***Harry Styles***
Saturday, July 14th, 2012 – North London, England

I burst out the front door of mine and Louis’s place, duffle bag in hand, my face a mess of tears as I jumped in my car. I sped to Liam’s. I didn’t know where else to go. He was level headed and had gone through this with Danielle. I parked in front of his house and banged excessively on his front door until he answered, in a panic.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed. I just shook my head and fell against him, crying. He wrapped his arms around me, shutting the door behind us as he pulled me inside. “Harry, what happened?” he asked firmly, and I could hear the worry in his voice.

“We broke up,” I sobbed. “For good this time.” I buried my face in Liam’s neck.

“Oh, Harry,” he gasped, rubbing my back.

“Harry?” I heard Zayn’s voice from behind me and turned to see him and Niall standing there. “What happened?” Zayn asked. I just shook my head, leaning against Liam for support. “Where’s Louis?” Zayn continued.

“At the house,” I choked out. Zayn and Liam had a conversation with their eyes.

“I’m gonna go make sure he’s alright,” Zayn said as he walked past me, but he paused to hug me. “You’ll be okay here?” he asked me. I nodded, and Zayn left. Liam walked me over to the couch, then he and Niall sat down on either side of me.

“What happened?” Liam repeated.

“We just – we can’t agree,” was all I could say, wishing they could read my mind so I wouldn’t have to go into details.

“Harry, you guys disagree a lot,” Niall reminded me.

“Yeah, are you sure it was a break up and not just a fight?” Liam questioned.

“It wasn’t even a fight, not really,” I shook my head. “More like a conversation. Like a really, really bad conversation.” I began to sob all over again, and Liam and Niall sat with their arms tightly around me for a really long time. Finally, when I could speak, I gave them a short version of what had happened. “I just don’t know what to do,” I cried when I was finished.

“Harry,” Liam said, in his authoritative voice. “I’m going to say this for your own good, but, just look at it from Louis’s perspective for a minute, okay?” I didn’t say anything, so he kept going. “He’s feeling stifled not only from Management, but also from you. To him, it probably seems like you actually do want to hide your relationship, not just that you have to. He just needs to be reassured that you love him as much as he loves you.”

“Damn it, whose side are you on, Liam?!” I demanded, jumping to my feet.

“I’m on Larry’s side,” he replied, calmly. “But, help me understand. If you guys weren’t famous or in the public eye or anything, would you be okay coming out in public?”

“No, probably not,” I admitted, defeated, and I sat back down. Niall put his arm around me.

“Why not?” Liam expressed.

“You guys didn’t see the looks on Louis’s parents faces when he told them he was gay,” I shook my head. “It was heart wrenching. They were so disgusted. And Louis wants me to go the whole rest of my life purposefully welcoming that kind of judgment day in and day out?”

“Okay, but think about how Louis felt,” Liam said. “That was his family. And he got through it, right? Not everyone is going to react like that. We didn’t, and neither did your family, and it sure sounds like a lot of our fans wouldn’t either. I understand that Management won’t let you come out, but it sounds like you’re happy with their decision, and Louis’s not so much.”

“Why do you keep defending him?” I stood up again. I couldn’t control my thoughts, or my feelings, or my emotions. “He’s the one that broke my heart!”

“Harry,” Liam stood to his feet as well. “I love both of you, okay?” He made to give me a hug, but I pulled away from him.

“I came over here because I thought you would make it better, Liam, not worse!” I exclaimed. I saw the hurt on his face when I said that, but I pretended not to care.

“Harry,” Niall said sympathetically, then came over and gave me a hug. I let him, and it wasn’t long before I was sobbing into his shoulder.