Harry was silent as we walked away from the park, walking at a fairly clipped pace and pulling me along by my hand.  I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder to get one last glimpse of this mystery girl. 

My mind was spinning, trying to figure who she could possibly be.  I knew she wasn’t some kind of ex-girlfriend, because I knew I had been Harry’s first for everything.  But what other than that could earn such an awkward and stony reaction from him?

We were halfway back to our neighborhood before I decided to say something since he clearly wasn’t going to, and I needed an explanation.

“So…” I started, hoping he would catch on and explain without me having to probe. 

His eyes darted to me, a hint of annoyance playing on his features and I hoped it wasn’t directed at me.  He sighed when he saw me watching him expectantly but didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

“So,” he finally said, voice lacking any emotion.  I blinked at him.

“So how do you know Katie?” I asked, struggling to keep my voice even.

“It’s a long story,” he said, squeezing my hand as we walked.  A flush of relief ran through me, because I could easily tell now his annoyance wasn’t directed at me.  The selfish side of me couldn’t help but feel happy that whoever this girl was, she wasn’t someone he had been pleased to see. 

“I’ve got time,” I told him gently.  His brow furrowed as he stared at the ground distractedly.  We had arrived back at his house now, which I was grateful for because once we were inside, I hoped he’d talk to me. 

He let out a heavy sigh.  “Let’s go inside first,” he suggested.

“Okay.”

He steered us up the walkway to his front door and let us inside; the house was quiet, indicating his mom was out.  I was beyond thankful for that, because I knew our first reunion after her lecture would be awkward and I was too concerned with whatever Harry had to say at the moment to be able to handle that initial interaction right now. 

I knew that once we got that out of the way, Anne would most likely go back to being the sweet and loving woman I had come to know- she just had to put on the tough-mother routine to show she wasn’t a pushover.

After kicking off our shoes and shedding our jackets, we ascended the stairs before finding ourselves in Harry’s room.  I instantly crawled onto his bed, crossing my legs beneath me as I sat down, patting the space across from me.  He followed, filling the space and facing me.

“So, let’s hear it,” I said gently, not wanting to irritate him further. 

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said, more to himself than to me as he frowned at the bed, lips twisting to the side as he searched his mind.  I stayed silent, letting him collect his thoughts. 

“Well first of all, she moved away two years ago ‘cause her dad’s in the military, and she didn’t go to our school,” he started, explaining why I had never seen her before.  I nodded silently, urging him on. 

“And… she was my best friend since forever until about a year before she moved,” he explained.  “Our moms were friends and would always stick us together, so we kinda just were forced to hang out until we actually started to on our own.”

My heart beat painfully in my chest.  He hadn’t even said anything too detrimental yet, no confessions of love or a childhood romance, but it was clear they had once been close and I couldn’t stop the pang of jealously that radiated through my body.

“So she was really my only friend all through school until we started high school.  She went to a different one than we did on the other side of town, so I hardly ever saw her but we’d still hang out on weekends and stuff…”

I really did not like the way this story was going, because I knew everything he was saying was building up to the reason why he was so uneasy around her now.  I already knew that whatever it was, it would only make me dislike this girl even more than I already did.

I reached my hand out to grasp his, sliding my fingers in the spaces created by his long digits.  His eyes darted up to mine briefly and he shot me a soft, appreciative smile. 

“Well as you’re aware, I didn’t really have a lot of friends at our school, so she was all I really had.  She started to change, though.  She would blow me off or make up obvious lies about why she couldn’t hang out because she was too busy with all the friends she was making at her own school.  One day I caught her talking shit about me at that coffee shop you always go to.  She tried to make up excuses and I didn’t believe her but I forgave her anyway ‘cause she was my only friend.”

Hatred burned within me as I listened to him speak.  How could anyone say anything bad about this amazing boy in front of me?  I squeezed his hand and inched myself closer to him to let my other hand run gently over his knee. 

“Then a few weeks later my dad died… and she never called me once, never stopped by, nothing.  Then I ran into her a few weeks after it had happened and she was with a group of friends.  I went to say hi to her then she completely blew me off and told her friends I was some weird stalker, which they thought was hilarious.”

My blood was absolutely boiling at this point.  To think that she would make up such a blatant lie about my poor Harry, much less right after he had lost his father and probably needed her the most, made me want to run her over with my car.  In his most vulnerable state, she had rejected him completely and stomped on his wounds, adding insult to injury.  I despised this girl. 

“So after that I just kinda gave up on the whole making friends thing, because obviously the one friend I’d ever had hadn’t turned out so well,” he continued, green eyes peering into mine finally.  “And I never really talked to her again after that.  She never tried to apologize or anything so I certainly wasn’t gonna go reaching out to her.”

“That’s fucked up, Harry, really.  I’m so sorry, baby,” I said, trying to control the anger in my voice.  “I can’t believe she did that.”

My heart felt heavy for him, aching with the pain he surely felt those years ago when he needed someone the most but was forced to go through it alone.  It wasn’t right, and I loathed this girl for doing that to him.  Not only had she rejected and insulted him, she had caused damage that he’d carried for years as he made no effort to make friends in fear of abandonment. 

This brilliant, gentle, loving soul, the most amazing person I’d ever known, had gone through things alone for so many years partly because of what this poor excuse for a human had done to him. 

Now she had suddenly reappeared, acting as if nothing bad had happened between them.  I regretted not smacking her in the face the instant I saw her, because she deserved to suffer the same amount of pain, more really, that she had inflicted upon Harry. 

“Yeah I don’t know.  I was just so surprised how much she changed that I kind of ignored it at first, thinking it was just some weird phase that she’d get over… but she didn’t.  I should have just seen that right away when she started blowing me off but I kept accepting her excuses because she was the only friend I had,” he continued. 

“She’s an awful excuse for a friend, Harry,” I told him, seething on the inside while trying to remain calm on the outside.  He didn’t say anything and returned his gaze to the bed where my hand was cradled in his.  “And now she’s acting like nothing happened, I could just punch her.”

“Yeah I dunno who she thinks she’s fooling but it’s not me,” he agreed, nodding his head.  “Ridiculous.”

“She better stay away from you,” I said threateningly.  “You’re mine.”

He grinned at me, flashing his white teeth, pleased with my claim over him.  “I’m yours.”

“I wish I would have found you sooner,” I told him.  “I could have kept that awful bitch away from you.”

“You’re here now, babe,” he said gently, looking up at me again.  His head was ducked fairly low, creating sharp angles on the features of his face.  “And I couldn’t be happier.”

I smiled softly.  “Me too, Harry.  I just wish she would have stayed wherever the hell she was,” I added, eyebrows knitting together as my smile turned to a frown.  He chuckled.

“Me, too,” he agreed.  “Although I can’t say I hated seeing you get so jealous,” he added with a soft laugh. 

“I wasn’t jealous,” I lied.

“Yes you were, you were practically melting her with your glare,” he laughed. 

“Well now that I know all this, I’d say she definitely deserved it!” I defended.  “Actually I wish I would have been meaner to her.  She’s obviously an awful, fake person.”

Harry shook his head good naturedly, not denying my words but not adding anything else, always by far the nicer of the two of us.  I’d never heard him say a bad word against anyone, no matter what they did to him.  It was one of his endearing qualities that I greatly lacked and admired him for. 

“But I wasn’t jealous,” I lied again, cocking my eyebrow at him. 

“Okay, Joey,” he chuckled, clearly not believing me. 

“I know you’re mine,” I justified.  “But even so, I might have been a bit jealous, fine.”

“Exactly, babe, I’m yours.  So you don’t have to get jealous, even though I might have liked it.”

“I just don’t want her to think she can just waltz right back in here and take you back or something,” I grumbled, frowning.

“Love, I was never hers to claim.  She can’t take back what was never hers.”

I smiled at his words and my hand raised his to my lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. 

“I’m yours, I’ve only ever been yours, and I’ll always be yours.  My heart belongs to you.”

My heart fluttered in my chest as I absorbed his words.  “You always say these beautiful things to me and all I can ever say is ‘I love you.’ I wish I could put into words how much I love you, Harry,” I sighed, scooting forward to sit between his legs, which were stretched out around me.  My knees rested on his thighs and my fingers rose to feel the soft skin of his neck, my forehead dropping to his. 

“I know how much you love me, Joey.  You don’t have to say it,” he said gently, fingers tracing patterns on my knees and thighs. 

“It’s just… you’ve been through so much and haven’t really ever had someone to lean on, so I want to be that person for you, Harry.  I want you to know that I’m never going to leave you or abandon you, no matter what happens.  I’m always going to be here.”

“Joey you’re already that person for me, can’t you tell?” he said, eyes widening at me in disbelief.  “You’ve helped me so much, love, I could never thank you enough.”

I smiled slowly.  Yes, I did know that I had helped Harry quite a bit up until this point, and I knew that he knew he could rely on me, but I wanted him to know, without a doubt, that I would always be there for him. 

“That’s all I wanna do.  Love you and be here for you.”

“And I love you for that,” he said, smiling softly before leaning forward to press his full red lips into mine, molding against them perfectly as always.  He pulled back, eyes alight with happiness as he squeezed my thigh gently.

“For the record, I can’t promise I won’t kick the shit out of her next time I see her,” I said, raising an eyebrow challengingly. 

“That’s my girl,” he laughed, shaking his head at me playfully.  “Since when do we get in so many fist fights?”

“Since this bitch came back and thinks she can steal my boyfriend,” I said, only half joking.  I was surprised how jealous I got at even the slightest hint of a threat, even though I knew deep down she wasn’t one.  Just the mere idea of her thinking she could have him back, however, made my blood sizzle in my veins. 

“Not a chance, love,” he said as he grinned widely, clearly finding my jealously amusing. 

“That’s what I like to hear,” I answered, smiling again as I leaned forward to reconnect our lips.  His lower one tucked between both of mine, lingering for a few seconds before I pulled back just enough to speak.

“You’re mine,” I whispered, lips tickling against his.  A satisfied smile tugged at his lips.

“I’m yours.”

**

Hi everyone! So I don't know how many of you follow me on twitter, (@styles_legend) and I don't know if you saw, but I'll be continuing on with 'Always' longer than I had originally planned! There was a whole other story line I had been debating adding, and I've decided to put it in.  This means that, despite what I had said in the previous note, 'Always' won't be ending for a while now! Yay! As for 'Resolution', I want to continue updating that as well, but it won't be as frequent as 'Always' because this one is my main priority right now and I don't want to get too overwhelmed. Thank you for reading, and don't forget to vote and comment because that really means so much to me :) Love you alllll xx