Harry's Pov
I glance at the clock, it's half six. I've got to help Ryan with the band in half an hour, but I really wanted to try and clear the air with Stephanie. I haven't been able to switch off from the other night, I should never have let her take the blame for me.

"Harry, could you just help me lift something down?" Susan asks as she walks in the studio. I look up at her and stand up.

"Yeah.." I say as I follow her to the kitchen. She directs me to the far right cupboard and points.

"I don't know why Ryan puts all of my casserole dishes up there." She laughs as she puts her hands on her hips. I laugh as I lean over and reach up, I can only just reach it myself. I gently pull it out of the cupboard and I lower it down, passing it to Susan.

"Thank you Harry." She smiles. I straighten my top out as I let my arms fall back down. "How are you feeling Harry?" She asks and I look at her a little puzzled.

"Fine.." I say as I'm not sure what she's expecting me to say. She nods as she looks at me, her eyes are full of empathy.

"Have the bruises eased off a little?" She asks and I smirk, that's what she meant.

"Yeah, they're not so bad." I say as I grab a glass from the cupboard and I fill it with water.

"Good, I spoke to your Mother last night, she's pleased to hear how well you're doing." Susan says and I look away. I don't ever feel guilt often, but now it was washing over me.

"Mrs May, I need to tell you something." I say as I slowly look up at her. She stops chopping up some vegetables and turns to me. "Stephanie didn't hit Jason, I did." I watch her face fill with what looks like a little bit of relief.

"Take a seat Harry.." Susan says as she sits on one of the stools, I sit next to her.

"I'm sorry, I just can't let Stephanie lie for me. I was so wound up seeing Jason being so rough with her. I wasn't able to control myself." I look down ashamed. I've never felt like this before. Even when my Mum would try and talk to me, I just froze off and blocked her out. Only because I knew I was letting her down.

"Harry, we don't agree with violence. We've tried to teach our kids to always stand up for what they believe in and to defend themselves." She pauses and I avoid looking up at her. "There are other ways to confront people."

"I know-" I stop as she continues to speak.

"But I really appreciate you telling me the truth." She adds. I nod as I start to play with the hem of my t shirt. "Look at me Harry.." She says softly and I slowly look up.

"Am I going home?" I ask as I assume that's what would happen if I fucked up. She shakes her head.

"No, because I think you know you we're in the wrong. And for Stephanie to protect you, I don't think she would be happy if we just gave up." Susan says and I sigh in relief. I'd love to go home but I'm also not ready.

"You grounded Stephanie, so what's my punishment?" I ask and she looks away thinking. "Well, maybe we can just add a few chores for you? seeing as you did the right thing in the end." She smiles as I feel so confused to why she's let me off quite easy.

"Thank you." I say as I jump up off the stool, she does too as she goes back to preparing dinner. She looks at me smiling.

"Oh, did you like the photos?" Susan asks before I leave. I look at her and I nod. "I couldn't find any of you guys at the park, that's where we always went, do you remember?" She asks. The park? Fuck, I totally forgot about the park. Memories come flooding back at me and my heart starts to race, I don't like this feeling as I let myself rewind into the past.

"Mrs May, I know I don't deserve this but can I ask a really big favour?!" I ask and she looks at me and raises her eyebrows, a smile creeps up on her lips.

---

Stephanie pov
Half an hour to go until my shift ends. I bloody hate working such a long shift, thank god I only work on Saturdays! The bar is getting busy now as young groups of people start their night of drinking.
I always see people from college but today, I've only seen Amy. I felt a little awkward earlier when she was trying to tell me I shouldn't have defended Harry. But she doesn't understand, she never knew the Harry I knew. Maybe I'm just sad because I try to hold onto that ten year old, he was funny, sweet and caring.

"Steph can you change the barrel please?" Mike my manager asks as he serves some punters. I look at him and nod, making my way down the stairs to the cellar, I check my phone. One text from Amy:
So gutted you're grounded, insane house party tonight at James' house. :( xxx

I put my phone back into my pocket and open the cellar door, it's so creepy down here. It's so damp and disgusting, the smell is enough to make me feel a little queasy. I quickly change the barrel over and I check the time again. Twenty minutes left. I sit down on an empty barrel and I'm surprised I've still got signal, I usually lose it down here. I log into Facebook, I scan through my news feed but there's nothing that stands out to me. I type Harry's name in and I look at his page. I stop as a comment from Naomi is quite rude.
'Some people just let you down, no matter how hard you try.' I guess Harry called things off with her, he never mentioned it though. But why would he? He doesn't talk to anyone about anything going on in his life.

I close Facebook down and I stand up. I put my phone back in my pocket and I leave the cellar heading back to the bar.
There's more people now and mike signals for me to help, so I start serving my last few punters.

Finally I've finished, I look to Mike and tell him that I will see him next week. He puts his thumb up and then turns back to the bar. I grab my coat and bag and start to make my way out the back. It's a bit chilly, So I put my coat on and sling my bag over my shoulder. I should make it in time to catch the bus home.
As I make my way towards the bus stop which is about five minutes away, a car starts beeping. I turn around and I realise it's Harry. He pulls up beside me and the window slowly goes down.

"Hey, jump in!" He says loud enough for me to hear. I sigh as I look at him, I'm not in the mood to spend time with him.

"I'm good, I'll get the bus.." I turn away as I start to walk. He starts to drive at my pace, I look to him.

"Come on Stephanie! Jump in!" He shouts as he glances from me to the road. "I want to show you something!" He pleads, I stop walking and look at him. "Please?" He asks.

"I'm grounded Harry. I have to get home." I lean on the window and look at him. He smiles and ruffles his hair out of his face.

"Not anymore you're not!" He says as he leans over and opens the door. "Get in." He adds. I roll my eyes and do as I'm told, I put my seat belt on and he drives away.

"So explain how I'm not grounded.." I ask as I hold my bag on my lap, he looks over to me and smirks.

"I told your Mum the truth, she knows I was involved in the fight." He says so calmly. I've not seen such a calm side to Harry like this. He seems so relaxed and he's constantly smiling. I frown. "What?" He asks as he tries not to laugh at me.

"Why did you tell her? I did that for you Harry and she was so disappointed in me-"

"Steph! Stop!" Harry laughs and I raise my eyebrows. He hasn't called me Steph for ten years, and he's laughing?! What happened to the so serious Harry?

"Have you took something Harry?" I ask a little warily. He rolls his eyes and looks away from me.

"No I haven't. Anyway, I told her because it was the right thing to do, for you." He says as he turns in the opposite direction to where home is.

"Where are we going?" I ask as I look at him. He shrugs playfully and l don't know whether to feel worried or surprised. I keep quiet as I look at everything, waiting for him to pull up wherever it is he's taking me.

"Close your eyes." He says as he looks over to me. I shake my head as there is no way I'm closing my eyes when it's just me and him. "Steph.." The way he says my nick name has much more affect on me than others. He used to call me Steph all the time, whenever I was worried about something, he'd always sound so soothing. The way he said my name was in the same tone.

"Harry I don't want too." I say as I look down. All of a sudden it's like hearing the younger versions of us. I was always unsure of doing something when he suggested it, unless I actually thought it was a good idea. And he always turned round and said-

"You can trust me, I promise!" He says and my heart flutters as he sounds just like the Harry I knew. So I take a deep breath and I close my eyes.

The car comes to a stop and everything falls silent. He pulls the handbrake up and takes the key out, I listen closely to his actions. His car door opens and shuts instantly. Where has he gone? I go to open my eyes but I jump as my door opens and I feel Harry lean over me and he un clips my belt.

"Steady.." He says as he takes my hand and I jump again in shock. I let him help me out and I hear him shut the car door. He locks the car and he gently squeezes my hand. I really want to open my eyes as I hate the feeling of not knowing where I am. "There's a step." He says as he stops allowing me to step up without tripping over.

"How much further?" I ask as I continue to hold his hand. His skin is soft and his fingers are long as they entwine with mine.

"Nearly there." He says as he continues to guide me. "Turn right" he says as he helps me turn and we stop. "Okay.." He sighs. "Open your eyes.." He says as he lets go of my hand.

I suddenly don't want to open them. I don't know what to expect and what I'm about to witness. But I take Harry's promise and I slowly open them. I gasp in shock at what I see.

We're at the park, Harry and I used to play here when we were kids. We always came to this specific spot, it's a private cut off area away from anyone else. The large bushes blocked the view of the park and we always sat here talking about what we wanted to do when we were older. But he's made it look incredible, he's got my Mum's pink fairy lights that she usually puts up in the conservatory at Christmas, he's weaved them through the bushes and it looks so effective. There's a picnic blanket laid out on the floor with a basket on top surrounded by candles.
"Harry.." I say as I look at him, no words can follow as I'm speechless.

"We used to come here and hide away from everyone. We talked about everything, even pointless things that I can't remember." Harry smirks as he walks over to the blanket and sits down. I sit next to him.

"Yeah, we did. I can't believe you remembered this place!!" I smile as I can't contain how surprised I am.

"Your mum reminded me." He says as he grabs a bottle of wine from the basket and two plastic cups.

"I never forgot this place.." I laugh slightly embarrassed. He looks at me and passes me a cup. "Thanks." I say as I watch him fill it up with wine.

"This place is special Steph." He says as he starts to feel his cup and I look at him. So many feelings spring out at me, I remember I used to sit here with him and I loved spending time alone, he made me feel special.

"It was.." I say as flashbacks fill my head. I look at him as he looks at me. "It's like having the old Harry back." I say and he looks down away from me.

"I'm still the Harry you knew." He says quietly. "I know it doesn't seem that way.." I feel quite emotional hearing him say this as I know how hard he finds it to talk.

"Why don't you show him more often?" I ask and Harry shrugs. "You've shown him tonight and it's perfect. I was mad at you and now I'm just blown away" I look away smiling.

"You taking the rap for me reminded me of the friendship we used to have. I owe this to you and I picked here for a reason." He says as he looks at me, I look at him and sip my wine "Do you remember asking me what it's like to be kissed?". His words wake the butterflies up that hover in my stomach, they frantically fly around and I look away as the memory isn't as new to me as he thinks.

"Yeah." I answer. "You leaned forward and kissed me." I say as I look down, the memory has never left my head. I thought about it numerous of times when he left. I know I was only eight but I knew how I felt. I liked Harry, a lot.

"We both felt so secretive that no one else knew, it felt like such a big deal." He laughs. I laugh as I remember we thought we'd done something crazy.
"You know, I was so against coming here. I didn't have any idea what to expect or to think! Seeing you again was going to be hard and slightly weird, but it feels like I haven't been away.." He looks at me and I can't believe he's opening up to me like this. Although I feel different, I listen to him.

"I feel different around you, I hated seeing you with that Jason guy." I look away as he stops. He drinks some of his wine.

"I'm shocked you're talking to me like this. Seeing you again it was like meeting a brand new Harry. A Harry that I didn't understand." I say as I try to word things as good as I can, I don't want him to take anything the wrong way.

"I've let so many people down. My Mum has been so upset because of me. She doesn't get how hard it is living where we are, people dislike me because I have quite a lot of female friends, and guys always get jealous.." He shakes his head as I can hear the anger appearing in his voice.

"That's their problem if they want to be jealous. You should ignore it as you're not doing anything wrong!" I say and Harry smirks.

"All that doesn't matter, I'm here with you.." He changes the subject and I drink more of the wine, my cup becomes empty. I look at him as he looks into my eyes, I flick down to his lips. I don't know what's going on in my head as a little voice keeps telling me to lean in and kiss him. I want too so bad but I can't, he's only just started to settle down and let me in. I don't want to ruin it.

"What are you thinking?" He asks as he moves his head a little closer to mine. I try to think of something but I'm completely captivated by him. His hot breath brushes my lips as my head starts to move towards him, we tilt our heads slightly and my eyes begin to close.
My lips part as I feel his connect with mine. I cant believe I'm kissing Harry! The kiss starts to deepen and I reach up and run my hand through his hair. I feel his hand press gently on the back of my head. We slowly start to pull away, his hand drops and I let mine fall back down.

"That was so much better than ten years ago." He smirks and I can't help but laugh. We suddenly get interrupted by his phone, he looks away as he pulls it out from his pocket. "Sorry, it's your Dad. I promised I'd be back in time to help with a couple of songs." Harry says as he looks at me and smiles.

"Right okay, we better head back!" I say as we both stand up and start to gather everything together. I start blowing out the candles as Harry starts untangling the lights. I move the basket from the blanket as I begin to roll it.

"Let me take that." Harry offers as I pass him the blanket, he takes it under his arm and wraps the lights around each other. I pick the basket up and place the wine inside. "Ready?" He asks. I nod as we make our way to the car. I can't help but smile to myself. I can't believe that's just happened..

Notes

So things are starting to change between Harry and Stephanie, but how will she react when she finds out Harry still hasn't called things off with Naomi?