I scratched my head lazily and read Harry's note one more time. He had written me a message on a piece of paper he had ripped from a notebook lying on my desk.

Morning Gracie,

I'm sorry for not saying anything and just leaving. I had a hard time sleeping next to you. I just wanted to wake you up the whole time and talk to you.

I hope you and me are fine with... Everything. I know it's not going to be easy to be just friends since we have crazy chemistry between us, but we have to try.

I'll see you on Friday. I don't think I will be able to come to school today since I didn't get any sleep. And I need to fix my head too.

Yours,
Harry .x

He did not just write me the sweetest message ever. On a piece of paper and not a boring text message. And I couldn't be with him! We couldn't be together. I felt like I was being tortured. Being friends with him would be so difficult, I knew it already without even trying. But he wanted to try and I owed us that for sure.

I took the piece of paper and put it inside my journal, which I kept on my desk's locked drawer. After realising I had just 10 minutes before I had to leave for school, I fixed my hair and make-up super fast. I threw on some black jeans and a red sweater and was out of the door in a record-breaking time.

"Hey hun, are you okay? I'm sorry I just left last night. I figured you two needed to talk and I didn't want you to back away from it." Liam pulled me aside and asked after lunch as we were walking to class together.

"I'm alright. Been better, but hey, everything will work out just fine in the end. I really like Harry and it will take time for me to completely forget about him. But Naomi is my best friend, I can't do this to her." I said and Liam put his arm behind my back comforting me. It felt good to talk to him and be held by him. He always made me feel better, no matter what the problem was. And I loved him for it.

"By the way, have you seen her today? Come to think of it, I haven't..." Liam asked looking puzzled.

"Actually no, I haven't seen her either. I better call her and see what's up." I said, got my phone and called Naomi. Her sleepy voice answered after I tried for the second time to call her.

"Oh hey, thanks for waking me up." She said laughing tiredly.

"Where are you? Still at Lauren's place?" I asked.

"Yep, still here. I was so not feeling like coming to school this morning. I'm exhausted! But I promise to come tomorrow. Don't worry, I haven't skipped school in a long time." She continued.

"Okay then. I'll see you tomorrow. I can pick you up." I said before we ended the call.

I hoped skipping school wouldn't become a regular thing for her if she was going to spend more and more time with those other friends of hers.

---

I picked Naomi up the next morning and she was yawning as we arrived to school. She seemed to act normal towards me and we didn't talk about what had happened two days ago. Her eyes brightened up as I asked about her plans for the upcoming weekend.

"This guy, Max, invited us over this weekend. They have a cabin just outside the city and I'm definitely going. Oh, you should come too! Please, please, please!" She chanted her fingers crossed in front of my nose.

"Thanks Naomi, but no thanks. I really can't get permission from mom to go to a cabin with people I don't even know. How on earth are your parents letting you go?" I asked her shaking my head.

"They don't need to know. And if you happen to see them in the grocery store or whatever, tell them I'm with Michelle. I lied to them that she got a new puppy and I'm going to help her with it since she has to work." She smiled like it was no big deal.

"Um... Okay. But do you know everyone that's coming there?" I was becoming a little worried about the whole thing.

"Sure, sure. There's like 3 girls and 5 boys, met them all. And Michelle's coming, so don't worry. Are you sure you can't come?" She asked once more and I told her no. She fake pouted for a little bit before promising we would hang out together the next weekend.

Naomi had always been the wilder one; going to parties all the time, meeting 10 new people in a week, having boys around, being sexually active, loud and bubbly. But she had never exactly lied to her parents about where she was and with whom. And I started to worry about her again. I just wished the weekend would go fine and she would slowly start to hang with us again and forget about the whole Harry-thing.

---

"Mom, I'm going over to Liam's soon! Are you working this weekend or what?" I yelled to mom who was in her workroom, typing something on a laptop.

"Tell hi to Liam. I haven't seen him for a while, tell him to come for dinner on Sunday, will you?" Mom turned to look at me and stopped typing.

"Sure, I'll ask him. But what about your weekend?" I still wanted to know.

"Well, I am seeing Johnny tonight. I hate leaving you here for the night." She said and obviously felt a bit ashamed of herself.

"It's fine! Besides, you're not with him every day. I think you deserve to see him for a few days per week without me being angry about it." I laughed.

"I was thinking that it would be the right time for you two to meet. What if I invite him over this Sunday?" Mom asked, her eyes sparkling.

"And I bring Liam! He will think that we date. I won't invite him over. But yes, I would like to meet Johnny." I said smiling and mom nodded. "Okay, I need to get going. Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow then." I said and kissed her cheek before I left.

Harry's POV

I felt bad for not going to school on Thursday but I couldn't help myself being very sleepy that morning. I didn't sleep one bit at Grace's house, I just couldn't. I felt so attracted to her the whole time, no matter how we decided to just be friends.

At some point during that night, I decided to get up from her bed and just come back home. Before I left, I ripped a page from a notebook I found from her desk and wrote her a short message. There was so much more I wanted to tell her but I had to let go. As I got home, I went to bed, fell asleep and dreamed about her.

I found myself being really restless the next day, just thinking about her constantly. I already missed her smile, her voice and her innocence. There was just something so different about her that I couldn't figure out. She was beautiful and very fit, but it wasn't that. Her personality was simply amazing and she made me feel happy by just flirting with me even though she didn't even do it on purpose most of the time. I found it extremely cute.

What was I supposed to do now? I didn't even have a chance to take her out or to actually date her. We went straight from the start to the finish line. And still, I liked her so very much. I could only imagine how easily I could have fallen in love with her. Quite possibly. Although, that would have been the first time I was in love. But how I wished it could have been her I would get to give my heart to.

I still wasn't sure if I had done a huge mistake by letting her go so easily. The way she had reacted after I had said my opinion on how she should not choose between me and Naomi and that we should just be friends, surprised me big time. I was pretty sure she was not happy with my solution and she wanted me to come up with something else. But I didn't want to play games with her. She was not someone I wanted to mess up with. Not in a million years.

On Friday, I went to school and tried my best to act normal around everyone. Especially around Grace. She looked so beautiful, always so effortlessly pretty. We did talk and hang out all together like before and no one brought up the party - thankfully. But I could sense from her that she was avoiding me to some extent. It was just something I had to get used to and accept it. This whole 'let's just be friends' -thing would be way more difficult I had ever thought.

"Gemma, can you tell mom I'm at Liam's?" I asked my sister who was reading a fashion magazine in the living room.

"No." She responded without looking up from her magazine.

"C'mon, don't be a dick. Aren't you going anywhere tonight?" I said and tried to give her a hug.

"Stop Harry! Fine, I'll tell her. And yes, I do have plans. Call me if you need anything." She responded and finally looked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, whatever. Love you little brother. Go out and play!" She simply said and I knew exactly what she meant.

We had a very special relationship with her. Sometimes she was like my best friend and other times we were at each other's throats. But we loved each other very much and I felt protective about her, just the way she felt about me.

I drove to Liam's house and had to look twice as I saw Grace's car parked there as well. Awesome, Liam hadn't said anything about inviting her over too. Of course, he didn't have to say anything since she was like a sister to him. My heart was beating so hard that I heard it in my ears. I tried to calm myself down for a bit before getting out of my car. I walked towards the front door and pressed the doorbell after taking a deep breath.

Notes

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