Stephanie's POV
I sit at my computer desk, thinking about Niall and how today he leaves for Ireland. I feel awful that things ended the way they did, I should never have got involved with him but I really thought he could make me happy. He was supposed to go tomorrow but for some reason his Mum got his flight today. I wish I could day goodbye to him, but I'm not sure he'd appreciate me being one of the last people he sees.

There's no point in sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I need to try and distract my brain from guys as they seem to be driving me mad lately.

I walk towards my bedroom door and a gentle knock makes me stop. I lean forward and open the door to be greeted with Niall. I quietly gasp at him in shock. He stands with his hands in his pocket and he smiles.

"Got a minute?" He asks and I nod my head and signal for him to come inside. I close the door behind him.

"I thought you were leaving?" I ask and he nods as he sits down and looks up at me.

"I am, I've got about five minutes spare so I can't stay long." He answers and I nod as I sit down next to him.
"I hope you don't mind me being here, your Mum let me in." He adds and I can't believe he's here.

"No of course I don't, I'm really glad you're here Niall." I say and he looks away and nods.

"I didn't want to leave with us on bad terms because I care about you a lot. I'm still annoyed and feel completely shit about how things turned out." He says as he looks at me. "It will take a while to become friends, only because the feelings I have for you are quite strong." He adds and I look away as I feel so guilty.

"I'm sorry Niall, I really am." I mumble, he gently nudges me and I look up to him, he smiles sweetly.

"I know you are, I appreciate you being honest with me. I know how easy it is to be tempted and you could have easily gone behind my back with Harry.." He explains and I shake my head.

"I'd never do that to you.." I say as that thought alone depresses me. I respect Niall far too much. He smiles and nods.

"I know, that's why I'm here." Niall adds and I smile appreciatively. He glances down at his watch and looks at me. "I better go, can't be late." He says as he stands up.

"Niall," I say as I stand up and he looks at me. "Thank you." I add as I lean in and kiss his cheek.

"See you soon." He says as he opens the door and I walk behind him down the stairs. "Look after yourself." He adds as we reach the front door.

"You too.." I say as he opens the door and leaves.I feel a lump form in my throat as I think of Niall leaving to go home. He's such a nice guy and anyone who ends up finding him, will be extremely lucky.

"You okay?" Mum says as she appears beside me. I look at her and nod, I can't exactly tell her everything that's going on. She wouldn't understand, she always used to say that no one my age knows what love is, I hated it when she would say I was too young to understand.

"I'm fine." I say as I go to walk away but she sighs and tells me there's something she wants to ask me, so I stop and I look at her. "What is it?" I ask impatiently as I just want some time to myself.

"I've asked Anne if she'd like to come round Christmas day, in the evening. Have nibbles and drinks with us." She says and I can't help but frown at her.

"Anne is fine, why are telling me as if I wouldn't be happy about that?" I don't know why she'd think I'd fund Anne a problem, just because she's Harry's Mum doesn't make me feel awkward about her.

"Well, Harry's coming home Christmas day for a couple of days. So he and Gemma would come along too and Des." Okay now I'm really confused.

"How could you possibly think it would be okay for Harry to come here? And I thought Anne and Des have split up?" I ask as I feel I've been living in a different world to her.

"They have, but they see each other Christmas day, they're mature adults Stephanie. Christmas is about family." Mum says and I instantly feel like she's trying to patronise me.

"If it's about family then why aren't you taking into account that I'm not going to be over the moon about spending Christmas with Harry!" I snap and my Dad suddenly appears. "Did you know about this? About Harry coming here on Christmas freaking day?!" I shout as I ask him.

"Steph.. Come sit down." Dad says and I shake my head as I really don't want to sit down. "Now Steph." my Dad snaps, I sigh as I really want to stand up to him, but I can tell he's not in the mood today.

"Fine." I snap and I follow them into the living room. I sit opposite them and my Mum looks at me with a stern look.

"Stephanie, you need to tell me what this is really about. I know you're not against Harry as much as you make out, otherwise you wouldn't have gone to his at the weekend." Mum says and my heart starts to race through embarrassment. How the hell does she know what I got up to at the weekend in London?

"You're Mother went to see Harry yesterday, truth is we've been so worried about you. It seems that Harry's the only one who really knows what's gone on with you." Dad says and I have no words.

My mother goes behind my back to see my ex boyfriend to talk about me, how messed up is that?
I have to look away from them as I can't control all these feelings that I'm suddenly feeling.

"Harry knows nothing about me." I say through gritted teeth as I start to get wound up.

"Well he seemed to know the reason to why you were suspended from college." Mum says and I look away. "So can we get to the real problem here?" She sighs and I can't believe they are trying to get me to talk about this. "Come on Steph, your not a fighter, but that's why you've been suspended. Plus the fight was with Amy.."

"Fine, okay! You really want to know what's going on with me right now? I'm so messed up in the head, I can barely think straight. I can't seem to get over Harry no matter how hard I try. I screw everything up that walks into my life, like Niall who would give everything to me, but somehow he still wasn't enough." I snap and I stand up. I start to pace the room.
"I had a best friend who wanted to sleep with my boyfriend. So I've lost the one person I thought I could trust the most. I'm also doing a college course that I hate! So everything right now is a bit of a mess." I stop as they both look at me a little taken back by my outburst.

"I think the worst part of it all is you seemed to think it was okay to go and see Harry, without even letting me know. That boy has so much control over me you don't even realise. Having him here at Christmas is going to be so hard, he's what I want so bad but I can't have." I sigh as I stop and look at them. My Dad looks a little out of his comfort zone and I don't blame him. My Mum however looks a little more sympathetic.

"I'll go and make us some drinks." Dad says as he gets up and leaves. I sigh as I sit down next to Mum.

"Honey, I never realised you felt that way. Why have you bottled all of this up?" Mum asks and I shrug as I look away. There's only so many times I can explain myself.

"I didn't think you'd want to know." I say as I continue to look away from her.

"Of course I do. Your my daughter and I always want to be there to help you, no matter what it is." I look at Mum and her eyes are beginning to water. "I hate that you've been keeping all of this in." She adds.

"Don't get upset,I'll be okay. I guess I over reacted but if you want them to come over on Christmas then do it. Just because I have my issues, it shouldn't stop your plans." I say and my Mum puts her arm around me.

"Only if it's okay with you, I said to Anne I'd check with you first." She says and I stay quiet and just nod.

"It's fine." I say and I think about Harry. Part of me secretly feels happy that I'll be seeing him but the other part of me knows it's going to be so hard.

"About college.." My Mum starts and I quickly sit up straight. "if it's really getting you down, then quit." She adds and I can't believe my Mum is saying this.
"All we want for you is to be happy and if your course is bringing you down, then don't do it." She adds. I know how hard that must be for her to say this. I smile and immediately thank her.

"I think I'll go and have a lie down." I say as I stand up and look to my Mum. "Thank you for the talk." I add.

"I'm here anytime Steph." She says and I smile.

---

Harry's POV

"Liam that was awesome!" I cheer as Liam looks at me through the glass smiling. I turn to Mark and he looks at me with the biggest smile.

"Good move Styles." Mark says and he looks to Liam who is now standing behind me. "That was very impressive Liam"

"Really? Thanks." Liam smiles as he looks to me then to Mark. Mark starts explain how he wants to send Liam's demo off. I feel pleased for him as if anyone deserves this it's Liam.

"I still think you should let me send your demo off too." Mark says as he looks at me and raises his eyebrows.

"I appreciate that, but I just don't see myself as a singer Mark." I sigh as I get a feeling he's really not going to give up.

"I've tried to tell him before that he can sing, but he wasn't having any of it." Liam says as he looks to Mark. I roll my eyes as I can't be bothered with them trying gang up together.

"Liam, you're going to be late for work." I say as I interupt them. Liam looks at the clock and nods as he doesn't have much to time get to work now Mark's made him sing several times.

"Well thank you so much for letting me do that." Liam says as he shakes Mark's hand.

"No problem, thanks for doing it." Mark smiles. He looks to me and signals for me to go, "Go on, it's quiet today, go have a day to yourself." He adds and I can't help but quickly jump up out of my seat.

"Are you sure?" I check as I put my coat on and Mark nods. "Cheers Bud" I say as Liam and I say bye to him and walk out.

"Mark's a cool guy" Liam smiles as we walk to my car.

"I know. He's a good boss." I smile and I unlock my car. Liam starts to say bye but I quickly cut him off. "Jump in, I've got nothing to do now so I'll take you to work." I suggest and Liam smiles.

"Okay, cheers." He says as he opens the door and climbs in. "So how's thing with you mate?" He asks.

"Well Louise ended up agreeing to meet me tonight. I said I really wanted to talk to her and see her. I think I owe her a decent explanation rather than just brushing her off" I say and I can see Liam nodding from the corner of my eye.

"I think that's good of you mate, so what's happening with the whole Steph situation?" He asks, just by the mention of her name I feel different as if my heart feels a little more vulnerable.

"We're just on talking terms, I'm desperate to see her though mate. I just have to play it cool because of Niall. " I sigh and Liam looks at me.

"You really can't move on can you?" He asks and I shake my head as I glance at him.

"No matter how hard I try." I answer and the truth is, I was doing okay before I seen her but when I saw her at Jed's, all those feelings came flooding back as if they never went away.

"I hope things go your way mate." Liam says and I nod in agreement. The thing is I keep wanting Stephanie but I'm not sure if I'll ever get her back by being in London. That thought makes me feel nauseous.

"I'll see you tonight." I say as I pull up outside Liam's work, he looks at me and nods.

"Cheers for the lift." Liam says as he opens the door and steps out. I wave to him but stop as my phone goes off. I quickly take my phone and read a text from Stephanie:

I think we need to talk, especially if you're coming here for Christmas. X

Christmas at Steph's? What the hell is she on about?! I quickly text her back:

I'll be home in about twenty minutes, I'll call you. X

I place my phone on the passenger seat and I begin to drive off with Steph's words going round and round in my head.

Notes

Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all okay and well!
Really hope you like this Chapter, it's about time Stephanie has finally told someone how she's feeling! Let's hope she can start clearing that head of hers.

Please let me know what you think as I appreciate all feedback!

xx