one week later (February 8)

Harry's POV

"It's been really hard but I've managed not to punch him at all," I tell Adie, speaking obviously about Tyler. "And don't worry, you didn't miss too much at school. The first week of the semester is never that busy anyway."

She stares past me and nods once in acknowledgment. Adie has barely said ten words in the last week since her break down at the beach. I have no idea what to do at this point and it's really freaking me out. My mum says we just need to give her time, but she has completely shut down. She doesn't move from her bed except to use the bathroom. She only eats when I force her to and she refuses to see anyone except me; any time someone else has tried she looks completely terrified. So far I've gotten two answers, both one word, and she usually nods or shakes her head in response. I just sit beside her on her bed and tell her about school and our friends in the hopes that maybe something will spark her interest and bring back the Adie that I fell in love with. Right now she's just...vacant. It's scaring me.

"By the way, Louis really wants to come see you." I look down at her face. She continues staring out the window. She got pretty close with Lou the last few weeks and he asks if he can come see her every day. Today is Saturday and he didn't ask in front of everyone, so I said yes. If anyone else knew they would all come over here and I don't think that would be a good idea. "Would that be okay?"

She shrugs ever so slightly and I sigh to myself, gently brushing the hair away from her face. I hate seeing her like this. I feel so helpless, too. There's nothing I can do for her and it's killing me. The realtor called the other day that Adie had talked to about selling her mother's house. Now that she's like this we thought it'd be best to just keep it. With this new development Adie might want to keep it for a while longer. But we couldn't even ask her about it; that would require a sentence.

"I'm going to get you some lunch, okay? Mum made this amazing chicken thing. You'll love it." If she eats it. She closes her eyes briefly and I assume that's the only response I'm going to get form her. I silently get up from the bed and exit her room, being sure to leave the door open just in case. In case of what, I have no idea but I just don't want to close the door. Lately I feel like she's going to disappear or something; being at school while she's here has been absolute torture for me. My mum let me stay home on monday, but when Adie didn't get any better she made me go for the rest of the week.

I prepare a small amount of our leftovers from last night and also make her a cup of tea. Yesterday she finally drank the tea, so I'm going to keep making it. The only other things she has eaten was some soup my mum made for her, but she practically had to force feed Adie. We haven't talked at all about us or what my mum wants to do about our relationship, but neither of us care about that right now. I just want her to be okay.

While I'm waiting for the water to boil for her tea I call Louis. He's always happy; maybe he'll be able to help me. I call him three times before he finally picks up.

"Someone better be dying or something," he says, clearly annoyed with my phone call.

"Do you want to see Adie or not?" I ask, rolling my eyes at his annoyance.

"Seriously!" He shouts into the phone. I wince and put the phone against my other ear. "Yeah, mate. I'll be there soon."

"Don't tell anyone!" I shout before hanging up. The doorbell rings and I jog over to answer it, expecting it to be to mailman or something. Instead it's the very last person I want to see.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I spit.

"I'm here to see her. I want to make sure she's okay," Tyler says. He attempts to step past me but I definitely don't allow it. He sighs and stares at me. "Harry-"

"No. You don't get to see her. You're the reason she's so upset."

"How is this my fault?"

"You told my mother about us! That got her all upset and after that she...whatever is happening, it was a result of that. You fucking did this to her. You don't get to make sure she's alright," I yell, stepping out onto the porch. I know Adie is like this because of her mother, but her feeling bad about lying to mine was the reason she got so upset in the first place. If things had happened differently this probably wouldn't have happened.

"Are you fucked? And who are you to tell me if I can or can't see my best friend?"

"Best friend? Give me a fucking break, Tyler. She's barely spoken to you since Christmas, which was the last time you upset her. Well done, by the way. You've royally fucked up your friendship with the most amazing girl on the planet."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he says through gritted teeth. Why should he be pissed? This is his fault anyway.

"Just leave," I command darkly. "Don't come back."

"Whatever." He flips me off and turns around to go back to his car. I stand in the doorway and watch until his car disappears around the corner. The nerve of that little fuck to show his face around here again. Some people.

Once back inside I finish preparing Adie's food. As I'm carrying the tray towards the hallway Louis walks in the front door.

"Look at you, all nurse-like."

"I can easily uninvite you," I joke halfheartedly. He rolls his eyes and I set the tray down on the ground so we can talk first. "When you go in, just try to act normal. Don't talk to her like there's anything wrong, I don't want her to think we think she's crazy or something."

"Okay," he says, nodding his head.

"Just try to act happy. She doesn't need any pity eyes or sad faces or anything. I'm going to try to get her to eat something and it usually works better if she's distracted so just keep talking to her. Tell her about stuff from school or talk about Eleanor or something. Anything that-"

"Harry, calm down mate." I take a deep breath and run my hands through my hair.

"I'm the only one that hasn't scared her. Caroline and Liam both tried and she seemed terrified of them. I just don't know how this is going to go."

He gives me a sympathetic smile and pats my arm. "I know. She'll be okay, she's a tough girl. She's been through a lot, though. She has every right to shut down for a bit."

"It's like she's not even there, Lou. It's not like she's laying there crying or being sad. She just...stares. At the ceiling, the wall, the window. She's constantly got this like...vacant expression and it's like everything that made her Adie is gone somehow. She's like a ghost or something."

"She'll come back," he says confidently. "She just needs some time."

"Yeah." I lean down and pick up the tray and Louis follows me down the hall to Adie's room. I walk in and she doesn't react at all, still laying on her side and staring out the window. Or at it. I'm not really sure. I set the tray down on the bedside table and sit on the edge of the bed, gently brushing through her hair with my fingers.

"Hey," I whisper. "Louis came to see you."

She surprises me by looking into my eyes. It's almost startling; my heart starts to race and she just stares at me blankly. I run my thumb along her cheek and all she does is blink once in a while.

"I brought you something to eat. Can you sit up?"

She doesn't move. I look at Louis, who looks scared to death right now. I widen my eyes and urgently give him a look that says 'knock it off'. He clears his throat and I put my hands under Adie's shoulders, helping her move into a sitting position and putting another pillow behind her so she's comfortable. She watches with a bored expression while I set the tray in front of her. It's one of those ones with the stands on either side of her legs. She stares down at the food as Louis drags one of the chairs from over by the window to the edge of the bed.

"Hey Adie," he says happily. I gently take my place beside her on the bed and wait to see if she'll eat on her own. She slowly looks in Louis' direction, not lifting her eyes to his face. He looks at me and I just stare back, not at all sure what to tell him.

"Try and eat," I encourage. She looks back down at her food.

"Eleanor says hi," Louis continues. "You remember her from that party, right? Maybe not, you were pretty drunk. Anyway we've been hanging out a lot and she said to tell you she wants to hang out some time. You guys got along pretty well."

Adie continues staring blankly at the food and I nod at Louis, telling him to keep going.

"I think I might ask her out, actually. Might be too soon but I like her a lot. Do you think it's a good idea? I don't know, I mean I think she'll say yes but I can't be sure. Niall told me he thinks I'll marry her but that kind of freaked me out a bit." He laughs and I smile and look at Adie's face. She hasn't reacted much, but her eyes are moving around a bit more. That's a good sign!

"Harry and I are going to need your help in Chemistry for sure," he continues. "We've only had one assignment but neither of us had a clue what we were doing so it was a giant failure. You're smarter than both of us put together so we need you."

As Louis continues to talk about the events of the past week I attempt to get Adie to eat. I start by putting some chicken on her fork her her and setting it down for her to pick up. She stares at the wall in front of her and after a few minutes I pick it up in my own hand.

"Come on Ads," I whisper, begging her to just eat something. She's going to waste away. Louis continues talking and I realize this is totally his element since he never shuts up and he's the least awkward person on the planet. I slowly lift the fork to her mouth and after a few seconds I'm about to put it down again, but she surprises me by opening her mouth and leaning forward a little bit. I smile and move the fork into her mouth. She gently takes the food off and chews slower than I've ever seen, but she does swallow it. I can't help but grin from ear to ear when I look at Louis. He seems happier as well as he continues to chat. After a few minutes I try again with the food. She lets me feed her five or six bites before shaking her head slightly when I try again. Better than nothing. I move the tray back to the table and hold her mug for her. I hold it out to her a few times, but she doesn't take it for about fifteen minutes when it's cold.

"I'm going to use the toilet," Louis says, jumping up. "Be right back."

He walks out of the room and Adie sinks further down the bed so she's mostly under the covers. She stares at the door and I take the cup out of her hands since she hasn't sipped at her tea in a while. After setting it on the table I shuffle a little closer to her, laying on my side so our faces are level.

"I'm scared," I whisper to her, trying not to let any tears fall. Louis is here, he can't see my crying. "I'm so sorry, Ads."

I close my eyes and take a few calming breaths of my own. When I open my eyes I'm a little startled to find Adie staring at me. Savouring the moment of some sort of communication, I stare right back and stay completely still, scared that I'll spook her and lose this. Suddenly I feel her hand around mine, barely squeezing hard enough for me to feel it. But I know it's there.

Louis's POV

I can't believe she's that bad. I thought Harry was just being dramatic when he told us about Adie at school but he's right. It's like she isn't even in there. She's so like....empty. She didn't look me in the eyes one time. I don't know how Harry is coping with this; if it were me I would be completely broken down by now.

He's definitely in love with her. I can tell. He hasn't told me and I don't think he ever told her either, but it's completely obvious. He's being so attentive and careful with her and the look in his eyes...he's in love.

I walk down the hallway and think about a bunch of other things I could talk to Adie about. It's weird just talking and talking without having anyone say anything back. Harry said that's what he does, though so that's what I'm going with.

When I walk back into Adie's room I stop in the doorway. A smile creeps onto my face as I take in the sight in front of me. Harry is laying on his side next to Adie, her face turned towards his. They're noses are almost touching they're so close and Adie's hand has been brought up to rest in his. I wonder if she did that. That could be progress. They're both sound asleep; not really sure how since I wasn't gone that long. I watch them for a few minutes before pulling the door shut and walking towards the front door. Harry probably hasn't slept much so I'm sure they both need this.

Notes

so as i said in my other story, I'm going to be going on vacay :D so i wont be able to update for about a week. i will update as soon as i get home i promise!
but on another note, i think i might bring this story to a close soon and start a sequel. i have an idea for the rest of the story but it would mean two books. let me know what you guys think :)

also, while adie is in her little funk im not going to do her perspective, so for a lot of the rest of the story it's going to be in Harry's POV, sometimes randomly one of the other boys like i did in this one.

so whats gonna happen with her?!??! i guess you'll find out when i come back ;)


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please dont lose interest while im gone :( that would be sad. things will get intense i promise