Harry's POV
"There he is!" Gemma smiles as I sleepily walk into the kitchen to see them preparing breakfast, it smells so good. "Wasn't expecting you back so soon." She smiles as she gives me a hug. I hug her back.

"I'm sure Mum has filled you in hasn't she?" I ask as I pull away and look at Mum.

"Not really, she only said you and Stephanie have had a disagreement so you've come back for a bit." Gemma says as she continues to help cook. I smile to Mum who looks at me with her 'you can trust me' face.

"Did you want me to do anything?" I ask as I feel a little useless stood here. Mum shakes her head and Gemma rolls her eyes.

"As if she'd let her baby help." Gemma jokes and she laughs. "Anyway, all this is too cheer you up and to put that beautiful little smile on my baby brother's face." Gemma adds in a teasing tone. I roll my eyes at her, I've sort of missed having sibling banter with her.

"I'd do the same if it was for you Gemma." Mum says as she looks to my sister. Gemma smiles back at Mum and rolls her eyes. "How are you feeling this morning?" Mum asks as she turns around and looks at me.

"I feel better that I've slept, but my head is still messed up. I just don't know what to do or when I should go back. If I do go back." I mumble the last part and my Mum looks at me and sighs.

I don't know if I can go back yet, everything is still quite fresh and I'm not sure how long it will take for it all too calm down. It's hard being away from Steph, but I know if I go back too soon, it may go horribly wrong, or we could end up being one of those couples who just brush their problems under the carpet. I can't be dealing with that, I want it sorted properly and then continue to over work on the issue.

"You'll have to go back Harry, you have your stuff there and I know you want to make up with Stephanie." Mum says as she puts my plate down in front of me on the table.

"Thanks." I smile at the fry up, I've missed my Mums breakfast. She usually does a fry up every Sunday morning.

"I can go back with you if you don't want to go alone?" Gemma asks as her and Mum sit down with their breakfast.

"Thats alright, thanks though." I say as I begin to tuck in. Mum smiles at Gemma as they start to eat it falls silent. It feels nice to be sat with these two, we haven't been this relaxed since we were kids. A month ago I'd never sit around a table with Mum and Gemma, I'd isolate myself for some apparent reason.

"I hope you do what you think is best." Mum says as she looks at me. How am I supposed to know what is best? This whole dilemma has confused me and I keep having an inner debate on what I should do.

"I'll work something out." I answer as I continue to eat. Mum nods and smiles at me, I know she's worried about me but I am grateful how supportive she has been. It makes me feel a little guilty how I used to block them out from what was going on in my life.

My plate quickly becomes empty and I thank them for cooking for me. As Gemma starts to make some of her famous sarcastic jokes, I lose interest at the knock on the door. Mum looks puzzled at the time as she stands up to answer.

"I can get it." I say as I get up and I pass her out of the kitchen. I don't know anyone who would be knocking at this time in the morning, everyone we know would be at work or sleeping till noon. I open the door and I'm met with Naomi.

"Hello Harry.." She starts and I can't believe she's stood at my door. She doesn't smile or look impressed at all, she begins to frown.

"What are you doing here Naomi?!" I ask as she's the last person I thought would want to see me. She rolls her eyes and I know this isn't going to be good.

"Well, you break up with me over the phone, I can't seem to get hold of you and I wanted answers Harry. I drove past your house last night and I saw your car, so I knew you were back. So I'm not leaving until we've talked." Naomi says and she doesn't sound happy at all. I sigh as I open the door wider and she steps inside.

"Do we have to do this now? It's early and-" I stop as she's already made her way upstairs to my bedroom. I moan to myself regretting that I let her in, I follow her upstairs. "Naomi I know you're angry!" I say as I walk in to my room too see her stood with her arms folded across her chest.

"Angry? Harry I'm not angry. I am hurt, ashamed and disappointed at the way you have treated me. I've wanted to speak to you for weeks! I can't believe you said all of that to me on the phone and then when I text you apologising you never even text me back.." She snaps as her eyes glare into mine.

"That's because you kept calling me I had no choice than to do it over the phone. I didn't text back because I owed you a proper explanation. " I sigh as I sit on my bed. "Look, I could really appreciate not doing this right now." I add as I look up at her and she frowns again.

"Don't you understand Harry? I've waited ages to talk to you, I can't wait anymore because the thing is I am in love with you. It's tore me apart not being able to see you and to work things out." She says a little softer as she sits down next to me. Shit. That's not what I want to hear, not now.

"I'm sorry I haven't dealt with this like I should have, but there's a reason for it but I just can't go through this with you now." I say as I look to the floor. Nice one Harry, another girl I'm hurting. That's Stephanie, Amy and Naomi.

"So I clearly mean nothing to you then Harry! We were good together, really good." She says as she looks away from me. What do I say? She likes me but I no longer like her. Fuck sake.

"Okay Naomi.." I sigh as I look at her, she looks up to me. "I did like you, at college I thought you were the hottest girl there. When we started hanging out, it was good and we did have fun. But we never were boyfriend and girlfriend. That's the thing, I just liked spending time with you.." I stop as the look on her face shows me I'm not doing a very good job at clearing this up.

"So you basically led me on? I thought we were going to end up going out with each other because the way you looked at me and the way you couldn't take your hands off me, I thought you could fall in love with me." Naomi says as she looks away, she scrunches her nose up in confusion.

"I probably could have fallen in love with you. I can't deny that I'm attracted to you, you know how many guys like you. But that was one problem, you flirt with everyone Naomi and I guess that always helped me not fall for you, don't get me wrong, I still got jealous. But there's something else that stopped me falling for you." I say and she looks back at me and shakes her head.

"I'm naturally flirty, it doesn't mean I'd do anything Harry. But what's the other thing that's stopped you then?" She asks and she does sound a little hurt. I breathe in as I really don't want to say this but I know I've got no choice and it's no point in lying.

"The family I'm staying with, they have a daughter who I used to hang around with as a kid. She was as close to me as anyone would ever get." I stop as I check she's okay with this, she listens closely so I continue. "Seeing her again made me realise my feelings for her never went away. She's the one person who can make me be myself, even when I don't want to be." I bite my lip as I look away waiting for her to speak, or shout.

"So, why didn't you tell me this on the phone?" She asks as we look at each other. "You should have told me Harry.." She adds.

"I know, I guess I just worried about you and how you would have took it. I was sent there by my Mum, so I was still quite angry. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to speak like I am now. I never meant to hurt you." I feel like an idiot.

"I would never have made you mine, Would I?" She asks and I slowly shake my head hoping she doesn't get upset, she nods and looks away. I've never seen this side to Naomi before.

"You made me so happy Harry, I loved being with you and hopefully I will get over you." She says sadly and I feel so bad that I've made her feel this way. I've never felt this way about Naomi before where I am trying to watch what I am saying to prevent hurting her any further.

"You'll find someone else before you know it and they will treat you so much better than I ever did." I smile supportively as I nudge her, she looks at me and smiles. "Seriously, who could resist you?" I wink playfully and she nods.

"That's true, I knew you worshiped me at one stage," She jokes and I laugh.

"I'm sorry I handled this in such a fucked up way. Thank you for being so understanding." I say as I look at her and I study her beautiful face.

"Thanks for being honest, eventually." She smiles. "You know, I was supposed to come here and shout at you about how much of a dick you are." She laughs and I nod as that's what I was expecting. "But you didn't deserve that, I just never realised you had your own issues." She adds. "But can I ask one thing?"

"Yeah.." I say and she looks at me and bites her lip.

"If you've fallen for the girl where you're staying at, then why are you at home?" She asks and I look down as this is slightly weird.

"Uh, we're just having some space." I answer as I can't say too much as it's just a bit strange talking to Naomi about Stephanie. I look at Naomi and she smirks.

"So you've had a row and you've done what you always do, run away." She says and I roll my eyes, forgetting how well she knows how I handle things. I nod and she nudges me to look at her, I slowly meet her eyes.

"Running away from things doesn't always help, as we've realised. It's hard to lose the one you love, make sure you don't leave it too long." Naomi says as she stands up and looks to me. "I hope you work things out." She adds as she opens my door.

"Naomi wait!" I say as I jump up and she stops to look at me. "Thank you!" I say as I hug her, she stiffens a little as I forget how she must be feeling. I quickly let go of her. "Maybe we can be friends?" I ask and she smirks.

"Yeah, but it will take a while Harry. I've got to get over you first and move on, then perhaps we can be friends." She smiles and she walks out and heads downstairs. I follow her down and I open the front door.

"Bye.." I say as she walks out.

"Bye Harry." Naomi says and I watch her walk away. I feel proud of us the way we just handled that. The old me would never have opened up to her and she would have just gone mad at me. It just shows the difference in when I talk it helps so much, Naomi got to hear how I felt and she had no need to shout about it. I close the door and turn round to see Mum.

"Everything okay?" She asks as she looks a little concerned.

"Yeah.." I smile as I walk into the living room, I fall down onto the sofa. I take my phone and I text Niall:

Hey, it's Harry. How's Stephanie today? X

I send it before I change my mind. I want to know if she's okay but I really hope Niall says yes. Being with Naomi, it made me realise that I shouldn't leave this too long. I wonder what Stephanie's doing, does she still want to be with me? I wouldn't blame her if she didn't. My phone beeps at me indicating I have a text, I unlock the screen and it's from Niall:

Hey mate, yeah she's not too good tbh. She's refusing to eat. Last night we distracted her with a film but this morning she won't get out of bed. But don't worry, we will get her to come round, how you doing bud? X

My stomach churns as I'm the reason she won't eat or get out of bed. What the hell do I do now? I can't stay here knowing she's not looking after herself. Why is she doing that? It's not fair on both of us, I don't want to be here actually enjoying seeing my family when she's at home so miserable. I didn't expect her to be happy because I'm not either, but being around people who care about you always helps when you're in a bad place. I've finally learnt that.
I text Niall back:

Really wish she wasn't doing that, keep me updated if no improvements. I'm ok mate, cheers for asking. X

I can't exactly ignore what Niall has told me. If I am the only thing stopping her from getting out of bed and not eating then I will have to do something to help. This is making things even worse, I'm not ready to talk to Stephanie about what happened. But if I'm forced in to going there I don't think it's going to end up going too well. How the fuck do I get around this one?
My phone goes again, it's Niall:

Harry, don't worry we will get her to eat. Chloe's already threatened she will tell her parents to come home, even though she's only bluffing mate. But Steph doesn't like that idea! Take your time and I'll let you know if things get worse, just sort your head out and concentrate on you, ok? X

I heavily breath out as I read his text once more. She's lucky to have such good friends, and I'm lucky I have Niall there who is secretly communicating with me. I know it sneaky and I think Steph would go mad if she knew that I was finding out if she was okay as she has no idea what I'm doing or how I'm feeling. I text him back:

Ok thanks bud. Talk soon x

---

Stephanie's POV

"Lucy, I just want to sleep okay?" I sigh as I pull the covers back on top of me, I've lost how many times we've played this 'covers on, covers off' game. Lucy sighs and sits on the bed.

"Steph, come on. You need to eat and you need to sort yourself out. You are not lazing around in bed all day." She says sternly and I ignore her.

How do they expect me to just get up and get on with things? I don't care about anything, I don't care about college, work, Amy, shit work! I haven't even called in. Oh well, I don't know who I was trying to kid last night when I told myself work could be a good thing for me, I don't even have the energy to get up unless I need the bathroom.

"Please just let me rest!" I moan as I wish they'd be a little bit more sensitive to me. I've gone through enough and I don't need these three going on and on at me. In all fairness Niall isn't nagging me as much as the other two, but why can't they just understand that I'm hurt, the last thing I want is to get up and try to move on.

"Fine." Lucy says as I feel her get up and leave. I feel a bit bad that I'm being such a stubborn cow, but I really don't want to face the world today, maybe tomorrow I can go downstairs if I feel up to it. But for now, I'm staying here.

The peace and quiet causes a small smile to my lips. This is all I wanted, to wallow in self pity and quietly feel so sorry for myself. I've wrote Harry a text about ten times but never had the confidence to send it. How can we go from being so close to I can't even send him a text? It's just depressing and I keep feeling the lump in my throat return when ever I think into it.

I've never appreciated my own company as much as I do now. Hiding away from your problems is something I don't usually do, but seeing as Harry's ran away from ours, I'll hide away from them. I close my eyes and I think about- SHIT-

"Ahh!" I shout as I feel freezing cold liquid hitting me forcefully as it immediately soaks through my sheets . I quickly push the duvet off me and I sit up to see Chloe stood there with a bucket in her hands, Lucy and Niall are behind her.

"I knew this was a bad idea.." Niall whispers to Lucy but I still manage to hear him. I look at Chloe.

"What the hell was that for?!" I snap as I get up and I look at my soaking bed. I look back to Chloe as she shrugs.

"I said I'd do anything to get you of that bed, and here you are finally up." She says and she shakes her head.

"You had no right Chloe! I don't have to do anything that I don't want too! Now just leave me alone!" I shout as I storm out of my room, fuming that I'm wet through I go into the bathroom and I lock the door behind me. How could she do that to me?

I'm starting to wish that I was completely alone, I thought they were my friends and they aren't doing what's best for me. They're not letting me get through this the way that I want too. What's so wrong with the idea of sleeping?

I glance in the mirror and I take a towel, I begin to wipe my face and I quickly dry as much of my hair as I can. My eyes are really heavy from tiredness, I hardly slept at all last night as everything that happened just kept going round and round in my mind. I look away, feeling ashamed at the girl looking back at me. I sit down on the floor and I rest my head on the bath, I close my eyes.

"Stephanie.." Lucy knocks and I open my eyes. "Are you okay? We're so sorry..' She adds and I roll my eyes. "Please don't lock yourself in there."

"I don't want to lock myself in here but I just need some peace and privacy!" I say loud enough for them to hear. They don't say anything as I wait to hear one of them reply. It's gone quiet at last, I close my eyes again and I let myself drift off.

---

Niall's POV

"Just let her have some time in there, we've tried everything." Chloe says quietly as we walk into Stephanie's room. I sit down at Stephanie desk as the girls start to strip the bed sheets.

"We will but them in the tumble dryer for her. It's only fair.." Lucy says and Chloe nods in agreement. I take my phone out as I think about what Harry had said about keeping him updated. Maybe he is the only person that can talk some sense into Stephanie.

"What you doing?" Chloe asks as she looks at me. I look up to her and I quickly think to myself whether or not I tell her that I'm talking to Harry. Maybe for now I'll leave telling them.

"Nothing." I say as I don't them to know I'm keeping him updated. I know they will want me to persuade him to come back and sort this out, we never realised Stephanie was so upset.

"What do you think we should do? She can't carry on like this? She's hardly said two words last night and she didn't touch any pizza." Lucy says as she looks at me. "We've tried nearly everything,"

"I don't know maybe we do what you said Chloe, we should call her parents.." I suggest and they look at each other as if they may think that's the only thing left.

"Where does Harry live?" Chloe asks as she looks to me then to Lucy. We both shrug as we have no idea.

"Why?" I ask.

"I can try and talk to him, see if he will come back and just talk this out with Stephanie." Chloe answers and I look away. I knew that's what she would want to do, to be honest it may be the only thing left if Steph thinks she's just going to carry on like this until she sees Harry again. I'm going to have to let Harry down.

"Okay.." I sigh and they both turn to me. "Harry text me earlier, asking if Stephanie was okay.." I add and they both frown at me.

"What? Why didn't you tell us? How is he feeling?" Lucy asks as she looks worried.

"I wanted him to keep his privacy, I thought he deserved the space he wanted. It proves he cares if he had to ask about her, I just didn't feel there was a need to tell you guys. Sorry. But yeah, he's okay but he's concerned about Steph. I told him what she's doing." It feels good that they know, Chloe smiles and Lucy looks to me and looks a little relieved,

"So did he say he'd come back ?" Chloe asks with a curious expression.

"No, I said we'd sort it out. But it looks like we're failing at that. I have to let him know that she's not listening to us." I say and they both nod. "I'll text him now," I say as I grab my phone and I unlock the screen. The girls carry on as they gather the sheets together and they look at me. I text Harry:

Things aren't going well here. Stephanie's locked herself in the bathroom, she's really cut up about this and we don't know what to do. Sorry mate x

"There, sent." I say and we make our way downstairs.

We walk in the kitchen as they start to put the sheets into the tumble dryer, I take a seat at the breakfast bar. I wish there was another way to get Steph to see that everything will be okay. I really don't want to disturb Harry or rush him in to coming back, it doesn't seem fair. I receive a text and the girls stop and look at me as I read the reply out loud from Harry:

Why is she doing this?! I've only left for some space, she knows I just need to clear my head! I'll come back, I'll be about an hour and a half, don't tell her I'm coming. See you soon x

"Let's hope we've done the right thing." I say as they both look a little anxious at Harry's reply. He doesn't sound happy and to be honest I don't blame him. He's not had a chance to cool off or to even think how he wants to progress things with Stephanie. And obviously she can't help being so upset, I just feel sorry for the both of them and I hope they come out of this on top.

Notes

So Harry has to come back and face Stephanie, but is it going to make it better or worse?
please leave your feedback as it's much appreciated and I like to hear what you think :)

Thanks for continuing to read this story, I hope you're enjoying it!

xx