Best Friends Means...

"Hey Liam, what are you guys doing tonight?" I asked into the phone as I drove around Holmes Chapel, waiting for Gemma to get done with dinner so she and I could go out for some drinks.

"Erm, we have some party we're going to. Why? And why didn't you call Harry?"

"Because I was thinking about surprising him by coming home early? I've had a shitty day and he's barely spoken to me today because he said you guys were doing some interviews."

"Yeah we've been busy all day." Liam said, not missing a beat. "I thought you're going out with Gemma?"

"Maybe just for a drink, just to unwind. Then I'll probably just drive home. I have nowhere to stay tonight here, and I don't want to ask to stay at Anne's house, I'd probably never get to leave and then she'd make me have some intervention with my mom which I really don't want to do, ever."

I heard Liam sigh into the phone, "Sorry this trip's been rubbish for you. At least the paps aren't there."

"Yeah, that's true. Well thanks, I'll check up on where you guys are later when I'm about to leave."

"Sounds good, love. Have fun tonight!"

"Be safe, Liam!"

Over the last few weeks, I had grown closer to Liam and Niall. Liam more like an older brother, and Niall more like a younger brother that I could depend on for anything. We had a great texting relationship and Niall helped calm me down over the last few weeks as well- he coming over for visits when Harry was out to go get food and he'd stick around to eat most of our food, then leave. Liam always checking up on me making sure I hadn't lost my mind yet. The band as a whole had really warmed up to me as well, which was promising, seeing that I'd be going on tour with them in a little over a month. Rehearsals would start soon and those excited me the most. Getting to see Harry sing and interact with his best friends on stage.

"So, what's wrong, babe?" I asked Gemma as she sipped her glass of red wine as we sat atop a roof top bar.

"A lot."

"Like what? You're finished with school. You shouldn't be stressed out."

"But I am. My boyfriend wants me to move with him... To France. And mum says if I do that, I have to find a job immediately. I don't know French! She said I have to quit living off of their money. Which some is really Harry's that he's giving them. I feel terrible 'living off of their money' but that's true. I want to just stay here, or stay in London and work."

"You can't just stay in London?"

"I don't want to be without Ben." Gemma frowned and looked into her wine glass like she was about to cry. "I can't stand the thought of being without him. He's in London now, which is why I'm there so much. I just don't want to move over there and not be able to find a job, or not know how to speak to these people in French, and then I'll get fired and not have a job, and then I'll have to-"

"Breathe, love." I placed a hand over Gemma's that was resting on the table. "You'll figure it out. Take a quick online course on the basics of French. That's what I did, and I learned it really quickly. More people than you know over there will know how to speak English, or at least broken English, if you tell them you speak just a little bit of French. What do you really want to do?"

"I really want to be with Ben."

"Then go to France. Take a chance. We're too young to be tied down by anything. Go live in France for a bit. See if you hate it, love it, whatever. If you don't like it, move back and see if you can handle long distance. It's a quick flight to go see him if you missed him. You'd have a job in London so you'd have money for a plane ticket. Just think about it. You don't have to make a decision immediately."

"That's true." She sighed, and looked up at me. She already seemed more relieved. "Sorry for unloading all of this on you..."

"No, no, you're fine. That's what friends are for." I smiled at her and slowly sipped my white wine, not feeling the affects of the drink at all. I was fine with it though, needing to have my head on my shoulders to make the drive back to London tonight.

We talked for about another hour, mostly me explaining the strange situation with my mum before I realized it was 10 o'clock and I needed to head home.

"I think I'm going to go ahead and drive back now. That wine didn't do anything to me and I'm ready to just be back with Harry."

"Ewww, gross!" Gemma said, standing up. We walked down the stairs in silence and haulted at the exit of the bar. "Bye, love! Send baby brother a hug for me."

"I will. Thanks for meeting up tonight, by the way." Gemma hugged me and we parted ways.

--

The drive back to London wasn't bad at night. Hardly any traffic on the road and I could shriek as loud as I wanted to to my music, which made the drive go by even faster. My phone lit up with a text and I slowed my speed to check it really quick.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii.

I could tell by the amounts of i's that Harry was drunk.

Hi, drunky.
I miss u
You can't type when you're drunk. I miss you more. :)
I don't wanna be here at this partyu
Then leave!

I watched the road for a few moments, not wanting to wreck. The roads were still basically empty so I checked my phone again.

Liam says we can't leave.
Soooooooooooo horny.
I'm growing Horns that's how horny I am right now.
Did you die? please don't die, anabelle i'd cry
I'm here, just occupied for a moment. Call a cab and go home, babe.
i think i, gpoing to in a mintue

I giggled at his terrible spelling that was getting worse by the minute.

I have to take this gilr home first she's reaaaalllllly pissed too. she's going to ride in the same cab as me, how nice!
she's getting dropped off at her place?
Hopefllly
Make sure you get the cab driver two separate addresses, babe.
I thikn she did

I sighed, concerned about Harry's texts but pushed them out of the way as I drove the last 20 minutes to London. I turned onto Harry's road, and pulled up into his driveway, entering the password to his gates. They let me in and I parked snugly behind his Black Range Rover. I quietly opened the door, not wanting to wake up a passed out Harry, not knowing how long he had been home. If he was still awake, this would be an interesting night. If he was passed out, that would be wonderful. All I wanted to do was sleep, not have to baby Harry.

I heard movement coming from the living room and as I peeped over the corner of the wall, I saw something I never wanted to see. Harry had a girl. A dark haired girl. Kendall fucking Jenner. Straddled over his waist. His arms were wrapped tightly around her smaller frame, and he was running his large hand through her hair. Something he shouldn't be doing to her, something he should be doing to me. I was the one who had a shit night, not this fucking princess who was trying to take my prince from me. I stood there for a few seconds debating whether to make myself known or if I should just turn around and leave. Either way, I'd still have nowhere to sleep.

I turned on my heels quietly, letting tears fall down my face, and the anger rise up from my toes. I quietly shut the front door to Harry's house and a few seconds later heard foot steps from inside. I coiled my body into a ball, hoping he wasn't about to open the door. How could I be so lucky? He turned all of the outside lights off. I'm sure he was headed up to bed with the girl who would give him whatever his drunken self wanted. I let out a sob as I picked up my phone, scrolling through my contacts. In one day I had lost my mother, and my boyfriend.

"Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up." I waited and waited, but Liam never answered. I sighed as I scrolled on to the next. Surely one out of four of them would answer. I didn't bother calling Louis, I'm sure he was with Eleanor, and Zayn with Perrie but if I had to call one of them, I would.

"Oi! It's a little late for you to be callin' isn't it?" I sniffed before I could croak out a hi to Niall. "What's wrong, little bird?"

"Harry- He- I saw him with- Another girl. Kendall." I got out between quiet cries as I walked away from Harry's house, passing by his stupid black Range Rover. I thought about keying it, but I was probably on the security tape already. I climbed into my car and shut the door. I waited for the gates to open and slowly backed out. I watched Harry's house as a bedroom light went off and I started crying even harder. "He's got her in our bedroom, Niall."

"You're not supposed to be back for a few days?" Niall questioned me, I could tell I had just woken him up.

"No, I'm not. But I never want to see my mum again and all I wanted was to surprise Harry because I missed him, and then I saw him on their couch, his hand in her hair and the other around her waist and fuck, Niall. I never thought he'd do this to me. Of all the fucking people. Why?"

"Maybe you just walked in at the wrong moment?" Niall was trying to sound helpful, but it wasn't helping. "Where are you now?"

"Driving around because I have nowhere to go."

"You can come over here. I have a flat to myself." I bit my lip as I thought about his offer. "Don't worry, I've got two separate bedrooms and a couch if you'd feel better about sleeping on that."

I chuckled, "I won't be a bother?"

"Nah, it'll be nice to not be alone for a while." I wiped my tears and frowned at his statement. "You can stay however long you need to, love. I won't tell Harry you've come back either, until you're ready to. Secret's safe with me."

"Send me your address and I'll be over in a minute. I don't have any-"

"I've got clothes for you and an extra tooth brush. And plenty of food." I smiled as we hung up the phone. Turns out I was only 3 minutes away from Niall's flat. I pulled up beside his Black Range Rover and rolled my eyes at how almost all of the young boys drove one. I sent him a text to let him know I was here and by the time I made it up the stairs, he was greeting me with the door open.

"Thanks, Niall." I gave him a hug and he hugged me back. I rested my head on his shoulder as my emotions overwhelmed me again. I started crying and Niall just rubbed my back, trying to calm me down. He smelled like beer, despite having on his pajamas.

"Let's go sit down, yeah?" Niall walked me over to his plush couch where we plopped down. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his torso as he just let me cry as hard as I could. "Harry didn't mean it. He was proper pissed tonight, love. He makes mistakes like this." My shoulders gave a few shakes before I could muster up the strength to speak.

"But he's not supposed to. I'm his best friend. He would never do this to me. Why would he do this to me? It's because she's skinnier, and prettier, and-"

"Stop that, you." Niall put his fingers to the bottom of my chin and forced me to look at him, tears still streaming out of my face. "She's skinnier than you, yes. But she's too skinny. She doesn't eat. You're about 10,000 times prettier than her, if not more. You've got a wonderful personality, and you make H so happy." I was still crying, but for a different reason. I rested my head back on Niall's shoulder to try to calm down.

"I just, I don't know why he'd do this to me."

"Me neither. I'm baffled. You went away to see your mum this weekend, yeah?" I nodded. "No other guys?"

"Nope. Just saw Gemma and my mum and her horrible boyfriend."

"Huh. That's strange. It's weird to me too because Harry and Kendall are completely over now, too. I knew she was back over in London but I didn't know what for."

I shrugged, "I don't know. I don't even want to talk to him."

"No, what you need to do is talk to him like nothing happened. Test him. See if he says anything. Stay over here with me for a few days and then go back over there like you're returning from your weekend. See if he says anything."

I looked up at Niall, thinking about what he said. "You really think I should trick him like that? What if he gets mad for me staying over here at your place?"

"Then you can get mad for him letting that cunt stay at his place." I laughed at Niall's harsh language. His bright green eyes were sparkling in the low light of the room and his blonde hair was messy from a day's wear. "I'm sorry this had to happen after a bad day, love. Do you want something to drink? I know you're not supposed to but-"

"I'm fine. Just some water would be great. I think I'm going to go change into pajamas."

"I laid 'em out for you already. They're on my bed, I figured you'd sleep better on that bed, it's more comfortable."

I nodded, and walked into what I assumed was Niall's room. It was simple, like Harry's. Just a little more messy, and had more black and white decor than Harry's navy blue and white room. The bed sheets hadn't been changed, they were still ruffled from what I assume was Niall sleeping before I woke him up. I changed into the black t-shirt that hung loose on my body, and the grey sweatpants Niall was letting me borrow and walked out into the kitchen where Niall had a glass of water and two tablets for a headache.

"You think ahead. I like that." He winked at me as I took the pills, and washed them down with the cool water. I always had a headache the next morning after crying as hard as I had tonight. "Thanks for this, Niall. I really appreciate it."

"Come on, I gotta take care of you. You two will figure this out." Niall brought me in for another hug, and I felt his body tighten around me as I squeezed back. He was almost as good of a hugger as Harry was.

"I need to get some sleep." I yawned, walking into the bedroom. "Toothbrushes are?"

"In my bathroom, bottom cabinet on the left."

"Thanks. 'Night, little leprechaun!"

"Night." Niall said through laughter, shutting the door to the extra bedroom across from mine.

I rummaged through his bathroom cabinet until I found a pre-wrapped tooth brush and brushed my teeth with Niall's tooth paste, then climbed into his sheets. They still smelled like boy. A bit different than what Harry's usually smelled like, but the smelled slept in. My favorite smell. My phone vibrated on the bedside table and I looked at it- a text from Harry.

I'm sure you're sleeping, but I've just got home. Goodnight to my beautiful princess. xx

I didn't even reply. Not bothered that I still had my read receipts on so he could see that I had opened the text as soon as he sent it. Another wave of crying was coming over me as I laid on my side, watching the minutes pass by. I stifled my cries into the pillow before I reached for my phone again, texting Niall.

Can you please come in here? If you're asleep, don't worry about it.

Within five seconds, the bedroom door was flying open and a shirtless Niall appeared in the doorway.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I showed him the text on my phone and he just frowned, setting it aside. "Why is he lying to you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." I sniffed and let a few more tears fall before I propped myself up on my elbows. "Why did I get myself into this?"

"Because you love him, and he loves you. There's something else going on. We'll get it figured out." Niall reached for the bed covers and motioned for me to lay down, covering me with them up to my shoulders. "Just go to sleep."

"Can you.." I trailed off, not wanting to sound silly.

"Huh?" The poor guy was clueless.

"Can you sleep in here, you think? I just-"

"Yeah, yeah. I will." Niall smiled and crawled over me, and scooted up behind me, pulling my body to sandwich to his. He rested his hand atop my hip, holding on but not gripping too tightly. He kissed my cheek before relaxing his head on the pillow behind me. "Feels nice not falling asleep alone." I smiled and let one final tear fall before I fell asleep.