As soon as Harry and I walked into the door of the flat, we were grabbed into a bear hug by Louis, “I missed you guys so much! I cried myself to sleep every night.”

He sniffled a little and pulled away. I laughed at his Louisness. Harry acted like he was crying to and then Louis pulled him back into a hug. They both were making pretend crying noises when Eleanor walked from Louis’ room. She saw what was going on with the two boys and rolled her eyes, “Maybe me and Ari should give you two a moment alone.”

I laughed, nodding my head. She took my hand and led me into the kitchen, where there were bags full of snack foods on the counter. We sat down at the table and she smiled at me excitedly, “So? How was it?”

“They were absolutely lovely. We ope-,” Eleanor cut me off, holding up a hand.

“No, no, babe. Louis told me that you and Harry… you know,” she winked at me.

My jaw dropped and my face became red, “How does Louis know? Wait. Never mind. Of course Louis knows…”

Eleanor laughed at me lightly, “So? Good or bad?”

I didn’t feel very comfortable talking about my sex life, but I knew I could trust El. She was a sweet, kind hearted person who was very easy to talk to. I shrugged my shoulders and a smirk crossed my face. She squealed with laughter, “I take it he was good, yeah?”

I laughed at her, “Definitely.”

She stopped laughing but still smiled at me, “So what did he get you for Christmas?”

I pointed to the necklace that hung from my neck. She raised an eyebrow and held out her hand. I took it off and she snatched it, inspecting it very closely. She looked confused at first and then she flipped it over, “Awe! Aria! This is so sweet.”

I smirked at her, nodding my head. She handed it back to me and I put it back on. Liam was picking up Niall from the Airport and they should be there any minute so Eleanor and I started putting the snacks together. I asked Eleanor who all was coming and she told me it was just the boys and Danielle and Perrie. Perrie. Great. The door bell rang and Harry answered it. Another group hug went down with Niall. I greated Niall, Danielle, and the rest of the boys as they came through the door. A few minutes later, Perrie came, greeted by Zayn and the other boys. I kept my distance. I still hadn’t told anyone about what she said to me. She caught my eye from across the kitchen, smirking at me. I looked away quickly. Louis began pouring drinks, and I declined. After his birthday party, I had lost all motivation for drinking.

“It’s New Years! You have to drink,” Louis whined.

I shook my head, not changing my mind, “No, Lou. I’d prefer to actually remember my last few nights in London.”

He finally gave up once Eleanor told him to shut it. I smiled at her gratefully and she winked. We all went upstairs to the home theater to watch the fireworks after Big Ben strikes midnight. It was quite different from the New Years back in New York. Niall was shoving his face full of chips, talking to Liam and Danielle. Zayn, Louis, and Harry were chatting and Eleanor went to the restroom, which left me and Perrie. She walked over and sat by me, smiling the whole time. Bitch.

“So, how was your Christmas,” she asked, sipping her wine.

She batted her fake eyelashes and played with her bleach blonde hair. I rolled my eyes. The bitch was fake. I now really understood why I slapped her. The phrase, “A drunken mind speaks a sober heart”, really fit the circumstances. “Fine,” I replied.

She smirked at me again, “So, have you gotten a new job yet?”

I narrowed my eyes at her, “Why does that matter?”

She gave me a sad face, which you could clearly tell was fake, “Come on now, Aria. I’m just trying to get to know you. We have to be nice to each other, remember?”

I sighed heavily, “No. I haven’t”

She sipped her wine again, “You know, you slap pretty hard… Your old boss agrees with me.”

I whipped my head, looking her dead in the eye, “What are you talking about?”

I could practically see the gears turning in her head, “What? I had a nice little chat with Mrs. Kalder over the phone. She wanted to set up an interview with my band, Little Mix, when we are in New York. She read about our little mishap in the club and was just striking up conversation. Nice lady.”

My heart started to race. What has that old bitch told her? “I’m sorry but I’d rather not discuss that with you.”

I started to get up and she grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to the couch, “Aria. Listen to me closely,” she leaned in, “I know. I know everything about your job and what went down. Remember what I told you? One mess up and you’re done. I knew there was something peculiar about you from the moment Zayn told me about how Harry and you met. You seriously thought you could just quit and be done? Think again, babe. You already spilt your little guts to Mrs. Kalder.”

My palms became sweaty and my heart dropped into my stomach. She knows everything, I thought to myself. I knew better than to think it would all just go away. I felt a mixture of things: embarrassment hurt, dirty, but most of all, I felt sad. Sad because it was only a matter of time before this exploded in my face. I would lose everything: Harry, the boys, Eleanor and Danielle, Anne and Robin, and Gemma. But Harry… I couldn’t lose him. He made everything perfect. He made me feel wanted and needed and I knew I could trust him. After this he would never be able to trust me again. I felt like dirt. No, worse than dirt.

I looked Perrie dead in the eye, “What do you want from me,” I whispered.

She snorted at my response, “I want nothing from you. You have nothing I want.”

I was confused, “Then why tell me this at all? Are you going to tell Harry?”

“I won’t need to tell Harry anything. Mrs. Kalder has been working on the New Years addition of Sun-Rise Magazine. Guess what’s on the front page?”

I froze. “What’s in it?”

She smirked at me, “Everything, babe. From all the details you spilled to how you used Harry to get them.”

“I didn’t use Harry. Everything that has happened between us is real. There’s nothing fake about it.”

“Whatever you say, lovely. But once that ball drops in New York, everything you’ve been hiding will come to the surface,” she smiled at me.

She stood up and went over by Zayn and the others. I felt sick to my stomach. What was I going to do? When the clock strikes midnight here, I’ll have only five hours till it would be published. Then I probably had a matter of a few hours after that till he finds out. It will be everywhere: magazines, internet, Twitter. I didn’t have a chance. There was only thirty minutes left until the New Year for London. My world was crumbling at my feet and there was no way to put it back together. I had two options: tell Harry or let him find out the hard way. But I knew that if I let him find out from someone else, it will only make everything that much worse. I just didn’t know how or when to tell him.

I stood up; walking to the man I loved. The one person who truly made me feel happy and made me feel like I was in the right place. I was walking towards my fate, feeling smothered by the emotions over-whelming my body. I knew I was doomed. I knew that this would break me from the beginning but I still kept on. Maybe it was because I was selfish and wanted a little piece of happiness for once. But it wouldn’t last. It couldn’t last. I was about to make this a New Year that neither of us could ever forget, no matter how hard we tried.

Notes

Directioners, this chapter was.... WOW. What do you think about that!? Crazy, right?

1) Did you think Aria would be able to get away with it?

2) Do you think she should wait for Harry to find out or tell him?