Breathe

This is the start of something beautiful.

This is the start of something new.

You are the one who’d make me lose it all.

You are the start of something new.

Ed crooned into his microphone, eyes closed as he strummed his guitar while simultaneously enrapturing the crowd of five thousand people who were watching him. It was kind of amazing and surreal to me because although Ed had been doing this since Uni days, it was with much smaller crowds than this, but the effect was there nonetheless. There wasn’t anything superficial about him -- Ed put his everything in every song he sang whether it was a cover or one of his own. And anybody could see that, really -- a group of ten in the frat house or a sold out theater.

With a record deal under his belt and a new album coming out in less than a month, Ed was touring the country to get his name out there and also hype up his music. I had a feeling he’d be just fine, though, if his songs were anything to go by. Every original track he performed was as good as the other and I found myself anxious to have the physical copy in my possession already so I could listen to it on repeat.

Tonight was the first night of Ed’s Summer UK tour and he was starting it off in London at a venue not too far from our old Uni. Many of the boys from Theta Chi showed up as well as the rest of Ed’s friends, including our little group. It felt like a mini reunion. Harry, who was stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist, swayed along to the music and even repeated a few lines into my ear before placing kisses on my neck, making my cheeks burn and stomach warm.

“How good is he?” Liv gushed when the show was starting to come to a close, clutching her hands on her chest. “I’m going to cry -- I’m so proud.”

“So emotional, this one,” Zayn teased, laughing and wrapping an arm around Liv.

“She’s right, though,” Niall sniffled, wiping at his eyes. “His songs are beautiful.”

Layla patted Niall sympathetically on the back, handing him a napkin from her purse. I giggled, leaning back against Harry, hearing him let out a breathy laugh as well against my shoulder. “You alright?” Harry asked me, giving me a peck on the cheek.

“Perfect,” I responded, placing my hands over his and resting my head back on his shoulder.

Ed’s set finished less than a half hour later. He bid the crowd goodbye and headed backstage where we followed him as the crowd headed towards the exit. Once inside Ed’s dressing room, we all ambushed the ginger and congratulated him on the night, the start of a great tour, and the album.

“You were amazing, mate,” Zayn told him, seated on one of the couches set up around the room. “You had Liv and Niall in tears.”

“I might have teared up a bit meself, as well,” Louis added, raising his hand with a guilty look on his face.

“Alright, alright,” Harry shushed the two, waving his hand up and down. “Keep the compliments at a slow, steady rate because Sheeran’s face is the same color as his hair right now.”

“Sod off,” Ed mumbled, flipping Harry the bird despite the grin on his face.

Harry cackled, his voice turning high and giddy, the rest of us joining in once we realized he was right. “All jokes aside, though,” Harry continued. “I do agree with everyone. You sounded brilliant. Any chance we could get an early listen?”

“You can, actually,” Ed said, bending down to rifle through his bag before pulling out a orange album case. He held it up for us to see, beaming proudly. “Say hello to my baby.”

“Ed, that is so sick,” Liv exclaimed, grabbing it from his hands to take a better look.

“Loving the cover,” Louis added, coming up behind Liv to see.

“Thanks,” Ed responded, still blushing. “It was between that and another one of me just holding my guitar, but I liked this better.”

“Definitely better,” Layla agreed. “It gives you a more unique touch.”

“And it’s artsy, too,” Zayn commented.

Ed pulled out his Macbook next, setting it up on the table and opening it to insert the disc to play. For the next hour or so, we all listened to the new album, chiming in with commentary, humming along with the ones we recognized from the show while stuffing our faces with pizzas that Ed’s manager brought in. It was possibly one of the best nights of summer so far. When it came time to leave, I almost didn’t want to, wishing the night could go on for a little longer, but Harry was helping me up and soon I was hugging Ed goodbye.

“You doing alright?” Ed asked me once we pulled apart. “Saw you out there with him.”

He gestured over to Harry, who was talking animatedly with Zayn about something, and I smiled. Ed and I hadn’t spoken much since school had ended and back then; I’d been in a pretty terrible state with the breakup and all. So, Ed didn’t really have any updates regarding two of our status, or us whether it was just friends or still something more. “I’m good, yeah. We, uh, we made it work.”

“Did you now?” Ed teased, a happy smile spreading across his face at the news. “I had a gut feeling you two would. I think everyone did.”

I smiled shyly. “I mean, it took a while -- a long while -- but somehow it just worked and things played out for the better.”

“I’m glad that despite all the time it took, you both still tried. That’s admirable and very romantic.”

“Well, you know what they say about finding the one.”

“He’s the one, then?” Ed quirked an eyebrow, curiously.

“Yeah,” I nodded, feeling a blush come over my cheeks at how quick I was to reply. “He’s the one.”

Ed laughed, pulling me into another tight hug, his eyes fond. “If that’s the case, then I bloody insist that I sing at the wedding otherwise I’m not going at all.”

“Aw, we can’t have that now,” I laughed, pressing a kiss on his cheek before letting go. “Hope to see you soon.”

“For sure. Come down to another one of these shows. I know Liam’s doing one of them as well, so that should be fun.”

“It would. I’ll let you know and we’ll plan it out.”

When I eventually walked back to Harry, who was still chatting with Zayn, I affectionately wrapped an arm around his torso, pulling him tight in a hug. Harry instinctively wrapped his arm around me as well, pulling me in closer until my face was smushed against his thin, white t-shirt. He continued talking without missing a beat, like it was muscle memory how his body was reacting with mine, fitting into place as though it was meant to be. That fact alone was enough to make my heart feel lighter and my stomach flutter. And if that was all it took for Harry to have that effect on me, then there was no doubt he was the one.



The doorbell hadn’t stopped ringing for the last five minutes and neither Liv nor Layla were bothering to get it, which was annoying me because if they thought I was going to move from my spot on the couch beside Eli during our Parks and Rec binge watch then they were sadly mistaken. It’d been awhile since the two of us got together to hang out due to our busy schedules, so whoever was standing outside our door could either leave or wait for my roommates’ lazy arses to finally answer the door. Eventually, I saw Layla walk over while holding the phone to her ear, jabbering away to who I could only assume to be Niall on the other end. I turned back to the show, only looking back up when someone cleared their throat behind us.

I turned around, finding Harry, his expression confused as he stood there with two takeaway bags in hand.

“Um, hi,” I said slowly, properly sitting up and meeting his confused expression with one of my own. I wasn’t quite expecting Harry tonight. He hadn’t mentioned as much from all that we’d spoken today, yet there he was. With food at that. Smelled like Chinese food.

“Hi,” Harry mumbled back, looking at me and then to Eli a couple of times, eyebrows raised in question. The two of them hadn’t met yet and I wasn’t sure what the protocol was for this.

How does one go about introducing their boyfriend, who was initially their ex-boyfriend for two years, to their other ex-boyfriend, who is now their best friend because they were still in love with their other ex-boyfriend?

At least Eli seemed to be handling this much better than both of us. He beamed over at Harry and extended his hand for a handshake. “Hey mate, I’m Eli. Nice to finally meet you.”

Harry shook his hand promptly, the frown between his brows slowly straightening out despite the guarded look in his eyes. “Nice to meet you as well. M’ Harry.”

“I know,” Eli laughed, looking over at me. “I’ve heard a ton about you from Blair. Feel like I already know you, to be honest.”

Harry gave him a tiny, polite smile that looked more like a grimace if you asked me, and then turned to look directly at me. “I didn’t mean to intrude, but I ended up getting Chinese food and brought some for you, too.”

“You’re not intruding,” Eli answered for me. “By all means, join us.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a nod. “We’re just watching Netflix and chilling out.”

The room suddenly got a lot quieter than I expected it to and Harry arched an eyebrow at me. “Netflix and chill?”

Eli widened his eyes as he looked away and put his fist to cover his mouth, shaking with muffled laughter. I shrugged in confusion and couldn’t figure out what I’d just said that made them both react that way. Harry moved over from behind the couch towards us and plopped down right between me and Eli despite the tight squeeze, so much so that half his bum landed on my thigh and the bags of food almost spilled from where he was trying to tuck it in between his legs on the floor.

“I’ll be joining this Netflix and chill,” he said.

“Okay, but why are you saying it like that?” I asked.

“Oh my God, Blair,” Eli sputtered, his face red from laughing. “You’re joking.”

I shot him a look, clearly saying that, no, I really fucking wasn’t. Eli only shook his head at me pitifully while Harry just put his arm around me after situating himself.

“What are we watching then?” he asked, turning towards the screen, his tone not at all convincing that he truly wanted to be watching Netflix with us.

“Parks and Rec, of course,” Eli replied once again, though I was pretty sure Harry was asking me.

Harry hummed in response anyway just as Eli pressed the play button and I could tell he still had his guard up, not quite trusting Eli and his presence around me. It was obvious just from the way he was holding me with a sort of possessive flair, though it wasn’t showy. It was more to prove to himself almost and if that made Harry feel better then I wasn’t going to say anything.

Harry started taking out the food from the bags by his feet with his other hand, handing me my favorite, chicken and broccoli, before picking up his own beef fried rice. “Sorry, mate,” he offered to Eli in a shrug. “Only got enough for two.”

It wasn’t like Harry to be this cold at all. He was one of the nicest people I knew -- so openly friendly, charming and lovely to everyone he met -- and yet he was being anything but to Eli. I knew why Harry was behaving this way. The two of us barely talked about Eli in the past month that we'd gotten back together and he probably wasn’t expecting to see him hanging out here when he wanted to surprise me with dinner. Despite all that, I wished he was being nicer and I also hoped Eli was aloof enough to not sense Harry’s hostility, but that wasn’t likely. Eli was smart as fuck.

“It’s alright,” Eli replied cheerfully to Harry’s question. “I had a big dinner.”

Harry looked a little stunned almost, looking down at his food intently as he opened it up and started eating. It seemed no matter how rude he was being, it wasn’t getting to Eli like Harry maybe hoped it would. Eli wasn’t like that, though. He wasn't going to give an attitude just to be a twat nor was he going to be flirty towards me to spite Harry.

By the time the next episode started, I could feel Harry relax just slightly as I ended up curling into him while eating my food. This one in particular definitely became one of my favorites, as it involved our current location: London. The characters ended up traveling to England for Leslie’s nomination (some high womanly award that I did not pay attention to) and it, of course, involved April, Andy, Ben, and my personal favorite, Ron. Throughout the whole episode, Ron hated on everything English. When the scene where he made fun of Big Ben by calling it just some “clock” came on, I could see a smirk forming on Harry’s lips. “This guy is a riot. What’s his deal?” Harry asked.

Eli laughed at Harry’s comment and responded with, “He is supposed to be the prime representative of capitalist loving Americans. Probably one of the wittiest characters in the whole show.”

Harry turned a little bit towards Eli then. “Yeah, but England is amazing. We’ve got better footie and good tea.”

Eli nodded his head in agreement. “Damn good tea.”

As the show continued, Eli and Harry would comment on the character’s personalities and which one was better overall. At one point we had to pause the telly so that they could face each other and choose between Andy or April. I felt a smile slowly emerge on my face as I laughed at their comments, getting more ridiculous and detailed.

It only warmed my heart further when I saw Harry lean over with his beef fried rice. “Hey, mate, would you wanna share some? I got a large, so there’s plenty.”

“I’d love some,” Eli exclaimed grabbing a fork from the bag and taking the plate from Harry. “It smelled amazing. Where do you get yours from?”

“Golden Noodle,” Harry told him. “They’re so good.”

“I agree,” Eli moaned after his first bite.

Harry smiled happily, turning to look over at me, finding me watching him quite fondly. “What?” Harry asked, kissing my cheek softly.

“Nothing,” I whispered with a shrug. “Just -- this is nice. Thank you.”

Harry understood what I meant and rubbed his palm against my shoulder, soothingly. “Of course, B. Can I have a bite of your chicken, now?”

“Greedy,” I teased him before offering a couple of bites.



Harry slowly pulled into the driveway, the two of us staring out the window at my childhood home with its tan shutters and white picket fence covering the grounds. Suburban north London was as cliché as it could get, to be honest. Leah and I both grew up in the same town and house all our life, being on friendly terms with every neighbor and having everything within walking distance. The whole thing was pretty picturesque and I quite loved it while growing up. When I moved away for Uni, it was odd to be in a city and took a while to adjust, but eventually my love and appreciation grew for both lifestyles.

There was one extra car parked in the driveway beside ours with a baby car seat in the back, which meant Leah and Jamie were already here with Evan. Harry was going to have a field day with him. I walked up to the front door, giving the doorbell a ring, while Harry gathered our two bags from the back of his car and followed me. He flashed me a dimpled grin before the door opened, my dad standing on the other side.

"Blair bear," he beamed, pulling me into a hug. "You doing alright, pumpkin?"

"Yes, dad," I giggled, moving out of the way for Harry to come through. "You remember Harry, right?"

"Of course," dad responded, looking over at Harry. "We met at your graduation."

"Yes sir," Harry grinned, offering his hand over for a firm handshake. "It's nice to see you again. Thanks for having me over."

"Likewise and thank you for coming. The others just got here a little bit ago as well and they're out in the back having a few drinks. I've got the grill on as well, so I hope you’re hungry because we’re going to have a BBQ."

"Can’t wait! We'll just take our stuff upstairs and meet you all out there."

While dad headed back to the backyard, I led Harry up the stairs towards the bedrooms, noticing him linger a little longer by some of the family pictures we had hanging on the walls. A lot of them -- okay, most of them -- were super embarrassing and I should have told mum to put them away before coming over for the weekend.

"Nice haircut," Harry snickered, pointing out the school picture from when mum tried to cut my bangs at home in third year.

I glared at Harry, reaching the top of the stairs, while he kept on laughing. "Don’t make fun of me, otherwise I’ll make you sleep on the floor tonight.”

"Don't say that, B," Harry said. "You'd miss me too much without having something to cuddle."

"Not likely."

"Alright, fine, you'll miss my prick."

"How cocky are you?" Harry shot me an amused grin at that, one which I couldn't help but stifle a smile to as well. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, sure, I do," he said as we stepped into my old bedroom and set our bags down. "You're thinking about my dick again."

I sputtered, caught off guard by that familiar accusation, one that he hadn’t thrown at me for a few years and I almost, sort of missed.

"It's okay," Harry continued calmly, staring me right in the eyes. "I get it. You've done it countless times before. It's fine. But right now is hardly the time, Blair. We're at your parents house so please try and behave."

I crossed my arms. "I'm going to kill you."

Harry laughed again loudly, his green eyes crinkling as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me repeatedly all over my face, which I was pretending to hate and look bored about, even though it was quite pleasant. "Let's go join the family and get these filthy thoughts out of your head, yeah?” 



“Ready to lift off again, Pilot Evan?” Harry asked Evan, holding him up in the air.

Evan confirmed with a shriek of laughter just as Harry started moving his little body around while making these swooshy noises, trying to be an aeroplane.

It was well past Evan’s bedtime and he was making a fuss about not going to bed, so Harry offered to watch and wind him down enough to be exhausted so he’d finally agree to go to sleep. Leah and Jamie took this as an opportunity to have the night off and left Evan to us, following mum and dad back in the house to head off for bed. I sat outside on one of the patio chairs with my glass of strawberry lemonade mixed with a splash of vodka and watched Harry be ridiculously adorable while playing with my just as ridiculously adorable nephew.

We’d been here for only about two days and Harry had already managed to charm my parents, sister, her husband and baby, as well as our extended relatives who came over earlier today. I’d expected as much when my mum invited us over, but to watch it happen was something else entirely. Harry seemed to be genuinely having a good time as well. We spent all yesterday just hanging out at home after getting here. And then this morning, Harry hung out with my dad and talked about footie and then helped my mum prepare brunch. Following that was when all our extended relatives visited and we had drinks out in the back. All in all, it was shaping out to be a great weekend visit.  

Harry placed Evan on his lap and looked into his blue eyes intently with that frog stare of his. “You tired, yet, buddy?” he asked him. Evan giggled in response, trying to climb up Harry’s torso to “fly” again, and Harry groaned, falling back against the grass while holding Evan securely in his arms. “He’s tiring me out.”

“Already?” I asked him. “You’ve only been watching him for about a half hour.”

“I’m helping him fly this plane, B. That’s so much work.”

I laughed while watching them fondly. “Alright, bring him over to me. I’ll put him to sleep.”

Harry stood up off the grass, bringing over a red faced, grinning Evan, and handed him over to me. I cooed at my nephew, trying to calm him down from the rush of energy he still had, and placed a kiss on his cheek before placing him on my lap properly. I made sure Evan’s legs were straddled on one of my thighs and that his head was resting against my torso before rocking him back and forth while patting his back.

“Is this going to work?” Harry asked, eyeing us curiously.

“Of course,” I replied confidently. “Didn’t you ever put Lux to bed?”

Harry shrugged in response. "She always just listened to me when I told her it was time to go to bed. I'd read her a story and she'd fall asleep."

"Oh, well anyone could fall asleep when you're telling a story."

"Heeeey." Harry was doing his best to look offended and the pout on his lips was way too cute to ignore so I curled my finger at him, beckoning him to come closer. He came easily, a grin replacing his pout as he brushed our lips together. When Harry pulled away, he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "This is fun, though."

"What part?" I asked.

"You and me baby sitting," he said, looking shy all of a sudden. "I can't wait for when it’s one of our own."

I raised my eyebrows at him, a sheepish smile on my face. "You want a baby with me, Styles?"

Harry grinned giddily. "Want a baby with you."

"You wanna knock me up?"

"Really wanna knock you up."

"Put a bun in my oven?"

"Put a bun in your oven." Harry was staring at me with a heated look that was so intense, I could instantly feel the tension between us thicken. "God, you turn me on so much," he eventually breathed out after neither of us broke eye contact, causing me to suddenly burst out laughing.

Evan, who'd fallen asleep while we were talking, shook awake, looking drowsy and alarmed. I went back to patting him on the back softly, trying to lull him to sleep again.

"You're terrible," I whispered to Harry when Evan’s breathing evened out.

"Me?" he asked looking incredulous. "That was all you.”

“Yeah, only because you’re being creepy and talking about impregnating me.”

Harry ran a hand through his hair, looking a lot more serious then. “Well -- I didn’t mean right now immediately.”

“Good,” I said. “Because I’m not quite ready to do that yet.”

“Me either,” Harry agreed.

“But, one day, right?”

Harry smiled at me, leaning over to kiss me sweetly on the cheek. “One day.”

We’d been together for about two months now and things had been going great between us. Harry and I barely fought, only small arguments here and there that resolved immediately after. We fell back into each other easily as though we weren’t apart for the better part of two years, and were just genuinely happy together. Despite all that, I wouldn’t lie and say that I didn’t get scared from time to time. There were moments this past summer where I almost waited for something big to happen to tear us apart again or think that maybe we shouldn’t move as fast as we were when we talked about things that were so far in the future. However, when you were as sure about someone as Harry and I were about each other, then it was easy to push away those fears to move forward.



My childhood bed wasn’t small per se, but it definitely wasn’t big enough to hold both Harry’s long limbs and me. We were cramped, Harry’s feet dangling off the edge, something that made me laugh for a whole five minutes every night we slept there. And it didn’t help that the morning after, we’d both wake up with sore backs and our limbs cracking with every movement we made. Despite all that, we didn’t opt to sleep separately, which would entail Harry going to the guest room. We decided to rough it out only because cuddling up and lining our bodies to fit together was too good of an opportunity to pass up even if we did it all the time back at home as well.

“This is cozy,” Harry smirked at me on the last night of our stay.

“Isn’t it?” I asked him with a tired yawn. “I could sleep like this forever.”

“Yeah, only because you’re basically using me as your pillow.”

“Well, your big head took over the only pillow I have.”

“Okay, but I’m so much better than this pillow.”

“Of course you are, baby,” I cooed teasingly, pressing a kiss against his collarbones. Harry hummed appreciatively, hugging me a little closer. “Did you have fun this weekend?”

“I did,” Harry nodded, his thumb rubbing circles on my back under my shirt. “Thank you for having me over and introducing me to your family. They’re so great.”

“I’m happy you came,” I said, not being able to help the smile forming on my lips. “Dad really liked you and Mum is obsessed with you, naturally. Even Evan adores you.”

Harry laughed, his chest rumbling. “Wish we could stay a few more days. I could have made that salmon dish I was telling your Mum about.”

“We’ll come back soon, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “And we’ll come with a new bed that holds the both of us comfortably so we can do stuff.”

I frowned in confusion, but before I could ask, Harry’s lips were crushing mine, his hand having come up to tip my head back for access. He didn’t waste any time in deepening it by parting my lips with his tongue and sliding his own in with a wet drag that had me feeling breathless, making me want Harry even closer. Harry’s hand slid out from under my shirt and wrapped around my bare thigh, bringing it up over his waist to rock his hips down.

“So good,” he moaned out, lifting his lips only to place them back down again, peppering kisses across my jaw. “We should fuck. Haven’t fucked you in so long. Like since three days ago. Just wanna wreck you up, B.”

“The bed’s too small,” I reminded him, my hands coming up to tangle in his hair as his mouth ventured further south, leaving a trail of wet kisses on my neck.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled, biting down on skin to form a bruise. “We can make it work, yeah. Fuck a bigger bed.”

“Okay, yeah, but my parents are down the hall.”

“We’ll be extra quiet,” Harry whispered, making me laugh. “Just wanna fuck you, baby. Wanna fuck you everywhere.”

“Harry,” I whined as he left another bite right between my breasts, feeling my defenses break down. Was I really about to let him fuck me with my parents two doors down while my sister was in the next room? “Just wait a couple more hours. We’ll be home and we can have sex then.”

“I’ll die.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Harry’s hand slipped past the hem of my knickers, his big palm squeezing one of my bum cheeks. Motherfucker knew what he was doing. I rolled my eyes. “Oh my God." A pause. "Fine.”



By some weird miracle, sometime during the end of summer, all of our friends were in London at the same time. And it was weird only because this hadn’t happened since we graduated, but Liam had driven into the city with his girlfriend, Sophia and Zoe had flown in to visit her family for a few days, and the rest of us weren’t on any summer holidays. Once we realized this, we all got in touch with each other and decided to meet up at our old Uni bar one night.

At first it was slightly awkward in the sense that we were so out of touch with one another, which was to be expected. Some of us had gone from hanging out everyday to growing up and apart. However, that familiar sense of nostalgia and warmth lingered between us still. Sophia, who was really friendly and cool, got on with all of us from the get go despite the fact that she was stepping into a group who had a long history, and there were no bitterness between Zayn and Zoe, both greeting each other with long hugs and smiles. It was nice -- everyone coming together and making the most of the night.

We’d ordered a few rounds of pints, caught up with each other, and as the drinks kept coming, so did the waves of memories as we all sat around the booth.

“Honestly speaking,” I said. “My senior year was one of my favorite years of Uni...maybe even school in general. I don’t think I could ever forget all the things we did.”

“You mean getting drunk every weekend?” Liv asked, making the rest of us laugh. “I don’t know how I managed my GPA with all the partying you hooligans made me do.”

“Come off it, Liv,” Louis waved off. “You were fucking wild underneath all your books with or without us.”

“That first mixer at the beginning of the year was crazy,” Liam recalled, his arm slung around Sophia, who seemed properly entertained by our stories. “We went hard all night and the morning after, Liv and Blair crashed at our place and we went for brunch.”

I thought back to the first mixer and I had to agree -- it was a pretty crazy night. It was also the night Harry and I had spoken by his bay window, opening up about too deep things that were hardly appropriate for how drunk I was. I wondered if he remembered that conversation or the first time we’d met at the fun fair. I casually turned my head to look at Harry, watching as he spoke to the others about the night of the mixer, and wondered if he ever thought back to how we’d met as well. I knew for the both of us, we hadn’t ever imagined exactly what we’d mean to each other come a few months later. I’d never thought Harry would be this special or this important to me -- didn’t think I’d ever fall in love with him, either.

Then again, that did have a lot to do with how he had a girlfriend at the time, who he pretty much said he’d end up marrying one day.

“Remember how Niall and Layla met?” Zoe asked, smiling at us over her drink.

“Oh my god, how could we forget?” I cried, turning to face the couple who were a few seats away. “That was so funny. You fucking hated each other.”

“She hated me,” Niall clarified all smug. “I fell in love with her at first sight.”

“Yeah, like that wasn’t creepy at all,” Zayn muttered jokingly.

Niall smacked him on the back of the head. “Hey, it worked out for me in the end, didn’t it?”

“Yes it did,” Layla beamed, wrapping her arms around his torso and planting a kiss on his cheek.

While Layla was right, she had to have remembered how long it took before she succumbed to Niall trying to woo her. Following their meet up was date night for the frat, during which he was ignoring his actual date and whining about Layla the entire time. Not that any of us minded -- we all found it quite entertaining. That night was also when Harry essentially decided to break up with Darcy, consequently paving the way for our friendship to grow deeper.

“Who remembers the scavenger hunt, though?” I asked then.

Liv raised her drink. “Could never forget that. We were out all night, doing the craziest shit.”

“Remember when we kicked poor Ed?” Louis laughed breathlessly. “He was so bloody confused the entire time. Poor lad.”

“I honestly can’t remember who won, now that I think about it,” Liam said, a hand over his chin as he tried to remember.

“Same here,” I said. That whole night had taken such a turn from a girls sleepover to the boys crashing, leading to us wreaking havoc in the city as Liv had just mentioned. “I do, however, remember one of the things on the list was that you boys had to wear my laced knickers and run around the supermarket.”

“Don’t remind me,” Liam mumbled, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“You looked great, Liam,” Harry smiled, teasingly.

If I had to pinpoint when my friendship with Harry started to take a turn, it would probably be some time around then. Although, I hadn’t quite noticed it as much as I did later on. Instead, I helped Harry go on dates with Liv, of all people, and found myself hating it, but not knowing why. And when that didn’t work out, I pushed him to flirt with other girls and casually hook up with them. Harry and I’d spoken about this a few times after the matter and he always told me that he was not so subtly trying to flirt with me the entire time that I was doing that, but he didn’t want to come on too strong because he wasn’t quite sure if I’d felt the same. Truth was, I wasn’t sure myself.

“Remember the night we’d met blond Harry?” Liam asked.

Harry groaned out loud as the rest of us laughed. “Are we still calling him that, I mean he has a name, right? What -- what was his name again?”

“I don’t know,” Louis shrugged thoughtfully. “I kept calling him blond Harry as well.”

“It was Charles,” Layla rolled her eyes at them. “Why are we bringing him up again? He was so annoying.”

“He showed up at that pub crawl that once and Niall almost killed him,” Zayn said. “And then that one time you two were fighting because Niall was a moron, he actually did end up killing him.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Niall said. “I should have, though. Although, he did help Layla and I get together. That first night he showed up, she actually spoke to and hung out with me without throwing insults my way and the second time he showed up, once I beat him up, we made up again.”

“Isn’t that romantic,” Harry mused sarcastically.

“The night we met blond Harry was also the night we got into that other fight with the wankers from UCL,” Louis added.

“Except we settled that on the pitch, innit?” Niall chuckled. “Bloody amazing, that was. Those fuckers never showed their faces again.”

That match was quite memorable. I had taken my big sign that I made to show my support for Harry and had really come to terms with how jealous I was of all the attention he got from other girls. Instead of acting on it like I should have, I pushed it down furthermore when all I wanted was for Harry to choose me no matter how wanted he was or how many options he had. But then, I didn’t really see him until New Years Eve. That was the night it all began, I supposed.

“Remember New Years?” I asked, leaning closer into Harry and looking him in the eyes, despite addressing the whole group in general.

“How could I forget?” Harry smiled, his cheeks flushing slightly, while the others chattered on about the rave we went to that night. “The night you finally let me kiss you.”

“Well, we did more than that,” I giggled, noting how much quieter our voices got even though our faces were only inches apart. “But, you could have kissed me before that if you wanted to, you know?”

“I’ll kiss you right now.” Harry's lips were soft against my own, tasting like beer and the chips we shared earlier. It made me curl into him, wanting just a little more, like I always did with Harry. When he unfortunately made to pull away, I caught his jaw in my hand and held on a little longer, sucking on his bottom lip. When I let go, Harry looked at me with slightly darkened eyes. “Do you want to leave or something?”

“No, I’m alright,” I shrugged while he groaned in frustration. I smiled pleasantly, placing my palm over his thigh and giving it a squeeze. I was teasing and that wasn’t fair, but he could control himself for a few more hours till we got home.

At least I hoped he could. There was no telling with Harry.

I was right, though. We didn’t just have our first kiss that night, but we also hooked up, and right after that, I had freaked out and left. When Harry tried to talk to me about it, I was stupid enough to tell him to forget about it and continued to be green with envy when I saw him talking to other girls at parties. I didn’t blame him at all, but it worked out, slowly. The flirting got worse between us and we were becoming more and more obvious that we wanted each other, though, that wasn’t enough for either of us to make a move. Not until Harry was dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room on Zayn's birthday and he’d chosen me, kissing me right in front of everyone else. That opened up a whole new set of doors and I remembered how every time we’d get drunk, we’d end up being unable to stop touching and kissing each other. Combine that with a few dirty texts, heated glances, and touches, and I’d realized that I had feelings for Harry.

Who knew I could be so thick?

All that sexual tension and blatant want came to a head the night of Harry’s birthday party. We’d gone clubbing and our nosy mates stuck us in a cab together, which led to the two of us finally letting our guards down and kissing the entire way. We’d only pulled apart when we arrived at the club, but ended up leaving together later that night and having sex for the first time. It felt like it had been a long time coming, but at the same time, it had happened so gradually, that I wasn’t sure how to look at it. Things shifted between us so naturally after that, that it almost seemed obvious it was going to happen while also seemingly surprising.

In other words, once we'd had sex, we couldn't stop. Harry and I started sleeping together, which we later figured out, exclusively. We were constantly together and our friendship suddenly had this new added feature that we couldn’t get enough of. Suddenly, we couldn’t just sit around and talk anymore like we used to, but we had to kiss and touch a little as well. And then when we finally became official, I couldn’t remember ever being so satisfied in a relationship of mine before.

“Remember our trip to Leeds for holidays?” Zoe asked. “We went clubbing every single night.”

"That was fun. I think after the second night, though, it got to be too much,” Layla laughed.

“Didn’t Liam and Zayn end up kissing?” Louis asked.

“They did!” Zoe confirmed. “Right in front of me at that. It was amazing.”

Zayn looked over at her, the two of them sharing a warm smile. “That was by accident.”

“I second that,” Liam said, while Sophia giggled beside him. “Won’t happen again.”

“You don’t know that,” Zayn shot back, causing the rest of us to laugh.

“That was towards the end of year, right?” Liv asked.

Louis nodded. “It was fun -- the last few parties went hard. And the senior cookout was sick as well.”

I could feel Harry’s arm around me tighten, fingers pressing into my skin, and I knew why without him saying. That was around the time things had gotten bad between us. We’d had our fight, the things with Josh happened and we broke up. It wasn’t a really great time for either of us, even though we did try to salvage what we could.

“Sucks we can’t relive those days, huh?” Harry asked. “I go through times when I look back and wish so bad that we could maybe experience all that again. I’d wanna feel the things I felt back then and maybe do some things different, too.”

“I agree,” Zayn said. “I think about that as well.”

Everyone got this look in their eye -- one where they all seemed to be looking back to a moment that they’d like to experience all over again to feel it again or maybe change things as Harry said. I could think of a few times myself, but it was just one of those things where you sort of had to accept that life was meant to play out the way it did.

“Well, since we can’t go back,” Liv said. “How about we go walk through campus? You guys have made me nostalgic.”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Niall said. “I haven’t been in so long.”

Everyone else was on board right away as well, so we gathered our stuff, paying the tab for our drinks, and walked out onto the familiar roads we used to take and knew so well even after all these years. Harry held my hand, swinging our tangled fingers between us, and I smiled at him. “What would you go back and change?” I asked him.

Harry seemed surprised at my question, not quite expecting me to bring that back up again. “Um,” he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. “I guess a few things that led to us having a fight. I’d make sure we didn’t or that I didn't walk out like an idiot. So much would be different now, wouldn't it?”

I licked my lips, looking at our friends who were walking ahead of us and laughing about something. “That’s true...it would, I guess. I think I’d definitely do a few things over regarding that as well. Like -- maybe never talking to Josh again.” Surprisingly, we both laughed at that, our voices mingling. “But, who knows what would have happened down the line if that fight never happened because another one would have eventually because that's only natural. It was also just bad timing. But I am sure of one thing...”

“What’s that?” Harry asked, bringing our hands up to kiss mine.

“No matter what happened or what would have happened if things played out differently, I still got you back and I think it’s fate. We were always going to end up together. Yeah, it sucked for a while, but we gave it all we had, didn't we?"

Harry nodded with a smile. “Now, it’s you and me."

“Now, it’s you and me."