Stephanie's POV
"Do you have everything?" Mum says as she hugs Jed and she doesn't let go. I smile as I watch Jed roll his eyes at her.

"Yes Mum." Jed says as a friend of his collects the last box. He's hired a van to take Jed to London.

"If he's forgot anything we can always drop it off." Dad says and Jed nods. My Mum lets go off him and he hugs my Dad.

I feel Harry walk behind me in the hallway and he gently squeezes my shoulder in support. I look at him smile and I look back at Jed as he pulls me into a hug.

"Look after yourself." He says as he lets go of me. He looks to Harry and holds his hand out to him. "Take it easy Buddy." He says as Harry shakes his hand and they do a 'man' hug.

"Right everything is into the van mate." Sam, Jed's friend, says as he looks at us.

"Cool. Well , see you soon guys, don't miss me too much." Jed says as he smiles and opens the door. My Dad puts his arm around my Mum and she watches him get in the van. Jed waves and we walk outside to join them waving to him. It is an odd feeling thy Jed is moving out, but he seems happy and excited. I'm happy for him.

"Come on Susan.." Dad says as my Mum continues to wave until he's out of sight. I walk in with Harry and we head to the kitchen.

"How do you feel?" Harry asks and I look at him and shrug.

"I'm not sure." I say as I look away. "It's an odd feeling that's he's moved out." I add and We sit down on a stool at the breakfast bar.

"I'm sure it will get easier, it's always weird when things change drastically." Harry says and I look at him and nod. "Why don't we go out for a bit?" He asks.

"I can't, I didn't go to college and if someone sees me they'll only try and give me stick for not turning up." I say and Harry nods.

"Okay well I'm going to go and get you ice cream and chocolate! I think your Mum could so with some too." Harry smirks as he jumps up from the stool. His gesture is sweet and by the time I try to stop him, he's already kissed me on the top of my head and left the kitchen.

I start to slowly swing around on the stool as I think about the change in Harry recently. It's wonderful to see him putting in so much effort, I never imagined him to be like, he does leave me with a smile on my face.

---

Harry's POV.
I was thinking of driving but they have a local shop near by so I may as well get some exercise. As I head out their drive I notice Amy walking towards me. I stop as she smiles to me.

"Hey!" She says as she looks at me with a beaming smile. She looks really dolled up and her perfume is really strong. I smile back to her.

"Hi Amy." I say as I put my hands in my pockets.

"Where you off too?" She asks.

"Shop, getting Stephanie some ice cream. You popping in to see her?" I ask and Amy nods. "Okay cool, where's your car?" I ask as I've never seen her walk round here before.

"It's in the garage, so I walked over, I'll walk to the shop with you if you like?" She asks as she smiles again, she tilts her head waiting for me to answer.

"That's alright, you get in the warm." I say and she shakes her head.

"Don't worry about me being warm, I'll keep you company." She says and we start to head towards the shop. "May as well get used to hanging out." She adds.

"Right yeah.." I say as I look at her then away again. I don't know what it is with Amy, she makes me feel a little uneasy but that may be because she's quite a confident girl, and in a weird way she reminds me of Naomi.

"So Jed moved out today, didn't he?" She asks and I nod. I don't know why I'm allowing this to feel awkward, she's only Stephanie's best mate.

"Yeah Susan is quite upset." I say as I look ahead of us, I remembered the shop being somewhere near here.

"Jed is so lovely, bless him." Amy says as he turns the corner and I follow her lead. "So how long are you staying with them?" She adds.

"Two months, I think. Only because Ryan is going to try and get me a job with what he's teaching me." I answer and Amy smiles. I look away again as I don't usually just talk like this to anyone. But Amy's quite persistent and I know she has a big impact in Stephanie's life.

We approach the shop and I head quickly down the frozen isle and I grab a chocolate fudge Ice cream. I'm sure Stephanie will like this one. Now chocolate...

"That's quite heavy all that sugar in take.." Amy says as she follows me to the sweets. She looks at the ice cream I am holding and I ignore her as I grab a large dairy milk bar.

"I'm sure Stephanie will like it." I say as I go towards the check out and I pay. Amy stands next to me and starts talking to the girl who is serving us.

"This is Harry, he's staying with Steph." Amy says and I soon learn the girl is called Jessie. I politely smile and say the casual 'it's nice to meet you' as I grab the bag of goods.

"Cheers.." I say as I walk away as Amy starts to say bye to her. I can hear her catching up with me.

"She is quite bitchy, no doubt she will tell everyone that you're staying with Steph. She will definitely have her opinion on that." Amy shakes her head and I look at her and frown.

"Why did you introduce me to her then?" I ask as Amy is coming across as one of those girls who always confuses me.

"Just being polite Harry." Amy says and I just nod as I can't be bothered to go into this. She stops speaking and our walk falls silent as we head back to Stephanie's. I just want to be there now, with Steph stuffing my face with ice cream.

"I heard you wrote a song for Steph, and you sang it?" Amy says and I look away from her wishing she never knew that. I shrug as I can't exactly lie.

"Yeah, I thought I'd give it a go." I say and Amy smiles as I glance to her.

"She loved it, she couldn't stop smiling at college." Amy says as she looks away. I start to feel a little guilty as I was so blunt with Amy and she's just trying to be nice to me.

"Good, I'm glad it worked." I say a little more relaxed. It's so hard from my perspective with Amy and Steph, as back home girls don't like you befriending their best mates as they get so Jealous, but I know Steph isn't like that and Amy seems like a nice girl.

The conversation ends and it doesn't feel too awkward walking in silence, plus we were only around the corner before we got to Stephanie's.

"If you want alone time, I can pop round tomorrow?" Amy asks as she stops walking. I stop and look at her. "I feel like I'm intruding, I didn't think before.." She says.

"You're not intruding, come on." I say as I start to walk away, I can hear her following me.

---

Stephanie's POV
"It's just weird that only one of our children lives with us." Mum says as she looks at Dad then to me. They've been talking about Jed for what feels like forever and now it was getting a little boring.

I excuse myself from the living room as I hear the front door open. I shut the door behind me and I smile as Harry walks in, then Amy. Amy? What's she doing here with Harry?

"Look who I found." Harry says as he walks to the kitchen.

"I wanted to see if you're okay, with Jed moving out.." Amy says and I can't believe she skipped college to check I'm okay. I smile at her.

"Thanks Amy." I say and we head into the kitchen. Harry's getting two bowls out for the ice cream.

"I'll let you two dig in and have some time." Harry smiles as he looks at us. What? I frown at him as I wanted to spend time with him today. Especially now he has gone and got us ice cream, we should be chilling out together.

"No! I can see Steph tomorrow.. I'll go Harry, I only wanted to make sure she was okay." Amy says and Harry shakes his head. I don't say anything as they turn towards each other.

"You've just walked here, I can spend time with Steph later." Harry says as he looks at her.

"Hello, I am here you know!" I say as I look at them. "Why did you walk?" I ask Amy.

"Car is in the garage. But Stephanie, I will catch up with you later." Amy says with a smile and I nod as I've got loads of time to spend with Amy. Today I just want it to be Harry and I.

"Wait, Harry would you drop her home?" I ask as I look at Harry with my puppy dog eyes. He looks at me slightly startled and Amy shakes her head as she begins to answer for him.

"Steph it's fine, I can walk." Amy says and I look at Harry again. He rolls his eyes.

"Come on Amy." Harry says as he grabs his keys from the counter. "See you in a minute." He says as he looks at me and I smile whilst mouthing thank you to him.

"Harry I-" Amy says as Harry leaves the kitchen.

"See you later." I smile and Amy smiles and shakes her head.

"Thanks Steph." She says as she quickly hugs me and kisses my cheek. I smile and I wave bye to her as sh leaves.

I start to scoop out our ice creams and I have to admit how pleased I am with the choice of ice cream he picked. I smile to myself as I start to think about Harry, It's really good how nice he is being. It means a lot that he's trying to be so nice to my best friend. I know it must be hard for him as he struggles with talking and getting to know people, but Amy is one of the easiest people get on with.

---

Harry's POV
I park up outside Amy's house and we see a young guy sat on the wall a few houses down from her. I watch him as he looks up and Amy nervously takes her belt off.

"Thank you Harry." Amy says as she gets out of the car, I look at her and nod. I watch her close the door and the guy approaches her.

I wait as I don't know who he is or why he's waiting for Amy. She looks at me and he grabs her, she looks back at him and she pushes him away.

"What the fuck?" I mutter under my breath as the guy grabs her by her arm and pulls her away from her house. I quickly get out of my car and lock it.

"Oi!" I shout as I approach them. He stops and looks at me. He doesn't look happy that I have approached him but I can't exactly drive off leaving Amy with him.

"Harry, don't worry just go back to Steph." Amy says as she looks at me.

"Who the fuck are you? She been shagging you too?" The guy snaps and his grip tightens. Amy tries to ease him off.

"Get your hands off her.." I say as I look at him whilst gritting my teeth. I've not had this feeling for a while, I knew trouble would creep up on me at some point, just when I thought things were going too good.

"Or what?" He spits at me and I smirk. "Come on pretty boy give me your best shot." He says as he shoves Amy to the floor and he squares upto me.

"Back away now.." I say and he gets closer. I push him and he goes to hit me, but me I stop him as I quickly throw a punch in. He falls down and I hit him again to keep him on the floor.

"Harry don't he's not worth it." Amy says as she pulls me away. This all seems to familiar. It happened with Naomi, Steph and now Amy. Why does it happen around me??

"Fuck you!" The guy shouts as he gets up and I take a full hit to the back of my head and I fall down.

"Hey!" I hear an older guy shout and I slowly look up to see the guy running away.

"Oh my god Harry.." Amy says as she bends down to me. "Dad he needs to sit down." She adds.

"Come on in." The man says as I slowly stand up. I try to shake my head as I need to get back to Stephanie, but I'm guided into Amy's.

"Who is that guy?" I snap as I look at Amy as I sit down on their sofa once I'm inside.

"He's someone I used to know." Amy says as she looks away.

"Lets just check you're not bleeding." Her dad says as he starts to check the back of my head. "That kid has issues and I'm phoning the police." He adds.

"Don't, It's nothing." I say as I've never reported a fight before.

"He's a thug." He says and I notice how quiet Amy has gone. She sits next to me and glances up as she looks to me, I flinch as her dad wipes my head.

"Was he your boyfriend?" I ask as I look at her.

"He was a few months ago. She won't tell you what happened, we've tried for weeks as she comes home in a state and we know its down to him." Her dad says and I watch Amy look away. "I'm Mick by the way." He adds.

"I'm Harry. Thanks for doing this Mick." I say and Amy looks at me.

"I'm sorry.." She says and I frown as I don't get why she can't tell us what the deal is with that idiot ex of hers.

"I'd like to know why he was treating you like that.." I say and she looks away again.

"I'll go and get some frozen peas as your knuckles are bleeding." Mick says and I hadn't realised i was bleeding from a few punches.. That doesn't usually happen.

"I can't it's too.." Amy stops and I shake my head and stand up. I go a little dizzy but I regain my balance.

"I think I deserve to know, don't you? So tell me Amy,who is he?!" I snap as I look at her with a cold look.

"He's a guy that won't leave me alone. I only went out with him because he wouldn't back off and thn when I ended it, I then slept with someone who I've liked for a while. He liked me too." Amy says as she looks up at me. "Joe, the guy who you hit, he thinks I cheated on him but we broke up. He keeps trying to get me to go back with him." She adds.

"So why can't you tell him to fuck off and walk away?" I ask an Amy shakes her head.

"I've tried, but like you just witnessed, he waits outside for me." She answers. "He doesn't take no for an answer.." She says as her eyes start to fill up.

"Does Stephanie know this?" I ask and she jakes her head. "Shit." I mutter under my breath as I don't know what to do.

"You need to report him." I say as im not good at giving advice, I usually just deal with the person myself, but it's different for her.

"No, it will make it worse." She says and Mick walks back in with some frozen peas.

"I've called the police. Harry, are you okay to give a statement when they arrive?" Mick asks as he hands me the peas.

"Dad!" Amy cries and I look at her then back to Mick. I hate talking to the police, but I guess if it helps Amy, and it will give Mick a peace of mind, I'll do it.

"Okay.." I say and Amy looks up at me worried.

---

Stephanie's POV
I throw Harry's bowl of ice cream away as its melted and it didn't look too appealing. He's been gone for an hour and a half, Amy only lives ten minutes away. I start to panic and I diall his number again. It goes to voicemail:

Harry, I'm getting worried. You've been gone for ages, please let me know everything is okay! Please call me back. Thanks.

I hang up and I stare to the floor as I try to think of what could have happened. I think the worst especially at a time like this, but surely someone would have contacted us by now. I dial Amy's number as it goes straight to voicemail. Fuck sake.

I go into my living room and I interrupt my parents talking. I explain how Harry had left to take Amy home and my Dad looks at me frowning.

"We can drive there and check if he's okay?" He suggests as they both look worried.

"Yeah. But what if something has happened? It's all my fault as I told him to give her a lift home-" I stop as the front door opens and we all quickly make our way to the door. Harry slowly walks in and I look at him as he holds the back of his head.

"Mick." Ryan says a little surprised as Mick steps in with Harry. He doesn't look at me.

"What's happened?" I ask as I touch Harry's arm. He looks at me and tries to shrug it off.

"Some stupid guy.." Harry says. "My heads pounding." He adds and he tries to smile to me.

"It was Joe. I came outside as I looked out the window to see him hit Harry in the back of the head." Mick says. "I think he should rest but keep an eye on him incase of concussion." He adds and my head starts to go dizzy. Does he mean Joe I am thinking of, Amy's ex? If so, why was he there and how the hell did Harry get involved with him?

I leave my Dad and Mum who are talking to Mick and I help guide Harry upstairs. I open his door and he sits down.

"I'm okay Steph." He says as he looks at me. I watch as I stretches his arm out and starts to twist his hand. There's only a small cut on his knuckles and it looks like it's a bled a little, but I'm more worried about his head.

"How did this happen Harry?" I ask and he looks down.

"Amy, he grabbed Amy and I told him to leave her alone." He says and my heart sinks. Why was he defending Amy? Did he get jealous of them? Does he feel like he needs to protect her? I start to feel guilty .

Amy and Joe have been on and off in the past and they've treated each other terribly. Amy liked him because he was a 'bad' boy and she liked the thrill of not knowing what was happening between them.

But then everything got complicated as she got involved with James, whilst with Joe and Joe has never got over it. She has never sat him down and explained what happened with them. So Joe's never had closure from her and he kept saying that's all he wanted. I don't get why Amy can't talk to him about it.

And now Harry has got involved and Joe probably thinks that Harry is her new boyfriend! And now things could get messy and I don't want people thinking they are together. I know I sound selfish as Harry stuck up for Amy, but he's with me, not her?!

Am I the worst best friend?

Notes

Okay, I hope you liked this chapter. It's opened a little bit more about Amy who at the moment is quite a dark horse. She has a lot of issues that Stephanie doesn't realise and poor Harry is starting to get wrapped up in them. All because he wants to befriend her for Stephanie.
But things are about to come far more complicated when Amy starts to feel protection from Harry..

Thank you to my readers and subscribers, I'm so grateful that you read this story. And thanks for voting!
:) x