“Abby, why don’t you just come to the Christmas party with us?” Charlotte whined from the doorway of my bedroom. Her semester in London is over so she goes back to Ohio in a few days to finish up school, and the boys and girls decided to throw a going away party/Christmas party. I didn’t want to participate in it because Taylor is in town, and I hate Taylor.

“Because I don’t want to and I need to pack for San Diego,” I, annoyingly, told her while folding a shirt.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Charlotte said as she walked away from my room. Not even a few seconds later I heard the door to my apartment shut, which could only signal that her and Niall left. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to my closet and pulled my suitcase out of it, setting it down in front of my growing pile. I was going to spend Christmas in California with my dad then we were both flying out to Ohio to spend New Year’s with my grandparents. It’s really weird to be packing for both cold and warm climates; the last time I did that was when I was moving to London. As I was folding clothes and separating them into piles for California and Ohio I heard the buzzer, for the dryer, go off. I stood up and slowly walked to my laundry room where I grabbed my empty laundry hamper and threw in my dry clothes. I took the hamper back to my room where I set it on my bed, I crossed my room and began playing some music and went back to folding my clothes.

Just as I was dancing to ‘It’s Beginning to Get to Me’ by Snow Patrol I heard some laughter coming from behind me, when I turned around my eyes met the laughing gaze of Harry Styles.

“What the fuck?” I yelled at him as I walked to turn my music off.

“What?” He asked as he stepped further into my room. “I can’t watch my girlfriend dance?”

“Why are you here?” I asked him.

“I came to pick you up.”

“I’m not going, Harry,” I sternly told him while crossing my arms over my chest.

“Why not? You’re already dressed, all you need to do is put a coat and scarf on,” Harry said to me as he took a seat on the edge of my bed. I took the time to look down at what I was wearing, which consisted of some torn jeans, a gray sweater, and my combat boots. He was right, I was dressed to go somewhere, but that’s because I got home from work and went straight to packing.

“I’m not going,” I simply told him while walking back over to my suitcase.

“Why not, Abby? You can say you aren’t going all you want but I’d like to know why,” Harry said, while looking at me with those eyes of his. I hate his eyes because they make me melt.

“Harr—“

“I know what you’re about to say and don’t say ‘because Harry I just don’t want to’ because I know you better than that.”

“Yeah well, screw you for knowing me so well,” I told him as I let a frustrated sigh out while I took a seat on the floor in front of my luggage.

“I’d love to screw you,” he, smartly, said and I just rolled my eyes. “Abby, love. You can tell me anything, don’t keep me out of that pretty little head of yours,” Harry quietly said and when I looked to my left he was now seated beside me. I looked at him before turning my attention to the carpet.

“Taylor’s there,” I, weakly, told him.

“So?” Harry simply said and I looked at him, baffled.

“Taylor’s there and all you can say is so? Harry are you dumb? I don’t like her, she doesn’t like me. If I go there it’ll be like a cat fight!” I, angrily, told him while pushing him away from me.

“Abby, the group knows our situation, we can be all lovey dovey and not have a care in the world that Taylor is there,” Harry said while he scooted back over to me and rested his hand on my thigh. I looked at his hand then looked into his eyes.

“Why? Why do you want me to go so bad?” I asked him, waiting for his response.

“Because I’m looking forward to spending time with my girlfriend before she goes to spend time with her family and I won’t see her until after the New Year. And because when I was driving over to Zayn’s place I looked in the rearview mirror where I saw a pile of presents for my friends and then a small pile of presents for my girlfriend who I was anxiously looking forward to seeing tonight,” Harry said all in one breath.

“That doesn’t prove why you want me to go,” I told him with a small smirk on my face.

“Fine. I want to kiss, hug, cuddle and flirt with my girlfriend in front of my friends because they’re the only people I can show her off to because I was an idiot and agreed to do a fake relationship,” Harry admitted and my small smile got bigger. “Is that better?” He asked and I nodded my head bringing my lips on top of his in a small, but sweet, kiss.

“Much better,” I told him as I opened my eyes to find his emerald green orbs staring into mine.

“Then stop packing and come hang out with our best friends,” he begged.

“Fine,” I said as I stood up and pushed his head away from me, in a joking manner. “Can Sage come?” I called out.

“Of course,” Harry said from behind me. When I finished pulling my coat on I turned around to see Sage ready to go and her leash in his hand.

“I just need to grab everyone’s presents,” I told him as I walked past him and grabbed the box full of wrapped gifts and walked out of my apartment with Harry on my tail. Once we reached the elevator, Harry quickly took the box from my hands and handed me Sage’s leash, I pecked him on the corner of his mouth to thank him.

“So did Taylor even get anyone gifts?” I asked him, which resulted in him snorting at my question.

“No. Especially since I told her that everyone knows her and I are in a fake relationship. They didn’t get her anything either,” he said as he set the box on the ground and pulled me into his side while we waited for the elevator to reach the lobby. Eventually the elevator made it to the lobby where Harry and I quickly made our way to the parking garage where we got in his range rover. I buckled myself in and looked at Harry who was staring at me with a smile on his face.

“What are you staring at?” I asked him with a smile on my own face.

“I want to give you one present before we go to Zayn’s,” he said while taking my hand in his.

“It can’t wait?” I asked him and he just shook his head. I saw him reach into his coat pocket and pull out a maroon, velvet box. My eyes instantly got really wide as my hand flew to my mouth. “What?”

“It’s not what you think it is, Abby,” Harry lightly said, he used the hand occupying the ring box to open it and show it to me. Sat inside was a simple silver band with a dove in the center of it, I dropped my hand from my mouth to gently touch the ring.

“If it’s not an engagement ring then what is it?” I asked him, bringing my attention to his green eyes that were gray right now, he’s nervous.

“A promise ring, I’m making a promise to you right now that I’m going to marry you one day. I love you Abby, I love you with everything in me. I can say I love you a million times but it will never prove to you how much I love you. When I think of you, I just want to drop what I’m doing and go see you, and I think about you a lot. I love the way your face crinkles when you laugh or you’re trying not to laugh. I love how when you’re nervous your eyebrows twitch a little bit and you chew on your cheek. And your smile, I love your smile because your teeth are so perfect and your smile can stop the world from spinning, it stops mine. I love the freckles on your face because you don’t have a lot but you have just the right amount. I love how you have three freckles on your right shoulder that are placed in the shape of a triangle. I love how outspoken and carefree you are about everything going on around you. I love how you never hate anyone unless they really do something to make you hate them. I love how forgiving you are because if you weren’t then we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. You’ve given me so many second chances and I don’t why, surely I’ve ran out. I love how you’ll play with your hair absentmindedly while we watch a film or when we’re driving in the car to go somewhere. I love how when we’re walking along the road you’ll point out all these awesome picture perfect set ups.” As the words poured out of Harry’s mouth I couldn’t help but cry happy tears. I moved my hand to rest on his cheek as he continued to talk. “I love how your touch electrifies me, if I’m feeling a bit chilly I just need to touch you and instantly I’m warm again. When you are deep in thought you stick your lips out like a duck and squint your eyes. I love how you dance whenever you want and I love when you dance because you just look so happy in your own little world. And Abigail Emilia Grimes, I wanna be a part of that little world of yours and I want it to be forever,” Harry finished at he stared at me, waiting for me to respond. It took me a few minutes to wrap my head around the fact that he just promised to be mine for the rest of our lives. Given it’s not a marriage proposal but to me it meant more than that. I was losing a lot of hope in Harry breaking things off with Taylor because he had to go on vacations with her and things like that and it made me feel like maybe he actually cared for the girl. I was starting to accept the fact that Harry and I might not ever happen again and maybe he was playing me, but this act just proved he’s with me and only me. Physically he’s in a fake relationship but mentally it’s all about me and making me happy.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me,” I whispered to him with a smile on my face. Harry returned the smile while bring his thumbs up to my cheeks to wipe away my tears. “I swear they’re happy tears,” I told him with laughter.

“I know they are,” He simply told me while kissing my nose. “Your eyes are very blue.”

“Yours were gray, you were nervous,” I pointed out to him as I pushed some of his curls off his forehead.

“You make me nervous,” he stated, still staring into my eyes.

“You shouldn’t be. I love you way too much.”

“I know,” he said and that caused me to give him a questioning look. “You wouldn’t cry every time we fought if you didn’t,” he said and that made my heart swell. He remembered when I told him that I didn’t really love Chris because I didn’t cry when I found out Chris was cheating on me and I didn’t cry when I ended things with him. A smile broke out on my face as I pulled his lips down onto mine.

“So do you accept my promise?” he mumbled against my lips, causing me to smile.

“Always,” I told him while resting my forehead against his and staring into his eyes. He pulled away and gently took the ring out of the box; he grabbed my left hand and slid the simple, yet beautiful ring onto my ring finger. I smiled at him before pressing a million kisses against his lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said with the biggest smile on his face. He returned his attention to getting us to Zayn’s for the rest of the night with our friends. After a 25 minute car ride we were pulling up outside, I got out of the car with Sage while Harry grabbed my box of presents and led me to the front door. As soon as we stepped through Sage ran off, probably to go find Niall, and the girls all swarmed us by the front door.

“Did he do it?! Harry did you do it?!” Perrie was screaming in our faces.

“Tell us all the details!!” Danielle exclaimed as she bounced on her feet.

“This is so exciting!” Eleanor said as she pulled me into a hug.

“Yes, he did,” I said as I turned to look at Harry, blushing, behind me before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my cheek. He walked past me into the living room so he could set the box down and then probably grab us some drinks.

“So spill! How’d he do it?” Danielle asked.

“You guys are acting like he proposed to me!” I exclaimed with laughter.

“Well for Harry this is a HUGE deal, love,” Eleanor informed me. “A promise ring is the first step to getting that other rock on your finger.” I just laughed at them and spent the next two minutes telling them how he gave me the ring, because it was really simple to explain. He was random about it and we were sitting in the parking garage. I walked the short distance to the living room where I greeted the rest of the boys by kissing them on the cheek. I took a seat next to Niall and soon Harry sat himself by me and handed me a bottle of Stella. I looked in front of me and saw Taylor sitting in a chair by herself, feeling a bit out of place. I just laughed inside my head.

“You two are the complete polar opposite when it comes to drinking right now,” Louis said from his spot next to Eleanor on the other couch.

“What makes you say that, Lou?” Harry asked as he placed his arm over my shoulder, and started to play with my hair.

“Here Abby is sippin’ on a Stella and you’re next to her sippin’ on some wine. It should be the other way around,” he stated and it caused Harry and I to look at one another. We both just simply shrugged our shoulders and looked at him.

“If she wants some wine she can take a sip of mine and if I want some beer I can take a sip of her’s,” Harry said and it caused me to smile because he was right. We both always got the opposite and just ended up sharing. “I just know she prefers beer on nights like these.”

“You two are so cute it makes me want to hurl,” Liam said, causing Harry and I to laugh. I saw out of the corner of my eye Taylor get up and leave the room. Not even a few minutes later Harry’s phone vibrated, he pulled it out of his pocket and put it in front of us so we could both see it; Taylor had sent him a text saying she went back to his. I looked at Harry and he just shrugged his shoulders before pressing a kiss to my temple.

“Can we open gifts now? I’m getting impatient,” Niall whined from beside me. He had his arm thrown over Charlotte’s shoulder and she was tucked into his side. It made me smile at the sight because both of my best friends were dating and I could tell they were happy.

“Sure, Niall. Because for once you aren’t hungry,” Zayn said as he stood up and started passing out everyone’s gifts. After he finished passing them out he took his seat next to Perrie. “Alright, all the girls get to go first but you have to open the one from your boy before any other,” Zayn informed us and we all gave him a confusing look before opening the said present. All of us girls held up a silver chain bracelet, then we all gasped before tearing through the rest of the presents. The boys had come up with the idea to get us all charm bracelets, and the boys got each of us different charms that represented them. Zayn gave me a question mark charm because I always claim he’s so mysterious, Louis got me a cat charm because he’s silly, Liam gave me a puppy charm because I always claim he looks like a sad puppy when he’s upset, Niall got me a four leaf clover because I always say he’s my good luck charm and Harry got me heart charm with an ‘H’ engraved in the center. But on each charm bracelet there was 5 other charms, a camera, a ballet slipper, a microphone, a pile of books and a shopping bag charm.

“What are these others for?” Danielle spoke up, speaking for the rest of us girls.

“The slipper is for you, Dani. The microphone is for Perrie, the pile of books is for Charlotte, the camera is for Abby and the shopping bag is for Eleanor,” Liam explained to all of us. Then it clicked.

“These are friendship bracelets for us girls?!” I exclaimed as I sat up a little further.

“I told you all Abby would figure it out first. That’s what three weeks of college did for my bird,” Harry said while pulling me back and into his side. I playfully hit his chest and rolled my eyes.

“That’s the sweetest thing ever!” Charlotte exclaimed as she pressed a kiss to Niall’s lips. All of the girls made our way around the room pressing kisses to the cheeks, of the boys, in thanks for the gifts. We then finished opening our gifts and talking animatedly about past memories and things we couldn’t wait for. Harry was unwrapping his gift from me and as I watched him I took a sip of his red wine, that I was holding for him. As soon as his eyes landed on the gifts I got him, his mouth fell open.

“Babe! Where did you find these?!” He asked as he turned to look at me, a smile adorning his face.

“I had two sets,” I, nonchalantly, told him. “I was going to sell the other set but then you came along.”

“What are they, Harry?” Zayn asked as he tried to sneak a peek inside the box.

“The red, blue and white vinyl’s from The Beatles! These are so rare!” Harry exclaimed while throwing his hands in the air with excitement. “You didn’t need to give me a set.”

“Harry, don’t worry about it. I know they’re going to a good home,” I told him with a smile on my face. “In plus, I know how much you love The Beatles and you’re as excited as I was when I was given these.”

“You’re the best girlfriend in the whole wide world,” he said while peppering kisses on my lips. He pulled away smiling and went to open his second gift from me, and as he pulled the lid off the box he gave me a very confusing expression. “Why are you giving this back?” He asked as he held up he red, plaid button up.

“I’m not, I got you a new one,” I told him with a small smile on my face. “I know how much you loved that shirt and I felt bad for stealing it.”

“Like I said, best girlfriend ever,” Harry said as he leaned over to me and kissed me again. We both pulled away smiling at each other.

“Now we can match,” I teased him as I sat myself in his, now, empty lap and threw my arms around his neck.

“Oh great,” he groaned at me but quickly smiled at me before resting his hands on my thighs and kissing me on the lips. I couldn’t stop the giggles emitting from my mouth and that caused Harry to pepper me with more kisses. “I love the sound of your giggle,” Harry said with a sly smirk on his face as he bumped my nose with his.

“I swear it’s like no one else is in the room when these two are together,” Louis, loudly, said pulling Harry and I from our own little world.

“Sorry folks,” I told them as I turned my body to look at all of them. “What’d we miss?”

“We were trying to decide on a movie to watch, any suggestions?” Perrie, kindly, informed us.

“That’s hard to think of because it seems like no matter what movie we choose to watch someone is going to cry,” Harry mentioned and it caused us all to chuckle, because he’s right.

“Well then what are we goin’ to do?” Zayn asked as he looked at all of us for an answer.

“Let’s play ‘Never Have I Ever’?!” Charlotte suggest and we all looked at one another and shrugged our shoulders.

“Fingers or drinks?” Louis asked, looking at all of us.

“I don’t wanna get pissed!” Liam said, so we all decided to just play with fingers.

“Alright, Charlotte you go first!” Perrie said and we watched as the blonde sat and thought of something.

“I know! Never have I ever gone skinny dipping with someone in this room!” Charlotte exclaimed, obviously proud of herself while all of us, except Niall, put a finger down. “Abby?! You’ve gone skinny dipping with Harry?!” She exclaimed as if the pope just died.

“We were in Italy, do what the romans do!” I defended myself and felt Harry press a kiss to the back of my neck.

“Niall your turn,” Charlotte smiled at him.

“Never have I ever…skipped a meal?” He said as he watched all of us put a finger down.

“That was shit!” Louis exclaimed. “Never have I ever had sex in the car!” He countered Niall’s with as he watched Zayn, Harry and myself put a finger down.

“Seriously, Abby?” Charlotte asked, feigning hurt.

“Harry and I like to experiment!” I defended myself once again.

“Yeah, they gotta see how his stick shift works,” Louis joked, causing all of us to bark with laughter.

“Never have I ever had a threesome,” Eleanor said and none of us put our fingers down, thank god.

“Never have I ever slept with someone after being extremely drunk,” Liam said and watched as Zayn, Harry, Charlotte and I put our fingers down. I quickly turned my neck around to smile at Harry and press a kiss to his lips.

“Never have I ever….gone streaking,” Danielle, shyly, said as Harry and I both put a finger down.

“What? When?” Charlotte asked me.

“My last week of college,” I told her and she nodded her head.

“Countless times for me,” Harry said and I playfully hit him.

“Never have I ever…dated someone 10 years older than me,” I snickered while I watched Harry put a finger down.

“Never have I ever sucked someone off in the lift,” Harry said as I, embarrassingly, put a finger down.

“I was drunk, Harry, and you took advantage of me that night!” I told him and he just laughed at me before pressing a kiss to my lips.

“I still love you,” he said to me before pressing another kiss to my lips.

“Never have I ever gotten naked on a plane,” Zayn simply stated while we all laughed as Harry put a finger down.

“IT WAS HOT!” Harry tried defending himself but it just caused us to laugh even more.

“Never have I ever kissed someone of the same sex,” Perrie said and both Charlotte and I put a finger down.

“Details, please,” Harry said and it caused me to elbow him in the stomach.

“Too many drunken nights,” Charlotte said and I nodded my head at her reasoning.

“Never have I ever been sucked off in the car,” Louis said, shooting Eleanor a disappointed look. I looked around the group and saw none of us put a finger down.

“I’m surprised Abby and Harry haven’t,” Niall said from beside me and I just glared at him.

“There was a cop beside us,” Harry said and I looked at him like he had twelve heads.

“I have a bit more class than that, Harold!” I told him while I smacked his chest and he grabbed my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.

“I know, love,” he said to me with a glint in his eyes. Immediately, butterflies started going crazy in my stomach at the way he was looking at me and I couldn’t help but lean forward and connect our lips for a very passionate kiss. We continued to play the game until, eventually, Harry and I ran out of fingers to put down and were declared horn dogs and the losers of this round. We all hung out and talked for a few more hours before Harry decided he was tired and wanted to head home so he could sleep. We left Zayn’s and were on our way back when Harry opened his mouth to speak to me.

“You staying at mine tonight?”

“I don’t know. It’ll be a little hard to dodge the paparazzi in the morning,” I hesitated.

“We can come up with something,” Harry said as he grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine.

“Alright,” I told him while I shot him a tired smile, which he returned. We got back to his house and quickly ran inside because it was cold and we were also tired. I set Sage on the ground and she walked over to Harry’s couch and immediately jumped on it and fell asleep. I laughed before Harry started pulling me by my hand upstairs, he had a mischievous smile on his face.

“You really aren’t tired are you?” I asked him once we reached the top of the stairs where he dropped my hand and picked me up bridal style.

“Nope,” he said while placing a quick kiss on my lips before kicking his door open and tossing me on the bed. We quickly connected our lips and eventually one thing lead to another and we fell asleep, naked, and tangled together with love.