THALIA

“So how’s the packing coming along then?”
I let out a groan and fell backwards onto the couch dramatically. “I haven’t even started.”
“What! Thal I thought you said you were excited to come home!” Maeve accused.
“I am I just…I dunno it’s weird. I feel I’m stuck between worlds at the moment,” I sighed, staring up at the cracked ceiling before frowning, “Does that make sense?”
“No,” Maeve answered flatly. “You’re such a strange human.”
“Ah, but I’m your strange human.”
“Not if you don’t get your ass back to England!”
I let out an involuntary laugh and imagined Maeve rolling her eyes in exasperation. Letting out another sigh, I rolled over onto my side and looked around my little Roman flat. It had been three days since I left the villa-
And Marco, my brain annoyingly reminded me.
-But this was the first time I had really thought about it. The last two days had been a frenzy what with getting Tilly on the plane back home, saying goodbye to the guys, and catching up with Greta and Francesco. However Tilly was now back in England and Greta and Francesco were both at work, leaving me alone with only the new cat Giorgio for distraction.
“So have you ordered your plane ticket yet?” Maeve asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Would you hate me if I said no?”
“Thalia!”
“I know I’m the absolute worst,” I cut in before she could scold me further. “I really am looking, it’s just they’re all so expensive.”
“You should have just came back with Tilly and Niall.”
“I know. How’s Tilly?”
“I don’t think she’s stopped talking yet,” Maeve answered. I broke into another smile as Giorgio sauntered into the room and jumped up next to me, purring loudly. “Niall’s staying until Tuesday.”
“Is he?"
“Yup. He was going to meet up with Harry tomorrow but sounds like plans have changed.”
“Oh?” I shared a look of annoyance with Giorgio, who stared back through narrowed eyes before turning away so I could scratch him behind the ears. Looks like Maeve had finally got around to the real reason she was calling.
“Mhm. Seems rather rude if you ask me, blowing off your friends just to stay with some girl.”
Giorgio shot me a side eye for having stopped my scratching. I gulped and replied in what I hoped was a normal tone, “Well you know how Harry is, his plans seem to change with the wind.”
“So do yours apparently,” countered Maeve.
“Oh hush. You didn’t even like Marco.”
She let out a laugh. “You’re right, I didn’t. I’m just mad because I had to find out the real reason you weren’t coming home from a leprechaun rather than yourself.”
“Harry’s not staying with me,” I frowned. “I haven’t seen him since I dropped Tilly off at the airport. I didn’t even know he was still in Rome.”
“Oh,” Maeve huffed. And after a pause added, "Are you sure?”
“I think I’d know if Harry Styles was in my flat.”
“Well he could be anywhere then!”
“Why does it matter where he is?” I chuckled.
“Because I thought you two were back on speaking terms! That you were even getting along again!”
“Hold on, what exactly are Niall and Tilly telling you over there?” I asked, sitting upright and scaring Giorgio. “There is nothing going on between Harry and I. We’re just back to friends.”
“Friends!” Cried Maeve, letting out a laugh. “Thal, you and Harry have never been just friends.”
“Sure we have! Before we dated-“
“Before you dated you flirted. Face it Thal, either you two are attached at the hip or you're at each other's throats. There really isn't any in between.”
I bit my lip as I attempted to think of a come-back.
“I’m sorry,” Maeve added before I could interject. “But promise you won’t kick him out of the running just because you two have a history? You two were actually a really good pair.”
“Yeah until we exploded,” I snorted.
“But think of how much you’ve both changed since then! It was actually slightly terrifying visiting you in Rome, seeing these new parts of you that I didn’t recognize…”
I closed my eyes knowing exactly how Maeve felt. I thought I had lost my her last year while she battled through her inner demons. But I hadn’t lost her at all, I had just learned more about her. The depth of her character had multiplied. But Maeve’s words carried, if possible, more weight. I knew she blamed herself for Harry and I breaking up. One more burden she didn’t need hanging above her. She was trying to fix us in order to help fix her. But what if we all just ended up blowing apart again?
“Careful Mae,” I teased, “I’m beginning to think you’re going soft on me.”
“Never.” I could hear her smirk through the phone. “Speaking of softies, Niall and Kenz are getting to be a bit ridiculous.”
“Oh dear. How do you mean?"
“Well you know they’re coming up on two years right?”
“Shit, it’s really been that long hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It’s weird. They could be married right now. Like, two years is a normal engagement period-“
“Do not tell me he’s proposing,” I cut in anxiously.
“What? No! But they are planning a romantic getaway to celebrate.”
“Charming.”
“If you're into that sort of thing. I, however, am not. God, if I have to look at one more Pinterest board I'm going to shoot myself.”
“They put in on Pinterest!” I laughed in disbelief.
“Of course they fucking put it on Pinterest,” Maeve spat in annoyance. “Thal, our worst fears have been realized. They’re turning into that couple!”
“Ugh, it's so precious it’s almost revolting,” I agreed. “I mean, we’ve always known both were secretly romantics.”
“But I’ve never had to listen to it! I don’t know how you and El stand it. Reason number twenty-four why you need to get your ass back to England.”
“Twenty-four?”
“I’ve been keeping a running list just in case you need some motivation,” Maeve replied. “Would you like me to go through them all for you?”
“No I’m good thanks."
“You sure? It’s very convincing.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“I’ve got it broken down into categories. It’s very organized you should be proud of me.”
“How very mature of you.”
“I know I bought a cookie to reward myself.”
“Well make it a good twenty-five and then we’ll talk about plane tickets,” I said, hoping to cut the call short for fear of her listing out every one of her twenty-four reasons. “Unfortunately I have some packing to get to.”
“What? I thought that’s what you were doing this whole time we were talking!”
“No I was taking a break.”
“You said you hadn’t even started,” Maeve replied dully.
“All the more reason to get off the phone.”
“Fine but you’d better actually be packing Thal!”
“I will. Promise!”
After hearing a quick “love you!” I hung up the phone and fell back onto the couch. I felt exhausted for no reason at all. I let myself lay there on the couch for another moment before letting out a huff and pulling myself up. Why was the prospect of packing to daunting? I was excited to leave. To go back home, see my family, live with my sisters…
Giorgio darted through my legs and jumped lightly onto my bed as I entered the room. Suitcase and boxes occupied the corner of my room like a small mountain while dirty clothes littered the surrounding floor. Well, on the bright side, there really wasn’t that much more to do seeing as I’d never fully unpacked in the first place.
“Well what do you think?” I asked the cat. “An hour? Maybe two?”
Giorgio had settled down on the end of the bed and was now judging me with those bright amber eyes.
“Right. Great. I’m talking to a cat,” I muttered to myself. With a large sigh, I stooped down and began finally sorting through the chaos. And after about a half hour I was actually managing to make some progress when -
Knock, knock, knock.
I paused as Giorgio looked towards the door. Not three seconds later the knocking started up again, this time a bit louder. After checking my watch and rolling my eyes I slowly made my way towards the door. It was nearly 8pm - Greta must have forgotten her key again.
"Really Gret this is getting a bit out of hand!" I called as the knocking continued to grow more frantically. "It's a wonder you survived without me here for-oh!"
It wasn't Greta standing in front of me but instead a soaking wet, rather desperate looking, Harry Styles.
“Hi. May I come in?" He asked hurriedly.
"I-yes, yes of course!" I threw the door open as he staggered in. "Are you alright? What's happened?"
"Do you know there's a strike going on?" He asked before practically falling into a chair.
“Um yeah...it’s the transportation strike. The city center is practically shut down," I replied before heading into the kitchen to make him a cup of tea.
“And did you know that's a block away from my hotel?" Harry asked, shaking his curls out like a wet dog. "And did you also know that someone tweeted where I'm staying?"
“Well that was rude of them,” I replied, still in shock.
"I thought so too," he said with a sigh.
“So, how did you end up here?" I asked, shooting him a quick frown before returning to my task.
"Well as we were battling through the crowd my phone uh…broke a bit," he pulled the phone out of his pocket and set it on the coffee table as I came back over with the tea. My mouth fell open on seeing the spider-webbed screen and dented edges.
"Broke? More like obliterated!"
"Yes," Harry nodded slowly, looking down at the phone in pity. He took a sip of the tea while I sat down opposite him. "It got a bit trampled when I was separated from Tom - he's the new body guard by the way - but I managed to break away from the crowd and wound up here."
"But how did you even know where here was?" I asked skeptically, still doubting the fact that he was sitting here in front of me.
Harry pulled out his wallet and took out a small piece of paper. Leaning forwards, he set the paper on the table and slid it over to me. It felt like a scene from an old time gangster movie. All that was missing was cigars and an orchestra music.
Frowning, I picked up the paper as he explained, "Niall gave me your address before he left 'for emergencies'."
I almost broke into a smile on seeing my address scrawled across the paper in Niall's lazy handwriting. But I managed to keep my puzzled frown as I slid the paper back towards Harry.
"What, you don't believe me?” He challenged.
No, I didn't believe him. The story just seemed too far fetched. But then again, Harry wasn't the type to make up excuses. If he had come here with an ulterior motive surely he would have stated it by now. But then again, maybe a part of me was hoping for an ulterior motive.
"My apartment is two miles from the strike Harry," I replied carefully. "How earth did you manage to find it without a map?"
It was Harry's turn to frown. "I just asked people. You know it is possible to get around Rome without knowing the language - though you may look a bit like a mime..."
I rolled my eyes playfully as he added, "I just showed people the address and they pointed me in the right direction."
"Huh. Who knew Harry Styles could survive without his phone?" I teased.
A smirk spread across Harry's face until he finally broke into one of his dimpled smiles. "Well you know me, always shattering expectations."
"And your phone apparently."
"May she rest in peace."
"She?"
He nodded slowly, "Sharon."
"Poor Sharon. Should we hold a funeral?" I asked, now fighting at holding back a smile.
"Nah, she wouldn't have wanted you to go through all the trouble."
“Mm. Humble phone was she?” I asked as Harry finally broke into a shoulder-shaking laugh before falling back into his chair. I eventually gave in to my own fit of giggles and within seconds we were both rolling in our chairs, laughing like idiots.
After several minutes passed we were able to catch our breaths and fall into a very long, slightly awkward silence.
"Why don't you take off your coat and stay a while yeah?" I offered. "Do you need to call someone? A manager or your mum or something?"
"Yeah...only trouble is I don't know anyone's number," Harry replied, shrugging off his coat.
"You don't know your own mother's number?" I paused, frowning in disbelief.
"Do you?"
"Of course! I had to memorize it for school!"
"And you actually did?" Harry marveled. "Goody two shoes."
I rolled my eyes, "yeah I wasn't stupid like you. I think I still have Gemma's number in my phone, you can give her a ring."
"Thanks love." Harry shot me that cheesy little boyish grin before catching my phone easily.
After finding Gemma's contact Harry slumped further into the chair and held the phone up to his ear. I realized I was staring and quickly got up to distract myself. The coffee table was a mess from my afternoon laziness and I immediately began clearing it off as Harry got Gemma's voicemail.
"Hey Gem it's Harry," he started in his deep drawl. "Mind giving mum a ring to let her know I'm alive? I managed to loose myself in the medieval streets of Rome."
Harry looked over and shot me a wink before clearing his throat and continuing the message. Suddenly feeling extremely awkward, I headed into the kitchen, straightening piles as I went. On reaching the sink, I paused.
How the hell does this keep happening to me? I had said goodbye to Harry not three days ago with full intentions of never seeing him again. And yet here he was lounging in my little Roman flat, casually sipping tea while chatting with his sister.
Shit. His sister. What would Gemma think of Harry's being here? Better yet, what would his mum think? I was the evil ex-girlfriend who had ripped his heart out. Surely they wouldn't be happy to hear he was back within my clutches.
But was he? As far as I knew Harry was here strictly because he had gotten lost. And yet, hadn't he professed his love at the villa? An image of a tearful Harry crying out "I love you!" in the villa gardens surfaced behind my eyes. But he wasn't professing anything now. He was continuing right where we left off - as friends. Which is what I wanted anyway right?
I let out scoff knowing Maeve would die as soon as she found out.
Giorgio sauntered into the kitchen and began winding his furry body between my legs as he cried out for food. Using the cat as another distraction, I moved a bit slower than I normally would as I pulled out his food and placed it in a dish.
Friends. Harry and I could be friends right? I mean, how hard could it really be? I’m friends with Calhan, my ex before Harry. Maeve’s words seemed to echo in my ears as I scratched Giorgio behind the ears. No. No, I would not let Harry turn this into anything, I was determined of that. No matter how much he flirted, or batten his eyes, or smooth talked-
"Nice pussy."
I spun around so fast I nearly toppled over. Harry let out a loud laugh and leant against the doorway for support as I attempted to regain my dignity. "Thanks. How's the mum?"
Harry shot me a guilty look before replying, "Didn't get a hold of her."
"And Tom?"
“Hey you remembered his name!” Harry beamed.
"Course, how could I forget the name of my father's replacement," I teased. On seeing Harry’s face fall to a frown I added, "do you think it's a job requirement to have a generic name?"
Harry broke into a smirk and leaned against the doorframe as I fidgeted with my shirt. "To be a bodyguard? Probably. It's the first thing I look for."
An awkward pause followed and I did my best not to stare at him. He had taken off the light raincoat and was now leaning against the door in his favorite grey hoodie and black skinny jeans. His damp hair, which he occasionally ran a hand through fell loosely around his face as he watched me.
"I should give Paul a ring. I can't remember the last time we talked," Harry said thoughtfully.
"Let's not talk about him," I replied, my mood souring instantly.
Harry watched me carefully for a moment before saying, "it's good to see you Thalia."
"You just saw me a few days ago," I reminded him.
"So?"
"So it hasn't been long enough for you to miss me."
"Sure it has."
I instantly colored from his confession and in attempt to change topics blurted, "Are you hungry?"

Harry broke into a smile at my awkwardness but politely replied, “Famished."

Notes

Here's another one just because ;) Hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I live for chapters like this. Let me know what you think!