she was awesome with them. Then she heard it….
“I wonder if she is his girlfriend.”
“No way. She couldn’t be. Look at her. She’s nothing like Kendall.”
It shouldn’t have bothered her, she wasn’t a model, nor did she want to be and she definitely wasn’t his girlfriend, but that stung. Gemma must have heard it too because when the Rover took off, heading for the hotel, she leaned over and said,
“Do yourself a favor, Nicky. Don’t pay attention to them. It will eat you alive if you let it.”
“To Hell with them.” Nichole sighed and leaned back in her seat looking out the window and watching the lights as they went past. She closed her eyes as visions of green eyes looking into hers filled her mind.
~*~*~*~
Harry watched Nichole sitting at the end of the bar. Quietly sipping her beer and watching everyone. They had decided to have a few drinks in the hotel bar to wind down after the show, but she looked exhausted. He started to walk over to her, when Gemma approached her, rubbed her shoulder, speaking softly to her.
“Nicky, go to bed. You can barely keep your eyes open, love.”
“I don’t want them to think…”
“Shut up. Go to bed. You traveled all day, you went to the concert…They understand being tired. Go sleep.” Nichole stood up and hugged her friend.
“Okay, okay, I’m going.” Then she headed across the bar to where Harry was standing, watching her. He moved across the room and met her halfway, both of them smiling at each other. And completely oblivious to the audience watching every move they made towards each other.
“You look wreaked, Nichole.” He touched her arm, unconsciously rubbing it. “Time for bed, yeah?”
“Do I look that bad?” she laughed. His face flushed pink and he quickly said,
“No, no…of course not, but you do look tired. Heading up?”
“Yeah, I think so. Gemma’s promised me I could sleep in tomorrow.” She leaned around him to see the others sitting at the table, watching them. “Great show tonight, ya’ll. I am heading to bed. Goodnight.”
“Aww, you not staying out with us tonight, love?” Louis asked, his bottom lip stuck out, pouting.
“I am exhausted, darlin’. Maybe some other time, okay?”
“We’re bussing it tomorrow night. The bar is stocked, so no one is sleeping!” Niall laughed. Nichole winked at him, “I’m game, Irish, but first sleep.” Everyone laughed at her challenging Niall while he looked dumbfounded for a moment and then just burst out laughing.
“I like this one, H…keep her around.” Harry tilted his head at her and grinned,
“I think I will.”
“And on that note, its bedtime. Goodnight, ya’ll.” And she turned, heading out of the bar and down the hall.
Harry watched her leaving the room, and then turned around sat back down at the table, picked up his drink and started to finish it. The whole table went quiet. He looked over the top of his glass and all eyes were on him.
“What?”
“Why are you sitting here, man?” Liam said, kicking him under the table, “Walk her up to her room at least, for goodness sakes.” Harry downed the rest of the drink, set the glass on the table, and looked Liam straight in the eye,
“Give me a reason why I would need to do that?”
“Do I need to remind you of the conversation we had right before we went on stage?”
“Jesus, H, we can all see how much you like her.” Louis said, grinning like a cat, “She probably can see it.”
“No, absolutely not. She only just got here today.”
“Pffts, Harry.” Gemma chimed in as she sat next to Louis, “You’ve been having late night conversations with her for months. She talks to you more than me now.”
“She is working for me, she just signed all of her employment contracts today. This is so…I can’t…” he protested.
“That is a load of shite, H.” Niall said, “I’ve been in the bunk underneath you when you are talking to her. You like this girl, a lot.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can’t fuck any of this up.”
“No one is saying take her upstairs and shag her.” Louis said as he waved for the waitress to bring us another round.
“Oh God…eww,” Gemma said hitting Louis on the shoulder, “my brother’s sex life is not a topic of conversation I want to be part of, thank you very much.”
“He doesn’t have a sex life, Gem.” Niall teased.
“For fuck’s sake! Can we drop it, please?” Harry stood up. “I’m going up. You guys plan out my life for me and let me know what I should do tomorrow.” Then he turned and walked out of the bar, heading up to his room.
~*~*~*~
Harry paced the room holding his phone in his hand. He wanted to call Nichole, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. She was so tired and looked like she was going to fall asleep on her feet earlier. He slept so much better when he heard her voice though. He so was wound from the conversation earlier so he could feel it was going to be a long night. He opened the curtain and looked out over the city. He could see the fans milling around the parking lot, so he left the light off, so he couldn’t be seen. He always wondered what the other hotel guests thought when we were in the hotel and screaming fans where outside all day and all night. What did Nichole think of it all? She hadn’t run away, so that was a plus. He looked down and was still holding his phone. He scrolled through the contacts, stopping on Nichole’s name. His thumb hovered over the call button and just as he decided to put the phone down, a text from her came on screen.
Nichole: I know you are awake, Harry
Harry: How did you know? And why aren’t you sleeping?
Nichole: Educated guess, Mr. Styles – I’m in bed, but and your sister is singing Artic Monkeys to me. You definitely have the voice in the family, she should stick to writing. How much did she drink?
Harry: Evidently, too much. I left the party not long after you did.
Nichole: Why?
Harry: Wasn’t feeling it. You should be sleeping. You’ve had a long day.
Nichole: I have a confession…
Harry: What’s that?
Nichole: I’ve gotten used to your calls…I can’t sleep until I hear your voice.
He had to re read that text twice before he messaged her back.
Harry: Meet me in the hallway
~*~*~*~
Nichole laid there staring at my phone while Gemma was singing from her bed. Nichole sighed and looked over at her. She needed her best friend to be coherent right now. Gemma was honest to the core, and this was her brother Nichole was talking to…
“Gem?”
“Yeah?” she said, stopping mid chorus of “Do I Wanna Know.”
“Harry wants me to meet him in the hall…” She sat up quickly and looked at Nichole.
“You are chatting up my baby brother!!”
“Oh my god, Gem…I am not…I don’t think so…he’s chatting me up, too!” Nichole looked over at her, and Gemma was grinning like Louis at her friend.
“Don’t look at me like that. This is awkward enough. He’s your brother and my boss for god’s sake. I don’t know what to do.”
“Geez…go. He’s not asking you to come to his room…or is he? Oh hell, I’ll murder him if he is!”
“No…no…he’s not asked me that.” Then Nichole showed her the texts. She started grinning as she read them. She threw Nichole her phone back at her and said,
“My singing is not that bad, miss.”
“Whatever you say, I’m just saying Adele doesn’t need to be worrying about you.” she said, laughing at the disgusted look on her face.
“That’s the most precious thing I have seen in forever. You both can’t sleep without talking to each other. GAHHHH go!! Now! If he kisses you, I don’t want to know about it. Wait. Yes, I do want to know, just no details, ok?”
“Oh hells bells…Shut up!” Nichole said, slipping on her shoes. She pulled her hoodie over her head, grabbed her keycard and opened the door.
As soon as Nichole shut the door behind her, Gemma grabbed her phone and texted Liam.
Gemma: Harry just told her to meet him in the hall
Liam: Did she go?
Gemma: Took her a min to decide, but yeah, she went
Liam: So little Haz is making his move
Gemma: Can we not talk about my brother’s moves, please?
Liam: hahahahaha
~*~*~*~
Nichole looked down the hall both ways, not seeing him at first, and then she heard soft footsteps behind her and turned around. Harry was wearing joggers, a hoodie and had his hair pulled back. So different than the skinny jeans she was used to seeing him in. When she saw those dimples, she couldn’t help but smile right back at him. He stopped inches away from Nichole, so she had to look up to see his face.
“I thought you were going to stand me up.”
“So you were coming to get me?”
“Possibly,” he teased. Then he took her hand and said, “Come on.” And they headed back down the hall, past his room. He stopped at a door, looking around to see if they were being watched.
“Harry, where are we going?” He pulled the door open, which led to a stairwell.
“The roof.”
“The roof? It’s October, in Canada. We’re going to freeze to death.” Nichole laughed and followed him up the stairs.
“I promise I won’t let that happen, Nichole.” They ran up a couple flights of stairs and stopped at the door, both out of breath and giggling. They looked at each other and both pushed the door open at the same time. It almost slammed shut, but Harry had the sense to find something to prop it open a bit, or else they’d been explaining to Hotel security and management why we were locked out on the roof. Harry took her hand and he led her over to the edge so they could look at the city lights. The wind was blowing and it was cold so they both pulled their hoods up. He put his hands in his pocket and she pulled her hands up into the sleeves of her hoodie. They stood there in the quiet just looking around.
“Harry, why did you bring me up here?”
“I like to do this sometimes when we are in hotels. It’s a way to get outside and not have to have three security guards pushing you through the crowd.” Even in the dark Nichole could see that he was worn out. It was no wonder he had developed insomnia. This break that was coming, he needed it. They all did. She reached over and touched his arm and he turned and looked first at her hand and then up at her face.
“I can’t imagine how you guys have done this nonstop for so long, Harry. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t go home for so long.”
“I wish you had come to the show that night after you helped Gemma.”
“Why?”
“Then this,” he said gesturing between the two of them, “wouldn’t be so awkward. You’ve been important to my sister for a while now. I just wish I would’ve been able to get to know you too.”
Nichole brushed her hand over his forearm, moved right next to him and they both turned back to looking out over the city. A wave of bravery or insanity washed over Nichole and she just put her hand in the pocket of his hoodie, taking his hand in hers. The feel of their fingers intertwining with each other’s again felt so good, so right. Nichole could feel his eyes looking down at her but she didn’t look up, and continued looking out at the city, listening for the faint screams of the fans.
“So we get to know each other now, Harry.”
~*~*~*~
Gemma woke up to a very cheerful Nicky bouncing around the room singing “Girl Almighty” while she packed up her bags since they were checking out and hanging out at the arena today. Gemma’s head felt like a deflated football and as much as she loved seeing Nichole so happy, her head couldn’t take another note. She threw a pillow across the room, hitting Nichole on the hip. She jumped and turned around.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
“How could I not be? What time is it? And where is that ibuprofen you carry around with you?” Gemma pulled herself out of bed as Nichole tossed the bottle of tablets to her.
“It’s eight o’clock,” and sat down on her bed grinning like she was about to bust with excitement.
“My god what are you doing up so early? And why are so you damn happy? You hate mornings.” Then she sighed and fell back on the bed, and said four words that left Gemma speechless.
“Your brother is perfect.” Gemma smiled. This is the Nichole she wanted to see. And her brother seemed to be responsible for that smile. She had to find out what happened.
“Far from it, but do tell. What happened last night?” Gemma asked as she swallowed the tablets Nichole gave her.
**Flashback, the night before**
They stood holding hands inside the pocket of his hoodie, not saying anything. The tension was thick, but it felt good. Harry squeezed her hand slightly and pulled her around in front of him, taking her other hand in his free hand, slipping them back into his hoodie pocket. Nichole looked up at him and they both smiled.
“Nichole…” he started, but stopped and just leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. It was just a soft, innocent kiss, but it was enough for Nichole to gasp slightly. He pulled back and looked at her, “This is okay, yeah?”
“Definitely ok, Harry.”
He released her hands and wrapped his arms around her shoulders pulling her closer. Her arms wound around his waist and she rested her head on his chest. She felt him kiss the top of her head, much like the night at her apartment when he snuck away to convince her not to quit. He released a chuckle that vibrated through his chest.
“I’ve wanted to do that since that night out on your porch, Nichole. And the morning we woke up on your sofa. Every time we spoke on the phone, I wanted to be with you so I could do this. I missed you desperately after only knowing you for five days.”
“I missed you, too.” She said softly, looking up at him, “But I’m freezing, can we go back inside now?”
Harry laughed and he led them back into the hotel, holding her hand as they walked down the stairwell. Just before they pulled the door to their floor, he gently turned her body in towards his, leaving his hands on her waist. He let his eyes take in her face, the dark eyes, her flawless skin and the perfect mouth that he just had to kiss again.
“What is it?”
He just smiled, and leaned down and kissed her again. His tongue slid across her bottom lip, pushing her lips apart. They we both groaned into each other’s mouth when their tongues caressed for the first time. Nichole wrapped her arms around his neck and they staggered back towards the wall. She was pinned between the wall and his body, and it felt good. His hands slid under her hoodie and t-shirt, his fingertips gliding over her waist. He didn’t try to move them any further up, but that touch alone was enough for her to sigh into his mouth. He pulled back a bit, his forehead pressed to hers.
“We should go back, before we both do something we’ll regret in the morning.” Nichole couldn’t speak but nodded in agreement. He caressed her cheek and kissed her quickly before he pulled the door open and they walked back down to her room.
**End Flashback**
“Gem, I know he’s your brother…and I’m sorry…you have no idea how sorry I am, but you are my best friend you have to hear this…Jesus, can he kiss.” Gemma made a face at her and she said,
“Ew. I’m glad you both took the leap, but we have to draw some boundaries here. Telling me how my brother kisses…or any other physical thing you get up to…I so don’t want to know, ok? Just…eww.” Nichole laughed, still giddy from the night before and started getting dressed. “What are you doing?” Gemma asked, falling back on the bed.
“Breakfast, come on. Get up. We have to be ready to check out on time, remember? We’re leaving for Boston tonight.”
“This perkiness in the morning, we need to have a chat about it. If he’s going to make you this damn cheerful all the time, you can live with him instead.” Nichole stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Gemma. She laughed out loud and fell back on the bed. “That scared the hell of you, didn’t it?”
“Can we not rush, please? One date on the roof does not make for an invitation to move in.”

Notes