Emily's POV

I look at Holly pleading that somehow Louis is right, can we save our friendship? Will she forgive me with the truth? The way she's sternly looking at me makes me feel so nervous I don't know what to say. Where do I even start?

"This is a waste of time." Holly sighs and I quickly look up at her as she stands up.

"Wait." I say quickly and she looks at me, I clear my throat, "Maybe we should just talk and then we can decide if it's a waste of time." I add and Holly hesitantly looks away from me.

"So talk.." Holly says as she folds her arms tightly across her chest. I look away as I start to explain about Max and how our relationship was. She slowly sits down, her face still serious as she looks at me whilst listening.

"My relationship with Max wasn't how it seemed." I say and Holly frowns, "I was stuck, with no way out." I add and Holly doesn't look impressed. Maybe she thinks I'm trying to find an excuse? Maybe she won't take this how I expect her too.

"Stuck?" She mimics me and I nod.

"Max is violent and I got caught up in his ways. I thought that my relationship with him was normal. I grew used to it, I didn't think any different and somehow I thought it was my fault. I deserved it." I look down at the oak table, I can't look at her as this is hard for me to tell her. I never thought I'd struggle so much.

"Are you saying he hurt you?" She asks and I don't look up, I just freeze as I hate having flashbacks in my head. "Emily.." She snaps to get my attention.

"I never meant to hurt you, all I wanted was someone to make me feel loved. At first Louis was a bit of a fun, you know that. Our bet was harmless at the time but I couldn't tell you that I fell for him, I needed him to take me away and let me love him. All I wanted was to be free, I knew at last that Max wasn't good for me, he wasn't who I should be with. I knew Louis was, he was so fond and caring that I just couldn't help myself." I sniff as the tears begin to flow.

I hate getting upset over this but it's hard that I've had two years of this. It's not been easy at all, just coming to terms of being alone and away from Max is just as scary as being with him.

"So you wanted Louis because you couldn't get out of your Relationship? Surely you would have realised that having Louis and Max at the same time would have caused trouble. Louis was stabbed Emily!" Holly states as she speaks in a high pitch. "He could have come away alot worse." She adds in a high pitch voice. I know she's angry but she can't make me feel any more guilty than I do right now.

"Don't you think I know that?" I snap as I look at her. "Do you not think that I haven't blamed myself enough? Images of Louis being attacked by them that just kept going over and over in my head. I could barely sleep from the guilt, I hate myself for what I did. And for Luke too, I thought he could have been the one but I was wrong. At least with Louis I actually planned to leave Max for Louis before you decided to tell him everything." I say as I look away and I sigh as I feel like I'm going round in circles.

"This isn't my fault, don't try to turn it around on me. I tried to do the right thing before something bad happened, even though that it did. I hated what you were doing, you were ruining Luke's and Louis' lives." Holly says as she leans forward on the table. "You didn't seem to see what you were doing." She adds.

"I knew full well Holly. I had a loving guy, Louis was the one who made me feel different. I felt more for him than anyone else and I didn't know what to do. I knew if I tried to leave Max earlier to be with Louis, I'd be in danger. You don't know what he's capable of." I wipe my eyes and I look away again, why did Louis set this up? She's never going to understand.

"You had no intentions of leaving Max, all you wanted was to be the centre of attention as per usual." Holly snaps and I look at her in disgust.

"Let's not forget that you too are certainly not perfect. Don't you think that I've forgotten about what you did." I snap angrily and Holly smiles as she shakes her head.

"I made one mistake, you just can't seem to let that go can you?" Holly says slyly and I lean forward and slam my hands down on to the table.

"You slept with a married man. He had children, you baby sat them! So do not make out you're an angel in this." I snap and she quickly stands up and looks down at me. "I supported you, I was the only one that stuck by you even though you broke a family apart." I add and Holly shakes her head as her cheeks turns red.

"I've dealt with my punishment, I know what I did wasn't right but you shall not make me suffer for that anymore." Holly says and I stand up to face her.

"And neither will you. I'm not going to feel guilty because of you, maybe Louis should know the truth about you. Let him actually make an accurate judgement of you." I say and Louis slowly walks in. We both look at him and by the look on his face he's heard everything.

"Louis.." Holly says as she looks at him, I can't believe she's going to attempt to try and soften this up as she tries to quickly explain.

"I've heard enough." Louis says as he interrupts her. "I don't care about your past, although it helps me understand who you really are and confirms I was right to be wary of you in the beginning. But this, this isn't even about me. What I don't understand is that after everything you've both discussed you don't even sound bothered about your best friend being in an abusive relationship." Louis snaps and I can't believe he's just said that.

I feel my heart sink at his words, it causes me to release a few more tears but I try to keep myself together. I never thought I'd witness Louis sticking up for me.

"I am sorry for her, but she's caused way too much damage for me to feel any sympathy." Holly sighs and Louis looks at her in disgust.

"How can you say that? She was caught up in an abusive relationship." Louis repeats and shakes his head. "You even told me to forgive her, but you didn't really want that did you? You've wanted me to hate Emily. Don't get me wrong," He says as he turns to me, "You know I've got my issues with you." He says and I nod. He looks back away to Holly, "But she was a girl suffering in silence, she wasn't thinking right, she made mistakes but could you imagine her mental state? Being stuck with Max? Just try and see it from her point of view actually listen and take in her words." He snaps and Holly shakes her head.

"I don't agree with violent relationships, but she had the perfect opportunity to tell me, she knew I'd listen but she took it all down the completely wrong path." Holly answers and Louis looks at me.

"I'm not saying what you've done was right, but I now understand why you would have took that risk." Louis says seriously and I look away. "But you Holly, I've never met someone as nasty and bitter as you. I can't believe how hypocritical you are, we fell for each other and you resented her for that but you destroyed a family. To me, that's far worse. You had no excuse, you chose to do it out of selfishness. And I am so annoyed that I thought you were a good person. " I look up at them and Louis keeps his eyes on her.

"You don't even-" Holly starts but Louis talks loudly over her,

"Just go. I don't want to see you again Holly. You're not welcome here and I really don't want to hear from you. For the first time, I feel like I've made the right decision." Louis says and she glances at me, she sighs as she looks back at Louis.

"You've got this all wrong." She starts but Louis shakes his head.

"No I haven't, just go." Louis says and she storms past him and he walks her to the door. I hear the door shut and I exhale slowly as I stand in shock. I never thought Louis would turn on her like that but it feels so good to get out the truth and for him to see she's not perfect at all. He knows her dirty little secret.

"I think you should go." Louis says as he walks up to me. "You know the best place to be is at your parents. I'm sorry this didn't turn out as I thought it would." He adds and I nod.

"Thank you so much for what you said. I know I didn't deserve you to do that, but I appreciate it." I say and he passes me a tissue. "Thanks." I say as I wipe my eyes.

"I don't agree with how Max treated you. I may be violent at times, but I don't agree with abusive relationships. I also don't agree with people who break up families because they want to feed their needs. She's far worse than you in my opinion, you were a cry for help." Louis sighs as he scratches the back of his head.

I walk up to him and I gently hug him. I love being this close to him but I know he's not thinking the same anymore, I finally accept that.

"Bella is a lucky girl Louis, very lucky." I whisper into his ear and I leave a gentle kiss on his cheek. I walk away and I head to the front door.

"Don't ever go back to Max, promise me." Louis says as I turn around and look at him, I smile. The look on his face is adorable and it does break my heart that I have to walk away from him, he could have been so good for me but things just didn't turn out how we may have expected it too.

"I promise." I say and I open the door and close it behind me. I can't stay there any longer as he's just making it harder for me, he's really changed in my eyes, I can't believe how lovely he's been tonight.
As I unlock my car I see Bella approaching me, she looks at me with a wary look. I sigh as I stop to speak to her.

"Hi.." I say as Bella stops infront of me, she clears throat. I don't know what I'm going to say because I know she doesn't like me and so she shouldn't, I was rotten to her.

"Emily.." Bella says quietly and I know she's not comfortable being here with me. I don't know whether I should try and apologise or just walk away and leave her alone?

Notes

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all okay and well!
Just a small chapter but I am hoping to update later with Bella's chapter as some of you may be keen to see what's going to happen with her and Louis.

What do you all think?
especially about Holly, some of you knew not to trust her, she couldn't keep that secret in and I don't blame Emily for saying it out loud.

let me know your thoughts :)

xx