(No Control - 2. Once In A Lifetime)

The door is flung open and Nick Grimshaw pulls me into a hug.

"Hey, long time no see," he says. "How are things?"

"Alright thanks," I say, wiping my feet on the mat.

"How's the broken heart?" he teases, and I grimace at him - he is referring to Nadine dumping me. "Sorry - is it too soon to joke about it?" he grins.

"Would it make a difference to you if I said yes?" I ask.

"No, probably not," he replies with a smirk. "It's nice to know that at least one woman in the whole world doesn't want to go out with you."

"Thanks," I say dryly, and he laughs.

"What was her problem, anyway?" he asks, talking over his shoulder as he leads me down the hallway into a huge kitchen with a vintage style baby blue fridge.

I roll my eyes. "Trust issues," I tell him. I catch sight of Zayn Malik over by the back door, downing shots with a group of guys I half recognise, and I nod my head at him. He gives me a thumbs up. He looks happier than I've seen him in a while.

"Women," Nick is saying, sympathetically. "This is why I stick to men. Far easier to understand. No hormones and shit like that to deal with, no diva tantrums..."

I give him a skeptical look out of the corner of my eye as he hands me a bottle of beer. "Are you taking the piss? You're the biggest diva I know."

"Am not," he says childishly, taking a swig from his bottle, and I shake my head at him. "So have you given Swifty the booty call yet?" he asks, changing the subject.

I open my mouth to answer him but I am interrupted by Ellie Goulding walking over to us and giving me a hug. "Hello darling," she says happily, and I hug her back.

"How are things?" I ask her, and the three of us chat for a bit about our tour and her boyfriend Dougie who was touring with us in Australia with his band McBusted.

"Come into the lounge, Alice is in there," she says. I'm guessing she means Alice Levine, Nick's fellow Radio 1 DJ, and we follow her through some large glass doors into a spacious lounge. Ellie perches on the corner of a cream leather sofa and I see some friends of Nick's in the middle of the room so I head over to talk to them, ignoring the stares of the people I don't know. Over in the corner by the window a DJ has just set up and starts to play some music.

Zayn and his mates join us for a few minutes, causing more people to stare, but then one of them mentions something about lighting up, and they all disappear back into the kitchen, pushing and shoving each other. Zayn looks pretty drunk already.

I drink most of my beer quickly, and the alcohol seems to make me drowsy. After 10 minutes of chatting to Nick and his mates I am discreetly yawning behind my hand. I glance at the clock on my phone. I've only been here an hour but suddenly I feel exhausted. Jet lag must be kicking in.

I send a quick text to Paul, asking him to pick me up in 15 minutes, and turn back to the conversation, not wanting to appear rude.

The room is starting to fill up now and the music has got louder. The DJ begins to play Uptown Funk and I tap my finger on my almost empty bottle along with the beat. I really love this song.

A few people are weaving their way through the crowd and I move to my left slightly to let them pass. I catch the eye of a petite girl with dark blonde hair who stops dead suddenly and stares at me. She turns slightly and nudges another blonde girl who is walking behind her. Oh great, here we go. My eyes flick to the blonde girl's face but she is too busy staring at Ellie Goulding. I stare at her for a second, before her eyes suddenly flick over to mine and she catches me looking at her. She's cute.

I feel my mouth start to smile at being caught checking her out, and she doesn't look away. "Hi," I say.

She holds my gaze and smiles back. "Hi," she says. I feel a jolt in my stomach.

She draws level with me, her eyes still locked on mine, but before I can think of something witty to say to her I hear someone shout, "Harry!"

I instinctively look for the voice calling my name and see Alice Levine waving at me. "How are you babe? You look great," she smiles.

Out of the corner of my eye I see the blonde girl carry on walking and I turn and watch as she disappears into the kitchen with her friend without so much as a backward glance.

I drain the last of my beer and set the empty bottle on a table.

Well well well. Things just got interesting.