Grade 8

With Gemma and his mum in full wedding mode Harry was at loss for who to go to for some girl insight. There was always Lou but with her blabbing to his sister whenever she got the chance he really didn't want to go to her. That left him with very few options. He realized as he opened the door for her that maybe it wasn't the best idea to have her alone with him; after all they never really could keep to themselves.

"Thanks for coming over." He scratched the back of his neck unsure what to do now that she was here. "Uh, what some tea?"

"You know how I like it."

It was one of those things he probably would never forget. The amount of times he had made her tea after a night together before she left to do what ever it is she used to do back then. She had changed in a year but how she took her tea would never change. Two sugars no milk. So simple but that hadn't stopped him from memorizing the order to be sure he never forgot.

"Thanks for coming over." He said as he set the water on the stove top. "How long are you in London for this time?"

"Until Monday." Alexis pulled herself up to sit on the counter next to where Harry was setting out two mugs. "Got a few meeting to attended. I'm here on official business you see."

With her this close to him he could smell her leather jacket, a mixture of cigarette smoke and expensive perfume, for once void if the fragrant weed smell. It was change for him to talk to a sober Alexis. They had spent a majority of their relationship under the influence of pot, not that there was ever a time when she wasn't high.

"I'm sure." Harry smiled at her. It was nice to be around Alexis sometimes to get a sense of what life had been like before it all went to shit. Even if she had been the main cause of his slow demise. "Have you talked to Zayn?"

At the mention of Zayn she lost her smile a guilty look taking its place. "No. I don't really know what to say to him. I'm the one that sent him away after all. He probably hates me."

"I don't think he could ever hate you."

Alexis cleared her throat an unsure smile stretching her red painted lips. "Well that's not what we're here for, is it? Tell me all of your woes."

"My woes." Harry sighed. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Let's not get into the girl troubles just yet." Alexis decided. "How are you and Gemma?"

Alexis hadn't been the first person he wouldn't to call when he found out about Gemma's engagement. He had first gone to Lena's name but hadn't gone through with calling her. Everyone else was so busy with their own lives he didn't really have a choice. He knew she would never turn him away and vice versa they would always be there for each other.

"We're still not talking." He admitted. He couldn't put the blame solely on Gemma he hadn't been exactly welcoming towards her. "I just don't know what to say to her, besides your an idiot."

"Not that you should be taking any advice from me, but have you tried really talking to her. Maybe there's something about him that your missing. You didn't really give him a chance."

"I just can't wrap my head around why she would do this."

The kettle whistled then giving Alexis time to think of an answer. She got down from the counter to walk over to the small table sandwiched into a corner. She had had many meals at that table usually sharing a laugh with Harry, but she couldn't think of time when she wasn't laughing with him.

"She did get dumped by some Australian dickhead." Alexis finally said happily taking the mug Harry set in front of her. "Think it has anything to do with that?"

"Do you think so?" Harry hadn't thought about how Gemma could have been jumping into marriage to get over Ashton, someone he hadn't been too happy about seeing his sister in the first place. "I mean that was months ago."

"You should know sometimes it takes more then a few months to move on." They were toeing the line Harry didn't want to cross. "I'm not saying it definitely is the reason. Talk to her Harry, she's your sister, I'm sure she wants you to be apart of this."

"You're right."

Alexis smiled. "Aren't I always?"

Harry cracked a smile. "You wish."

Alexis blew on her tea waiting for the steam to stop before taking a sip. "What happened with Lena?"

She hated asking about her there was always a spark of jealousy when she was brought up. She wasn't sure when it would stop being that way, if it ever would.

"She's seeing her producer now." It hurt more then he expected it to saying it out loud. "So I think it's safe to say she's over me."

"I doubt she's over you." Alexis rolled her eyes. "You're not that easy to get over, Styles."

There it was they had crossed the line. The shift in moods left Harry gasping for air.

"I guess." His throat suddenly felt dry and no amount of tea would fix it.

"Do you ever think about what could have happened if things had worked in our favor?"

Of course he had thought about it. There had been many sleepless nights when he would think about their future had she chosen him. There had been a time when that was all he had thought about; he couldn't get away from it. Now though did he still think about it, hardly. Since Lena had left he hadn't thought about Alexis much. His mind was consumed with Lena and what could have been with her. He had given up on Alexis completely at some point though he couldn't think of the exact moment when it had happened.

"I used to." He answered honestly. "It used to keep me up at night."

"And now?" Harry say the hope in her eyes. Things were going South for her and Zayn and as usual she was coming to him; begging him to make her feel wanted.

"And now we're friends." He answered without hesitation. "I've realized that's the best thing for us. There will probably always be something there but we're not meant to be together."

"You're right." Alexis tried to hide how his rejection made her feel but she couldn't really hide anything from him. "It's gonna be me and Zayn forever."

"Maybe." Harry shrugged. "Are you with him because you feel like you have to?"

"No, I love him." Alexis sighed. "I'm nineteen though so I'm just not sure if we need to start forever now."

"Have you told him this?"

"No. I don't want him to find someone else." Alexis looked torn between wanting to be independent but keep Zayn for herself. "I'm scared if we put us on hold we'll forget about each other. I'm not ready for that."

"It could be for the best though." Harry reasoned. "Besides you could end up together again."

"I guess we both have a lot to think about." Alexis laughed trying to break the serious mood.

She was right they had come to a cross roads for both of them. To give up on the people they love or keep trying. Neither knew at that moment what was going to happen but at least they had each other.



Gemma looked frazzled. Her hair was a knotted mess and it didn't look like she had worn make up in a few days black circles under her eyes indicating lack of sleep. The wedding planning was taking its toll on her and since she had decided to get married just four months after getting engaged everything was that much harder.

"I have a cake tasting at half three so you have," she checked her watch as she sat down across from Harry. "Fifteen minutes to pathetically beg your way back onto my good side."

"I'm sorry, Gem, for being such a-"

"Dick?" Gemma supplied when Harry couldn't find the right word.

"Yeah that works."

It had taken Harry a day to pluck up the courage to ask Gemma to meet him for tea. There was a little under three months until her wedding and the faster he could make things right with her the better. Besides that his mum was nagging him daily to apologize to her and he wanted nothing more then to make her happy.

"I'm sorry too." Gemma relaxed into her chair looking even more exhausted. "I know I threw this on you without giving you much time to think about it."

"Yeah it would have been nice to have a heads up that you were seeing someone again."

"Is it so wrong that I wanted to make sure this one would last?" Gemma asked.

"No." Harry sighed. "It was just a shock. You were always the one saying you weren't getting married until you were thirty."

"Well I was also like ten when I said that." Gemma laughed shaking her head at Harry. "He makes me happy. Maybe your right, I could be making a terrible mistake but I'm willing to take that chance."

"I just don't want to see you hurt." Harry sighed. "I'll be happy for you if you want me to."

"Thank you." Gemma was happy to have this behind them. "That's all I want."

"This isn't just a way to get over Ashton is it?" Harry asked wanting to make sure she was in the engagement for the right reasons.

"What? No." Gemma looked appalled that he would even imply that. "I haven't thought about him since I met Landon."

"Alright." Harry looked at his phone; it was nearly three thirty. "You should probably go to your cake tasting."

"No, we need to go to the cake tasting." Gemma picked up her things before waiting for Harry to do the same.

"We?"

"Come on, I know you don't have anything better to do."

She was right he didn't. He had planned on shutting himself off from the world for the night, but cake tasting didn't sound so bad.

"I hope Landon knows how bossy you are."

"Oh, he knows."