Harry

Bing! Bing! Bing!
I let out a groan and threw my hand out towards the nightstand, searching blindly for the source of that annoying dinging. Eventually I was able to reach my phone and I quickly shut off the sound. With I sigh, I fell back onto the soft sheets. A dull throbbing pain in my head was a fierce reminder that I had drank well past my limit last night. With an extreme amount of effort I screwed up my face, straining to remember the details.
Thalia's face immediately appeared, her large hazel eyes gazing back at me. And then I remembered her lips on mine, her hands running through my hair in a drunken daze. I could almost feel her fingers dancing across my skin as the heat from her body brought me back to life. I've had dreams about Thalia sure, but this one had seemed so real.
With I sigh I moved to sit up and it was then that I realized there was a warm body wrapped around me. I immediately froze, two scared to look down. I was imagining it. I had to be imagining it.
I hesitantly peeked an eye open. There, snoring gently on my chest, was a dark haired beauty. I let out a sigh of relief and hugged her closer to my body. It had happened. It had all really happened.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Growling in annoyance at whoever was ruining my perfect moment, I grabbed my phone to see seven missed texts. I broke into a frown on seeing half of them were from Thalia herself. What?

Tootles 2:42am: imsorry waltz
Tootles 3:04am: where dip you go,?

I stifled a laugh at her drunkenness, but what on earth had she been apologizing for?

Louis 3:27am: what rhe fuck habr you done this timw???
Niall 3:52am: where the hell re u ?
Thalia 7:33am: Yo sleepyheads where you guys at? We're leaving soon!
Thalia 8:02: HARRY! Answer your phone! We have to catch the train back at 9

I looked up at the clock to see bright neon numbers flashing 8:10AM. What did Thalia mean where are we? She's right - with a gasp of horror, I looked down at the sleeping girl in my arms once more. In my panic I jumped up, lost my balance, and fell to the ground with a painful thud.
"Harry what the fuck?" Cried a high pitched Italian accent. I looked up to see Nicola sitting up and staring me with a frown. Then, seeing me on the floor she broke into a smile. "Did you fall off the bed?"
This couldn't be happening. How could this be happening?
"Harry?"
"I-yeah..." But I lost my words in my confusion. What the actual fuck? I had gone home with Thalia...hadn't I? But the texts from last night told a different story. I suddenly felt too overwhelmed for words. I needed to find one of the guys and figure out what had happened, find out what had gone wrong.
"We have to catch the train at nine," I said numbly, picking myself off the ground and throwing on my clothes as fast as possible.
“Why don't you catch a later one?" Nicola suggested, sliding back onto the bed. I turned away as she attempted to show off her naked body to me. “I’m going to stay for another day. My friend Laura’s in the city and-"
"No. I mean thanks, but I...I want to go back with the guys," I replied lamely.
Nicola pouted as she rolled over onto her stomach and rested her chin on the palm of her hand. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as I struggled to pull on my jeans, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.
“What’s wrong?” she asked bluntly.
I froze. What was I supposed to say? Sorry, you’re not the girl I thought I slept with? She raised her eyebrows impatiently as I struggled to come up with a plausible answer.
“Nothing’s wrong I’m just-"
A few short knocks on the door abruptly cut me off and saved me from having to finish a nonexistent thought. Nicola rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh as I immediately turned to open the door.
There stood Thalia accompanied by an exhausted looking Louis. My heart had leapt into my chest at the sight of her. Would she remember? Would she be mad? But as they drew near it dawned on me that Thalia wasn't upset at all, if anything she just looked extremely tired and hungover. Her hair was a mess, and rather than attempting to tame it she had simply thrown it up in a large bun. The small baby hairs which had always caused her so much frustration stuck out at odd angles as she opened her mouth to speak.
“Finall- Oh my god!” Cried Thalia, immediately slapping a hand across her eyes as Louis let out a loud laugh.
"Buongiorno," Nicola smiled from the bed, and my eyes widened as I realized she was still laying naked.
“Shit!" I quickly stepped out into the hall and closing the door with a snap. Mentally cursing myself for being such an idiot. What would Thalia think now? "Uh...sorry about that.”
“Oh no, It’s fine,” Thalia replied weakly, her hand still over her eyes as Louis roared with laughter at her reaction.
“I told you they’d be awake!" He chuckled, leaning against the wall for support.
"Uh huh," Thalia grimaced, peaking an eye out to check if it was safe. The action vividly reminded me of last night and I again wondered if she remembered any of it. "I wanted to make sure you were up so we could catch the train. I had texted you, but I guess we know now why you didn't answer..."
I stared at Thalia in disbelief, utterly dumbstruck that she had called me out like that. She shot me an small, curt smile in response as she pulled her light sweater tighter around her body. I knew she was offended at having witnessed Nicola's nakedness and for my obvious disregard for the situation but that didn't seem to matter at the moment. Being in her presence, knowing she was okay after last nights events, somehow relaxed me.
"Are you ready to go?" Louis asked, running a hand through his bed head hair and successfully distracting me.
"Uh, yeah I just have to grab my bag," I replied, trying to catch Thalia's eye once more.
"Okay," Thalia replied, stifling a yawn and turning towards the elevators. "I'll meet you guys back downstairs then."
As soon as she was out of ear shot I spun around to face Louis. "What the fuck happened last night?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing mate," he shrugged. “You and Thal were both a bit of a wreck. She wouldn't tell us what happened and you dissapeared…but hey, you and Nicola?
"What?"
"She's naked in your bed Harry," Louis replied, cocking an eyebrow suspiciously at me. He then brought up a hand to scratch the stumble he's been too lazy to shave. "Maybe that's why Thal was so upset?"
I frowned. Remembering how Thalia had witnessed Marco cheating, how I had then pulled her over to a corner and kissed her. Did she remember? Does she want to? She couldn't have remembered, for if she had she would be screaming in my face by now. Unless she just wanted to pretend it never happened? I wanted to drill Louis for more details. Like how on earth I had gone from kissing Thalia to sleeping with Nicola in the span of an hour. I mentally kicked myself for being such a prick.
Annoyingly enough, I wasn't able to talk to question Louis anymore about it for Nicola joined us in the hall shortly after with my packed bag in her hand. After a lengthy (and slightly awkward) goodbye Louis and I were joined by Hugh and Jasper as we headed down to the lobby to meet up with the rest Thalia’s family. As we entered the lobby I received vicious glares from Mackenzie, Maeve and Elaine. When I had opened my mouth to ask Niall about it he quickly shook his head in warning. What the hell was going on?
“Does everyone have their travel buddy?” Thalia called over the commotion of her family.
“Why do we have to have buddies?” Archie whined, throwing his head back dramatically.
“Why do you have to wine so much?” Maeve snapped. “We have buddies so we don’t get lost.”
Louis and I caught each others eye and I tried to stifle my laugh. Maeve was both hilarious and terrifying when she was in a bad mood, and I made a mental note to stay as far away from her as possible today. But the smile quickly slid off my face as Marco returned to the lobby.

"Here are the tickets mi amore," I heard him say to Thalia as she attempted to round up her disobedient siblings.
"Thanks Mars," Thalia smiled.
Ew. Mars? Come on Thal.

***

"Haz, stop fucking staring at her," Louis hissed, snapping me from my thoughts.
I had been staring at Thalia and Marco for the past ten minutes as they shared secret whispers and kisses. After being called out on my stalking I turned instead to the vineyards whizzing by.
We were now the train and traveling towards the Conti residence at high speed. Maeve, Louis, Liam and I had managed to find a booth to ourselves while Niall, Mackenzie, Thalia and Marco had broken off into another. Nicola had, thankfully, decided to stay in Rome for another two days with a friend who had been visiting from Australia.
I was more than okay with this for it gave me time to figure out what the hell was going on with my life. I knew I couldn’t keep seeing Nicola if my I looked back at Thalia as she plugged in her headphones and rested her head against the window. I smiled to myself, knowing it was one of her favorite thing to do on trips. It was the only time she just shut the world our and left her thoughts run wild. A small smile spread across her lips and I wondered what memory she had stumbled upon.
"Haz!"
"What?" I asked, jumping in my seat.
Louis shot me a glare in response. "What is with you today man? You're worse then usual."
I looked back at the couple to see Marco tapping her hand gently trying to gain her attention once more. Her eyes shot down to his hand before returning once more to the window, a look of annoyance replacing her smile .
"Why is she even with him still?" I grumbled.
"What are you on about?" Liam frowned.
"What happened last night?" I snapped. Louis and Liam exchanged a quick glance and I felt my patience wearing thin.
"We not exactly sure," Liam replied upon seeing that I was about to explode. "We were dancing and noticed you and Thal had disappeared. After a while Thal comes back crying. She was saying something about you and Marco, we assumed you two had gotten into it and went looking. Lou found you at the bar..."
"Did I say anything?" I frowned.
Louis shifted uncomfortably. "Kept going on about how you fucked things up. I didn't get much out of you before you headed back with Nicola."
I cursed under my breath and shot a look at Thalia again. We both had gotten so drunk off our asses that we had forgotten whatever happened. But why hasn't anyone told Thalia that Marco cheated? Surely someone must have seen it.
"Haz what the hell is going on?"
I shot a glance at Maeve, but she was bobbing to the beat of her headphones with her eyes closed. I leaned closer to my friends so as to prevent anyone else from hearing.
"Last night Thalia wanted to go and find Marco. I went with her cause she drunk but then...he cheated."
"What!" They whispered, each breaking into a frown. All three of us instinctively leaned closer as I continued.
"We saw him with some blonde. I managed to pull Thalia away but she was freaking out. Like really bad. She kinda, like, started laughing. But once she calmed down she started on about how glad she was that we were here...and she missed me."
"What the fuck did you do?" Louis, looking as though he was half afraid to hear the answer.
I liked my lips nervously before admitting, "I kissed her."
Liam simply stared at me while Louis broke into a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Is that why she was so upset?" Louis chuckled. "What are you a shit snogger now?"
"No!" I frowned. "But that's what I mean...that's the last thing I remember. I was kissing her and then I woke up next to Nicola."
"You fucking prick."
Liam, Louis, and I whipped our heads around to see Maeve staring at us incredulously. She looked pissed and the realization that she had heard everything slowly sunk in.
"Do you even realize how much shit you've put her through?" Maeve hissed.
"What about him!" I asked, motioning towards Marco. "I never cheated."
Maeve narrowed her eyes and I briefly wondered just how much Maeve knew about mine and Thalia's past relationship. We had both been frustrated when we broke up, words were said and inferences were made. Judging by the look Maeve gave me now, I had no doubt in my mind that she knew about Thalia's inaccurate assumptions.
“I never cheated,” I repeated more slowly. From the corner of my eye I saw Liam and Louis shoot me confused looks. Ignoring them, I kept my focus on Maeve.
“Hold on-“
But Maeve quickly interrupted Liam, changing the subject so she could yell at me once more. “Either way you should probably consider yourself lucky she doesn't remember last night. Because Marco may have cheated on her, but you helped her cheat on Marco."
"So that cancels it out then?" I cried, earning a round of shushes from all of them.
"No, I'm just saying that you're not exactly the white knight in shining armor here!" She snapped. Then after taking a deep breath and gather herself she added, “but I guess we'll just have to work with what we've got."
"What?" I frowned.
Maeve rolled her eyes before she whipped out her phone and started typing furiously. I looked to Louis and Liam for some clue as to what was happening. However this only managed to confuse me even further for both had broken into stupid little grins.
"Hello friends!" Mackenzie said brightly as she slid onto the edge of my seat. "Have we come up with a plan yet?"
"Plan?" I asked, completely lost. I watched Mackenzie set her phone done and realized she was the one who Maeve had been so ferociously texting. Niall plopped down next to Liam before five of them turned to me. "Will someone please tell me what is happening."
"Operation TAHU," answered Louis, raising his eyebrows as a mischievous grin spread across his face.
"No way."
"Yes way," replied Mackenzie. "Thal let it slip about Marco's asshole move last night so we decided that you two were getting back together."
I shot a suspicious glance at Maeve. Believe it or not we used to be quite close. But as soon as Thalia and I broke up all I've received from her are glares and death threats. I found it hard to believe that she suddenly changed her mind and is now rooting for "Team Harry.”
"Don't try and act like this is something you don't want," Maeve said, shooting me a look of extreme annoyance.
"I thought you hated me?” I challenged.
“Not necessarily."
“Oh great,” I snapped, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "That makes it loads better."
"I don't hate you," Maeve assured. "I hate what you did. And I know for a fact Thalia feels the same way.”
“I didn’t do anyth-“
“Thalia thinks you did,” Maeve snapped. “And that’s all the matters at the moment.”
I shook my head in frustration only to receive a whack on the arm from Mackenzie. "Ow!"
“Stop being a negative Nancy. Thalia still loves you Harry, we just have to get her to realize it."
“She doesn’t love me, she loves Marco," I grumbled, rubbing my arm.
"She likes Marco," Maeve nodded. "But she loves you."
"No she-OW!" Mackenzie had hit me again and I shot a look towards Niall. "Is she always this violent?"
"Only if yer bein’ an idiot," Niall smiled. “Which ya are."
"Why are you trying to fight this Haz?" Louis interjected.
"Look at them!" I cried, stealing a glance at the nauseating couple. "Why else would she be acting like that? He cheated on her and she's still with him? I thought there may have something between us still but...obviously not."
"Oh Harry," Mackenzie said sympathetically. "You've got it all wrong."
"Marco came and got her this morning before we could tell her what happened," Maeve cut in, the annoyance in her tone was evident and it was obvious her dislike for Marco superseded her disliked for me. Turns out that was all the hope I needed and I listened intently as she continued, “He barged in and fed her some bullshit story that she, of course, believed and now she's back in his pocket. But once she learns the truth-"
"BOOM. TAHU!" Cried Louis, startling everyone.
I stared at them blankly, wondering if I was the only one spotting a gaping hole in their plan. But after a few more moments of silence I realized this was the case. “Do you all honestly think she'll believe me if I tell her Marco cheated on her?"
“Nope!" Mackenzie's peppiness at this problem was painfully annoying. "But good thing you have Mae and I as backup. We heard it from her own lips."
"But doesn't she know that you're trying to get us back together?” I quizzed. "So why would she believe you?"
"She does not know about Operation TAHU," Liam assured. "As far as Thal knows they both still hate you."
"So...are you in or not?" Asked Maeve, drumming her fingers on the table impatiently.
I looked around at all their hopeful faces before running a hand through my hair. With I sigh I asked, “Fuck it, fine. What did you have in mind?"

There was a quick outburst of celebrations before Louis sat forward, a look of excitement in his eyes. "Right, here's the plan."

Notes

plz don't h8 me.

I know it was mean to tease you with the previous chapter, but I really couldn't help it. Hang in there friends...it'll be worth it! What do you think the others have in mind for Operation TAHU? Think they'll be successful? Next chapter coming soon - pinky promise!

Also, forgot how much I loved writing the dialogue between the guys, Maeve, and Kenzie. It's so much fun. Almost as great as writing about Harry and Thalia :)