I woke up on Saturday morning with a shock as my phone rang loudly next to my head, where I had left it when I had fallen asleep. I groaned and fumbled around with my eyes half closed to answer it, not even bothering to check who it was before pressing it to my ear.

"Hello?" my voice croaked sleepily, and Jared laughed gently in response.

"I'm sorry gorgeous, did I wake you?" I coughed in an attempt to make my voice sound more normal before speaking again.

"Yeah, just a little, but it's ok, I should be getting up anyway." I yawned and rubbed my eye with my free hand as I sat up.

"I want you to come out with me and Jensen today if you're free?" His voice sounded bright and I found myself smiling slightly at his voice. I was still feeling kind of upset about yesterday and the last thing I wanted to do was sit here and wallow in my misery... or have the time and space to think about what had come over Harry last night.

"Sure! That sounds fun!" I tried to mimic his bright tone, and although I think he could see right through my façade he decided to play along.

"Cool, well, we'll be there at half ten if that's ok?" I looked at the clock, realised it was half nine already and I would have to get ready quickly if I was planning to be on time. We said our goodbyes and I jumped out of bed, surprised to find myself actually surprised as I pushed all thoughts of Harry aside. I would have time to deal with that later.

---

I had been stood outside of my house for less than five minutes when I saw their car speeding down my road. Jensen was in the drivers seat, and as they got closer, I could see they were both laughing hysterically. I couldn't help but smile as I realised how perfect Jared was for the millionth time, wearing a grey beanie, he just looked so flawless and carefree with his head thrown back as he laughed with his brother. They stopped next to me and Jared was out of the car and sweeping me up in a sweet kiss before I even had the time to step off of the curb. After a few seconds, he pulled away, his eyes drinking in mine and making me feel as though my legs were jelly.

"Hey you." He said quietly as we relished in the moment created by the kiss.

"Hey..." I smiled back at him as my hands slid from his chest to round his neck, he leant in for another kiss but was interrupted by the beating of the car horn behind him.

"Jerry, ass, car, now!" Jensen barked out the window, "If I am late for Gemma again, I'm going to be in the shit and while your happiness is lovely, it's not worth me losing my bollocks over!"

Jared laughed and flipped his brother off before leaning in and giving me one more peck on the lips and then leading me to the car and opening the back door for me. We slid into the back seat as he shut the door behind us, Jensen pulled the car away before we'd even had a chance to put our seat belts on. The first five minutes of the car journey was silent as Jared's lips found their way to mine again and his hands had crept up into my hair pulling me closer to him. We had almost forgotten we weren't alone until Jensen spoke again.

"Ok, I am having de ja vu from when you were sixteen and I picked you up from your year eleven prom, pack it in Jerry! I've just had the backseat reupholstered so no baby making on the backseat please..." Jensen laughed from the front seat. Jared and I pulled apart and with a small grin at me as I blushed, Jared leaned forward and thumped his brother on the back of the head playfully.

"Ow! Knob!" Jensen chuckled and then spoke again, "So, Selena, Jared still hasn't told me how you guys met? Do you go to JMU as well?"

"No, we met at the arcade weirdly... I'm still in sixth form, I'll start uni next September." He nodded and glanced at me in the mirror as he spoke again.

"You're staying in Liverpoo for-" Jared interrupted him abruptly.

"No, she's going to Durham but you don't need to worry about that, ok Jen." Jared's voice was hard, and the lighthearted atmosphere was gone as I watched frustration flash in Jensen's eyes in the rear-view mirror.

"I... You... Are you taking the fucking piss Jared?" Jensen spluttered suddenly, I froze and suddenly felt awkward.

"We're not talking about this now, it's not fair on Selena." Jared said calmly but firmly, "Later if we must, not that it's any of your business." Jensen's knuckles were turning white as he gripped the steering wheel but he didn't continue the discussion. Jared squeezed my leg to reassure me that everything was ok, so I threw him a quick smile but still felt uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry, Selena, that was rude." Jensen said under his breath after a few minutes but didn't push for any further conversation as he pulled onto the curb in front of a small terraced house. He beeped the horn twice and the door opened. I felt slightly intimidated at the girl who stepped out, she was beautiful, lilac hair with long legs and a small frame. The door closed over behind her and I wondered why she hadn't shut it properly until it opened again.

Fuck.

Harry stepped out, a smart coat on matched with a green beanie, his face serious without even the smallest hint of a smile. The girl walked toward the car and opened the front passenger side door. She leaned over and gave Jensen a small peck on the cheek and then turned to me and Jared.

"You must be Jared, nice to meet you!" She smiled sweetly and extended her hand which Jared took and returned her smile before her eyes moved to me and she continued, "And this is your girlfriend?"

"Selena?" Harry said as he opened the door next to me. I looked at him, but his eyes wouldn't meet mine and he looked past me but I could tell that the smile on his face was forced, "Jared, nice to see you again."

"Oh, you know my brother?" Gemma smiled as I moved along to let Harry in the seat next to me, his leg was pressed against mine as we squashed ourselves into the back of the car.

"Yeah, we go to school together." I mumbled quietly. Harry moved his arm causing his hand to accidentally brush against mine and it felt like a jolt of electricity ran from my fingers around my body. I felt sick at the feeling, like I was keeping a secret even though I had done nothing wrong.

"Oh right!" she nodded and then turned to Jensen, "Oh, also Harry needs to stop by a girl's-"

"No, it's good, I spoke to her on the phone, we can just go into town." Harry interrupted quickly. Gemma turned around in her seat to look at her brother as Jensen pulled away.

"Are you sure? I thought you said you screwed up last night and-"

"Gem, I've said its sorted, honestly we're all good." Harry interrupted again. Gemma looked taken aback for a second and then shrugged and turned around to face the front. The drive to town was mostly just Gemma and Jensen talking in the front and us three in the back sitting quietly, I had never felt so awkward and it felt like it lasted a lot longer than fifteen minutes.

Once Jensen had parked, Gemma said that she had some things to return to Debenhams so she and Jensen led the way while Harry, Jared and I followed after. It was Jared who broke the silence first.

"So, how's Taylor, Harry?" he smiled warmly, but I felt a pang of guilt at the mention of Taylor's name, I hadn't spoken to my best friend in over 24 hours, and I hadn't had a chance to tell her what had happened to me yesterday. Harry shrugged keeping his eyes forward.

"I don't know, I haven't spoken to her since yesterday..." Jared frowned slightly.

"She was who you were going to apologise to though right?" Jared didn't notice as Harry's eyes involuntarily flicked down toward me. But I did. And I knew what they meant as well.

"Oh, no. I have a group project for history and I didn't do my bit, so I was going to have to apologise to my partner... Jade... but she texted me and she hadn't done it either..." he mumbled quickly with another shrug. To Jared it must have looked like Harry just didn't really care, but I knew that he was trying to brush off his lie.

"Ah! Fair enough," Jared laughed and then looked to me, "You hungry? I fancy a coffee and something to eat?" I nodded and we stopped as Jared walked ahead to tell Jensen and Gemma that we would be going somewhere for food, leaving me and Harry to stand alone awkwardly.

"I want-" Harry started to speak quietly but I cut him off abruptly incase Jared could hear.

"Now is really not the time Harry." I hissed under my breath and looked toward Jared, ignoring Harry's stare. I felt bad, but he didn't try and speak again so we just waited quietly for Jared to come back.

"Right, who fancies starbucks?" Jared smiled as he took my hand when he returned.

---

"So, what are you thinking for after sixth form?" Jared asked Harry as we all sat awkwardly on the top floor of Starbucks with our coffee. We had sat on some comfy sofas in the upstairs seating area and had been there for about half an hour. Harry and I were both tense, but if Jared had noticed he didn't let it show, he was just being his polite self and asking Harry all kinds of questions. I had some questions for Harry myself, nothing that could be asked in front of Jared of course... I felt guilty for keeping things from him, but it made sense for now since I didn't even know what I was hiding really.

The sound of Harry's phone started ringing suddenly and loudly, pulling me from my thoughts. I watched as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, glanced at the name and excused himself from the table and into the hallway. As he disappeared around the corner, Jared turned to me with a grin and pulled me closer to his side, he nuzzled his face into my neck in an attempt to make me smile and it worked.

"Stop it!" I giggled quietly as his lips tickled my neck. I turned my head to face him and suddenly his lips were pressed to mine. Kissing Jared often made me feel like there was no one else in the world, this time was no different. Until someone coughed.

I looked round expecting to see Harry, but instead a girl with brown hair stood in front of us smiling. She looked young, but carried herself confidently, but what caught my attention most was how her blue eyes stood out against her dark hair, she was gorgeous.

"Alex... Uh, Hi..." Jared said hesitantly, leaning out of our kiss. I felt sick. This was the ex. I mean Jared was good looking so I didn't exactly expect her to look like a mushroom but I hoped that I would be prettier at lease. No. This was not the case, "This is my girlfriend, Selena... Selena this is my friend, Alex." I felt a small smile when he called me his girlfriend in front of her, but her smile didn't even falter as she nodded toward me.

"Nice to meet you Selena! Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I saw Jen and Gem in Debenhams and they said I would find you here!" she said cheerily. I felt like she had punched me in the gut, calling Jensen and Gemma by nicknames meant she had hung out with them when she was Jared's girlfriend, that she had fit in with them. Harry came up behind her, looked at her once, gave her a polite nod and took his seat again in front of her. I felt a small victory that she can't be that good looking if Harry wasn't double-taking... Jared on the other hand had held contact with her since she had arrived.

"Yeah, I have been meaning to call you back... things have just been a bit..." Jared hesitated and squeezed my shoulder, "Well, I got distracted... but, I was going to ask if you wanted to come for dinner with me and Selena," he looked at Harry, "We were hoping that you and Taylor would come as well?" Harry seemed to be deep in thought because he suddenly shook his head and blinked like he was coming back to the conversation.

"Sorry, zoned out, what?" Harry smiled apologetically, turned to Alex and held out his hand, "Sorry, that was rude then, I'm Harry, Selena's friend." She shook it and then he turned back to Jared, "Did you say something about dinner? Do you really want to go out with me again after last time, Joe?" he said with a laugh.

"Sure, I had a laugh last time Henry." Jared retorted quickly as they both laughed harder. It was nice to see Harry and Jared actually getting along now... at least yesterday had had something good come out of it. Once they had stopped laughing Alex looked between them with a bright smile.

"Yeah, dinner sounds great! Well, I'll leave you to your friends, call me later and let me know when and where? I trust you're still good at picking the nicest little unknowns?" She said sweetly. I swear I saw something malicious behind her smile for just a second as her eyes flicked to me and then back to Jared. Was she trying to aggravate me? Referring to me as a friend and trying to show me how well she knew Jared? No... she couldn't be.

"Sure no worries, see you soon!" Jared said casually.

"Bye J..." She smiled at him and then looked at me and Harry, "Bye guys."

Harry looked at me and raised his eyebrows as she walked away, clearly mirroring my suspicions that something seemed off about her. Before Jared had time to say anything, his phone started ringing and as he pulled it out of his pocket I saw the name Meg flashing on the screen.

"Hey Meg, you ok?" he paused for a second and then frowned, "Right, have you spoken to Jen?" he rolled his eyes as his sister replied and then sighed, "Ok, don't worry, tell Sara I'm coming to pick you up if she can just wait half an hour? Alright, Love you too." he sighed as he hung up the phone and looked at me apologetically.

"Meg's friend's grandma has just been rushed into hospital and they need either me or Jen to come and get her, and Jen is in the cinema so I have to get a taxi back to mine and go and pick her up as soon as... You don't mind waiting for Jen do you? I can drop you off if you want but it's-" I interrupted him with a small smile.

"It's ok, you're sister needs you... Call me later?" I said gently as he gathered up his coat and gloves before leaning down and giving me a small kiss on the lips.

"Always." He whispered, and then turned to Harry, "See you soon Henry."

"Bye Joe!" Harry shot back, the pair fist bumped as Jared walked past Harry and out of the door, leaving Harry and I alone. He was the first to break the silence.

"What time is it?" he asked quietly. I looked at my watch since I had left my phone at home.

"Quarter to one." I replied mirroring his tone. You could have cut the tension with a knife. There was a great pink elephant in the room and one of us had to acknowledge it.

"Listen, Selena, I'm sorry about yesterday evening, I was just worried about you and I got protective because you're my best friend... that's all..." He said not looking me in the eye, "I was going to come round and apologise this morning... but then you were in the car and since Jared and I actually get on, I didn't want to upset you or him with anything as pointless as that." I nodded but still didn't feel easy... him coming over isn't what bothered me... it was the inhale.

"You smelt my hair!" I blurted out suddenly. His eyes widened for a second and then composed themselves as a grin started tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I did." He said gently, "Is that why you kicked me out?"

"Yes! You did the inhale you do when you love someone!" I couldn't believe that any of this was actually coming out of my mouth, I must have been going crazy. He smiled wider now and a small chuckle even escaped, "This is not funny! You are my best friend's boyfriend!"

"Selena, I smelt your hair for two reasons. Firstly, you're hair smells nice, whatever conditioner you use, I want... and secondly of course I love you, you're one of my best friends now, and you nearly ended up really getting hurt last night... smelling your hair was me just confirming to myself that you were actually safe and you were actually there." I sat stunned for a second before feeling stupid for overthinking it all so much.

"Oh. I was worr-" he interrupted me with another gentle laugh.

"I know what you thought, but that's not how it is..." He smiled and shook his head, clearly amused by my thoughts before he continued, "So anyway, about this Alex girl... what the hell was going on there?"

---

I was so glad that I had cleared the air with Harry and we were now talking about normal things. It was nice to have my friend back just to talk and laugh about stupid things all afternoon, he had even tried to teach me how to do a card trick, so I had moved onto the sofa next to him rather than staying opposite. It had been so much fun, exactly what I needed after yesterday. Gemma had text Harry saying that her and Jensen were just going for something to eat and then they would meet us at the car at three. The afternoon had been going so well, I don't know why I hadn't expected that to change.

"Selena?"

I turned to see Taylor standing in the doorway and a smile instantly spread across my face, I hadn't seen her in the longest time and now that I knew Harry wasn't in love with me, I didn't have to feel awkward. Harry and I stood to welcome her.

"Hey Tay!" I said cheerily, waving her over. She wasn't smiling as her eyes flicked between me and Harry. I was confused as the smile slipped from my own face. I looked up at Harry, he was pale as a ghost and he looked worried, what the hell was going on. The room was still for a second and then everything happened at once. Taylor stormed into the room and Harry was suddenly darting round from the back of the sofa toward her.

"What the fuck is going on?" She snarled at him as they met in the middle, "Fucking Liam's house? Are you shit!"

I stood, stunned, staring at them both, no idea what the hell was going on.

Notes

I am so sorry this chapter took me so long, I have had final essays and stuff to do and writing took a back seat...
I am pretty proud of this chapter though so I hope you like it <3

Lola xo