"So my parents are driving to Phoenix to do some work shit tonight and I was think about going with them..." Harry says quietly as he twists my hair with his fingers and I lay across his bare chest. "I just thought it would be nice to see the guys."

"Yeah, I'm sure they miss you." I lift my head and look up at him to see his apprehensive expression.

"Will you come with? Please? I can't handle my parents alone." He puffs his bottom lip out and gives me the puppy dog eyes. Fuck him for being so cute.

"Why not." I smile and lay my head back down. I think it would be cool to meet his friends back in Arizona, and I don't want to be away from Harry. "Just until Sunday?"

"Yeah, but you'd really go?"

"Sure, I don't have anything going on."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Harry!" I giggle.

"Thanks babe." He winks and before I know it I drift off into a necessary slumber.

---

We're driving separate from Harry's parents to Phoenix because Harry refuses to spend six hours with them in a car despite the ridiculous gas prices. It's okay though, it'll give us some good quality time.

"So what's the plan for the weekend?" I ask Harry as we get on the interstate. To be honest, I don't care what we do, but it'll be nice to see what his life in Phoenix was like.

"Nothing really... We can hang out at the hotel or do something. Oh and Ricky, the one I've told you about, is having a party tonight, I want you to meet some of my friends."

"Sounds good!" I say and look out the window. I love road trips, especially through the mountains. My mom, dad and I would always drive to New Mexico to visit my aunt when I was younger, and I remember only being excited for the car trip.

"Are you excited to go back?" I break the silence between us. I don't think he's been back since he moved to LA.

"Yeah, I miss my friends, but that's about it. There's not much to do."

"So you prefer London over Phoenix?"

"Any day. London's my home even though I only lived there for six years. Always will be."

"Oh." I suddenly feel sad, and I know it's because it still kills me that he has to call his 'home,' a city that's 5,000 miles away from mine.

"Speaking of," He says before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a white envelope and handing it to me.

"You haven't opened it?" I ask when I see the Cambridge logo stamped on the front.

"I can't. You do it."

"Harry, you should open it."

"No, I want you to." He persists, and after giving me a reassuring nod, I follow his request.

Slowly ripping the top of the envelope open, I pull out the piece of paper and unfold it. For a second I hope that he didn't get accepted, but just as quickly, my inner self slaps my face and scolds me. I know it's selfish, but I'm so worried about this. I need him!

"So?" He rests his hand on my knee and gives it a slight squeeze, as if he's anticipating my answer.

"You got in." I whisper. I can feel my heart clench and all I can repeat in my mind is: "we will make this work, we will make this work"

"I did? Let me see!" The papers are snatched from my grip and he's trying to read it while still driving. "Holy shit." He mutters.

"Congratulations!" I smile, and I really am happy for him. He deserves this, and he's worked just as hard as I did to get into his dream school.

"I can't believe it!" I take in his beautiful smile and lean over to kiss his cheek. I'm thankful he hasn't ran off the road though.

"It doesn't feel real..." He shakes his head as he signals to change lanes.

"I know..." I mutter, and fuck my emotions, a tear threatens to spill from my eye.

"Aubrey, don't cry." He frowns and takes my hand in my lap.

"What are we going to do?" I almost whisper. I'm not crying, but I feel like I'm going to break. I've felt like this ever since he told me he wanted to go back to London.

"We're going to continue what we are doing now. We won't see each other as much, but we'll make it work." He gently tightens his grip on my left hand. "How many times do I have to tell you to not worry about it, Aubs? Everything will be okay."

"I'm sorry," I sniffle. "I just wish it could be easier."

"Me too." He agrees and I decide not to further this conversation.

"Well here we are, Phoenix, Arizona." Harry announces as we drive through the streets lined with palm trees and dry grass. "I'm going to go to the hotel so we can drop our bags off, than we can go to Ricky's. Sound good?"

"Perfect." I smile and five minutes later we arrive at a nice Hilton Hotel.

We make it up to the 25th floor and Harry slides the key in the door to open it. Harry's parents have a room down the hall. Oooh, my own hotel room with Harry. I smirk to myself.

After changing clothes and touching up my makeup, I join Harry in the main part of the room and we decide to head over to Ricky's house. I wonder to myself if Harry's friends in Phoenix are anything like his friends back in London. If they are even close, I will be happy!

---

"Harry Styles, wow, long time no see!" A guy about our age greets us at the house, and I assume it's Ricky, but I'm still waiting for an introduction... cough, cough, Harry

"Hey man!" Harry says and hugs him. I awkwardly stand behind them. "Oh sorry, this is Aubrey!" He stands back and throws his arm around my shoulder.

"Hey Aubrey, I'm Ricky." He says with a smile and I greet him back. "Come in! Everyone's waiting to see you Harry!"

We follow him in the house and I am completely overwhelmed with all of the people here. I've been to a lot of parties in my day, but holy shit, this is crazy!

Harry's greeted by almost everyone he sees as we walk through the house. We stop when he sees his good friend, Michael. He seems pretty nice, but to be honest, I feel really out of place here. But then again, I felt like that when I met his friends back in England, and it turned out to be okay.

"Hey, I'm going to go to the bathroom." I say to Harry and he points to where it is.

I make my way through the crowded house and find the powder room. After going to the bathroom I hear someone crying, and it's not just tears, but a full-on sob. I leave the bathroom and see someone sitting against the wall in an empty bedroom with all of the lights turned off.

"Umm, are you okay?" I reluctantly walk in and ask the girl. I feel terribly awkward, but I also feel bad for her.

"It's nothing." She shakes her head but doesn't look at me.

"Have you been drinking?" I sit down next to her.

"No, I haven't had a drink in almost a year now."

"Oh, what's wrong then?"

"I just saw someone that I thought I would never see again." She finally looks up at me, and despite her running mascara and red eyes, she's actually very pretty.

"God, I probably look pathetic right now." She laughs as she tries to dry her eyes. "I don't know you, do I?" She asks me when she gets a look at my face.

"No, I don't live here."

"Oh... Sorry, you can go back to the party, I'm fine really."

"No that's okay, do you want to talk?" I surprise myself after asking. She seems nice, and I wasn't really feeling the party.

"No, I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Why? Do they go to your school?"

"He did... I just did something terrible and lied to him about it when he still went here."

"Have you tried talking to him?" Why am I trying to help her? Beats me...

"No... At the time I thought I was doing the right thing by lying. And then he switched schools and I regretted everything after he didn't talk to me anymore." She divulges and I like that she's okay with talking to me.

"I should really get going, I left my daughter with my mom. Sorry for making you listen to my fucked up problems." She laughs.

"Uhh, you have a daughter?" I can't hide my confusion. She looks like she's my age, if not younger!

"Yeah," she laughs like my reaction isn't uncommon. "She just turned six months old. Avery." She smiles and shows me a picture of the most adorable baby girl with big green eyes on her phone.

"She's so cute! Sorry, you just look so young..."

"It's fine, I know I'm young... It definitely wasn't planned! But thanks, umm, sorry I didn't even catch your name!"

"Aubrey." I smile.

"I'm Rachel." She smiles back. Holy shit. How did I not put the pieces together? I don't want to be nice to her, she's a fucking bitch for what she did to Harry!

"Oh..." My face is white. Thankfully the room is dark, so I don't think she can see my astonished expression. "So you know Harry Styles?" I ask. I wonder what she has to say about this.

"Actually... Umm, he's the guy... That I was crying about seeing..." She takes a deep breath and I can tell she's fighting the tears from coming back. "How do you know him?" She asks with desperation.

"I met him earlier." I lie.

"Oh... Yeah he's actually Avery's father..." She picks at her nails.

WHAT. My mind is running in circles and I don't know what to do! Didn't she tell him it wasn't his? What the hell is going on!

"So he left when you told him you were pregnant?" I need to know her side of the story. Did Harry just make up that whole story he told me?

"Umm, well I told you I lied to him. It was about that actually. We had been dating and when I got pregnant, I was super scared and was not ready. I mean we hadn't been dating for that long. I thought I was going to give up the baby, so I told him I cheated on him and it wasn't his. I thought it would hurt less. But now that I obviously kept Avery, I feel so guilty, and seeing him tonight was terrible." She's now sitting on the bed with her face in her hands. "I know you probably think I'm a terrible person, but we were young and I didn't know what else to do."

Wow. So Harry did tell the truth, but what he thinks is the truth is a lie, and he actually has a daughter? Harry has a daughter! No, this is so fucked up. I can't believe Rachel did this, and I don't know what to think at this point.

"I'll let you go, um, I hope things turn out for you." I lie and stand up abruptly, going to search through the house to find Harry.

---

"Aubrey, what the fuck!" Harry yells as I drag him outside where no one is around.

"I just spoke to Rachel." I say to him.

"She's here? Does she know who you are?" He says and I can tell he's a little nervous. Oh Harry, just wait until I tell you what our little convo was about.

"Yes and no. I found her crying and she said it was because she saw you."

"Uh, that's odd." He lifts the red plastic cup to his lips and takes a sip. Yeah, you're going to need another one of those soon after I tell you why she was crying.

"Harry... You have a daughter." I close my eyes tight and hear his cup hitting the wood deck, the dropped liquid splashing my feet.

I love kids, but at this age, it'll ruin his life. He's leaving for London in the fall, and already lives six hours away, how is he going to do this? I don't know if he can handle it... I don't know if I can handle it.

"What did she say to you?" His face is white.

"She told me she lied and said she cheated on you because she thought she was going to give it up. She didn't know what to do, but it really is yours."

"She's full of it!" He's now angry and pushes me aside to get inside. "Where is she?" He yells back at me and I tell him where we talked.

"Harry!" I pull him back. "I think I'm going to go, I really can't do this. I just can't be here." I admit trying to head my emotions.

"Aubrey, it's not true."

"Can you just get a ride home with someone later? I just need to go back to the hotel."

"I'll come with you."

"No, talk to her, you guys obviously have a lot to talk about."

"Aubrey..."

"Umm, I'll see you later." I choke out and grab his keys. I don't want him to see me cry. If he hears from Rachel why she did it, and that she really didn't cheat on him, will he go back to her? She's the mother of his daughter.

I barely even make it to the car before breaking down. I don't think I can do this, I can't take it.

Notes

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