I climbed out of the taxi followed by Jared, while his brother paid the driver. Jared wrapped his arms around my waist and leant down to place a small kiss on my cheek. I gave him a small smile, but it was forced. I really didn't want to be here and had been dreading it for the last twenty-four hours since Jared had asked me.

---

Jared had picked me up from school on the Friday evening, and it was the first time I had seen him in almost a week, so when we had come back to an empty house, it's safe to say that it had taken a matter of minutes to find my hands tangled in his hair, his hands fumbling with the buttons on my shirt as our lips crashed together desperately. We were now lying naked together in his bed, tangled in the messed up sheets. He was leaning against the pillows he had propped up against the wall, me laying on top of him while he gently ran his fingers up and down my arms.

"I missed you this week." He whispered quietly into my hair after a few minutes. I smiled and sat up, turning myself over to mesh my lips to his own again, softer this time though. His hands slid gently into my hair as we sank into the kiss for a few minutes before pulling apart again. His long hair was a mess after our earlier escapades but even a little sweaty and messy, he was perfect.

"So, I wanted to ask you, what are you doing tomorrow night?" He asked with a smile as he reached out and pushed a stray piece of hair behind my ear. I smiled seductively and leaned in slowly and kissed his neck gently. I felt the vibrations in his throat as he chuckled deeply, running his hands up my thighs that were currently straddling his own, "Are you free before that though?"

"Mmhmm, why?" I mumbled against his skin as I continued to kiss his neck, running my hands gently over his chest, his own hands moving behind me and pulling me closer to him as it started to take effect on him.

"We've uhm..." He trailed off as I sucked gently on his sweet spot on his neck, losing his train of thought and then regaining it again, "... Fuck, Lena... dinner, we have a... uhm... invite..." He managed to mutter as I continued kissing his neck and reached down to stroke his growing erection. I giggled against his skin.

"Dinner sounds good... Right now I think we should practice for my plans for after dinner..." I whispered as I let him go and lifted myself on top so that he was inside of me for the second time for today. My lips meshed gently to his with my hands in his hair. He groaned quietly, his hands gripping my hips gently as we moved in rhythm, slower than the first time, I could feel myself falling in love with him all over again.

A few minutes after we had finished while Jared played with my hair, he brought up the topic of Saturday night again.

"So, as I was saying before I was ever so rudely distracted-" He stopped to laugh as I pulled a face and playfully tried to wriggle from his side, "I was trying to tell you that we've been invited to dinner at Gemma's tomorrow night..."

The post-sex high that I had been feeling disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, but Jared didn't seem to notice how I had frozen as he continued speaking.

"Alex and Dean are going to be there and obviously Jensen's going... I think he said that Harry had invited your friend Louis and his new girlfriend... Eleanor, right?" He spoke but I was only paying half attention, wishing that he had told me where we were going to dinner before I had agreed. I shook it off for Jared's sake, now was not the time to get lost in my thoughts.

"Sounds fun!" I tried to sound as relaxed as possible as I gave him a small smile, but he frowned slightly and raised one eyebrow.

"I know you don't really trust Alex, but I'm sure you'll feel better once we've met Dean..." He said, completely misreading why I hadn't been excited at the prospect of dinner tomorrow night.

"I know... I guess I can't shift the feeling..." I said half-truthfully, thankful that he had handed me my excuse on a silver platter. He squeezed me to him gently to try and comfort me.

"I get it, don't worry about it though, anyway, you hungry?" He changed the subject with a sweet smile as he sat up and reached for the tracksuit bottoms that were hung over a chair. I smiled as genuinely as I could muster and nodded, he sighed and leaned forward, planting a small kiss on my forehead, "Stop worrying gorgeous." Then he left to go downstairs and get some food while I sat on his bed, alone, lost in my thoughts.

School had been exhausting since yesterday morning, pretending that I didn't know. Pretending that I was oblivious to the fact that Harry had practically confessed to the whole room that he liked me. Of course I had bloody caught on, you would have to be blind to not catch on to that sign, but I didn't want to lose my friend and I love Jared so my only option was to play dumb. Every little hint that he had thrown my way in the last two days had been carefully 'misinterpreted'.

Oh Harry, you sang a song to me? Sorry, I wasn't listening to the actual words. Oops.

Ha! Harry, you know this poke war that you have started, let's bring Eleanor and Lou into the game as well so that it isn't flirting!

Oh you like my hair? That's so nice Harry, thank you, but El's hair is so much silkier than mine, don't you think?

It had been a nightmare, but I had no intention of letting on that I knew. I had caught Harry looking at Louis several times as though he were asking if he should say something, but Louis seemed to want me to say something first... but that wasn't going to happen. So as long as I didn't know, Harry wouldn't say anything and we could just keep being friends. Tomorrow night was not something I could see going well though.

---

Jensen pressed the doorbell, and seconds later, Gemma was the one to open the door. I couldn't help but notice the way she smiled whenever she saw Jensen and felt a warm feeling rising in my gut as I squeezed Jared's hand. He squeezed mine in return as though he thought exactly the same thing. We stepped inside and I realised this was the first time I'd ever been inside Harry's house.

"Harry, Lou and Eleanor are in the living room, I'll bring you guys some drinks through, wine good for you Selena? Jen knows what you drink, right J?" Gemma said to me and Jared with a smile as she took our coats to put in the back room. Their house was small but homey, unlike Jared's, but very like my own. We nodded and then walked through to where the three were sitting, Jared first and myself trailing behind nervously.

"Hey! It's Joe and Selena!" Harry stood and walked toward us with a huge grin. I saw Eleanor behind him look over at Jared, her eyes going wide and her mouth opening slightly. Yeah, not so eager for me to leave the godlike giant now, are you El?

"Henry, good to see you mate!" Jared said with a smile. Harry reached out and shook his hand friendlily before turning to me.

"Y'alright S," He said with a sweet smile. I nodded and reflected his smile back at him, "Good to see you both."

Louis took this as his cue for him and El to get up and come and greet us. He smiled brightly at Jared. They had gotten on like a house on fire last time they had met so I was happy that they seemed on track to continue building such a good relationship.

"Jared! How's it been, mate? Been a while!" He said as he shook Jared's hand. I could feel Harry's eyes on me, but instead continued to watch the exchange taking place in front of me.

"I know, yeah, things have been great thanks, how about you?" He turned to El who was now looking confused and held out his hand, "You must be Eleanor, I'm Jared, nice to finally meet you." She took the hand and shook it but hesitated before speaking.

"Harry just called you Joe... and you called him Henry?" Jared chuckled and rest a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled and took a swig of his beer. I instantly felt a pang of guilt at what I knew, and Jared having no idea, was being so relaxed with this guy he thought was his friend.

"Yeah, I was a bit of a dick the first time we met... and well, it's turned into an on going thing..." Harry said once he had swallowed his mouthful. We all moved over to the couch, me sitting in between Harry and Jared, trying to relax, unsuccessfully. I was grateful when Gemma and Jensen came in and I had to move onto Jared's lap to create some space. As we all spoke and drank our drinks, I began to relax, so when the doorbell went, it actually made me jump because I had forgotten that anyone else was coming.

"Ooh! That will be Alex with Dean! Jen, can you quickly run into the backroom and push the little comfy chair in so that there's enough room?" Gemma said as she jumped up excitedly and ran to the door. Jensen looked between his freshly opened beer and the door that his girlfriend had just ran through, before rolling his eyes and getting up to do as he was told.

"Wow, Lou! Did you see that?" Harry said, nodding toward the door that Jensen had just run through, "There's someone who's actually more whipped than you!" Louis rolled his eyes and flipped his middle finger in Harry's direction, causing the rest of us, even Eleanor, to laugh at the two. Just then the door opened and we all looked, curious as to the new person who we were all yet to meet.

Gemma came in followed by Alex, but then the door shut behind them and didn't open again until Jensen came back in pushing the chair.

"Where's Dean?" Jensen asked, looking for the unfamiliar face amongst the group. We all looked at Alex for her answer.

"I've been at his all day, he's not well, this damn flu that's going round!" she said with a small shrug, "He said he's sorry for not making it, he really wants to meet you guys."

I looked at Jared, expecting him to reflect the suspicion I felt in his expression, but instead he just looked sympathetic toward her. Harry on the other hand caught my eye and raised his eyebrows. He and I seemed to be the only two that thought this seemed odd though, because the rest of the room became a chorus of well wishes and sympathetic approval for her caring for him all day, until the timer on Gemma's phone began to beep.

"Okay Harry, take everyone into the dining room, dinner's ready!"

---

Dinner passed by with only a few fairly small digs between Alex and Harry, to be honest, I think as long no one walked out wearing their drink, Gemma would have counted it as successful. Afterwards, we all moved back into the living room for more drinks. I could feel myself getting tipsy but it was easy to just drink and have fun when I was in such good company. I was surprised at how easy it was to relax after a few drinks despite what I knew about Harry and my suspicion about Alex.

Gemma and Jensen left the living room after a little while to go and do the dishes in the kitchen, shortly followed by Alex getting up to say that she wanted to call Dean and check in on him. Jensen came back in a few minutes later to get Jared to come and join him as their parents had called for a check in and then they had to ring Meg to say goodnight. Once they had left the room it was just the four of us.

"Jared is... he's great Selena." El said looking at me sincerely, with a hint of guilt in her eyes as she glanced at Harry. I nodded with a small smile, I didn't think it was fair to talk about Jared too much in front of him. Louis looked at me and his eyes went wide, he then looked at Harry and then back at me, and I instantly regretted my decision to be careful of Harry's feelings with detective Louis around. I knew he would corner me on Monday morning. A few minutes later, Alex and Jared came back into the room mid conversation.

"...so much fun last time! Do you think that they'd mind?" Jared asked Alex, I could see from his eyes that he was excited about something. He sat next to me, looking at Alex as he moved me back onto his lap.

"Not at all! I already asked them." Alex said with a grin. I instantly felt jealous because I didn't know what they were talking about. I looked at Jared questioningly, and he smiled at me brightly before brushing a small stray hair behind my ear.

"Alex's parents have a ski chalet in France, and she's suggested that we all take a trip for a few days when you guys break up for Christmas?" He smiled and there was an instant buzz in the room.

Notes

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