My ears were ringing and the silence was becoming unbearable, regardless, I refused to be the first to break it. My skin still burnt from Harry’s touch, and I kept having to reassure myself that it was due to my absolute disgust, and nothing more. The silence was amplifying everything, I could hear the kitchen clock, the whir of the fridge, and of course, the soft creak the sofa made from having to hold five teenage boys.

I heard a sigh and directed my glare away from Harry to another boy, his hair was out of control and his arm was covered in tattoos, he was attractive, that seemed to be a trend here.

“How about we get this over and done with then?” He broke the silence as his eyes shifted between Harry and I.

I was positioned alone directly opposite to the five of them, and it really felt like an interrogation.

“No” I retorted, staring at them all individually making sure they processed the words. Harry was the only one smirking.

All four of the other boys turned to face Harry, with expressions I couldn’t read.

“Yeah, definitely blunt” the blonde one spoke up, with an irish accent.

I was about to interrupt with a fury of words, but Harry beat me to it.

“Told you” he was staring directly at me, still smirking stupidly.

“Okay, this is becoming ridiculous” they all turned to stare at me as I began to speak, unfiltered as always. “Seriously, this is so unfair. Do you realize the type of damage you’ve created in my already haphazard life? First i’m forced to take Grace to meet you all and to top it all off, i'm forced into continuing to see you all, when honestly, I didn't want to meet any of you in the first place. It only got worse when I was forced to go to coffee with you, and now there is photographic evidence, what will Mason think? I guess this is how it felt for mum when we came here...shit” I was going off in tangents and I didn’t realise his name had slipped out, and that i’d been openly speaking about my life here, for the first time since it all happened. Suddenly everything was silent, besides my erratic breathing.

“...Are you alright?” one of them spoke.

“Emily” Harry was now reaching forward and I didn’t know why. I hate people touching me and thats why I quickly retracted my hand away.

“Yeah, course. I’d be better if you weren’t here, but I don’t really have a choice do I?” I’d managed to say the sentence in an even, believable tone. I knew they brought it, because Harry grimaced and got up to leave. Unfortunately, he was pulled down by another attractive boy with bright blue eyes and chestnut hair.

“Why do you all coordinate?” I don’t know what provoked me to change the subject, I usually enjoyed tension, it was familiar to me.

“Coordinate?” the one who had asked if I was alright spoke, smiling warmly at me. I stared at him for a while trying to figure him out, he seemed too nice. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience Harry caused in your life, but you’ve got to understand he wasn’t set out to hurt you by any means” I couldn’t help but smile, he was really sweet. Harry was glaring the entire time and that made me like this guy even more.

“You’re right, Harry is an inconvenience.” I was smiling, ignoring my previous question about their dress sense. There was an obvious undertone to the words I said, directed at Harry. The boy looked uncomfortable and he glanced at Harry, who had become stone-faced.

“Alright well, that went well, how about we just see you at the real meeting?” the blonde one piped up. I didn’t respond and eventually everyone stood up to leave, besides Harry.

I ignored his presence and made my way to the kitchen for breakfast. Harry leaned against the doorframe, the familiar area of this kitchen space was becoming tainted, like everything else in my life. I grimaced but started to take out the relevant utensils. When he still hadn’t moved after i’d retrieved everything, I turned and glared, and of course, he smiled.

“Is there something else you needed?” I prompted. He chuckled lightly and pushed himself off the doorframe. Walking past me he purposely bumped my shoulder with his and started to rummage through my fridge, gathering ingredients.

“Excuse me?” I all but shouted.

“You’re excused” he smiled turning to face me and then turning back to what he was doing. I told myself he was purposely doing it and attempted to regain my composure.

“What are you doing Harry?” I sighed, defeated. This seemed to gain his attention as he stopped what he was doing and turned to face me completely. I could tell he was trying to figure out my emotions, measuring how stable I was at the moment.

“I’m making you breakfast. I figured while we waited for the meeting I could help out” He was smiling, waiting for me to respond.

“...We?” I all but chocked the word out.

“Yes, we. As in you and I, the both of us, together.” He spoke, making sure I felt stupid. “You really didn’t think i’d trust you to stay here alone did you?”

“So...your staying” I started.

“...with you until the meeting, yes. Now help me with this, would you?” He finished my sentence and confidently turned to use my kitchen for his convenience.

“You really are inconvenient Harry Styles” I sighed, walking to assist him.

“You really aren’t as tough as you try to make yourself out to be, Emily Worth” He retorted.

“Oh great, now you're stalking me” How’d he know my last name?

He chuckled and slowly we fell into a comfortable silence, motivated by the meal we were preparing. Every now and then he would criticise what I did and every now and then I would hit him.