February 2018
Maggie kept herself incredibly busy for the next couple of days. Between work and school, it was an easy task. She spent all her free time sitting in the dank library where she worked studying her ass off for a make-up exam her professor granted her after she bombed the last Environmental Law exam after Hemmy had surgery. She needed to ace the make-up exam or she could kiss her 4.0 GPA goodbye. And she really wanted that 4.0 – like bad. She was in her fourth year of school and she kept her 4.0 throughout the entirety. Dean’s list. Honor roll. They were all earned by her and it felt good. But now… now it was all riding on this one exam. She needed to study – keep her nose in the books. She needed to eat, sleep, and breathe Environmental Law for the next 48 hours.
When she got home that night, Harry was sitting on his front stoop watching Hemmy out in the yard. He was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt, a pair of grey sweat pants and Nike running shoes. It was a rare occasion to see him so dressed down - and damn, did he look sexy. It was nearly eleven and she wondered why Harry was outside at such a late hour.
Hemmy ran to her as soon as she walked through the gate. She immediately dropped her book bag and purse on the sidewalk to greet the puppy.
“Oh, my baby. I’ve missed you,” Maggie cooed, taking Hemmy in her arms, letting him kiss her face.
“He’s missed you, too,” Harry said, suddenly standing surprisingly close to her.
“Oh, Harry. You startled me,” she breathed, holding her hand over her racing heart.
“Sorry,” he said with a snort.
“Where’ve you been all my life?” He asked. The way he said it made her heart flutter, but she knew he was exaggerating quite a bit.
“Oh, I’ve been really cramming for this Environmental Law exam. I did pretty shitty on the last one. I need to really step it up for the next one,” she told him, still holding his fidgeting dog in her arms.
“Maggie May the genius,” Harry quipped.
“Maggie May the failure if I don’t do well on this exam,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“You could never be a failure,” Harry told her, looking too incredibly sincere for her to even handle.
“I will if I break my 4.0 record,” she retorted.
“4.0? You have a record of 4.0’s?” Harry asked, his eyes going wide.
“Yeah. Every semester for four years. Nothing lower,” she told him proudly.
“Holy shit! You really are a genius!” He laughed, looking astonished and impressed.
“No,” she said, shaking her head bashfully.
“Wow, Maggie. Every time I talk to you, you seem to impress me more,” Harry said, smiling widely at her.
“Impress you?” She asked a little taken aback by his words.
“Yeah, damn. I don’t deserve to be in your presence. You’re the queen of the honor roll,” he laughed.
“You, mister international rock star, don’t deserve to be in my presence? Moi? Little ol’ me?” Maggie joked.
“You are one intimidating woman, Maggie May,” he told her with a fascinated smile.
“Intimidating? No one has ever used that as a describing word for me. Maybe timid? Shy? Nerdy?” She told him.
“You’ve been talking to the wrong people,” Harry laughed.
Hemmy was wiggling in Maggie’s arms to get down, so she put him down on the sidewalk and he ran off toward his toy in the yard. Harry was still looking at her when she looked back at him after retrieving her book bag and purse.
“Are you alright?” She asked curiously.
“Mm-hmm,” he hummed and nodded his head.
“Is everything alright with you and Kendall?” She asked, changing the subject. He waved his hand through the air, making a ‘so-so’ motion.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked. As much as she didn’t want details about his and Kendall’s relationship, she prided herself in being his friend. She never wanted her own feelings to get in the way of that.
“Nah, not right now,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Okay. I should be getting to bed, though. I’ve got class at eight,” she told him.
“Okay,” he said, nodding his head.
“’Night, Harry,” she said, moving passed him on the sidewalk, heading to her door.
“Goodnight, Maggie May,” he said from behind her.
Maggie got to her door and unlocked it before she heard Harry call for Hemingway. She turned around only to see Hemingway standing in her front yard staring at her.
“Hemmy, go to your daddy,” Maggie told the puppy.
“Come on, Hemingway,” Harry said, patting his leg.
“Go on, Hemmy,” she said, trying to shoo him. Hemingway didn’t make a move. He just stared at her and her open door.
“I’ve officially lost him,” Harry laughed as he walked toward his stubborn bulldod. Maggie giggled to herself, knowing it was the truth.
“You might as well take him now,” Harry joked.
“Hey, what can I say – that boy loves me,” Maggie said confidently.
“He does,” Harry nodded with a smile and he picked up his dog.
“Goodnight, boys,” Maggie laughed, going into her house for the night.
“’Night, Maggie May,” Harry said as he stepped over the landscaping onto his sidewalk.
As Maggie closed her front door, she could only think about how eternally grateful she was that there was no weirdness between her and Harry after the kiss they shared the last time they saw each other.

Two days later, after hours and hours of studying, Maggie took her Environmental Law make-up exam. She felt a weight lift from her shoulder once she handed it in to her professor. Although she wouldn’t know right away if she did any better than she did the first time, she had a gut feeling she’d done lightyears better. She was completely prepared and knew the material after hours upon hours of studying.
She went home feeling relief because she wasn’t going home to stick her nose in a book. She could go home and relax, maybe have a glass of wine. She could be a relaxed twenty-one year old, instead of one that needed constant chiropractic visits and trips to the doctor to check her blood-pressure. She couldn’t wait for summer to finally come. She decided not to take summer classes for the first time since she started school. It was going to be a summer of great relaxation.
She parked her car next to Harry’s Range Rover in the parking lot and as soon as she walked up, she noticed Hemmy in the yard and Harry on his stoop. But there was another guy next to him, who she noticed as Harry’s bandmate, Liam. Hot damn, two boy banders for the price of one.
“MAGGIE MAY!” Harry yelped, standing up from the step.
“Hey, Harry,” she said, opening the gate and walking into the courtyard.
“How’d you do on your exam?” He asked, walking toward her. Maggie noticed Liam stand up too.
“Don’t know. I guess I’ll know next week,” she said with a shrug.
“Next week? Do they make it a point to torture their students?” Harry asked incredulously.
“I think it’s written in the school handbook somewhere,” she quipped, causing Harry and Liam to both chuckled.
“Hey, Maggie. This is my mate Liam. Liam, this is my neighbor, Maggie,” Harry said, introducing them.
“Nice to meet you,” Liam said, shaking her hand with a shy smile on his face. She couldn’t deny it – that boy was cute. Most definitely cute.
“What are you guys up to today?” She asked with a smile on her face.
“We’re headed to the studio,” Liam told her. She gave them an odd look, knowing that One Direction was on an indefinite hiatus.
“Harry is working on a solo album,” Liam clarified for her.
“What? No way,” she said and looking at Harry wide-eyed.
“Yeah,” Harry said, looking bashful.
Maggie noticed from the corner of her eye that another boy come out of Harry’s house – a boy she recognized from One Direction and the internet rumors about Harry and his sexuality. Louis Tomlinson.
“Ah, Louis. Come meet Maggie,” Harry said, waving his other friend over.
“What’s up? You must be the neighbor,” Louis said, smiling widely at her. Maggie’s heart sped up. Did Harry talk about her with his friends?
“Yeah. I’m Maggie,” she said, shaking his hand.
“Louis,” he said, still smiling at her.
“Nice to meet you,” she told him.
“So, Mags. Are you busy?” Harry asked and her attention was cut back to her crush.
“Do you need me to watch Hemmy or something?” She asked immediately, looking over to the yard to spot Hemmy eating a patch of grass.
“Nah. He’ll be fine in his kennel for a little while. I was wondering if you wanted to maybe tag along. Get a sneak peek at my new music,” Harry said with a sideways smirk.
“Are you serious?” She asked excitedly.
“Yeah. Come on,” he said, waving his arm through the air.
“Let me go drop off my books,” she told him quickly.
“Alright,” he smiled.
Maggie raced into her house and threw her book bag on her bed. Quickly, she threw off the Mickey Mouse t-shirt she was wearing and put on a fresh tank top – one she hadn’t fallen asleep in the night before. She put a clean hoodie on over it after she applied a nice coating of deodorant on her pits. She squirted several sprays of her vanilla body mist all over her body before checking her makeup in the mirror. Luckily it was still looking good. Quickly, she jetted to her bathroom and swished a little mouth wash before deciding she was taking much too long and she should really be getting back to the three hot, famous boys waiting on her outside.
When Maggie finally came back out, Harry was just locking up his door and the other two were waiting in Liam’s car for them.
“Ready?” Harry asked.
“Ready,” she smiled, pushing her keys into her purse.
They got into the back seat of Liam’s super sexy Mercedes and headed off to the studio. Hearing stuff from Harry’s new solo album was phenomenal. His voice – oh, Jesus Lord. His voice did things to her that could make a grown woman blush. Kendall was an extremely lucky woman – extremely lucky.
While Harry was recording, Maggie got to sit and talk with Liam and Louis for a bit. Both of them were incredibly funny and charming – that British charm and all. They both seemed to be flirting with her quite a bit. But seeing as Louis talked several times about his girlfriend, she knew he was off limits. Liam on the other hand never mentioned being spoken for, so she decided to set her sights on him – even though Harry was still heavy on her mind. But Liam was incredibly cute and sweet – and yeah, she knew he was her crushes mate, but Harry had a god damn girlfriend.
When Harry called Liam and Louis over to see something, Maggie took the chance and excused herself to use the ladies room. After using the facilities, she walked back into the studio unnoticed, and heard Louis and Harry talking.
“Maggie – she’s pretty hot,” Louis told Harry. Maggie noticed Harry shoot Louis a look like ‘stfu’.
“Come on, mate. She is. If I wasn’t dating Danielle… mmm,” Louis said bluntly. Mmm? At least that confirmed to Maggie that Louis and Harry weren’t in the rumored relationship she read about on the internet.
“That’s my friend you’re talking about,” Harry told him sternly.
Harry’s words shot through her like a bullet through the heart and reverberated through her brain. That’s my friend. That’s my friend. That’s my friend.
It didn’t matter that they shared a very steamy, passionate kiss on Valentine’s Day. It didn’t matter that if she hadn’t stopped mid-kiss that something more permanent – more damaging to their friendship, to his relationship with Kendall would have happened. It didn’t matter that he always flirted with her practically non-stop. It only proved that he was drunk and horny. And that he would do anything – including flirt with someone like her to ensure he had a place to dump off his dog when he went out of town. And he fucking went out of town often.
Maggie was angry. She walked toward Liam immediately instead of Harry and she knew he saw.
“I think I’m going to head out. It was nice meeting you,” she told Liam in his ear.
She was pretty certain from Harry’s distance it looked like she was whispering sweet nothing’s in his ear, but she didn’t care. They were just friends, right?
“Are you sure? I can give you a ride,” Liam said, standing up to talk to her at eye level.
“Nah. I can call an Uber,” she told him, waving the suggestion off.
“Are you sure?” He asked.
“Yeah,” she said finally.
“Come here,” Liam said, pulling her into a hug.
She caught Harry’s expression – the flare in his eyes as she hugged his friend. She could see that he didn’t like the closeness between them, but again, she didn’t care.
“Actually, would you mind giving me a ride?” Maggie asked him as they broke the hug.
“Yeah, that’s cool. Let me get my jacket,” Liam told her. Maggie walked over to Harry who was still sitting with Louis.
“Liam’s going to give me a ride home,” she told Harry.
“Why are you leaving?” Harry shot at her.
“I’m pretty tired. I’ve been awake since six this morning,” she told him, which wasn’t a lie.
“We’re not going to be here that much longer. We can grab some dinner and take it home if you just wait,” Harry offered.
“Nah. Liam will just give me a ride. I can check on Hemmy if you want me too,” she told him.
“No, thanks,” he told her and she immediately sensed bitterness in his tone.
“Fine. See you later. Nice meeting you, Louis,” she said, being short with Harry on purpose.
“You too, love,” Louis said. She smiled widely at him, then sent Harry a look before turning away to leave Liam.
As Liam brought Maggie home, it was much less awkward than she thought it might be. They kept up easy conversation, even though her mind was on Harry and his pissy attitude the whole time. Liam said ‘goodnight’ to Maggie in the car with another hug and then she went home.
She couldn’t keep Harry off of her mind for the rest of the night – especially when he brought Kendall home with him and fucked her brains out loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
Maggie decided to sleep on the couch that night, thinking the whole time, “he’s definitely not worth it.”

Notes

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