HARRY

I'm happy that Ashley is kind of open to me. I think it's important for me to know her, so that I could be of some help. To be honest, she's a really down-to-earth  girl and I would do anything to help her.

We all go to see Shawn's new home in London. It's a bit far from the centre. We've only travelled half of the total distance and it has nearly been 30 minutes since we departed.

'How many more minutes?' Louis asks.

'15 more minutes. I am sorry it is  a bit far, guys' Shawn apologises.

'That's alright Shawn. It is  nothing compared to the hundreds of kilometers of travelling we, artists, need to do during tour' Liam says. Everyone nods their head to that.

We are nearly there. I keep checking the GPS on my phone, in order to keep track of time and location. However, as I do so, my message notification goes off.

Ashley: Why are you so quiet?

I smile when I see her texting me.

Me: i don't know what to talk about to be honest.

Ashley: Are you usually this quiet?

Me: Yeah, only when I have nothing to talk about. How about you?

Ashley: same I guess. I was bored, so I texted you instead.

Me: that's okay. It would be awkward if we just sit together and start talking.

Ashley: Yeah.

I look out through the window, and see that we entered a huge housing area. There are a plenty of high-rise apartments. I quickly realise that Adele has an apartment in this area as well, as well some other celebrities.

The van halts in front of a white, 8-floor building. I quickly stuff in my hat and phone inside my bag.

'We are here guys, let's go' Shawn says and exits the van, followed by Louis, Liam, Niall, Ruby, Mary and Ashley. I am the last one to exit the van.
Shawn does some signing at the building registration office and comes out with a bunch of keys. He leads us to a 20 passenger elevator and presses on '6'.

'Oh so we are in the 6th floor?' Ashley asks him.

'Yeah. I thought it was the best floor, since it is  not at the very top nor at the bottom' he responses.

The elevator takes us up to the 6th floor. There are only two, gigantic doors in this floor. This means that there are only two flats. I'm betting the interiors are going to be huge.
We stop in front of 'A62', written clearly on the door on a board. Beside it, right on the wall, is 'Shawn Mendes', placed on a blue name board. Shawn unlocks the doors and we all enter. The light of his new apartment is revealed.

'Shawn! Buddy, this is mesmerizing' Niall exclaims.

'It is. It's beautifully designed' Liam adds the remark.

Ashley looks around, with her mouth half opened. She's completely taken aback by it. It is impressing to be honest. I have to say, Shawn did an amazing job planning this.

'I'm so glad you all loved it. I just requested whatever was on my mind' Shawn adds.

'And, undoubtedly, the result is stunning. Well done Shawn' Ruby responses which makes Shawn smile.

I go and pat his back, adding a few complimentary remarks. He's overwhelmed, I can clearly sense that.

'Where's my sister? I haven't heard what she thinks of her new home' Shawn looks around for Ashley.

'She must've went upstairs. Ashley! Come here' Mary shouts. However, Ashley comes out of the kitchen and runs to give Shawn the tightest hug ever.

'Shawn I love this. It's so beautiful. Thank you' she says in between hugs.

'If my baby sis likes it, then nothing else matters to me' Shawn says and he squeezes her.

'Awh, brother sister love' Louis adds and I hear a bunch of quiet 'awhs'. They finally let go. We all gather up in the living room and make ourselves comfortable.

'Who wants some drink?' Shawn asks. Louis and Liam ask for coffee, followed by Mary, who requests for any fruit juice. Niall ask for a glass of soda and Ruby wants a cup of coffee. I see Ashley whisper something to Shawn, before she gets up and goes to the kitchen.

'Hey Shawn did you just send her to make all the drinks? If that was your plan, then I wouldn't have requested for any' Ruby says , slightly pissed.

'Of course not! Ash likes doing these. She went by herself. I didn't tell her anything' Shawn defends himself. I look at the kitchen direction. Eventually everyone is really into the TV show 'Stranger Things', so I take this perfect opportunity to go to the kitchen. I get up, as quietly as possible, making sure not to attract any sort of attention. I finally succeed in entering the kitchen.

The kitchen is as mesmerizing as the rest of the apartment, although I haven't seen the bedrooms yet. I spot Ashley boiling some water and she almost jumps when she sees me.

'You scared me!'

'I'm sorry' I apologize.

'That's okay Harry. What are you doing here though?' she asks, looking slightly confused.

I take a while to think of an answer to that.

'Couldn't leave you alone. So I thought of joining you' I spit out. I quickly recall what I said, and judged whether it made sense or not.

'Oh okay. There's not much left to do, though. I made the tea and juice. I only need to prepare the coffee and take out a can of soda from the fridge' she  goes back to stirring the juice.

'I'll help you with the coffee then' I offer.

'Hmm okay, if that's what you want. Be careful while pouring the boiled water' she requests, and starts walking around the kitchen . I sit on the stool of the kitchen counter and wait for the boiling to finish. It takes around 2 minutes to finish. I remove the pot from the stove and turn it off. I take a cup and start pouring the water, carefully. I glimpse at her again, whose attention is fully on the juice. My eyes were glued to her for a solid ten seconds. Without realizing, I pour too much water and accidentally spill some on my hand. I groan immediately and Ashley comes running towards me.

'Oh my God are you okay?' she gasps, holding my arm investigating it.

'I'm fine. I just spilled some water.' I assure her.

'Hold on I'll get some ice.' she tells me and opens fridge door, taking out some ice. She puts one on my hand and it hurt a bit.

'Aah!' I groan.

'I'm sorry Harry but it's going to hurt a bit. I'm going to put an ointment afterwards. The pain will go away' she assures me and massages my burn mark with the ice. She soon stops and applies a bit of an ointment on it. She rubs it softly, making the sensation comfortable.

'Does it burn?' she asks me, stopping for a while.

'No, it doesn't. It's okay.'

She continues rubbing for a while. I can't believe it created a burn mark. Ashley, however, is still holding it.

'Are you sure this is enough?'

'Yes, Ashley. It's not burning for now. I guess the ointment worked.' I tell her and smile, to reduce the tension.

'Oh Harry this is my fault. I shouldn't have asked you in the first place. I'm sorry.' She gives me a look of guilt, but I hold her hand instead.

'It's not, alright? Stop blaming yourself.' I comfort her and pat her shoulder.

She told me multiple times that she can finish all that work and I can join the rest,like normal. However, I refuse to listen to a single of word of hers and continue doing what I am supposed to do. She sighs and gives up, eventually.

We're about to go and serve the rest with their drinks. Before we do that, it quickly crosses my mind that I should cover the burn mark, so that Ashley doesn't need to be questioned. 

'But everyone's going to ask you anyway. The cloth wasn't there before' she adds.

'I know what to say, don't worry' I assure her and she smiles.

'You don't have to do that, you know? I can just tell the truth.'

I shake my head slowly to that. She stops trying to persuade me any further. She knows I won't listen to that. I'm being stubborn I guess, but it's all for her.

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'What happened to your hand, Harold?' Niall asks and soon, everyone starts to put their gaze on me.

'Um, well, actually, I went to the gym yesterday and did a few punching. Little did I know that one of them would go extremely bad, and cause a bruise on my hand' I lie. It seemed pretty convincing I guess. 

'Oh my God. Why didn't you tell us? Are you okay?' Louis  asks worriedly. I don't like to lie, but I have no choice. I don't want Ashley to get a telling off by Shawn for something I did.

'Yeah, I am fine Louis, thanks.' Ashley look at me with raised eyebrows. She did not expect me to say something like that. 

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'Guys, let's play 'What's the first thing that comes to your mind'  Mary suggests.

'Yup, definitely! I'll come up with the ideas and I'll ask each of you. You need to spit out whatever comes into your mind within five seconds.' Louis tells everyone.

'Sounds fun, let the game begin' Ruby exclaims. We all sit in a circle. Louis spends around two minutes, jotting down all his ideas.

'Okay! I am done. Niall, you're up first lad' Louis tells him and Niall takes a deep breath.

'What's the one song off your solo album that you would dedicate to Ruby? And if you can, sing a few lines to her' Louis continues and Niall exhales.

'I would dedicate You and Me to my beautiful girl' he continues, holding her hand. He looks extremely adorable when he's romantic. He soon starts singing and the melody of his voice fills in the environment.

Time's never been on our side
So would you wait for me?
I lead a selfish life
'Cause that's what I need
What do I have to do
To make you believe?
It's all for you and meWhen I look down the line
At the man I wanna be
I've always known from the start
That it ends with you and me

There's a round of applause for Niall. Him and Ruby squeeze each other while hugging. Our claps are soon followed by 'Awhs'. 

'That was romantic, lad. Next up is Shawn. Okay, hero, what's your favorite thing to do during a typical day?' Louis asks him.

'Tease Ashley, probably.' We all laugh and Ashley pouts.

'Ashley! Okay, what do you look for in a guy?' Louis continues. Shawn, Ruby and Mary smirk at her and she shakes her head out of shyness.

'Funny, well-behaved, loyal and loving'  she simpered. I nod my head to that.

'Liam, Switzerland or Brazil?' 

'Brazil!' Liam responses.

'Harold, your favorite love song for now?'

'Girl Crush by Little Big Town' I reply instantly. 

'Ruby, favorite thing to wear during a normal date?'

'A classic black or blue dress, with heels.'

'Mary, are you dating?' That's probably the most random and awkward question asked so far.

'Um, no' she replies awkwardly. 

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The game went on for fifteen minutes, until Louis ran out of questions to ask. Tomorrow's the camp. I am looking forward to it. I am still unaware of who are exactly showing up. I have a feeling that this year's camp is going to be fun. We are now preparing to go. After a few hugs and goodbyes, we all head towards the exit. Shawn's phone starts ringing.  I vaguely hear him answering it, since I am at the exit. However, I halt for a few seconds when he shouts.

'Ashley! The doctor called. Your reports are ready.'