I know how I reacted didn't help the situation. Do you still want to explain and try to resolve what we can? I just don't know how to deal with this anymore.

I stare at her text after reading it a couple of times. Part of me feels relieved, part of me feels quite anxious. I thought she didn't want anything to do with me anymore and I started to frustratingly accept that.

"Was that alright Harry?" Evie asks and I quickly snap my attention back to her. Oh god, I didn't even pay attention. I quickly flip the switch to stop the recording. I look at her and smile.

"Sorry Evie, it was great but are you able to do it again?" I feel so bad as I ask her. Evie nods and smiles as she coughs to clear her throat, I play the track and switch the recording on. I put my phone in my pocket and concentrate on Evie. I can't let my phone distract me this time around, otherwise we'll be doing this all day.

Luckily Evie is naturally a perfectionist when it comes to performing. She doesn't seem to mess anything up, I'm infatuated by the way she sings so flawlessly. Her eyes close as she gets deeper into the song. I can feel her passion in her voice, she's powerful. I'm drawn in on every lyrics she sings, I picture a scene of Stephanie and I as I listen,

In the end we lose it all,
From the game of give and take.
If I have to take another fall,
I know I'm going to break.


What's love if you can't feel?
What's right if it's not real?
Just tell me how you feel
Cos I'm alone tonight,
How's your heart without me?
Do you feel the same thing?
Yeah, Synchronised heartbeats
All alone tonight.

I wait for her to finish, a smile appears on her face as she looks up at me. I put my thumb up to her and smile. Evie takes the headphones off and walks back into the room.

"I've got four more songs Harry, but I've not really practised them." Evie says as she goes through her song sheet.

"That's fine Evie, just guide me through the songs." I reply fondly as I'm pretty happy listening to her, it feels like I can connect with Evie's lyrics and that's when you know you've got a good artist.

---

Stephanie's POV

I stuff my hand bag and grab my coat. I double check mentally the list in my head that I've got everything.
I don't know if I'm thinking right or not, am I insane for feeling so curious and anxious about Harry? He's not text me back and I understand why. He's angry at me too and that's fine, we both have reasons to be mad.

But I know how I reacted wasn't the best way, I could have handled it better and I keep annoying myself as I question 'what if'. What if I just stayed and let him explain? Would he have told Naomi to leave? Would we have worked things out? What if he had reasons that I don't know, what if he isn't in love with Naomi and it meant nothing? What if he's hurting too and we're both just being miserable? What if I just go there and show him I'm prepared to talk one way or another.

"Dad.." I knock on the studio door and I can hear music so he's busy working. I slowly open the door and my Dad looks over at me. "I'm off out." I say loud enough over the music. Dad walks out and nods for me to follow, so I do.

"What's wrong Steph?" He asks as he obviously didn't hear me.

"I'm going to see Harry, I won't be home tonight." I say and I suddenly feel really embarrassed. I don't even know why. I look away from him.

"Right, okay." Dad says a little warily. "How are you getting there?" He asks.

"Train.." I say and he nods suspiciously.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? Will he mind you staying over?" I didn't think my Dad would ask so many questions.

"I don't know, but I can always go to Jed's if not." I answer and Dad nods and put his arm around me.

"If you need anything or Harry isn't ready to talk, call me. I don't mind picking you up if you want to get home." Dad says cooly and I can't believe how laid back he is being. I smile as I hug him back then let go.

"Thanks Dad." I say as I grab my bag, "Right don't want to miss the train, so I'll see you later!" I add and we say goodbye.

My Dad made a really good point about Harry may not be ready to talk, I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

---

Harry's POV

I file Evie's songs ready for Mark to listen. She was brilliant and her songs are indeed genius, I feel quite privileged to have worked with her today. I look at the time and realise it's time I went home. I've done as much as I can of what Mark had left me, hopefully he'll be satisfied with the tape.

"Hey Harry." I jump as Mark walks in, that's the second time today. "How did you get on?" He asks as he starts to rummage through the draws.

"Yeah really well, I've wrote down in the handover book of what I've managed to do. I've filed today's tracks." I say as I stand up and gather my stuff. "Thank you Mark for the bonus, I really didn't expect that." I add and he looks at me and smiles.

"When I'm happy and the business is doing well, I praise my staff. We've done even better because of your songs. So thank you." Mark says as he pats my back happily.

"Well thanks again." I add and Mark nods as he starts to rummage through paperwork.

"Go home Harry, I'll see you tomorrow." Mark says and I quickly take my coat and say goodbye. I'll bank the cheque tomorrow, at least that's going to help with Christmas presents.

I don't hang around by jumping in my car, I can't wait to tell Liam and Louis how well my songs are going. It's nice to have something in my life that's going well.

Once home, I quickly make my way inside. I remember Louis is working later tonight but Liam should be home. I call out as I open the door but I don't get any reply.

"Liam?" I ask and I check all the rooms. No one is here so I quietly take my coat off and place it on my bed. I take the cheque out and I put it in my chest of draws as I really don't want to lose that.

"Hello?" I hear Liam call, I quickly walk out my room to meet him in the hallway.

"I wondered where you were, it's strange coming back and the place is empty." I smile as he takes off his coat and shoes.

"Yeah traffic from town was stupid." He rolls his eyes and we walk into the kitchen. "Want a coffee?" He asks me as I jump up onto the counter, I used to do this as a kid but Mum would always tell me off 'It's not a seat Harry.' She used to get so fed up.

"I'll have a strong one please." I answer and Liam nods. "I had a bonus at work today, because my songs are doing well." I say proudly. Liam looks over to me and smiles.

"That's awesome Harry, good on you." Liam answers and his phone starts to ring. He takes it from his pocket and answers. I watch him as he listens carefully to the caller. His eyes widen and he starts to say thank you alot, obviously some good news has arrived for him.
I watch him as he ends the call and looks to me smiling.

"I've got a gig in knightsbridge next saturday, Mark has arranged for me to meet someone" Liam expains and I congratulate him, I know how fond Mark is of him. "Man that's going to be intense." He adds.

"But you'll be as good as you always are." I smile and he thanks me.
I walk to the freezer and take out a couple of pizzas, Louis can have his cold as he doesn't care how food comes.

"You okay with pizza?" I check and Liam nods as I take them out of the packaging.

"Shall I take your coffee into the living room?" Liam asks and I reply with a yes, I quickly set the timer on the oven and follow Liam.

"All these bloody lights." Liam laughs as he switches all the Christmas lights on. Louis has certainly made it look like a grotto. He even bought penguins that light up and has placed them under the tree on fake snow. Just as we sit down the buzzer goes, I get up and walk towards the door. It can't be Louis as he has his keys.

"Hello?" I ask as I hold the button down.

"It's me.." Those two words coming from her makes me feel really nervous. Why is she here?

"It's open." I say as I let go of the buzzer and I wait by the door. Fuck, I look like shit and haven't showered yet.

"Who is it?" Liam asks as he walks towards me. I run a hand through my hair as I look at him and bite my lip.

"It's Steph.." I whisper and Liam's eyes widen. He and Louis have always said they'd like to meet Steph one day, I didn't think it would be like this.
I open the inner door and my heart nearly stops as I come face to face with Steph.

"Hey.." I say as I instantly become nervous by her presence.

"Hi.." She says as she bites on her lip, she's nervous too and it's so hot when she bites her lip. I open the door wider and let her in, as she walks in Liam is already introducing himself to her. Luckily she's still not really annoyed as she's being polite to Liam.

"Well it's great to finally meet you Stephanie. I'll leave you two to it." Liam smiles and he walks back into the living room and closes the door.

I turn to Stephanie and my heart just sinks as I admire her beauty. This girl once was so happy and always smiling, this girl once was mine. Fuck sake.

"What made you-" I stop as she reaches up and presses her finger to my lips. My eyes widen as I've no idea how this is going go.

"You never text me back.." She whispers in my ear. Oh shit, I completely forgot she text me. I got to speak but she shakes her head cutting me off. "I don't want to talk yet." She says as she gets closer to me, her face becomes inches from mine. "I want you to make me feel like you used too." She whispers seductively taking me by such surprise. This isn't what I was expecting. I was trying to prepare myself for being shouted at and to be reminded how much of a dick I am.

""Steph.." I mumble as I'm so tempted now to just to kiss her and feel her like I used too. But I can smell alcohol on her breath, I don't want to be a drunken mistake. "You've been drinking." I say as I pull away.

"Not enough, I'm sober as they come." She says as she reaches up and puts her arms around my neck. "Honestly.." She says looking into my eyes. I hesitantly watch her and she just keeps her focus on me, I've seen a drunk Stephanie. She can't walk properly and she always slurrs her words. So, I believe her that she's not fully drunk and aware enough to know what she's doing.

"I don't get it." I whisper as I wrap my arms around her, completely puzzled by her behaviour and change of heart, I just go along with it. I love having my arms around her, I pull her closely into me.

"Just stop talking." She snaps as she kisses me and her hands start to roam through my hair. I quietly groan as I've wanted her for so long.

"Not here, Liam's in there." I whisper as I kiss her neck. I remove her hands from my hair and guide her to my bedroom. As soon as we shut the door she pins me up against the wall. I'm literally aching for her as I've never witnessed forceful Stephanie before.

She quickly tugs at the bottom of my shirt and I feel her slowly move to the buttons. I've never felt so alive, so needy and so turned on. I just want to rip everything off her, my patience is beginning to ware off.

I take hold of her and spin her round so she's up against the wall. I kiss her neck again and she let's out a moan, I feel myself getting closer and closer to just wanting her.
So I roughly begin to remove her coat and I'm met with a little black laced dress. What is she trying to do to me? I lift it up and she helps remove the dress, I've missed this so bad. Nothing or no one compares to Stephanie.

"I want you, now." She says sternly and for me, she doesn't have to say no more. I pull her tights off and throw them to the side. then she bends down and roughly pulls my jeans down. I remove my shirt as she's already undone the buttons. I stop as I just gaze mesmerised by her familiar body. She suddenly grabs me by the neck kissing me harder than before and lowers herself down on to my bed. I take off my boxers as she removes her underwear.

"This doesn't mean I've forgiven you by the way." Stephanie says and I stop as I look down at her. Her words kill everything that I've just built up. All the excitement has just faded away, slipping completely through my fingers.

"Then why are we doing this?" I ask as I climb off her and I sit on the edge of the bed. She sits behind me and I look at her over my shoulder. Is this a test? Is she just using me to get back at me?

"Because I said I want you to make me feel like you used too. I don't want to talk, not yet. I need to know that you can make me weak and needy like before." She says and I feel her hands slowly massage into my back, I let my head fall forward and I close my eyes at her touch.

"So this is just a fuck me now and then we will sort it out after?"I ask and I look back up, she continues to rub my back.

"No, this is a fuck me now as I need you Harry. Then we can talk." Her words start to bring back a little bit of excitement, but I still don't get it. "You were an idiot, an absolute idiot Harry. I hated what you did to me, so I want you to make me feel like you did before. Make me weak, me ache for you. Make me remember what we had." She says as she starts to kiss my shoulder. This really is not the Stephanie I was expecting here in my bedroom. I at least thought she'd be tearing my room apart.

"I can make you feel good, but is this going to be angry sex? Or make up sex?" I ask as I turn my position to her, she drops her hands and my eyes widen as she takes off her bra.

"Let's say this is 'I hate you for what you did to me sex' how about that?" She says as she wraps her arms around my neck and I lean forward pulling her into me. She's doing it to me again, luring me in and I'm back to wanting her like before. Thank fuck.

---

Stephanie's POV

I look to Harry as he rolls on to the side of the bed. He's panting heavily and I am too. I can't believe I actually did it, I never thought I'd have the confidence to come here and try to lead the dominant role, good job the vodka I bought gave me some dutch courage.
I'm obviously not over what happened and I've certainly not forgiven Harry for how things have gone. But I've played my part too and now I know that I'm responsible to fight for us just as much as Harry is.

"So where does this leave us?" Harry asks warily as he stands up and starts to get dressed. I pull the duvet over me as I watch his perfect toned body. "Steph?" He asks with a smirk on his face.

"I'm not sure." I say as I look away from him, "I can't lie and say I'm okay because I'm not. What you did was hurtful but I didn't exactly help the situation. It's my fault we've been going in slow motion." I say as I look back at him.

"What I did was stupid, I wasn't thinking properly. I thought I was losing you and I didn't know how to deal with that. I just tried to accept that you were moving on." Harry says as he sits down on the bed. I shake my head as I look away from him.

"I never said I wanted to move on, I just wanted to sort myself out before trying again with you. I knew if I wasn't myself then I wouldn't put the right amount of effort into us. You didn't deserve that." I sigh as I look away again ashamed that we let ourselves do this to each other.

"Maybe I should have been a bit more understanding. I just wanted you back so badly that I just couldn't understand why you'd wait." Harry says as he stands up and he picks up all of my clothing. He places it next to me on the bed. I thank him as I start to get dressed, he turns away from me and sits at the end of the bed. "I'm so sorry Stephanie."

"We'd be naive to think that everything is going to be okay, because it's not. We have alot of things to discuss for us to change." I say and he looks at me and smiles. "Harry, you've got to take this seriously." I snap and he nods and puts his hands up.

"I am, I'm just so bloody grateful that you're here and you're giving me a chance. I never thought I'd get you back" He laughs awkwardly.

"I'm here because I believe that I should fight for you too. But that doesn't mean this will necessarily work, but all we can do is try." I say sternly so he can understand things aren't just going to bounce back to how they used to be.

"I know. Sorry.." He sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. I look down at my outfit as this dress is quite short but I needed the confidence boost. As much as Harry did make me feel like he used to, I don't think I could ever be so seductive again.

"Knock knock.." I look to Harry as a male voice speaks behind the door.

"Louis I'll be out in a minute.." Harry says but Louis ignores him and the bedroom door opens.

"Well it must be safe because there's no screaming." I look to see an attractive guy walk in. His voice is a little more high pitched than Harry's, but by the way he talks he's definitely just as cheeky. "You must be Stephanie!" He says excitedly as his eyes falls on me.

"Yes, nice to meet you." I smile and he leans forward and kisses my cheek.

"And you, at long last." He smirks and he doesn't exactly discreet his wink to Harry. I look down trying not to smile. This situation is frustrating, I'm trying to be serious with Harry but Louis interrupting us like this isn't easy to stay stern.

"Okay, now go!" Harry snaps as he pushes Louis to the door. Louis looks over Harry's shoulder to me,

"He's a prick for what he did, but he's obsessed with you Stephanie!" I look at him as he tries to fight Harry, but he's getting pushed more and more of the room. "In a good way that is! He loves you!!" and then the door closes and Harry looks at me and closes his eyes. I can't help but smile.

"I'm so sorry.." Harry says as he shakes his head and opens his eyes. "Do you want to go our for a drink and talk privately?" He asks and he genuinely looks embarrassed by Louis.

"Okay.."

Notes

Hello everyone,
I hope you all like this chapter, thank you to everyone who has been leaving me comments and feedback! I really appreciate it.
Part of this chapter is for softballchick79, Sorry I don't write scenes as amazingly as you do when it comes to smut! But I hope you liked the idea anyway! I couldn't ignore your suggestion.

Please continue to leave me feedback as I love to hear what you think and you're finding the story!