Harry's POV

"Hey Lou, hand me that would you?" I point to the glass bottle on the table.

"Another drink Haz? I think you've had enough." He laughs and I scowl at him. What's the point of having alcohol if you're not going to drink it?

I stand up and stumble to the bathroom to piss, and Liam hops up to help me when I trip over my own feet.

"Why don't I take you home?" He asks. I nod and follow him to his car.

The drive back to gran's is quiet. I still hate him for the way he hugged at Aubrey when she was here, but I know I'm overreacting.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asks after we pull up to the house.

"Yeah, thanks." I slur and get out of the car. He doesn't pull away until I get into the house.

I try to shut the door as quietly as possible, trying not to wake gran.

"Nice of you to show up." I jump when I hear her voice come from behind me. She looks angry as she sits at the kitchen table.

"Sorry." I smile and try to lock the front door.

"Are you drunk? Harold Edward Styles, have you been drinking?"

"Maybe a little." I lie. It's not like she doesn't know I drink, so what's the big deal.

"I thought you were over this?" She looks hurt, and I know she's referring to the summer I came here after my grandpa died.

"It was just a few drinks gran, calm down." I roll my eyes. "I'm going to bed."

"No you're not." She points to the chair across from her and I follow her request to sit down.

I support my aching head with my arm and rest my elbows on the edge of the table.

"Harry, you know I love having you here, but you told me you weren't coming until you started school in the fall, and now you're staying out every night." She says with concern. I am not in the mood for a heart to heart right now. I know where this is headed, and I'm not ready to talk about it.

I pull at a string on the table mat and ignore her.

"It's Aubrey, isn't it?" She's good.

I nod slowly and feel the alcohol start to mess with my emotions again.

She reaches over and takes my hand and rubs the back of it with her thumb.

"Oh, Harry." She frowns. "What happened?"

I shrug. I really don't know what happened, I'm still so confused and waiting for answers.

"Did you guys break up?" She guesses and I nod again. I don't trust my voice, and I don't want to cry like a baby in front of my grandmother.

"Talk to me..." She pushes.

"I don't even know, gran." I run my fingers through my unruly hair.

"Did you do something?" She asks and I have to laugh at her assumption. I was always worried that I would be the one to hurt her somehow, but I was wrong.

"No, she said it would just be too hard because of school."

"So I take it, it wasn't a mutual decision?"

"Hell no. If I had it my way, we'd still be together. But she's stubborn and thinks it won't work."

"She's right, it would be incredibly hard, Harry. Yes, I'm sure you could make it work somehow, but it makes sense. I've known Aubrey long enough to know that she made that decision with a lot of thought. I know she loves you."

"Well it still hurts." I know that Aubrey had a good reason for doing what she did, but I still don't agree with it.

"I'm sure it does. Harry, I know you've heard this; but just give it time. I promise it will be okay. If it's meant to be, you two will get back together."

"No it won't. I feel even worse than I did the night she broke up with me." I state.

"You need to be patient. Trust me, Harry."

I shake my head and try to keep the tears from spilling from my eyes. This alcohol is making me so damn emotional.

"How would you know?" I look up at her to see she's close to crying as well.

"Because this is how I felt after your grandfather passed away." She chokes up and I feel like an asshole for asking. "I was hurting terribly, I thought I would never recover. Yes, I still think about him everyday, but I feel better. I can live my life because I know he is in a better place, looking over our family." She takes a napkin and blots her eyes.

"I'm sorry, gran." I rub the back of my neck with my hand and she gives me a look as if she was to say 'it's okay.'

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you may never stop thinking about her, but try to relax knowing she is okay. I can tell you that she still loves you, too."

"I'm not so sure about that anymore." I admit. Aubrey told me she still loved me, but then why would she do this to me? To us?

"Harry, of course she does. I saw the way she looked at you. She came with you when I was in the hospital, no girl who didn't love you would ever do that!"

She's right. Of course she does, but that just makes me so much more confused. She told me that she did what she did *because she loves me, but that doesn't make sense to me.

"Thanks... I'm sorry I came home late... And drunk."

"Just please don't go back to the old Harry. I like who you've been since you met her. Even if things don't end well with you two, she made a wonderful impact on you and you have to give her credit. She loves you Harry, and I know you love her, that's why it hurts."

I force a smile as she brings her hand to caress my cheek.

"Why don't you go get some sleep so you can help me in the garden tomorrow." She smiles and I stand up to follow her request.



Aubrey's POV

After finishing some of the homework for my bio lab that's due next week, I decide to go to the dining hall and grab a late lunch. I'm starving, so I don't mind that I'm going alone.

I brush through my hair with my fingers and decide to change into a sweatshirt. I grab my purse and leave the room, but run into Logan and Sam on my way out.

"Hey Aubrey!" They say in unison.

"Hey guys!" I smile. They must be good friends.

"Where are you headed?" Logan asks me as we head to the stairs.

"Gonna go grab so lunch, what about you two?"

"Actually the same, join us?" Sam cuts in and asks.

"Uh, sure, why not?" I smile, than I won't have to sit alone.

---

"So where did you go to high school?" Sam asks me in between bites of his burger.

"Malibu high." I answer.

"Ah, so you're a Malibu girl." Logan cuts in.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I ask, but I know he's referring to all of the stuck up, rich California bitches.

"Everyone I have met from there is... Fake." He laughs. "Not you though, you're actually pretty cool. And you're not orange like those girls that fake tan." I join in on his laughter.

"Where are you from, Sam? I mean you're obviously not from here." I say, referring to his accent.

"Nope, from England. Moved here from Birmingham when my father got a job here. I think I was about nine or ten."

"Cool." I smile and take a bite of my salad. "I was just in England a couple of months ago. I really love it there."

"Really? What were you doing in my neck of the woods?" He looks intrigued.

Ugh, why did I even being that up.

"Oh.. Um my friend lives there."

"So Aubrey, did you want to come with us to a party tonight?" Logan interrupts.

I want to decline, but I can't keep being antisocial. This is college, I need to experience all of those things you're supposed to do in college!

"Sure, what time are you guys going?"

"Probably around nine?" Logan looks at Sam and he nods in agreement.

"Sounds good!" I smile.

---

"Hey Aubrey!" Erin greets me when I get back in the room.

"Oh hey, I didn't think you'd be here." I tell her honestly.

"Yeah, my boyfriend has class." She laughs. She must know she spends too much time with him. But then again, if Harry were here, I'd probably spend every minute with him, too.

"Are you going out tonight?" She asks when I start to look through my closet for an outfit.

"Yeah, I'm going to some party with Logan and Sam!"

"The guys across the hall? Nice!"

I continue getting ready, and by the time I've gotten dressed, touched up my makeup and hair, it's only seven. We're not going until nine, so I guess I'll just watch a movie on Netflix.

I open my laptop and decide on 500 Days of Summer, one of my favorites. Erin left an hour or so ago, so I'm left alone to watch my movie in peace.

As the movie plays, I mentally slap myself for picking this one. I can't help but remember all of the amazing times Harry and I had together, and then it just ended. This movie reminds me so much of us.

I hadn't noticed I was crying until I wipes a tear from my cheek. I laugh at how pathetic I am at the moment before I hear someone knocking on my door.

"Hey guys!" I fake my enthusiasm when I greet Logan and Sam.

"You ready?"

"Yep, one second..." I turn around to grab my purse and switch off the light.

We all walk down the stairs and exit the dorms.

"You can take shotgun, Aubrey." Sam smiles at me, and Logan unlocks a car in the lot, which I assume is his.

I get into the front seat and listen to Sam and Logan talk about one of their professors as we drive to the party. After only ten minutes, we pull up to a pretty big house, packed with drunken teenagers and loud music.

As we walk into the house, I can barely make my way through the massive amount of people. I follow Sam and Logan towards the back of the house, hopefully they know where they're going.

"Hey, you look familiar, do I know you?" I'm stopped by a tall brunette guy, who's obviously drunk.

"Nope don't think so." I look down and try to keep walking, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"No I'm sure I do." He grabs his chin with his index finger and thumb like he's thinking hard and then winks at me.

"I think you've got the wrong girl." I'm pulled back by Sam, his harsh tone sending a cool shiver down my spine. He looked so angry when he glared at the drunk pervert.

"Are you okay?" He says with a much cooler tone as he pulls me through the rest of the house.

I nod and stay close to him. This is exactly how I imagined college parties to be, but I'm just not feeling excited to be here like I was a year ago. Last summer I couldn't wait to get here and go to all of these college parties, but now, I would much rather be in my room.

Logan is no where in sight, and Sam wandered off somewhere in the house when I saw Erin and met her boyfriend. I can tell she's a little drunk, but not enough to be annoying like almost everyone here. I'm surprised the cops haven't come, everyone's so rowdy and the music is blaring through the house.

"I'm going to have to steal Erin from you." Matt, her boyfriend comes up behind her and kisses her neck. I do not want to know what there about to do... "It was nice meeting you, Aubrey." He looks up at me and places his hands on Erin's waist. I have to look away from the simple gesture when a pang of jealousy runs through my body.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She smiles at me before Matt takes her hand and pulls her away.

Now I'm awkwardly standing alone. I pull out my phone and see it's just past midnight. I really need to get back to my dorm before it gets to late. I have class tomorrow, and I never planned on staying this long. I need to find Logan so he can drive me back to campus, otherwise I'll have a long walk ahead of me.

I search through the house with no luck. When I finally go upstairs, I open the first door and it's just the bathroom. I open the one across the hall and... I found him.

"Sorry." I shut my eyes and frantically shut the door after seeing Logan and some chick probably about to have sex before I walked in. My cheeks heat up with embarrassment as I lean against the wall and try to figure out how I'm getting home.

"Aubrey? What are you doing up here?" I thank god when I hear Sam.

"I was looking for Logan to give me a ride back, but, uh, he's a little occupied." I point to the room where I walked in on him. Thankfully they still had their clothes on, otherwise that would have been super awkward.

"I'll drive you back, just let me use the bathroom."

"But Logan drove?"

"I'll drive his car... He gave me the keys when we got here, he knew he was going to get hammered, so he left them with me." He laughs.

"Oh, thanks."

After waiting a moment for him to go to the bathroom, we walk outside to Logan's car.

"Are you okay to drive?" I ask him as he unlocks the doors.

"Yeah," he chuckles. "I didn't drink."

"Oh."

"So you weren't feeling the party?"

"No, it was okay, I just have a class early tomorrow."

"Ah, gotcha."

"So you've really been to England?" Sam asks to try to make conversation.

"Yeah, twice actually."

"That's awesome. I haven't been back in years. I've just been caught up in school and stuff."

I nod and continue to look out the window. I feel awkward, and I don't know why.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, just tired, that's all."

"Are you sure?"

"This past week has been terrible." I admit as I sigh.

"Ouch." He laughs.

"Except for the school part!" I clarify and giggle.

"But why has everything else been terrible?"

I consider telling him the whole story because I really need to vent, but I don't want to share my private life with someone I hardly know.

"Just boyfriend drama." I wish he was still my boyfriend. "Well, ex boyfriend." I correct myself.

"Oh, sorry." He says and thankfully he drops the subject.

Before I know it, we are back at the dorms and Sam walks me to my room. I thank him probably 20 times for the ride and say goodnight.

Notes

Sorry i didn't update yesterday...

I may update again later tonight if i can, but for sure tomorrow if i don't! The next chapter it gets good:)

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