Thalia
"Anything else you girls need?" I asked as Millie, Layla, and Tilly ran screaming into the bedroom they would be staying in.

Nicola has given the girls her childhood bedroom to sleep in while they were visiting. The large room was lined floor to ceiling in different shades and patterns of pink. Ornate decoration made the space feel like it belonged to the Queen rather than a child.

"It's perfect!" Cried Tilly, falling face first into the mattress.

"It's looks like it belongs to a princess," added Layla.

"It does belong to a princess," replied Millie as she bounced on the giant king sized mattes. "I'm here!”

"Alright that's enough." I grabbed Millie and began tickling her. "This princess thing is starting to go to your head!”

Millie let out a screech and tried to escape. Once she managed it she scrambled to the other side of the bed, giggling like a maniac.

"Harry says I'm a princess!" She cried.

"Harry says lots of things but not all of it is true," I replied. Tilly frowned suspiciously at me and I added quickly, "come on! Brush your teeth and off to bed! You want to be well rested for your adventures tomorrow!”

"What adventures?" Layla asked, her eyes sparkling.

"The sooner you go to bed the sooner you'll find out.”

Ten screams, two tickle fights, and one bedtime story later I had the girls successfully tucked in for the night. As I shut the door I let out a deep sigh of exhaustion. Today had completely blindsided me what with Harry and I being trapped in the cellar and my families arrival.

I ran a hand through my hair as I wandered back through the mansion in search of Marco. The mansion seemed to have quieted down for the most part now that most of my family and Marco’s had retired for the night. However down on the patio One Direction, the Conti siblings, and my sisters were all drinking and keeping the party alive. As I reached the stairs I quickened my pace, the mansion could be quite eerie alone.

“Thalia?”

“AH!” I jumped and nearly toppled down the stairs in fright. Thankfully, I caught myself on the railing at the last minute. As I attempted to steady my breathing I looked up to see Nicola watching me with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you okay?” She asked calmly.

“F-fine,” I breathed.

“Good.” Nicola gave me a fake smile before falling into step with me as I headed towards the patio. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

Probably wanted to attack me somewhere her brother wouldn’t interfere, my subconscious noted.

“I wanted to apologize.”

Wait what?

Nicola stopped and I instinctively mimicked her. She cleared her throat before continuing, “I was out of line at the bar. I was drunk and worried you were using my brother just to make a name for yourself. I’m sorry I made that assumption about you.”

“Why did you make that assumption about me in the first place?” I heard myself ask.

Nicola raised her eyebrows unimpressed. “Because of your history with Harry. He was a famous star. I assumed you like the money but not the publicity, which is why you went after my brother.”

“Well for the record I didn’t go after your brother,” I replied, growing annoyed at her lack of empathy. “He was the one who continually asked me out until I was so annoyed that I finally said yes.”

“That sounds like him,” Nicola said with a laugh.

“And just so you know I never cared about the money,” I added. “Harry didn’t need money or fame to charm me…and neither does your brother.”

“So do you forgive me?” Nicola asked.

“Yes. I do.”

She broke into a smile and linked her arm with mine. I had a moments surprise before I was pulled towards the patio. I could forgive Nicola for making assumptions about me, but I could never completely forgive her for the way she acted. And there was no way in hell I was ever letting my guard down around her again.

“We’re back!” Nicola called as she pulled me outside. “The party can officially start!”

“Thank God for that,” Louis replied sarcastically.

I pulled myself free from Nicola and ran over to Marco where I was safe. Marco wrapped his arm around me the second I sat down. I snuggled up to him gratefully as Louis and Liam shot me smirks.

“So what happened?” Niall asked, looking towards Maeve and continuing the conversation Nicola and I had evidently interrupted.

“OH! I forgot I had been telling a story,” Maeve said, setting her drink down excitedly. “Where was I?”

“Millie came home with a detention slip,” replied Harry, taking a sip of his beer.
“WHAT?” I nearly screamed.

“Shhh!” Louis, Niall, and Harry hushed immediately as Marco pulled me back down into his arms.

“Right. So a few weeks ago Millie came home with detention slip,” continued Maeve, a smile creeping onto her face. “And Miss Irene asked her what had happened…”

Mackenzie broke into a laugh before covering her face as the boys shushed her too.

“Millie looked up at Miss Irene and said in the most innocent tone, ‘It wasn’t my fault. George was teasing me at recess.’ Miss Irene frowned and asked what he had done. Millie answered, ‘he was chasing Molly and I around yelling “girls don’t fart!”’

The guys and I burst into laughter at this.

“So Miss Irene asks how Millie responded,” Maeve said. “Millie replied, ‘well I told him that wasn’t true and girls do fart. But he yelled at me that we didn’t…so I pushed him down and farted in his face.’”

We all roared with laughter. I thought my ribs would break from laughing so hard and I looked over to see the boys rolling in their seats. I wiped tears from my face and tried to catch my breath.

“She did not do that!” I cried between laughs.

“I swear to God,” Maeve chuckled. “Isn’t she amazing?”

“That Millie is something else man,” Louis laughed, wiping tears from his own eyes.
I looked over at Marco to see him shake his head with a laugh before taking another sip of his beer. We continued sharing weird hilarious stories from our childhoods until the fire began to die out.

It wasn’t until Marco left to go look for more firewood in the shed that I realized how cold I was. Italy weather was strange, growing stifling hot in the afternoon and plummeting into near freezing temps at night. I pulled the thin dress tighter around my body before feeling a tap on my thigh.

“Want some blanket?” Asked Harry.

I hesitated, unsure if this was an acceptable thing to do. But we were friends now right? I gave Harry a smile before scooting over and snuggling under the large blanket he and Nicola were sharing. This…this was weird…right? It felt weird. It felt like I was cheating. But that was stupid because it’s not like I have any feeling for Harry and we’re only sharing a blanket for goodness sake. I looked around to see if anyone else was feeling the sudden awkwardness but of course they were all distracted. Liam, Louis and Maeve were in an intense conversation about the probability of a zombie apocalypse while Niall and Kenzie were all but making out in the far corner, completely oblivious to everything else.

“I love bonfires,” Harry muttered.

“Too bad we don’t have marshmallows,” I replied.

“Mmmm. Do they have marshmallows in Italy?”

“No clue. They have the best cheese though…”

“Cheese?” Harry chuckled, turning to look at me with smirk. I watched the fire dance those bright green eyes for a moment.

“Yes cheese. It’s to die for. So fresh…”

“I never knew someone could like cheese so much,” Harry chuckled, showing off his lovely lopsided smile.

“Don’t judge me Styles.”

“Well! No more firewood,” Cried Marco.

Harry and I both jumped at the sound of his voice - as if were two five year olds caught with our hands in the cookie jar. Or like two people caught cheating, my subconscious brutally noted. But why should I feel weird about talking to Harry? We were literally having a conversation about cheese!

“Ready for bed amore?” Marco asked as he gently ruffled my hair.

“I guess so,” I sighed. Marco helped pull me up while the rest of the group lazily rose to their feet. After muffled goodnights Marco and I headed up to his room.

“Is there something going on that I should know about?” Marco asked as soon as were were back in the safety of his room.

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

His arms snaked around my torso before pulling me close. “You didn’t seem to hate Harry as much as usual tonight.”

“We had a long talk today,” I replied, an image of Harry’s tearstained face emerged and I pulled myself from Marco’s grasp to take off my jewelry. I could see Marco eyeing me suspiciously in the mirror so I added, “I’ve decided to forgive him.”

“Forgive him?”

“Yes. You were right before. Harry and I were both idiots and it was a long time ago when we were different people. I can’t hold onto this hatred anymore,” I answered. I turned to see Marco still watching me, his face hardened. “I thought you wanted this?”

“I do,” Marco replied. He broke into a soft smile before walking over and cupping his hands lightly around my face. “I just…I just don’t want you getting hurt either.”

“How would I get hurt?” I frowned. While he seemed sincere, he was evidently holding something back as well.

Marco kissed my forehead in response. “I liked meeting your family today.”

I stood there stunned for a moment as Marco turned and began rummaging through the dresser in search of his pajamas. As he changed I leaned against the desk, my arms crossed.

“Well that was the smoothest subject change I’ve ever heard,” I replied sarcastically. Marco froze halfway to the bed. So I walked over and gave him a light peck on the lips before asking, “why do you think I’ll get hurt by being friends with Harry?”

Marco sat down on the bed, eyeing me intensely. With a deep sigh he finally said, “because I’m worried you won’t be able to just ‘be friends with Harry’. He…it’s like he has some strange power over you…you’re different when you’re around him.”

“I’m different around him because he’s my ex boyfriend,” I replied. What was he getting at?

“Just promise me he’ll stay an ex boyfriend.”

I opened my mouth in half joking, half completely serious, shock. Marco looked shameful while I attempted to recover. He had to be joking right? But after a moment realized that he was completely serious. I straddled him as I asked, “You seriously think I would kick you to the curb for my ex?”

I kissed just below his ear and began working my way down to his lips. He gulped as I pressed my body against his.

“Well only a small part of me thinks that,” he replied, letting out a nervous laugh.

When I finally reached his lips Marco inhaled deeply and pulled us down onto the bed. We remained like this for a while as our kisses steadily grew more passionate. After a few minutes I broke the kiss and hovered playfully above him.

“Well then Mr. Conti...let me set you straight.”

Marco sat up and began slowly lifting, breaking the kiss only to pull it over my head. Then, as if I weighed as light as air, he flipped us over so he was now hovering above me. As he began attacking my neck with more kisses I wrapped my legs around his hips, forcing him closer.

"I love you Thalia," Marco whispered.

"I love you too," I said as I entwined my fingers with his curly hair, noting that it was the same length Harry’s had been when we first started dating.

Notes

My internet has been out for the past three days so as you can imagine it's been a bit of a struggle to update.

But now that we're back in action...you guys ROCK. Thank you so much for the subscriptions and votes! It means a lot and I'm glad to know this story isn't getting lost in the depths of the internet. I will try to keep up the steady updating - lately I haven't been able to stop writing! Yay for creativity!

Ciao ciao!