Stephanie’s P.O.V.
The thumps were getting louder and the squeaks wouldn’t stop, causing me to wake up. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but the moans echoed in my brain as I got up and slowly moved to Harry’s bedroom, pressing my ear against the wooden door. Someone was having some fun, but it was Harry’s room and I couldn’t contain myself and walked in.
There, on the bed tangled in each other, were Harry and that girl. I believe her name was Jade, although I couldn’t be too sure. The text flashed in my brain with her name signed at the bottom, her picture now a reality. The two stopped what they had started and stared right at me.
“Steph, get out of here!” Harry yelled, his hair in a sweaty mess. “Leave!”
The girl began cackling as she lay underneath Harry, attempting to turn his attention back to her. I quickly ran out of the room and closed the door, my heart tearing to shreds. How could Harry do this to me? How could he just continue with that girl even after he saw me? How could I have ever trusted him?
I raced down the hallway and back to the living room, where I was sleeping for that night. I sat down on the couch and buried my head in my hands, sobbing uncontrollably. I thought he cared about me. I thought he loved me.
“No!” I screamed, causing me to actually wake up this time. I jolted up from the couch and took in some deep breaths, looking around the room. Niall and Rachel were sound asleep on the other couch and Harry was sleeping right next to me, his body curled up where I was lying moments ago. All seemed fine and peaceful.
I leaned back against the couch while my heart calmed down. It was just a dream. More like a nightmare, though, but it was just that. It was all in my head. Besides, Harry would never cheat on me like that. He’s not that kind of guy and he will never be that guy, I will make sure of that.
The sky seemed to be getting brighter, so I grabbed Harry’s phone from the table, which was the closest thing, and checked the time: 4:42. Good, I’ve still got plenty of time to sleep. But as I looked down at his phone again, I noticed that he received another text from an unknown number, and as I stared at the numbers, they looked familiar to me. Oh, no. Please no. Don’t do it, Steph. Don’t do it! But I didn’t listen to my conscience and I unlocked his phone.
She was at it again. She sent him a few more pictures of herself, this time in a bikini and sexy lingerie, her skin tan and perfect. She was beautiful, I’ll give her that, but why would Harry want someone like that? Why would he go for a girl who puts herself out there even though they’re not dating or anything?
“Hey, are you alright?” Harry’s voice asked, causing me to jump. I quickly turned off his phone and faced him.
“Yeah, yeah, I just had a nightmare,” I responded, setting his phone on the table.
“Aw, baby, it’s alright. I’m here,” he yawned, opening his arms. I crawled into them and he threw the covers over us, giving me the feeling of protection. And as I snuggled into him, I realized that this is what she’ll never get. She’ll never know the feeling of just being there with Harry, just lying there doing nothing with his arms wrapped tightly around you just to let you know you’re his.
.
For the next few days, I began to get more and more paranoid. Harry was leaving for longer periods of time without the rest of the boys, but they kept assuring me it was for the band, although he started getting suspicious. He seemed a little more sneaky than usual and whenever I asked him about how the music and recordings were going, he just gave me the usual response of “okay.” He never went in depth about it or told me a story of the day, just “okay.” After a couple of days of that, I started freaking out and had to talk to somebody.
“Is everything alright?” Rachel questioned when I pulled her into the bedroom.
“No, no, everything is not alright,” I replied, pacing the room. She sat on the bed quiet until I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“I think Harry’s cheating on me,” I bursted out, facing her.
“What?!” Rachel exclaimed, her eyes wide. “But-how-what?”
I closed my eyes before going into the story. “When we were still in London, I saw a text that Harry got from a girl named Jade. It wasn’t just a text, but it was a picture, and more specifically, a nude. I didn’t know what to do, so I just kept it to myself. But then, just a few days ago, I had a nightmare where I was watching Harry doing it with her and they caught me and he told me to leave, even though in the nightmare, we technically were together. And then, after I woke up from that, I grabbed his phone just to check the time and I noticed he had another message from her and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I opened it and it was more pictures of her wearing lingerie and I don’t think he deleted the first picture but it’s eating me alive and not only that but he’s usually gone for longer than a normal recording session every day and you guys say it’s because of the band and stuff but I think it’s because he might be seeing her and everything fits and I just don’t know what to do and…”
By the time I finished, I was in tears. Rachel got up and dragged me onto the bed, holding me in her arms and comforting me. It took me a while to calm down but after the first rush of sobs, I kind of felt better.
“I think you should talk to Harry about this,” she advised.
“I know, but I just don’t want to make things worse,” I said.
“Steph, in order to have a good, strong relationship, you need to be talking about your problems to each other. I know how much you don’t want to, but your relationship is just going to fall apart if you don’t have good communication. He might be a little offended at the fact that you’re accusing him of cheating, but if you tell him all of this, he’ll understand where you’re coming from. I don’t know if this is true or not, but you need to tell him. It’s better to know now than later.”
I groaned in response to that. I know you’re supposed to have good communication with your partner but I didn’t want to lose him again, especially over this silly matter. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t trust him either, which is another element that’s needed in a healthy relationship. I hate this.

Rachel’s P.O.V.
I knew Steph wasn’t going to say anything. She was too scared, which I understand, but she shouldn’t be afraid of love, especially when she knows Harry inside and out because of their past. I didn’t want to meddle in their relationship, but if she wasn’t going to do anything about this, I took matters into my own hands. The only thing I was hoping for was to not make their relationship worse.
The next day, before Harry left for his session, I stopped him when he exited the cottage and explained the situation.
“Okay, so I know you have to leave like right now, but I really need to talk to you about something,” I said, walking with him to the house.
“Okay,” he responded.
“Steph thinks you’re cheating on her,” I declared.
“What?!” he exclaimed, stopping in his tracks and facing me.
I nodded. “She saw the pics and everything.”
“Pictures?” he asked.
“The texts…” I tried.
He just looked at me with a blank expression.
“On your phone!” I voiced.
Harry quickly took out his phone from his pocket and swiped the lock screen, giving access to his apps and messages. He tapped on the texts and scrolled through to find the ones from Jade, opening them up.
“Steph knows you’re gone for recordings and stuff, but you’re usually alone and you don’t come back for a long time, longer than a normal session and she thinks you go to see her every day,” I informed.
Harry sighed and looked up at the sky, turning off his phone and shoving it back in his pocket.
“That is definitely not true. First of all, I would never cheat on her. She means the world to me. Second, those pictures are from my ex. Jade was my girlfriend last year, but I broke up with her when I reconnected with Steph and I realized I had feelings for Stephanie. Ever since then, Jade’s been trying to get back together with me but I never loved her so why would I want to? She’s never sent me pictures before, but I hadn’t seen those pictures because my phone never told me I had a new message, which means someone went through my phone and saw those, and my guess is Steph. I’m not mad at her for doing that, if she did, but please don’t get mad at me for not seeing them. And third, about the recording sessions. I’m doing a surprise for Steph and no offense, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but I’m not telling you what it is.”
Harry was breathing heavily after his explanation and we both were silent while he caught his breath. After he calmed down, he grabbed his phone again and started deleting the texts.
“So that’s your ex girlfriend?” I asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed, not glancing up. “We dated for about a few months and then it wasn’t just Stephanie that made me break up with her, but it was also all of this. It was around the time when I auditioned for The X-Factor and I didn’t really have time to give in to the relationship. What really strikes me is that she was never like this, sending me pictures and stuff. I don’t know what changed her, but I’m telling you right now I will never get back together with her.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“Yeah, being with her wasn’t all that great anyways. So, with that being said, I really need to get going,” Harry ended. “Thank you for telling me this, even though Steph should have, but…”
“I tried telling her she should say something to you,” I defended.
“That’s okay, at least I know now. Don’t tell her I’m doing something special for her, but just keep assuring her I’m not cheating on her or anything, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I promise,” I affirmed.
“Thank you!” he replied, walking inside the house. “Bye!”
“Bye, Harry!” I yelled after him, and the door swung shut behind him.
Oh boy. This was turning out to be a bigger mess than I expected. The good thing is that he’s not a player and his reasons seemed legit. I was just hoping that I could convince Steph all of this without blatantly telling her.

Stephanie’s P.O.V.
“Guys, can we please do something tonight? I’m tired of sitting in here every night bored out of my mind,” Louis admitted.
“Where can we go? It’s almost dark and I don’t feel like wandering around at night,” Liam said.
“Why wander around when we can stay here?” I suggested.
“Did you not just hear me, Steph?” Louis implied.
“I mean, why go somewhere else when there’s plenty to do right outside? And what I mean by that is a campfire. There’s a pit right outside and we haven’t had one all summer,” I offered.
“Stephanie, you’re brilliant,” Louis praised. Everyone else agreed and we headed out the door and onto the small patio.
Louis decided he would be the one to start and take care of the fire, so the rest of us gathered everything else we needed. There were only a few chairs around the pit so Zayn and Liam fetched some chairs and matches from inside while Rachel, Niall and I scavenged the backyard for twigs and small sticks to get the fire started. There was a giant pile of wood blocks already chopped up and ready for us to use, but if you’ve ever made a fire, you should know to begin a fire by lighting twigs and small branches.
After gathering plenty of those, Louis carefully placed them into the pit. Zayn and Liam came back with a few chairs and the matches and Louis was able to start the fire, the twigs being engulfed in bright orange flames. We settled into the chairs and let the fire warm us up, even though it wasn’t even cold out.
About 10 minutes later, Gemma bursted from the house and ran across the lawn, yelling my name.
“Steph! Stephanie! Come quickly!” she screamed.
“What? What is it?!” I asked, getting up from my chair as she approached us.
“It’s exciting news! Come on!” she eagerly replied, taking my arm and pulling me to the house.
As soon as I stepped inside, I saw Anne on the phone talking with somebody and Gemma motioned for me to stay put. Anne turned around and noticed me and told the person on the phone to hold on.
“It’s for you,” Anne said, smiling widely and handing me the phone. Me? Who would be calling me?
“Hello?” I hesitantly questioned.
“Steph? It’s your Aunt Christina here,” the other line answered. Oh, my God.
“Oh! Hi!” I responded with more enthusiasm.
“We just wanted to call and let you know that we have made a decision,” she replied. My heart began beating so loud I swear the house was probably shaking. “Harvey and I have agreed to take you in! Welcome to the family, my dear!”
“Oh, my gosh, are you serious?!” I exclaimed, my mouth turning into a smile.
“Yes! We’d love to adopt you and seeing as though you’ve had a tough life with being adopted, we agreed that we will try as best as we can to be the parents you’ve never had. I know you’re going to be 18 next year and you’ll be a legal adult, but we feel that you kind of need a set of stable parents, or at least that’s what we sensed from you. Harry’s family and Rachel’s family seem like great second families for you, but you already explained your position on that, so we want to give you the feeling of a first family, considering Harvey is blood related to you. So, what do you say? Are you still interested?”
“Y-yes, yes, a million times yes!” I shrieked.
“Sounds great! Now, I understand you have the adoption papers?” Aunt Christina questioned.
“Um, yeah, I have them,” I answered.
“Okay, so we’re going to have to meet sometime soon to get this all sorted out. We have to go to the city hall to legalize all the papers and everything, so it might take a while. I’ve never done this before so it’s all new to me! Are you free on Saturday?”
“Yeah, I don’t think we’ve planned anything this Saturday,” I told her.
“Great! How about meeting at my place at noon?” she asked.
“That should work,” I replied.
“Alright! Then I’ll see you at noon on Saturday! We’re really looking forward to having you!” Aunt Christina responded.
“Thank you!” I said.
“Alright, bye bye,” Aunt Christina ended.
“Bye,” I repeated, pressing “end” on the phone and handing it back to Anne.
“Well?” Anne implied.
“I’m in!” I screamed, and hugged her. She hugged back tightly and it lasted for a few long seconds.
“I just can’t believe it,” I breathed.
“It only gets better from here,” Anne smiled.
“I hope so,” I replied.
“It will, trust me,” she responded. “Well, I should get back to cleaning. No matter how much I hate it, it has to be done.”
“Okay,” I giggled, watching her walk down the hallway and up the stairs. I turned around to go out the back door when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” I yelled, flipping my body to face the other way.
“Thank you!” I heard Anne reply from upstairs. I rolled my eyes at her quirky ways and stepped down the hallway, opening the door.
A girl was standing right in front of me with a tight, low-cut, short red dress. Her hair was neatly done in curls that descended the length of her body and her makeup was done perfectly, bright red lipstick matching the color of her dress. Scarlet heels that covered her feet completed her overall look and to be honest, she was dressed to impress. As I glanced at her a little closer, I realized this wasn’t just any ordinary girl.

This was the girl from the pictures on Harry’s phone. Jade.

Notes

I call this one of those chapters that plays with your feelings. It's depressing, yet happy, and then there's a ton of drama. All the stuff you need for an engaging and interesting story :)

Rachel and Stephanie :)