Best Friends Means...

"I'm ready to go back, Niall. You shop harder than I do. And that says a lot." I said, hopping into the black SUV that we had managed to travel around unnoticed in today.

"You just wanna go back and see Haz, is all." I shoved him on the arm and he pretended like I really hurt him.

"I'm just worried about what management said to him today. He said they would be giving him a call and talking to him about the article he got in trouble for. It's not really fair how the tabloids treat you lot."

"It's mostly just Harry. He's always being scrutinized by someone. Have you heard from him?"

I shook my head as I illuminated my phone screen by the top button and shut it off once I realized he hadn't contacted me all day. "Not since this morning. Maybe he's still on the phone?" I asked, with hope in my voice. I knew they hadn't spent hours talking to Harry about his personal life. They had probably only talked to him for 15 minutes, and he was just moping about now.

"Doubt it. Liam said he's holed up in the hotel room. He doesn't want to talk to anyone except Liam... So do you wanna go to dinner while we're out?"

"I can just go back and get room service, I'd rather go 'head and get back to him. If you want to stop-"

"He doesn't want to see you either." I looked over at Niall who wouldn't look back at me.

"Why?"

"I really don't want to get in the middle of this. Don't ask me, you can call Liam if you want. I've been trying to keep you out all day to give him some time to calm down but it's not working."

"And I'm the only one who can calm him down, so let's go back."

"And you're the last person who needs to see him right now." Niall was still avoiding contact, looking at the buildings that were flying by the window of the car. "Elle, he's been drunk all morning since the call. Like, really drunk. He won't stop, and he's really mad. The phone meeting didn't go well... At all."

"And I thought I had a drinking problem..." My thoughts wandered as I realized how Harry had helped me not even think twice about getting uncontrollably drunk since I've been with him. Despite his overbearing tendencies, he hadn't ever intentionally done anything to keep me from drinking, either, "He's just being Harry, Niall. He'll get over himself once I get there."

"He's done this once before and it didn't end well. Almost had alcohol poisoning."

"No ones taken the alcohol from him?"

Niall let out a snicker. "You can try that when we get there, love. He probably won't hit you." I bit my lip trying to hold back fearful tears as we made our way in silence to the hotel. There were a ton of fans waiting outside of the hotel, flocking the entire parking area at the front. There was a small path that had been made for us to make it to the entrance. "Hold on to my arm, not my hand. They'll read too much into that. They're already going nuts that we were spotted grabbing coffee this morning."

I silently nodded as I braced myself for the screaming fans. As soon as the door opened, their screams were at an all time high. A security guard led Niall through as I clutched onto his arm and the guard behind me and we safely made our way through the girls.

I realized that once I made it to the lobby entrance, I still hadn't let go of Niall's arm. "Sorry." I said, blushing and dropping my hand by my side.

"'S fine babe. I'd be holding on to someone still if I were you, too. They're petrifying sometimes." Niall placed his hand on the small of my back as he led me into the elevator and I smiled at the gesture. Niall really was a great guy, I was thankful for the friendship I had found in him. He lifted my spirits whenever I was having a bad day and he was never in a bad mood. I could talk to him about anything and everything and the conversation was never forced.

"I hope he'll be okay." I said quietly to myself, and Niall nodded in agreement, not sure of what else to say. We rode our way to the 15th floor and stepped out. Niall followed me to Harry and I's hotel room door and I knocked quietly on the door, hoping he'd answer.

"Love, I really think he needs to sober up before you see him." Liam's kind face greeted me through a crack in the door only big enough for his face to be seen.

"Liam, I'm his girlfriend. Let me see him."

"I can't let you in here. He's going to say something that'll upset you and I don't want that to happen. Just stay in my room tonight, I'll get the key for you." Liam turned around to reach behind him and when he did, I pushed past him. I walked into our room and five steps in, I could smell the alcohol. Our room looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

"Look who it is." Came a voice from the chair that sat in the corner. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be out with Niall? Ashton?" The whiskey bottle was almost empty, and he had it dangling between two of his fingers. I walked over to him and snatched the bottle from his hands, causing him to stand up in front of me.

"Mate." I heard Liam warn Harry as I watched as the drunken monster that had replaced my boyfriend hovered over me, making me feel like I was half the size I really was.

"I'm here because you seem you've lost yourself stuck up your own arse, Harry. Look at you. You're too drunk to even stand up straight. Over a phone call that those assholes you consider management gave you this morning." I looked at the boy in front of me. His eyes were red like he had been crying, his hair was stringy and greasy, and his white t shirt was wrinkled and half hanging off of his shoulder. "You're a fucking mess." I swigged the rest of the whiskey in the bottle as I watched his eyes enlarge, I knew I was infuriating him even more.

"I'm a mess? Really?" I heard Liam and Niall take a deep breath, bracing themselves for what was coming. "I'm not the fuck up who went to rehab, left me in the fucking blue for years about their personal life. I'm not the person who caused someone to kill themself-" I raised my hand and slapped Harry across his jawline, not giving a fuck if it left a mark.

"I'm done. I'm leaving, Harry. I'm leaving tour, and I'm leaving you. I can't deal with this pop star attitude bullshit anymore. You said you'd treat me right and you've done everything but that since we've been together. You're a bullshit liar who's let fame get to their head. I tried telling myself that you hadn't become who's standing before me, but no matter what I kept telling myself, there was a voice in the back of my head telling me I should know better. I knew this would happen to you. You're so fucking arrogant, Harry Styles. You don't deserve me. You've done more than fuck up our relationship this time, you've fucked up our friendship." By the time I was done, Liam was holding Harry back and Niall was at my side, holding me as I cried. "Fuck you, Harry Styles." I sobbed out as Niall guided me out of the room.

"Good, because your plane leaves tomorrow." I heard Harry stutter out as his door shut behind us.

"Shhh, come on. Let's get you into my room. Liam's gonna pack your bags for you."

"Why did he already have a plane ready for me?"

"Management wants you gone for right now..." Niall said, tidying up his dirty clothes that were strewn about the floor.

"What?"

"They said you're not doing any good for Harry's image.."

"Harry's image?! I'm sorry I'm not a famous celebrity who has done nothing to achieve fame except sleep around with celebrities." I sat down on the chair, shaking my head.

"Sorry about the mess in here. I'll sleep in Liam-"

"No, you can sleep in here. It's fine."

"You're not sleeping in that chair." Niall looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"No, I'm not. And you're not either. I really don't want to be left alone right now, Niall."

He nodded as he made his way to the door. "I'll be back in a minute and get your things." I rummaged through his clothes that smelled clean and pulled out a pair of his joggers and a tshirt while he was gone.

"Oh, sorry." I heard him mutter as he walked in as I was pulling his shirt down over my head.

I shook it off as I grabbed my makeup bag from him and made my way to the bathroom to wash my face. Niall stood beside me as he watched me take my makeup off, then we started brushing our teeth at the same time. "You gonna be alright? Where are you going to go?"

I shrugged as I spit into the sink, something that used to gross Harry out to no end. "Home or back with Kaitlin... If she'll have me. I just... Niall I can't believe this is all happening. I wish I could take back all of this time, because none of this would have happened. Jack wouldn't have killed himself, I wouldn't have lost my job, Harry would still be happily fake dating whatever bimbo they told him to date. This just feels like a nightmare. Everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. I can't handle him anymore, Niall. He's not the Harry I wanted him to be."

"Maybe its not meant to be. C'mon, lets get into bed." I turned off the bathroom lights and followed Niall into the dimly lit bedroom, and got under the covers on my side of the bed. I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling as Niall joined me on the bed.

"Not meant to be? Niall, we were best friends. There was no other way we were going to end up. Either we were meant to be best friends or we were meant to be lovers. And he's fucked it all up. I can never forgive him." I rolled over on my side and watched as Niall stared at the ceiling.

"Just give him some time and talk to him in the morning before the flight. something could happen before then. I really don't want you two leaving-"

"Niall. Did you hear what he said to me? Blaming Jack's- Death on me. Because like I said, had Harry and I not dated, he wouldn't have killed himself. It is all my fault, isn't it?" I started crying harder into my hands as Niall pulled me into his bare chest and wrapped his arms around me. He placed a kiss on top of my head and tried calming me down. I heard a knock on the door and then it opened itself, but I couldn't be bothered with who was at the door. I felt the foot of the bed sink.

"You alright, love?" Louis was seated at the foot of the bed and was patting my feet, and Liam stood, looking down at me crying in Niall's arms.

"No, not at all. Did you hear-"

"I heard every word. He deserved everything you said to him, and even more. He's been crying about how he's going to lose his best friend ever since you walked out."

"He's going to? He already lost me. Drunk or not, those thoughts are what he's thought about in his sober mind. It just took a bottle of whiskey for him to get it out. I don't want to see him again, Liam."

"You need to. Please. We need you to. If you don't talk to him, we won't be able to have him perform at all. He'll butcher the songs."

"That's not my fucking problem, Louis. You four are like his brothers. I'm not going to talk to him." I crossed my arms and sinked lower in the bed. "I just want to go to bed."

"We'll leave you be, just wanted to make sure you're okay." Louis stood up, and leaned over to hug me, then Liam made me stand up so he could have a proper hug.

"I'm going to miss seeing you around, Elle. Keep in touch, please. We all love you. Thanks for everything good you've done for our Harry." I nodded as I pulled back, wiping a tear.

"Are you staying with him tonight?"

Liam nodded, "Figured he doesn't need to be alone right now. If you wanna come talk in the morning just kick me out of the room and you can have some alone time to talk."

"I think I'll pass, but thanks, Liam."

He nodded as he shut the hotel room. Silence filled the air.

"I don't want to leave, Niall."

"I know. I don't want you to, either. None of us do." I curled into Niall's side as he wrapped his arm around me. I draped my arm across his bare chest and traced shapes on his hard chest. "Hey Elle?"

"Mmm?" I asked, as Niall's hand was playing with the ends of my hair. I was growing more and more tired by the second, my sore eyes were becoming too heavy to hold open much longer. "Yeah, Niall?"

"Nevermind."

I let out a deep sigh, too tired to continue to pull information out of him. "'Night, Niall."

"Night, little Princess." I heard him mutter as I drifted off to sleep.

___

"Where's my charger?" I ran my hands through my damp curly hair as I spoke to myself, searching Niall's room for my charger. Liam must have forgotten to bring it to me last night. I really didn't care, but I was traveling back home by myself and my phone battery had drained to 7% overnight. I sighed as I left Niall showering in the bathroom, to make my way to Harry's room. I held my hand up to knock on the door but before my hand could touch the white door, it opened.

"Oh, I was just coming-" Harry greeted me at the door. His hair was disheveled, still a mess from yesterday and his voice was so hoarse I could hardly understand hat he was saying. He was squinting his eyes so hard, I swear he could have used a pair of sunglasses. I pushed past him to walk over to my side of the bed where I knew I had left my charger plugged in and grabbed it without speaking to him. I stood amongst the mess he had made and looked around for anything else I might have forgotten.

"So that's it? You're just going to leave me. Not say anything to me about what happened?"

I shook my head as I picked up a tshirt I recognized as mine, "Nope."

"Well, I was coming to you to apologize."

"Harry, I don't know that anything you say will ever mend the hurt you've caused me."

"But I love you."

I groaned and rolled my eyes as he said the words. "No you don't, Haz. If you loved me, no matter how drunk you were, you wouldn't have said that to me."

"Said what? Elle, I have no idea what I even said to you. I was coming to apologize for management. Even though it's not my fault, I still feel bad they're already making you leave."

"Harry, you were a fucking asshole to me. You blamed Jack's suicide on me, you called me a fuck up for going to rehab when clearly you're the one who needs help. I just... Harry, I can't keep doing this with you. You're so back and forth with me, you're either the kindest, sweetest boy or you're this jerk that I don't even recognize. I don't know who you've turned into but I've grown to... I've grown to hate him. I can't be with you, Harry."

I watched as Harry's eyes frowned and his eyebrows furrowed, "Elle, I had no idea. I meant nothing I said. I'm so-"

"Harry. That's bullshit. I'm sick of your empty apologies. You've apologized over and over, and I just... I don't believe them anymore." I knew I was breaking Harry's heart with as harsh as I was speaking, but damnit, if he hadn't broken mine as well.

"I can't lose you. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"As far as I'm concerned, you've already lost me." I turned around and quietly shut Harry's door as I heard him break out into a fit of crying.