"How funny would it be if you fell off the ride and ruined your clothes right before the filming?" Sarah rhetorically asks, making me slowly regret the choice of not bringing extra clothes to set.

"Oh, would you shuddup," I remark, gripping the scooter's handles tighter, carefully maneuvering through the streets of London.

She just laughs in response, momentarily closing her eyes, which we realized was a big mistake the moment she almost falls off. Usually, she has the GPS in her hand to blame the clumsiness on, but the phone is absent this time because we already know the way to Abbey Road Studios, proving she's just uncoordinated.

We really shouldn't rent scooters if we're constantly adjacent to falling off.

We're about 3 minutes away from the place I've been dreading. The filming starts in 20, but we wanted to be early, just in case. If it wasn't for the five cups of chamomile tea I drank last night to calm my nerves, I'd probably be scared shitless right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm very nervous, but I just feel somewhat ready. As long as I can concentrate more than I can stress, it'll be alright.

I look over to Sarah, who looks lost deep in her thoughts, so I don't want to disturb her. We all need to get our shit together mentally. Otherwise, it's just going to be a mess.

I mean, I did just ask her to shut up, but I didn't mean it literally.

On the bright side, no matter the outcome of today, my worries will all be over tomorrow, and we'll be able to explore the city. Sarah agreed to come shopping with me, so I won't be alone wandering around the streets.

We both get pulled out of our frazzled mental states when we see our band already standing in front of the studio, probably waiting for us. We quickly park the scooters next to a curb, and I chuckle when I hear Sarah whispering next to me, "Damn, I thought we'd be early."

"Good morning, ladies," Harry says in an overly enthusiastic tone.

Good-morning-my-ass. It's 6am.

I just smile and nod at his greeting, not knowing what else to do.

Hey, it's not my fault I'm not a morning person.

We all make our way into the building, Harry walking a bit ahead of us and being the first one to greet everybody in the crew by shaking hands and having a small conversation with each of them. I genuinely think he didn't miss a person.

I follow everyone upstairs to the small lounge room after saying 'hello' to the crew, then sit down on the only place available, getting comfortable on the black leather couch, taking off my backpack, and pulling out some snacks.

"Anybody want some?" I offer everyone M&Ms dragees, slightly interrupting everyone's chatter, but no one takes them after sending a few glances my way.

"More left for me, I guess," I scoff, throwing some into my mouth, searching for the blue ones in the packet. I know they're all the same, but I feel like the color just makes the flavor different. Maybe I'm just crazy.

"You should've brought M&M's in the brown packet instead of the yellow one," Harry speaks up, nobody else interested in our conversation.

"Says the guy who eats fucking raisin rolls," I poke fun at him, resting my head in my hand leaned against the top of the couch, as he smirks in response, "Out of all people, you're the last one to have an opinion on food," I continue, obviously joking, making him chuckle and throw his hands up in surrender.

Honestly, I was very upset when I couldn't find any sour worms in the supermarket.

"Plus, everything is better in yellow," I throw another dragee in my mouth, sighing at the sweet chocolate taste. We get told to get ready to start filming in a minute, which makes my stress slowly crawl up in my bones, but I'm quick to swallow it down along with another peanut treat.

This could turn out a calamity very quickly.

I take a quick look in the mirror, checking my outfit. We all agreed to wear nothing fancy, so I just stuck to checkered wide pants, a white crop-top and a teal jacket, paired with dark Doc Martens. My hair is in a low ponytail to prevent hair from falling in my face and distracting me while playing. To make the ponytail a bit more presentable, I had the locks curled, tied in a small bow scrunchie. My make-up's natural, hiding the eyebags of the sleepless nights, a very minimal highlighter to look more alive on camera and make my eyes look more woken up with the help of mascara and slight caramel eye-shadow, a beige gloss lingering on my lips to complete the look.

We all enter the circle of instruments and wires, each of us going to our specific places and putting in the earpieces. The whole studio is filled with lots of chatter and people frantically running around, which is actually making me feel more comfortable. I honestly thought this would be executed very strictly and awkwardly, but it seems like everyone's going with the flow, no pressure included, which is exactly what's calming me.

I circle my wrists to relieve some unnecessary tension, looking around to see Sarah doing the same thing, Mitch in his own world, Adam and Harry joking about something I can't really make out over the noise in my earpiece. The cameraman starts walking around the circle with a clapperboard, showing each camera the necessary information, and telling everyone to get ready.

Showtime baby.

The earpiece starts the countdown for Only Angel, slowly making my anxiety thicken, so I close my eyes, inhaling a deep breath and releasing it. I'm calm. I can do this. Right?

Adam starts the first voice chops on his own keyboard, as I'm still closing my eyes, wiping my hands against my pants to clean off the sweat on them.

I open my eyes right before playing the first notes, completely tuning out everybody else, and not looking at anyone, as I ignore the shake in my legs by making sure everything goes together, smiling at the created music.

It's just me and the instrument, nothing else matters.

My part to play the keyboard in this song was over, so I started hitting a beat on another instrument I still don't really know the name of, imitating claps. I was silently begging for the drumsticks to not slip and fall considering my sweaty hands.

Since not much concentration was needed for hitting the beat, I was finally able to look around the room to see everybody absolutely killing it, perfectly doing their own thing. I turned my head in Harry's direction to see him already looking at me, our glimmering eyes immediately meeting. He smiled a bit, nodding his head in approval, making me feel relieved that I was doing somewhat alright.

His green eyes keep staring right back at mine, him simultaneously singing and smiling. I smirk, but dare to break the eye contact, going back to singing my part, and letting my voice flow sweetly with the arrangement.

When the last guitar strums indicate the ending of the song, I immediately feel really relieved, letting my shoulders drop from the tension I didn't know they had. Of course, we still have a ton of songs to play, I just can't help but feel relieved about something going right.

"Wonderful," I hear Harry nonchalantly say in the short pause meant for changing the guitars.

The first guitar strums open the start of Carolina, in which I'm supposed to shake a small ball in one hand, play some chords with the other, simultaneously pushing the pedal with my foot, and singing all at the same time.

What can I say, I guess I'm a good multi-tasker.

I swear to god if that rattle in my hand slips out... The thought alone makes me totally focus on the task at hand, gripping it even tighter.

I'm sure in the end after all the production, you won't even be able to hear the keyboard nor the shaker, but I still don't want to slip up. I have to do the best I can.

We get through a few songs and while everyone's chatting, I'm quickly going over the most difficult arrangements in the break, wiping the keyboard with a small cloth afterward to dry the sweat, trying to avoid the possibility of my fingers slipping.

Not much of my playing was necessary for Meet me in the hallway, one of my favorite songs on the album, so I was just sitting there with closed eyes, singing in harmony perfectly with Sarah and Harry. He genuinely surprised me with his vocals and note changes throughout the song.

When I opened my eyes, I saw him already staring right back at me, a cheeky grin on his face, as he instantly removed his sight from me, looking ashamed I caught him staring.

We got through Sweet Creature and Ever Since New York, surprisingly everything going perfectly, as I shared funny looks with Sarah, momentarily forgetting about the cameras around us. At times I had to play on two different keyboards, making my job a tad bit difficult, but everything went just fine.

When I was told I'm performing for the documentary, I expected a completely different execution, but this feels like a rehearsal because of the constant joking and chattering in between the songs.

Later on, as I was taking a sip of water on a break, Harry already started counting down for Two Ghosts. I was left shocked, halfway through my sip, the bottle clutched tightly still in my hand, as everyone else started to play the song without me. Fuck me.

"Oh for fuck's sakeeeee," Harry jokingly teased, knowing full well it was his fault I missed the start. We all burst out into laughter, him checking up on us, asking if we're all happy and ready to continue.

Next came Woman, also one of my favorite songs on the album, which I was very nervous about because of the difficult arrangement. Right after the words, "Should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and see what we can find?" erupted in the room, I opened the song with a perfect glissando, which is basically a continuous slide downwards through the whole keyboard, continuing to play around with the melodies.

It brought me back to the time when I was in the first years of music school, being very inexperienced, and had to learn how to play a glissando. My teacher made me slide my fingers down the white, hard keys ten times in a row, eventually leading up to my fingers literally bleeding.

What can I say, those weren't the best methods of teaching, but hey, at least now I know how to slide a perfect glissando.

I must admit, my fingers slipped a couple of times throughout the rest of the song, making the melody sound a bit different, but I pulled it off as if it was on purpose.

The tricky thing about all of this, is the fact that you have to play all the songs from memory, which is why I'm always so concentrated. Usually in rehearsals, muscle memory does the job, but when you're performing, the stress makes you forget certain things, which is why it's not possible to depend on just muscle memory.

We get through Kiwi, having so much fun with the guitars, me still playing the guitar on a Pheobe-Buffay-Level, and I shared looks with each band member at certain riffs. Sarah absolutely blew my mind with her drumming ability as the lights flickered around us, giving me a slight headache, but I didn't let it bother me.

Mitch amazes me with his nonchalant playing in From The Dining Table — another mind-blowing song on the album, the rest of us excellently harmonizing, while Adam's gone somewhere in the lounge room upstairs.

After a longer break consisting of me eating even more M&Ms dragees, it's time to play the last song. I wipe my hands against my pants once again before playing the first chords of Sign of the Times on the black grand piano, the sound flowing very smoothly from the rich keys.

We continue to mix our voices flawlessly, Harry once again shocking me with his vocals.

He was literally born to be a singer, I swear.

I close the song by breaking the last chords, not letting my focus go until the very final notes, instant relief filling me, as a huge grin overtakes my features.

I did it.
I fucking did it.

I look over to Sarah to see nothing but excitement flashing on her face.

It's over.
But why am I a bit sad it's over?

Since Mitch and Adam have to go already, Harry pulls them in a hug, chatting with them for a bit before saying goodbye.

I stand up from the piano, going upstairs with Sarah, excitedly bouncing with each step I make, taking in the walls of the studio for the last time. I put on my backpack, the half-empty pack of M&Ms in my hand, ready to go. I check my phone to see that it's already 8pm. Damn, we spent the whole day here.

We both go outside after saying our farewells to the crew, taking in the cold breeze of London's air.

"Already leaving without saying goodbye?" I turn around to see Harry out of breath, standing in the doorway, his black wide pants flaring with each gust of April's wind, a single curl flapping on his forehead.

"We didn't want to keep your ride waiting," Sarah points to a taxi clearly waiting for Harry's presence.

Sarah gets pulled into a hug from Harry, as he thanks her, leaving me the only one on the band absent of the warmth of a hug.

"We killed it today," I proudly state, in between my chews on the green M&Ms dragees.

"We really did. We should celebrate it tomorrow," Harry suggests as Sarah pulls back from the hug.

"No can do. We're going around the city tomorrow," Sarah affirms, pointing at me with her thumb.

"Well can I come with you? I'll bring Mitch," Harry offers, as Sarah turns her head to me, inaudibly asking for approval. I just nod in response, still munching on my dragees.

"Alright, well, I'll see you soon, yeah?" Harry questions, taking three wide steps in the direction of the taxi waiting for him.

"Yeah," I confirm, noticing Sarah already stepping on her scooter, struggling with the app.

He takes two more steps to the taxi ride, keeping his shirt-covered back to me. He then halts his movement, turning around to face me once again.

After a moment of hesitation, he quickly pulls me in a tight hug, locking me in his embrace, making me feel tiny between his bulky hands.

With my head against his chest, I hear his heart beating very fast, feeling his fingers twirl a single lock of my hair, a nice vanilla scent radiating off of him.

When I think he's going to pull away, he hugs me even tighter, nuzzling his face in my neck, whispering the next words so faintly, I could barely hear them leave his pink heart-shaped lips, "I was so lucky to have you on my band today. Thank you,"

With that being said, he quickly pulls back, making his way into the taxi, and leaving me standing next to a curb, the bright streetlights making me feel dazed.

***

two or three more chapters until the drama comes in!

alright alright I know this might've been a boring chapter, but it was quite necessary for the storyline?

school starts for me today soooo I'll try to update as much as I can (hopefully two times a week) but I aint making promises! pls send help

also I absolutely ADORE Harry's vocals in the irl documentary likeee

PLEASE GIVE THIS STORY ONE MORE CHANCE IF UR BORED AND READ THE NEXT TWO CHAPTERS AT LEAST?

I've kinda been struggling with feeling satisfied with my writing, so bare with me until I develop some skills hahah

this is only the beginning <3

thanks for tagging along this far,
xx