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

I was still crying on Niall’s shoulder when Zayn came back. He walked inside, a grim look on his face.

“Is Louis okay?” Liam, who I was still upset with, asked Zayn.

“No, and now he’s pissed at me for defending Harry,” Zayn muttered.

“Yeah, well, Harry’s pissed at me for defending Louis,” Liam replied.

“I’m in the room, you know,” I reminded him, pulling away from Niall.

“Guys,” Niall said, hating the tension.

“Maybe I should talk to Harry and you should talk to Louis?” Zayn suggested to Liam.

“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Liam said. But then the front door opened, and Louis was standing there, clearly surprised to see the rest of us – especially me – there. He made to turn around and leave but Liam ran over and grabbed his arm, pulling him inside and shutting the door. My heart sank when I noticed Louis was wearing long sleeves in the middle of July. Liam must have thought something was weird, too, because he rolled the sleeve of the arm he was holding up to reveal a bandage on Louis’s wrist. I looked away and closed my eyes, knowing that that was my fault on so many levels. “Oh, Louis,” Liam said, and took Louis in his arms. I hated seeing that. I hated seeing someone else hug my boyfriend – er, ex boyfriend. But still, if I couldn’t have Louis, I didn’t want anyone else to, either.

“What the hell, Louis?” Niall asked. We all looked at him, surprised. He was never assertive. “Trying to slice your wrist open? How is that going to help?”

“Well, normally I try my hip, but…” Louis trailed off from his lame attempt at a joke.

“Is this what you guys do all day?” Zayn asked, clearly still miffed that Louis was angry with him, although he didn’t sound surprised to see the bandage on Louis’s arm. “Just sit at home and encourage each other to cut? Now that I think about it, maybe you are better off being broken up.”

“Zayn,” Liam scolded.

“Unbelievable,” I muttered under my breath. “Way to judge, Zayn.”

“I’m sorry,” Zayn said, although he didn’t sound sorry in the least, “but it’s like I don’t even know you guys anymore. I mean, first you hide your relationship from us for a month, and then we find out that Harry cuts every time you guys fight – which is pretty damn often, as far as I can tell, and now, what, half a year later we find out Louis cuts too? What’s next, guys? Suicide attempts?”

“Don’t joke like that,” Niall told Zayn.

“We’re not suicidal,” Louis said.

“We’re not a ‘we’ anymore, Louis,” I spat.

“And when did it become us versus them?” Liam asked Zayn.

“It’s always been that way,” Niall said, quietly. “Even before they started dating. It was always Harry and Louis, then the rest of us.”

“That is not true,” Louis said.

“And it sure as hell won’t be from now on, either,” I added. This whole time, though, Louis and I still hadn’t been able to look each other in the eye.