Harry's POV

Being in London has been so much fun, and I have to admit that I can already tell that Adie feels different. I was secretly hoping that the city would freak her out and that she wouldn't want to stay here, but I can see that she's falling in love with it. I understand completely; I totally want to live here. The busy streets, the old buildings, all the different people walking around. It's nothing like Holmes Chapel and even though I love where I live, living in London would be amazing.

Yesterday we spent the day walking around downtown and seeing everything we could fit into one day. Gemma came with us sand acted as a tour guide, even though she said that she hasn't even been to some of the places we went. I constantly found myself staring at Adie, since she was smiling so much. She smiled more in twenty-four hours than she has in the last six weeks and it's like a breath of fresh air. A smile is something most people probably wouldn't notice; everyone does it, it's just part of life, right? But as soon as someone stops, you notice. You remember how beautiful their smile was, you remember how their eyes sparkled when they laughed. It's becomes a haunting memory, a ghost you wish would make another appearance so you can still believe that it exists.

Yesterday was exhausting and I can see on Adie today that she's feeling tired, but she doesn't want to rest. She looks excited and happy and I can see life coming back to her eyes. It's the best feeling. We've gone all over the place; Buckingham palace, Palace of Westminster and Big Ben, a museum I can't remember the name of, Trafalgar Square. I've been to London a few times, but for some reason we never did any of the tourist stuff. Now it's like we're seeing it for the first time.

Mum said to me in private yesterday that she doesn't exactly approve of Adie and me being together, but she can see that now wouldn't be a good time to enforce her rule. She told me that she can see plainly how much Adie needs me; the truth is, I'm the one that needs her. So to make the trip even better, Adie and I have been able to sort of act like a couple. It feels amazing to finally have her back.

This morning we are at an art gallery that Gemma said Adie would love. She was completely right; Adie has been in awe ever since we walked in here. I'm pretty dense when it comes to art, so instead of paying attention to the artwork I've just been watching Adie. She doesn't find the ones she likes and only look at those, she goes to each individual art-piece and examines them for a few minutes before slowly moving on to the next one. My hand tightly wound with hers, she leads me one by one past each painting, sculpture and drawing. She hasn't said much since we got here, but I can see that it's because she's admiring the work.

"Harry, there you are. Adie, our tour of the campus is in a half hour, we should get going," my mum says, coming up behind us with Gemma. I nod and Adie stares at the painting for a few more seconds before slowly turning and following us out.

"You okay?" I ask, putting my arm around her shoulders when we get outside. She nods, but I can see that she's still thinking about it.

"Adie, Gemma said she found a few apartment listings you two could look at. She's only in a one bedroom right now, so you'd have to find something else," Mum says, coming to walk beside us. I take my arm from her shoulders and put my hand in hers instead, an action that isn't as obvious for my mother.

"Great, when can we see them?" Adie asks.

"Tomorrow," Gem says. "They're all right between my school and yours, so we'd both be in walking distance. One place actually looks really nice, it even has a beautiful view."

"Sounds nice," Adie says, smiling to them both. Mum and Gem go back to their own conversation and we get in the car to drive over to the campus. Why is everyone talking like she's already decided to move here? This is turning into a tour of her future home instead of just seeing if she'd like it. Everyone else seems to have made up their mind already. Adie stays quiet the whole drive, staring out the window. She doesn't look vacant like she used to, but it's making me nervous that she's being so quiet. What does she think she saw in there?

When we get to the University she seems to have forgotten all about it. She steps out and stares in awe at the campus; it may be a school specifically for the arts, but it must have a lot of students because the place is huge. There's tons of statue and sculptures around and the building all look so old and unique. It's really nice. Damn it.

"This place is amazing," my mum says. We all walk around to the front of the car, but Adie seems frozen in place, a small smile on her lips while she looks all around her. Her eyes land on mine and I hold my hand out to her. She walks over and takes it, and we all make our way to the administration building. I was hoping this place would be really shitty and Adie would never want to come back...I don't see that happening.

"Hi, welcome to the University of the Arts," the receptionist says. She looks young; must be a student. "What can I do for you?"

Adie, to my surprise, steps up and leans on the counter.

"My name is Adison Jones," she says. "We're here for a tour?"

"Yes, I know who you are," the girl replies happily. "I've heard a lot about you, one of my professors is really excited about your work."

"Really?" Adie asks shyly. The girl nods and picks up the phone, speaking into it. Adie turns and I smile at her.

"Okay, so your tour guide will be here in a few minutes. It's a woman from the Admissions offices, the one who received your portoflio. You're lucky, Adison. There's a lot of people here that are really excited about you."

"Thanks," Adie says quietly.

"You can have a seat over there," the girl says, pointing to some chairs in the corner. "It shouldn't be long."

"This is so exciting," mum says when we sit down.

"I like this campus better than mine," Gemma says, looking out the window behind her. Adie just laughs and reaches for my hand. I can feel her pulse through her wrist.

"Don't be nervous," I whisper to her. She smiles slightly at me, her knee bouncing up and down.

As promised, it doesn't take long before a very tall, very thin woman looking to be in her thirties comes walking down the hall. She's wearing black framed glasses, her long hair pin straight against her back. She's dressed professionally in a skirt and jacket combination, her shoes higher than any pair I've ever seen in my life. She's going to walk around the whole campus in those? She walks up to the reception desk and hands a folder to the girl, mumbling a few words. After a minute she looks over at us, smiling as she makes her way over.

"You must be Adison," she says, walking up to Adie. Adie stands and shakes her head. "It's so lovely to finally meet you."

"You too," Adie says politely. The rest of us stand as well.

"My name is Chloe Perrimore, I'm on the review board for the Dean of Admissions. I'm the first person that sees each portfolio from our applicants and as soon as I saw yours, I knew that I had to meet you. I have to say, Adison, you are extremely talented. Every department wants a piece of it. I think you'd fit in very well here."

Adie just smiles at her, clearly unsure of what to say. She's never been good at accepting compliments, something I always found really adorable. Mum takes notice and steps around us to stand on Adie's other side.

"We're very excited to be here. I'm Anne Styles, I'm Adie's legal guardian." They shake hands and the woman smiles at her.

"Pleasure to meet you." Mum proceeds to introduce Gemma and me, and I can see that the woman is confused about the family dynamics in front of her since I'm now holding Adie's hand again. She doesn't say anything, though. "Well, I guess we'd better be off then. So, as you can probably see, this is the administrative building. All of the offices for admissions, review, guidance, advising, and finances are in this building. It's the only one that's all work, no play," she says, smiling at us. "This way."

She leads us out the doors we came in and down the steps. She starts talking about the history of the campus, why there are so many statues and stuff, how old the buildings are. I don't care about any of that. The only thing I can think about is the fact that the more we see, the happier Adie gets. She's fallen in love with this place already.

Where does that leave me?

---

After we've seen the whole campus we go back to the building we started at. Chloe asks Adie if they can speak for a few moments, and she agrees. They disappear down the hall and into an office and the rest of us sit down to wait. I pull my phone out of my pocket and focus on the screen so I don't overthink all of this.

"Harry, you've been awfully quiet since we got here," Gemma says. I just shrug. "Something wrong?"

"No," I lie. She raises her eyebrows, on to me. "What?"

"You don't want her to move, you're allowed to say that."

"It's not that I don't want her to. She clearly loves it here."

"Then what is your problem? You look so depressed."

"Because my girlfriend wants to move three hours away from me, Gem," I snap. "Excuse me for not being excited."

"Harry," mum warns. "I don't want Adie moving out either, but this would be so great for her. She already looks better. It wouldn't be for long, just a few months until you graduated. Then, if you still have feelings for her, you can go to school here too."

"If I still have feelings for her?" I ask rudely. "Mum, do you want Adie to come here for her or so that she won't want to be with me anymore."

Gemma rolls her eyes and my mum sighs. "No, Harry. I don't like it but that's not why I'm supporting her on this. She needs to get away."

I just lean back into the chair and focus on my phone. I don't want to talk about this, I'll just get upset. Maybe I should fast track the way Adie is. Then I can just come here at the same time as her. She's so much smarter than me though...I probably wouldn't be able to. My mum probably wouldn't let me anyway. Apparently to her time apart is something that we need. She's wrong.

Adie's POV

"Please, have a seat," Chloe says, gesturing to the chair in front of me. I take it and she sits behind a large desk. "So, what did you think of the campus?"

"It's incredible," I say happily. "It's so much better than I imagined."

"Thats great to hear," she says, smiling at me and leaning back in the large comfy desk chair. "I know this is all happening really fast, but do you think you could see yourself here?"

I think about that question for a moment before slowly nodding my head. She's right, this is happening so quickly, maybe too fast for it to be good, but I can't help but feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. The thought of getting away from my life in Holmes Chapel and starting fresh is so exciting to me. I just want to be able to move forward and I can see myself really being able to have a life here.

"I do," I answer. "I definitely see it."

"That's great news, Adison. I spoke to your principal and it's all arranged. Whenever you're ready to start completing your education online it'll be ready. It'll be a lot of work to be done by december, though. You'll have to work all through the summer in order to get here by January. Your art as already been accepted, but in order to be enrolled you'll need to get your diploma."

"I understand. I can do it."

She smiles warmly at me. "I'm sure that you can. The plan is to enroll you in some introductory classes, one in each of the four main areas of the school: visual arts, graphic design, fashion design, interior design. Of course, we have music and drama programs but I assume that isn't your interest?"

"No," I agree, shaking my head. "Definitely not."

"Well that only makes four courses. The limit is five, so if you wanted to take one other that would be alright as well. After the semester you'll be able to decide what you'd like to major in. Do you have any questions for me?"

"It's all a little overwhelming," I say shyly. "I can't think of anything right now."

"I completely understand," she says, laughing a little. "I actually came to the school in a similar situation. When we find prodigies like yourself we don't quit until we get them. You should know, our students have an 87% success rate after graduation. Almost all of our programs are of the best in Europe and are known all over the world. The likelihood of you getting a good job after you leave is very high, which is always a comfort to students. Some even get hired before they graduate."

"That's amazing."

"It's something we're quite proud of. Now, I don't need your answer at this moment, but I'll send you an email with all of the details; you were given a lot of information today, so you can't be expected to remember everything. I'll also include a date by which we'll need your answer," she says, handing me a notepad. "Would you mind writing your email down? I have it somewhere, but our new system is confusing."

"Sure." I take the pen and jot down my email adress. This is all happening so fast, I feel like I can't keep up. It's not a bad thing, though. It's exhilarating. I had it back to her and she rips the page off so she can pin it to a board behind her.

"Great. So if you don't have any other questions then I'll let you go."

"I don't think I do," I say. "Actually, do you have a list of courses?"

"Right here," she says, opening a drawer. "They're organized by department and then by year."

"Great, thanks." I take the package from her and flip it open briefly. She smiles and stands up, walking back around the desk. She extends her hand, which I shake lightly. "Thank you so much for everything."

"My pleasure. It was so great to meet you, Adison. I hope you decide to join us, we'd be so lucky to have you."

I smile at her and she walks to the door, pushing it open. I follow her into the hallway and thank her again before walking back towards where Harry and his family are waiting. Harry looks up from his phone and immediately stands when he sees me. I know he's nervous and hesitant about me doing this; I can see that he doesn't want me to leave. I don't want to leave him either but...this is important. I can't base this decision on my feelings for him.

"How'd it go?" Anne asks.

"Great, she just asked if I had any other questions and explained how my first semester here would go," I divulge.

"What's that?" Harry asks, pointing to the packet in my hand. I look down at it and nervously look back up at him.

"It's umm...it's just a list of all the courses. I looked online but the website is kind of confusing so..."

Harry's expression drops, but he quickly recovers. He nods and smiles at me, but I can tell that it's forced. We head back to the car and I take one last look around before climbing in behind Anne. Harry sits next to me and I reach for his hand. He seems happy to be in London, but I can tell that he's not exactly happy about why we're here. The thought of not being with him...he's been my rock, my entire support system these last weeks. Anne has been amazing, and my friends too, but I only ever needed Harry. Maybe that's wrong, but it's just how I feel. Whenever he wasn't there I felt completely dead inside. As soon as he was by my side I felt like the world could start turning again. He is the reason that I'm able to function normally.

I feel so bad for the way I've been. I probably scared him to death. I don't know what came over me...all of the sudden the weight of my mother's death become very real and very obvious. It's like I never really realized that she was actually gone. When Anne found out about me and Harry I realized that I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no guidance. After that it was like the ocean of sadness just came crashing all around me, not giving me a chance to surface for air, to breathe normally, to see anything but that grief. It was all I could think about, all I could focus on. Unless Harry was there, he was the light in my darkness. I know it sounds so corny, but he was. He kept me going. He was the reason I was willing to talk to the psychiatrist. I needed to get better, I had to try. For him.

Now I think maybe we've become too dependant on each other. We've spent every possible second with each other, apart from when Harry is at school. It sort of makes sense that I would become dependant on him, but I don't know how it happened for him to be that way with me. How could he need me when I wasn't even speaking with him? I don't remember the first two weeks, but I'm told that I was pretty much unresponsive. How could he want someone like that? I wouldn't be able to handle it, I know that for sure. The fact that he still wants me is just...it's mindblowing.

That's why I think maybe it would be a good thing for me to get away. We could still be together, I still care about him, but the distance would force us to rediscover who we are as individuals. I know that I need to do that; I've been so consumed by my sadness that I've forgotten everything that made me me. I don't think I'll be able to be the same anymore, not after everything that has happened. My art might be the way for me to do that, coming to this school would be a way for me to find myself. I can feel it.

Once we're at the hotel no one speaks; we ride the elevator in silence and head for the room. Anne got us an incredible suite; it has three bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms, and a kitchen so we don't have to eat out for every meal. That would get tiring. Gemma is staying with us tonight, so she'll be sleeping in my room. Once we're back I go into my bedroom, putting my bags on the bed and walking out onto my balcony. We have an amazing view of the city from here. I snap a picture on my phone and send it to Tyler.

I haven't spoken to Caroline at all. She hasn't come to visit me and she hasn't called or texted or anything. I'm not sure why. Tyler has been texting me a lot. He visited a few times, but he and Harry aren't exactly friends anymore so it's always a bit weird when he's over. Louis has been over a lot and I've become close friends with him over the last few weeks. We were pretty good friends before, but now I know that I can count on him.

"Hey."

I turn to see Harry stepping onto the balcony. He slides the door shut behind him and wraps his arms around my waist from behind me. I lean my body into his and he kisses the side of my head while my fingers overlap his. Anne hasn't said anything about is, so I'm not sure what's going on with that. I don't want to know, either.

"You okay?" he asks gently. I nod and he kisses my head again. "Good. Did you like the school?"

"It was incredible," I say, smiling to myself. "It's so much bigger than I pictured it. All of this is. I thought a big city would be scary, but it's all so exciting."

"Yeah," he agrees softly. I turn in his arms and look up at him. He looks sad, but also like he's trying not to look sad.

"You're allowed to tell me how you feel about all of this, you know," I tell him, placing my palm against his cheek. He leans into my hand and his eyes grow more sad, like he's not trying to hide it anymore.

"I don't want you to leave," he admits in a whisper. He closes his eyes and I can already see that he feels guilty for feeling that way.

"I don't want to leave you," I respond. He opens his eyes.

"But you want to go," he says. It's not a question; he knows how I feel. I shrug and he places his large hand over mine. "I understand. At least we have a while before you have to leave."

I nod and smile up at him. I didn't tell Harry and Anne, but me and Gemma had been texting about apartments. The ones we're going to look at tomorrow have a lease that starts in May. Since my work is online, I won't need to go to school except to write my exams. I'm not sure if I want to move that soon yet, but I want the option if I don't feel like I can handle being at home anymore.

"Harry, where I'm living doesn't change the way I feel about you. You know that, right? Just because I'd be living here doesn't mean I'd forget about you."

"You're going to meet all these people and start this incredible new life for yourself, Ads. I wouldn't blame you if you forgot about me."

"Hey." I put my other hand on his other cheek and he opens his eyes to look down at me. "This doesn't change anything. You have no idea how much I care about you. I do think it would be good for us to have some distance, to be independent again, but that doesn't mean I want to break up with you. Long distance might actually be good for us. I need you, Harry. I need you way more than I should. I can't be so dependant on you, I need to figure out who I am again."

"Distance is never good for a relationship. Maybe at first, but eventually it'll be too hard. I'll never get to see you," he says sadly.

"Then you can come visit me and I'll come home some weekends. And then when you graduate maybe you can move here, too. We can make it work." He nods sadly and I start to feel scared. "Unless....unless you don't want that?"

"What? No, of course I do," he says firmly, leading my hands to the back of his neck. I sigh in relief and he leans his forehead against mine. "It would suck, but I would do everything I could to make it work. I can't lose you, Ads. I thought I might when you...but now I have you back and I'm never letting you go."

I pull his face down to mine and kiss him. He seems surprised at first, unsure of himself and how I'm going to react to him. when I wrap my arms around his neck to hold him tighter to me he starts to respond, moving his lips with mine. He hugs my body closer and gently parts my lips with his, his tongue hesitantly working with mine. It's a gentle kiss, not erupting with passion and lust but with love.

Love....I may be crazy for saying this but I think I might be in love with Harry. Our relationship seems to be beyond our years and the way we're just there for each other...I can't imagine not having him. Not seeing him every day is going to be the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

But I have to do it. For both of us. Harry will be better off when I know who I am again, when I find myself. I'll be better off too, and we can finally move forward. This will be a good thing.

Notes

first one in a while with Adie's POV!! it was weird to write that again haha. I almost forgot that it was an option.
so its been a while since I last updated this story. I was hoping for some more votes and stuff but its all goood :) if i get a lot more interest in the next few days then i will be deciding on how to proceed with the story.
if i get a lot more votes and subscribers, i will continue the story in a sequel. if not, then i will probably wrap up the story soon. either way there will be a few more chapters before that happens. not sure how many yet. could be only two or three.

so please vote :) if you dont want the story to end, vote! tell other people about it! in order to do a sequel i would like to get a lot more readers, otherwise i dont really think its worth it.



please tell me what you think :) about the story and about my little news update. i love hearing from you guys<3

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