"I'm an idiot."

"That you are my friend." Louis smirked and nodded as he took a seat across from me, still holding Jamie in his arms. He looked down at the always smiling baby before cooing. "Don't you agree Jamie?"

Jamie clapped his chubby hands together and flashed a two toothed smile at me.

I had to admit, the sight did make me feel a bit better and I found myself grinning despite my mood.

As it was, my night had taken a turn I didn't think it would ever take. Of course I was happy Aria was single, that made a lot of things easier for me and made my conscience feel a lot better, but I was still unsure of how to approach the whole thing.

"But look on the bright side," Louis started up again cutting my thoughts off.

I glanced over at him urging him to continue and shed some light on this bright side he spoke of.

"There is absolutely nothing I or any of the other boys can do to make us look like bigger arses then you've made yourself look tonight."

I narrowed my eyes at him, not at all amused by his humor at the moment. He just shrugged and looked back down at Jamie with a cheeky smirk plastered on his lips. "Never said it was your bright side."

"Why are we friends again?"

"Because I don't hesitate to point out when you are an arse." He adjusted Jamie in his lap once more before continuing. "Speaking of which... what were you thinking tonight?"

I sighed, both hands flying up into my curls to ruffle then as I did so. "I think we established that I wasn't thinking."

"Not about that. That was just idiotic yet highly amusing. And Niall's face," He then proceeded to mock our friend. "I was referring to the whole date in general."

Rubbing my hands over my eyes I sighed deeply. "That was a mistake and then I just left her there. But I promised to make it up to Zoey. The date was about publicity for her anyway, I'll just tweet about her or something. Maybe I could-"

"Harry!" Louis cut me off with a smirk. "As fucked up as that was, which it was by the way, I wasn't referring to Zoey either."

Now I was truly confused and I was sure my face showed it when Louis full on laughed.

"You really are dim Harry." Even Jamie seemed to be laughing at me. "I meant Aria."

"Aria?"

"Yea. You know that nanny you have living here. I'm sure you've met her before-"

"Louis!" I was really not amused by his banter.

"What I mean is why would you go on a date when it is painfully obvious you like her."

And now I was surprised.

I hadn't been aware that anyone knew how I felt about Aria. Even I wasn't completely aware until a few days ago. And here Louis was very sure of his assumption right after Niall had hinted at the same.

Was I that obvious?

Did Aria know?

Louis' chuckles pulled my attention back towards him.

"Harry, don't freak out. She has no idea. But I don't think you should have gone on that date tonight."

I wasn't surprised Louis could read my facial expressions to know what I was thinking. Louis had a way with being very intuitive when it came to people and their feelings. It was one of the many traits that went unnoticed, covered by his hyper persona.

It was also quite annoying when you wanted to keep things to yourself. Especially since Louis had no idea what keeping his thoughts to himself meant.

"Look, I just think that if you like her as much as I think you do, maybe the jealousy approach isn't the best idea. Especially not with someone like Aria. I mean she's not one of these girls you'd meet at a club, she's got a bit more going on than those women. Maybe you'll need to step your game up a bit."

The only problem was I had no idea how to do that. I had never thought of a relationship with a woman for longer than a few dates since Darcy was born. Mostly because I didn't want to start something and risk Darcy being exposed to the other side of my life if things didn't work out, but with Aria everything was a bit different.

For starters I knew she wouldn't run off to the media and tell them all about my daughter if things ended badly, and what if they did end badly? What would happen to Darcy then? What would happen to me?

Besides the fact that I was sure Aria would never out my daughter, and the what if's, I also was fairly sure that if I started I wouldn't stop falling for the woman who was currently putting my daughter to bed and I hadn't felt that way about someone in a very long time.

"I don't know what to do Louis."

Louis just stared at me from across the table for a long few minutes. "You're going to have to figure it out. I think she's good for you, I think you two would be good for each other. You just have to figure out how to get there. Use that Styles charm. I know it's been a while but I'm sure you still have a bit left in you."

I laughed at his words. I was always good with women, but for some reason I had no idea where to start with Aria.

"What's so funny?" A cheerful voice asked from behind me. I turned just in time to see Aria make her way farther into the dining room where Louis and I had been seated. She instantly made her way to Jamie and scooped him up out of Louis arms, thanking him for watching her son.

I watched her with her baby; the way she placed gentle kissed to the top of his head and hugged him to her body. The way her eyes lit up when she looked at him. She was fascinating to watch when she interacted with Jamie. The love she had for him was almost tangible in the air around them and I found myself staring at them quite a bit.

Louis cleared his throat across the table sending me a sly smirk before looking up at Aria, who was looking down at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"I'm going to leave. Eleanor gets back from visiting her parents tomorrow and I want to be well rested." He wiggled his eyebrows at us making me roll my eyes and Aria giggle.

"Get out of here, Tomlinson." Aria swatted his shoulder as he stood and hugged her and rubbed little Jamie's back affectionately. "Thanks for earlier, "she shifted her eyes at me nervously and cleared her throat before looking back at Louis, "And for keeping us company."

"No problem love. I'll see you soon."

I lead Louis out towards the door and looked at him before opening it. "What happened earlier?"

His eyebrows raised and his trade mark mischievous smirk graced his lips. "For me to know and you to try and figure out Styles. See you later."

And without giving me a chance to ask any more questions he was gone.

I was slightly startled when I turned around only to find Aria standing in the dining room door way fidgeting with her hands nervously. "I'm, um... sorry about your... date."

If she only knew that I had spent the whole hour wishing to be back here sat with her and the kids like I had found her and Louis earlier.

"It's alright. It was kind of a dud anyway." I shrugged making my way closer to her. "Besides it was my fault for assuming."

"You know what they say about assuming." She chuckled out and then rolled her eyes at her own cheese line. "Anyway, thank you. It means a lot to know you were looking out for me, even if you were completely wrong." She giggled teasingly causing me to blush and smile.

And as she smiled up at me, with twinkling teasing eyes and rosy cheeks I found myself mesmerized by her.

She was truly beautiful in a subtle kind of way. The kind of beauty that stuck with you and had so many different facets that I wondered if I would be able to experience them all. I would really like to try.

Without thought to what I was doing, or even realizing what was happening until I felt her warm skin against my fingertips, my hand had reached up and brushed the loose strains away from her flushed cheeks. My eyes drifted from hers to her lips and back again.

I had no idea what had come over me, why I was being so bold. It was almost like she was a magnet, standing there in her too-big tee shirt and shorts, hair messy and ready for bed but with that happy smile on her face. It was intoxicating and it clouded my judgment but I wasn't sure if that was a bad thing just yet.

"Harry?"

And all at once I knew I couldn't do this.

Not like this.

Not full speed ahead with a short attention span.

This needed to be slow and for the long haul because someone like Aria deserved that.

And maybe someone like me deserved that too.

And Jamie and Darcy definitely deserved that.

So as much as I wanted to kiss her, as much as my body yearned to pull her closer, I gathered up all the will power I had, with a promise for later, and backed away from her. The same hand that had only just been warmed by her skin now rubbed at the back of my neck as my eyes dropped to the ground.

Later.

"Goodnight Aria."