"When are you two setting the date for," Gray asked, trying to keep her composure.

"August 14th."

"Oh, that's soon. You sure you can get everything done in seven months?"

"Of course, you know me, I don't mess around." Mila looked over at Curtis, silently telling him to disappear. He took the bait, quietly leaving the room and giving them some alone time.

"Gray, what happened," Mila asked her sincerely.

"It's over." The words slipped out of her mouth so easily. She still couldn't believe it. It came out so easily, Liam was no longer hers, but Gray wished more then anything in the world for it to be back to normal.

"How? Why? I know there were some issues with fans but I still can't figure this out," Mila told her.

"It was just going to get harder and harder. Apparently people had their own personal vendetta against me. I didn't mind the Twitter comments and things like that, but once the death threats started and getting things thrown at me when the girls were there was too much. It wasn't safe anymore, for either of us. The last thing I want is for something to happen to him or his career." Gray stared out the window, making sure she didn't completely breakdown right there.

"What did Liam say about this?" Mila knew that giving up wasn't his style.

"He suggested the break first, even though I had already planned it."

"What in the hell?" Mila yelled, starting to get mad.

"Mila, it's fine, you have to let it go. Over and down with." Gray tried to make that her motto since she touched back down in the States. Over and down, that's what they were. Mila wrapped her arm around Gray's shoulder, trying to give her support.

"Do you want to it to be over and down with," she asked, lowering her voice again. Gray refused to look at her. One look to Gray and she would completely lose it. She shook her head no, just enough for Mila to see.

"I figured as much. Can we fix this?" Gray finally looked up at her, showing the tears that formed in her eyes.

"No," she sobbed," this is the end. It's the end, and it just hurts so much Mila. I can't even breathe without him around. We are done.. I.. I." Mila stopped her, pulling her body in close while Gray sobbed heavy tears on to her shoulder. Mila could feel it. This was the end, not like before. Her best friend was going through the worst time of her life, while she was trying to celebrate the best.

----

Gray fell asleep in Mila's arms, too emotionally drained from their conversation. Mila quietly pushed her frail frame onto the couch and covered her with a blanket before leaving to join Curtis in the other room.

"How bad was it Curtis," she asked quietly, shutting the bedroom door behind her.

"Worse then I could of thought. I talked with Steve right after she left Australia. These kids are ruthless, I've never meet so many girls would could do this much damage," he told her, rubbing his hands over his face. Their relationship wasn't just Liam and Gray, it included them all.

"Why didn't I go over there sooner? God I am such an idiot! I don't even know how she is moving right now," Mila cried, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Because you didn't want to hurt her more. No one knew how bad she really is, everyone has been asking but nobody wanted to know the truth," he comforted her. Mila reached across the bed behind her to grab her phone.

"What time is in England?"

"Around 9 at night, who are you calling," Curtis asked, wary of what she was doing.

"Louis." She quickly dialed, only to have the phone ring once before he answered.

"Mila," he said, sounding like he was out of breath.

"Hey Lou. I just saw Gray, for the first time. Why didn't you tell me all this," she questioned him.

"I didn't think it would take you two weeks to grow the balls to talk to her," he said bitterly back to her. Who waits two weeks to talk to their best friend after a breakup?

"I didn't know what else to do. How's Liam." She asked, but already knew the answer, he would be in the same boat as Gray. Heartbroken and fragile.

"The best actor I have ever met. He pops on stage, acting like normal Liam but as soon as our show or appearance is over he goes cold. Half the time we can barely get him to talk to us, the other half he spends crying alone. We have all caught him at least once already," Louis informed her. It had been bad. Liam did what he needed to do for the band, but in their free time he could barely speak. It was breaking him in half not having her close. He thought about calling her all the time, but he knew that for one she wouldn't answer, and two it would just make it all harder.

"What can we do? How do we fix this," Mila asked, already racking her brain for ideas.

"We don't Mi. This one has to run it's course. We love Gray, she is family to us, but we have to let them figure things out." Mila sat on the bed with tears running down her face. This couldn't be happening. Louis was the mastermind of everything, if he said no there was no hope.

"I can't believe this is happening," she choked out. The line was silent for a while.

"We never thought it would happen either," he whispered back.

"Louis, if that was Eleanor, what would you do?"

"I'd fight. I'd fight to the death to keep her with me. There's nothing I wouldn't do to have her."

----

Gray woke feeling lost and disorientated. This wasn't her house or her couch for that matter. She sat up, looking around for her phone to figure out what time it was. 5:03a.m. Way to freaking early to be up. She groaned, about to fall back asleep until she realized someone had text her. Gray drew in a breathe. Liam.

Liam: I'm sorry for texting you, but I just want to make sure you are okay.

Gray looked at the timestamp, sent to her over four hours ago. She laid on the couch, staring up at the dark ceiling trying to decide on whether to respond or not. She sighed, and started typing out her message.

Me: I'm alive, but not okay. That takes a while.

He texted her back right away making her smile. More then likely he spent the last for hours pacing and waiting to hear from her.

Liam: Good. I won't contact you again, I promise. Never will forget you.

Gray put her phone down, wiping more tears from her face. She wondered if he sent that to make her happy, or if he really felt like that. She knew the truth, there was no way he could walk away so fast. Gray wanted to call him, hear his voice and tell him it was alright but she stopped herself. Enough was enough. She told him it was a clean break, and Gray had to follow her own rules.

"Gray, wake up sweetie." Gray opened her eyes hours later to see Curtis staring at her. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sat up.

"Sorry for crashing here," she told them.

"Please, it probably won't be the last time," Mila laughed, sitting down the freshly cooked pancakes on the table.

"Eat. now." Gray smiled a real smile. That was the Mila she knew. Gray got up and sat at the table, digging into the food right away. It tasted better then she could of imagine.

"So what's up for Gray now," Curtis asked.

"Find a job," she told him in between mouthfuls. Work was the best option. It was constant and would help her take her mind off everything going on.

"You giving yourself another timetable for all of this," Mila asked, remembering the last time they split.

"Nope, no time." Gray grabbed another bite of her pancake while Mila blankly stared at her.
"No time?" Gray sat her fork down and looked at her.

"Mila, last time I knew there was a chance we would be together again. I never would of admitted it to you all, but I knew. This time is different, there is no us anymore," Gray explained to her. The more she said it, the more it was true and being able for her to get over it.

"You are taking this far too well." Gray shrugged. She didn't know what else to say.

"It's time to move on Mila, slowly."

----

Gray sat at her computer ready to pull her head out. It had been two weeks of trying to find a job and it sucked. The schools around her were already in session, so teaching assistant jobs were few and far between. She was running out of options really quick. At least the search was helping to keep Gray from thinking about him. It was going on five weeks from that horrible day. It was becoming easier and easier for her to find a way to move on.

"Hey Gray Goose, what are you doing," Gillian asked her. Gray rolled her eyes. No one had heard from the boys since then, but that name will never die.

"Trying to find a job." Gray yawned, she wish she could take a nap. They had to meet Mila in an hour for bridesmaid dresses. Gray would rather pull her eyelashes out.

"Are we still trying on dresses," Gillian asked. Gray could tell she was extremely excited. Gray sighed, logging of her laptop and getting up.

"Go hunt down your sister and we will get this over with."

They met up with Mila an hour later, all of them excited but Gray. She threw a smile on her face, pretending to be happy for Mila's sake. It was her special day and Gray needed to be there for her.

"What color are you going with," Gray shouted to her through the store.

"Black. maybe purple. or navy blue. I'm not sure yet," Mila yelled back. She was hidden in a mound of dresses on the other side. Gray started searching for anything that didn't look like a bridesmaid dress. No ruffles, rouching, and definitely no taffeta. That would be a hot mess in general.

"Okay, here are ten to start, get in there and start," Mila dictated. She threw the dresses into her arms and sent it on her way. Gray could see everything she hated right on top. Ruffles, and tulle. She would rather die right now. Gray stepped into the dressing room, picking out the first train wreck dress. It was hideous, she looked like Cousin It's new girlfriend.

"Hell no," Mila said when she walked out, not even giving her a chance to talk. Gray spun on her heels and tried again. Every single dress Mila shut her down within seconds. Gray wanted to start drinking, she silently wished she would of brought a flask with her.

"Can I suggest this one," Gray heard outside the door. She peeked out to see the saleswoman holding out a black strappy dress to Mila. Gray could already tell she loved it.

"Oh, yes that is amazing. Does it come in navy?"

"Sure does. The straps can be wrapped differently so all your maids can look a little different." Gray rolled her eyes, 'maids' is a horrible term.

"Yes, let's try it." The saleswoman walked into the dressing room helping Gray get into the contraption. Mila and the girls sat outside waiting when Mila's phone went off.

"Hey baby," she cooed to Curtis.

"Hey, can you go check Pioneer for me? Is Gray with you?" The tone of his voice made her worry.

"Curtis, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Nothing love, but pull it up on your phone ok? Love you."

"Love you too." Mila hung up, quickly pushing the screen to get the Pioneer ready. It was the top story. As soon as she saw it, Mila felt her face turn white.

Breaking News: Oh you little Directioners you really can cause a scene. It seems that the world isn't done with the starcrossed lovers of Liam and Gray Cameron. The couple hasn't been seen in nearly five weeks together, causing the buzz on Twitter to find a way to change things, for the better. The video below was recorded yesterday, at a charity concert One Direction put on. Take a look for yourself. Can we just say, the people at Pioneer shared a box of Kleenex watching it? Don't say we didn't warn you.

Mila clicked the button with her hands shaking. It started, showing the music opening up for Little Things. Zayn started his part just like they would any other days. Mila could barely watch. Both of the other girls joined in, watching the tiny screen of Mila's phone. Liam's part started and the whole erupted in screams. It only took Mila a couple of seconds to figure it out. The crowd was shouting 'We love Gray' together making it clear as day.

"Are they saying Gray," Gillian asked. Mila waved her off, telling her to be quiet. She couldn't stop watching. The camera view flipped around showing off the crowd. There were tons of signs being 'Pro Gray'. It covered the whole arena. Mila sucked in a sob, she couldn't believe it. The camera flipped back around to the stage, blurring until it came into focus. It was farther away, but you could still see Liam was having a hard time keeping it together. He was singing along to his parts, but his eyes were casted down at the stage floor. As soon as the song stopped, you could see him throw the microphone down and walk off the stage.
The three of them sat there, staring at the blank screen feeling numb. Mila knew there was hope, definite hope. She knew that even if Louis said no, she would make it happen. Mila started up the video again when Gray walked out.

"Other then this being the hardest dress it get on, I think its a keeper," Gray announced with a smile. Grace, Gillian and Mila were ignoring her, staring at something on Mila's phone.
"Girls. GIRLS" She yelled trying to get their attention. None of them looked up. She walked over to peek at the screen. Even before she saw she could hear the chords of Little Things. Gray ripped the phone out of Mila's hands and watched the video for herself. Tears formed in her eyes seeing it. Fans, random people who didn't even know her were chanting her name. Not in hatred like it usually was, or having signs being mean. Instead they were for her and Liam. She was able to hold it together until the end when Liam walked off the stage. He was hurting so bad and she couldn't do anything about it. She handed the phone back to Mila and wiped her eyes and face.

"So I think this is a winner, yes?" Her voice croaked out. She prayed they didn't ask her about it all.

"Perfect," Mila whispered. Gray ran back into the dressing room, sitting down on the bench and cried. She kept her hands over her mouth, trying to not let the other girls hear her. God she missed him so much. She missed all of them. They were her brothers, and probably feeling just as lost as her. Gray cried harder, not able to stay quiet.

"Is she okay," Gillian asked feeling worried. Mila smiled at her.

"She is. You want to help me fix this?" Both Gillian and Grace shook their heads. Mila grabbed her phone again to send a text to Curtis.

Me (Mila): Honey, get those boys to our wedding, no matter what the cost.

Her phone beeped right after, it was a message from Louis.

Louis: Forget what I said. We are all in for fixing this, permanently.

Mila smiled evilly. This would be fixed. Gray and Liam would be back together, like fate told them to be.

Notes

Title Creds: "Hard habit to break" by Chicago.

Short one for you all. I'm beyond excited to right the rest of this story, its coming along quite well in my head!