Harry's POV
I sit on the kitchen counter as I look at Louis. Stephanie has been talking to Liam for about fifteen minutes now, luckily she hasn't noticed how long I have been. But I just needed to tell someone how tonight went, that ended up being Louis because I'd rather leave Stephanie in a room with Liam.

"You don't seem very happy about the outcome?" Louis asks and I look away. I am happy, I've waited a long time to finally get this close to getting Stephanie back. But I haven't given myself a chance to think things through, I need to make sure this time around I don't fuck up.

"I am, it's just all happened so fast. I'm glad she's back in my life." I answer and Louis smiles.

"She's gorgeous." Louis says and his eyes widen as he looks at me. It's weird to hear my best mate calling Stephanie that, but I guess I should feel proud as she's sort of mine.

"She is.." I agree and I look away. "I just wish she could see it too." I add and Louis walk's tongue fridge and grabs us both a bottle of beer.

"Just enjoy her being here and enjoy having her back. You've wanted this for ages so just make it fun. Do crazy things, have fun day outs, just don't be so serious. It will lighten you both up." Louis says as he leans back on the counter and starts to drink.

"That's a good point actually." I say as I down a bit of my drink. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. "We need more fun, So I'm going to make sure we do exactly that" I add and Louis nods whilst smiling.

"What's taking you so Long?" Liam asks confused as he walks into the kitchen. Louis and I both look at him and I instantly explain how we just talking.

"We'll come in now." Louis says as he takes a bottle of wine of the fridge. I look at him and frown as none of us drink wine.

"When did we get that?" I ask and Louis hold it up and looks to me.

"Oh, this came free with the Chinese food we had the other day." He says with a smile. Liam takes a beer from the fridge and takes a wine glass from the cupboard and we follow Louis into the living room.

Stephanie is sat on her own, looking in the direction of the Christmas tree. I start to feel a little bit bad for leaving her, so I sit down and I put my arm around her as Louis pours her a glass of wine. She looks at me and smiles.

"There you go Steph. Can I call you Steph?" Louis asks as he hands her the glass. She looks up to him and smiles.

"Yes of course. Thank you." She says as she sips the wine slowly. I look at her as Liam and Louis both start to ask her a couple of questions, she doesn't seem to mind and I suddenly start to feel proud. I'm glad she's with me, I can see how fond these two are becoming.

"So Steph, don't you have a nice friend?" Louis smirks as he asks her. Stephanie smiles as she thinks, oh god.

"Don't answer him" I say as I look at her, she looks at me and bites her lip trying not to laugh.

"What? Every girl I seem to find works out to be emotional and clingy and I'm not good with that." Louis says and Stephanie turns to look at him.

"Every girl has emotion, okay some show more than others. Maybe they become clingy because you don't give much attention?" Stephanie asks and Louis raises his eyebrows as he nods.

"I do give attention, but I've not found a girl where I look at her and I think 'she's the one I've been waiting for' I really want to find that." Louis sighs as he looks deeply at Stephanie. I look to Liam and he too looks just as surprised as I do. We've never heard Louis say something like that before. He's very quiet in that respect when it comes to his personal life.

"She will come along when you least expect her too." Steph says and Louis nods. I look away as I never realised Louis was so bothered about not finding 'the one'.

"I hope so." Louis smiles and I look up to him as he looks away from Stephanie and drinks the rest of his beer. I nudge Stephanie and ask her if she wants to go. She shrugs so I stand up and I take her hand.

"See you in the morning." I say as I look to Louis then to Liam. Stephanie says goodbye as I guide her out of the room.

"Harry?" Louis calls and I stop at the door. "Remember, don't be silly wrap your willy." He smirks and I shake my head and walk to my room.

"What's wrong?" Steph asks as she looks at me and I sit on the bed. Truth is I'm not really sure what's wrong. As she sits next to me, I look at her. "Tell me"

"All I want is for us to be happy, but I can't help feel there's something missing." I say as I look to the floor. How can this be happening to me? I've wanted us to try again for so long and now I'm not feeling like I thought I would.

"It's because things are still a little fresh. I noticed you weren't yourself too. It will get better." Steph says and her words surprise me. I smile as I lean my head on her shoulder, she softly tilts her head onto mine.
"I love you Harry" She whispers and I gently move away from her.

"I love you too." I reply as I look into her eyes. She smiles and I take her hand, this girl is everything I've ever needed and wanted. My heart literally dances at her. I just hope we can get some excitement back and feel like we used too.

"I'm glad I didn't lose you for good." I say and I lean forward and kiss her, as she kisses me back I move my hand to her back, gently pulling her closer to me.

---

Stephanie's POV

Getting ready to say goodbye to Harry is harder than its ever been. I want to stay with him and continue working on us like we have agreed, but I know I have to get back home at some point.

Louis and Liam have been lovely and I'm grateful to how accepting they have been of me. Harry's very lucky for who he lives with.

"Hey, I made pancakes if your hungry?" Harry says as he walks into his room, I look at him as I finish off brushing my hair.

"Yeah, thank you." I smile as I put Harry's brush down on the bed side table and I follow him into the kitchen. "Where's Liam and Louis?" I ask as I sit down at the table and Harry places the pancakes down. I thank him before he answers me,

"Both at work today, I called in and have taken a holiday for today." He says as he sits down opposite me.

"You didn't have to do that." I say as I smile at him. It's sweet that he's put the effort in.

"Well, I thought I'd spend a bit more time with you. I'll drive you back and I'll leave later tonight." Harry says and I shake my head as I can't expect him to drive me back to Cheshire. "Honestly, it's fine." He adds.

"Okay, only if you're sure." I answer as I take a bite of my pancake. I look at Harry, "Why have you never cooked me pancakes before?" I ask as I take another bite. Harry smirks as he watches me.

"Well our new start means new things." Harry smirks proudly.

"I like the sound of that." I say as we continue to eat.

The drive back home didn't take too long, it was good because Harry and I managed to exchange some ideas about how we can improve our future relationship and to try and make it more carefree. We both agreed that we may take things a little too seriously, we just need to let our hair down more often.

I look to Harry as we pull up into my drive. I wish I could have stayed longer with him in London, unfortunately we have to get back to reality.

"I'll come in for a bit like I said." Harry says as he takes off his seat belt. I nod as I do the same and I step out.

Having Harry coming back here is slightly weird. I realise we are home alone so I can't resist bringing Harry into the studio. I sit him down on the chair and I quickly look for the song I heard.

"What are you doing?" He asks with a smile on his face. I glance at him and smile as I press play, he frowns as soon as he hears the music and recognises it straight away. He shakes his head smiling.

"The lyrics are beautiful." I say as I sit on the desk, he looks up at me and nods.

"I had to use the age eighteen. I couldn't use eight or ten, it didn't have enough syllables. So I thought eight plus ten equals eighteen." Harry winks as he smirks, I laugh at his explanation of the song title. "And there you have it."

"The way you open up in the lyrics, I just fell in love all over again." I say as I look away from him. "I know we're supposed to be taking things slow, but I just needed to let you know that I heard the song. I loved the song." I add and Harry gently lifts my chin up and my eyes meet his.

"Good. Because I meant every single word of those lyrics Steph. I know we're supposed to be taking things slow and not jumping into anything, but I can't wait to start again." He answers and I nod agreeing with him.

We both feel scared and anxious about what the future may hold, but we've learnt a few things about each other and we will just keep learning as the days go by.

"I didn't think you were so eager to start again, I got the impression you weren't bothered when Louis and Liam asked about us." I say and I sort of wish I never brought this up, but it's been playing on my mind.

"Don't be silly, of course I'm bothered. Last night was still a bit sore from our chat and I didn't really want to go into it too much. I always think that sleeping on awkward situations always lighten up the next day." I smile at his answer as I feel relieved.

"Thank you Harry." I say as I lean towards him and kiss his cheek.

"For what?" He asks a little puzzled.

"For coming back into my life." I say and he just smiles. I know I don't feel completely over what happened, but I'm trying my hardest to just get on with it and to be happy. How hard can it be to start fresh?

Notes

I know this chapter is short, I'm sorry!
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