A/N sorry this took so long you guys, spent some time putting my mental health first and trying to get my life in order. hope you like it. Stay safe xx

"Bub, wake up, planes landing soon" Harry whispers in my ear after pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. I squint my eyes open to find the screen in front of me confirms his statement, we're estimated to be landing in 20 minutes.

"You won't be able to see all that much, but there'll be lots of lights" He continues as he gestured out the window beside him. When we boarded the plane I asked if he could take the window seat instead of me. I'm just still not used to being up this high and I don't need a visual reminder of just how far from the ground I am. Luckily Harry loves to fly and took the window seat without any trouble, encouraging me to take small peeks outside on takeoff and now, in landing.

"How much time will I have to get ready once we land?" I ask as I fold the cover back over my kindle, which has remained open on my lap since I fell asleep.

"Probably half an hour? Assuming we don't get held back in security" He replies as he watches me tidy the space around me, having so lovingly only just informed me shortly before boarding that we were meeting his friends for dinner almost immediately after arriving in New York.

"Why does it have to be tonight?" I ask with a small pout, I know there won't be much Jetlag but it's still been a massive day and I don't know if I'm emotionally prepared to meet these friends of Harry's. He has told me many times that these friends are very important to them, what if I'm all crabby and weird and they hate me?

"Because tonight's the only night that they're all free, and they all really want to meet you" Harry replies softly as he props his elbow up on the arm rest and softly brushes his fingertips over my hair. It's the smallest actions that completely melt me, and he knows it, he knows I'll do just about anything when he's sweet like this.

"Will she be there?" I ask, I don't even need to name her, he knows who I'm talking about.

"She will. Look I know she's an ex and it's weird, but we're still kind of friends. Plus she's a part of our group, it would be weird if I left her out" He explains with a small sigh, possibly sensing my annoyance and hesitation about dealing with another one of his exes so soon. Does he have an ex in every major city of the world? How am I meeting two of his American exes before any of his London exes? It also makes me think about what it would be like if the roles were reversed, would Harry be totally cool with meeting one of my exes? Not that I have any, but I never dated Ryan or Luke and he made me cut them out of my life.

"And how do you expect me to handle her?" He furrows his brow, so I clarify. "I'm hoping it will go differently than it did when I met Poppy since you actually want me to meet this one? So should I be trying to befriend her or not trust a word she says?"

Harry shrugs his shoulders and turns his head back to look out of the window for a second. "I honestly don't know. Just don't focus on her, the rest of my friends are great and they're all excited to meet you" He turns his head back around and smiles softly at me.

"What have you told them about me?" I ask, if these people are important to Harry then I want to go in there well prepared.

"I've told them some stuff; they know that you're a student and that you're younger than me but I didn't tell them that we broke up" His response is almost shy, his voice dropping ever so slightly.

"Why not?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Didn't want to talk about it" My heart clenches in my chest as he turns his head back to look out the window. I guess I'll always feel guilty for the circumstances around our breakup, just thinking about him pretending that everything's fine makes me ache. I lean my head on his shoulder and he lifts my hand up from my lap and holds it in his. The plane begins to dip and the New York night skyline becomes visible to me through Harry's window. I split my time between admiring the view and watching him admire it. He really does love it here.

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"This apartment isn't part of the hotel?" I ask as the chauffeur parks the town car outside of a fairly fancy looking apartment building.

"No I've had this place since before the hotel was built here, it's always been my home here" Harry answers as we both climb out of the car. Instead of staying and helping the chauffeur with the bags, two men emerge from within the building with a luggage cart and start to unload our bags as Harry leads me straight into the building. I've accumulated a lot more baggage since I've been on our trip and I'm assuming I'll be adding to it while in New York, I may have to buy a second suitcase.

"We're not waiting for them?" I ask as Harry swipes his keycard once in the elevator and selects the floor marked 'P'

"They'll follow us up, we don't have a lot of time" He reminds me as the steel doors seamlessly close in front of us.

"Do you ever not live in the penthouse?" I ask with slight amusement.

"Yes, my apartment in Moscow is one floor below. It's owned by some prince, it's very embarrassing to not be in the penthouse please don't tell anyone" His response is paired with a wide smirk.

"Yes I'm sure that must be very embarrassing, gosh you're almost as poor as I am" I grin up at him.

"Almost. But thank god I have as many penthouses as I do" He grins back at me as the elevator doors open to a sleek white hallway with stone flooring, two doors at either end of the corridor.

"We're this one" Harry walks out of the elevator and turns to the left, leading me to a tall white front door. "Believe it or not I have absolutely no idea who lives in the other penthouse, never met them" He comments as he takes a set of keys out of his pocket and opens the door.

"It's set out over three floors" Harry explains as he throws his keys into a bowl sitting by the entrance, an expansive kitchen and living area laid out in front of us. It's truly stunning, white walls and light hardwood floors, the decor soft and immaculate, set against floor to ceiling windows with a view of the New York skyline. Harry ventures further into the space and straight for the kitchen, opening the double door fridge and taking a beer out of the fully stocked fridge. I seem to be stuck in place, like if I make a move it will all just disappear.

"You want something to drink?" He asks me as I manage to bring my eyes away from the view directly ahead of me, turning to the right to see the entire length of Central Park below us. "Bub?" He asks again, this time I turn back to look at him. He's shut the door to the fridge and is leaning his shoulder against it, watching me with a smirk. "You like it?"

"It's incredible" I manage to say as I take a few steps further into the apartment. There's a large round table with enough chairs to seat ten and a flat screen TV bigger than a double bed set into the wall. As though on cue, the men from downstairs file in with our bags wheeled in on the cart.

"Set those down upstairs, thank you" Harry directs them before he takes another sip of his beer. I watch as the two men load their arms up with our bags and disappear up a set of cream spiral stairs off to the side of the room.

"Who stay here when you're not here?" I ask him as I take in the other objects around the room. I feel as out of place here as I did the first time I visited his apartment in London. There's no photos or personal items anywhere in sight, though a closer look at a large frame near the kitchen area proves to be one of Max's creations.

"No-one, I have my assistant check on it every so often to make sure no-ones broken in or anything. Just the same as any of my places I loan them out from time to time to family or friends. Mum did a girls trip last year with her and a few of her mates and they all stayed here, there are five bedrooms so there's plenty of space" Harry explains as he takes his wallet out and meets the young men by the foot of the stairs. He produces two bills and gives one to each of them, I'm not sure how much he's given him but the men seem delighted as they each excitedly shake his hand and quickly exit the apartment.

"Not keen to put it up on Airbnb?" I smile before joining him as he climbs up the stairs. I hear him chuckle as he walks past a series of closed doors to a large set of open double doors at the end of the hall.

"Don't see the point, not many people using Airbnb could afford it anyway" His head turns to give me a subtle wink as he stands aside and allows me to enter the room first. The master bedroom is bigger than my first apartment with views that would rival those of his place in London, I can already recognise so many iconic buildings despite the fact that it's nighttime.

"Okay this is just insane" I giggle as I walk further into the room. To the left is a large bathroom, I poke my head in and marvel at the bathtub set against a large window.

"It's pretty great" Harry grins to himself as he opens his bags and starts to carefully dig through them.

"I can see why you love it here" I admit as I examine the walk in closet just to the side of the bathroom. He already has clothes in here, a lot of clothes, but his stuff only takes up one side and the space largely feels empty.

"And you're going to love it here too. Now come on we don't want to be late" He reminds me before I throw open my suitcase and take out one of the dresses that Sarah convinced me to buy the other day. It's dark blue and it suffocated me when I tried it on, but the girls all told me it looked 'hot as fuck' so I take it out and lay it on the bed ready to put on.

Harry's half-dressed when he suddenly huffs and takes his phone out of his back pocket. "Bub I gotta take this, won't be long" he mumbles before kissing the side of my head and swiftly exiting the room. I hear him fondly greet the person on the other end of the call before his voice trails off as he walks further away.

While he's preoccupied, I find my makeup bag and take it into the bathroom before pulling my hair out of my face. I try my best with my makeup, but I'm always worried about whether or not my skin is going to be cooperative and with all the travelling I've been doing I'm extra worried. I can't show up tonight looking greasy or dry or orange or pale, I'm going to be insecure enough meeting Harry's ex I don't need my face to be working against me.

The process goes surprisingly well, probably because I decide against doing anything intense or dramatic. I will be eternally grateful for the last few months that I've lived with Heather where she has patiently taught me how to properly apply contour and winged eyeliner among other things. Harry's still on the phone when I finish my makeup and have squeezed myself into my dress so I decide to FaceTime her and show off my results. It takes her a while to pick up the phone, and when she does she seems to be out of breath.

"Hey sorry my phone was in the other room and - holy smoke you look amazing!" She greets me excitedly as the screen buffer, becoming clearer after a few seconds. I switch the camera to face the mirror in front of me and hold my phone to the side.

"Hey! Does the dress work?" I ask her.

"It looks stunning, didn't you just land in New York?" She replies. I flip the camera back to me and kneel down beside my suitcase and take out one of the Gucci bags I bought the other day.

"Yeah we did, we have to leave soon to meet some of Harry's friends for dinner" I inform her. I omit the part about his ex girlfriend being there as thats a conversation I probably don't want Harry overhearing.

"Wow, this really is a jam packed holiday, just reading your updates and looking at your photos makes me exhausted" she sighs dramatically and sinks down onto the couch.

"I'm sure the pregnancy has something to do with that, how're you feeling?" I smile and sit down on the edge of the bed, decanting the items I'll need for tonight from one purse into another with only one hand, holding the phone in the other.

"Pretty good actually, the last scan went really well he's very healthy and the doctor was pleased with how everything was progressing" Heather tells me.

"You're having a boy?!" I ask excitedly, trying to will the tears away from my eyes so that I don't ruin my makeup. Her eyes widen at my reaction.

"Oh fuck I didn't tell you yet. Yeah, it's a boy! I'm not doing all the gender reveal bullshit I just wanted to know and I've just been telling everyone point blank. So yeah, baby boy!" She replies enthusiastically.

"Are you happy?"

"Beyond happy" She nods and grins widely. "Hey Styles!" Heather waves at the screen, I turn around and see Harry walking back in, his phone call now finished. Harry cranes his head to see the phone in my hand and waves back with a knowing smile.

"Hello Heather" he replies politely as he picks up his new white dress shirt and slips it off of its hanger.

"Lost your shirt? More shower sex you two?" Heather teases with a cheeky smile.

"Shut it you!" I reprimand her before I smile back at Harry as he buttons his shirt. "Heather's having a boy" I inform him. His smile seems to grow wider and he directs his attention back to the phone in my hand.

"Congratulations Heather, how're you feeling?" He inquires.

"Pretty good. First trimesters over so not much morning sickness going on at the moment which I am thrilled about. Now I'm just waiting to get fat" Heather explains to us both, I hold up the camera at arms length so that she can see the both of us.

"You're not waiting to get fat you're waiting for the human you are growing inside of you to get bigger" I remind her, the last thing we need is for Heather to start feeling self conscious about her body while she's pregnant.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Hey Harry, how sick of Elena are you now that you're travelling together" Heather's cheeky grin has returned, I'm surprised to hear Harry chuckle before responding.

"Fuck I'm so sick of her it's insane, please take her back" He replies jokingly as he sits down on the bed beside me and starts to tie his shoes.

"No no no this is split custody Mr Styles you have to just deal with her I have to deal with her all the time" Heather banters back with him. I love that they have this kind of friendship, they're both pretty similar after all. Both Harry and Heather are very sarcastic but deeply good natured people and I adore them both immensely, so it's important to me that they get along.

"Fine fine, we've got to get going the cars downstairs" Harry informs me and presses a kiss to my check before standing up.

"Gotta go Heather but I'll talk to you more maybe tomorrow, take care of that little boy of yours" I grin and place my bag on my shoulder and start to follow after Harry back down the hallway. I still haven't seen much of this apartment and all of the closed doors are just silently begging to be opened, but that will have to wait.

"Okay girl enjoy your dinner, love ya, look after my girl Styles!" Heather calls out through the speaker as Harry and I both cross over to the front door.

"Will do Heather" Harry calls back before I wave to Heather and hang up the phone.

"Sorry, I wanted to get her advice on my outfit" I explain as I follow him out of the front door and wait for him to lock it before waiting with him for the elevator.

"Of course, you look fucking hot bub" He lowers his voice and holds my hips from behind, tilting his head down to kiss the spot just below my ear.

"Was your call okay?" I ask, resting my back against his body as I hear the elevator slowly rise up to meet us. Seconds later the steel doors open and we get inside.

"Oh yeah it was fine, business stuff" he shrugs his shoulders and holds my hand as the elevator carries us down towards the ground.

"How many people am I meeting tonight?" He gives my hand a gentle squeeze before he responds.

"It depends if they're all bringing plus ones, but there should be five of them that you'll be meeting. Well, you've technically already met Dale" A look of apprehension and guilt flashes over his face as the elevator finally reaches the ground and he leads me outside to where a sleek black car is already waiting for us. It takes me a minute to remember where I know him from. I met him briefly at the end of a charity event I went to with Harry, he spilled the beans on Harry hanging out with Holly when he was in New York.

"Ah yes, Dale" I recall after thanking the driver for opening my door, climbing into the backseat with Harry. "How do you know them all?" I swiftly change the subject, much to Harry's relief.

"Various business events over the years" The car starts to slowly merge into the New York traffic, which isn't as congested as I thought it would be. "And some partying, but mostly business" He continues.

"I can't imagine you partying" I grin up at him, watching him check his phone before replacing it back into his pocket. Trying to picture Harry dancing drunk in a club with strobe lights and maybe some glow sticks is a very amusing thought to me.

"I used to be very good at it, now not so much" He smiles down at me and shrugs his shoulders as he speaks.

"So I take it there won't be a club involved tonight?" I ask, silently begging for the answer to be no.

"No, just dinner and drinks, half of them all have kids or partners so it won't be a crazy night" He confirms and I feel a wave of relief wash over me. I'm not too tired yet, but I know it won't be far away and I'm really not looking to curl up and sleep in the corner of a booth at some random New York club. I direct my attention back outside and take in the surroundings. I have no clue where in New York we are, and even if I did I wouldn't know what it would mean in relation to the other parts of New York I'm aware exist. Though my knowledge of New York is really not that extensive, mainly movies and Gossip Girl.

"How does Heather feel about having a boy?" Harry asks, directing my attention back into the car. He sits beside me with his elbow resting against the window frame, his hand propping his chin up as he watches me.

"She seems excited, I don't think she cared very much about the gender but I think she's happy. I'm still in disbelief that she's actually going to have a baby" I reply honestly. The thought of my best friend becoming a mother is beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.

"Did you tell her you're moving back in with me?" His hand slides over to wrap around my knee, his thumb softly strumming over the curve. I love the feeling of his fingers over my skin, even more so when he's wearing his rings like he is now. It reminds me that I still have his ring on from when he let me borrow it in LA, I've gotten so used to wearing it, I may have to get one similar to it when I return it to him.

"Not yet, I thought that might be a sit down in person conversation" I answer. I'm excited to move back in with Harry, but I'm still nervous about it. I'm of course nervous about how Heather's going to take it, I promised I'd help her with her pregnancy and now that she might start actually needing my help I'm moving back in with my boyfriend. But I also think she'll be happy for me, and she may want some space now that she's becoming a mum soon. And I'm also just nervous about what moving back in means for us. When I move back in, I don't want to move back out again, so does that mean that this is forever?

"That makes sense" Harry interrupts my thoughts as the car turns around a corner. "Things are going to be crazy when we get back" He points out, and I hadn't even thought about all of the stuff we'll be returning to. I'll be moving back in with him, starting my last and most intense semester of university, we're becoming godparents - it's going to be a lot. I should schedule an appointment for Dr Lawrence just to get her advice on how to handle it all.

"Yeah you're right" I admit quietly. I feel his hand warmly squeeze my thigh, I look over to him and see his warm smile light up the dark car.

"We'll be alright" He assures me before the car comes to a complete stop outside of a dark and modern looking restaurant, definitely Harry's taste. We both climb out of the car and I wait for him to take my hand before he leads us directly up to the hostesses station and mumbles something to her as I stare at the interiors. It's packed with people both on tables and sets of sofas and armchairs, the soft swells of piano setting the tone for such a sophisticated spot. For once I don't feel underdressed or out of place with Harry at my side as we both follow the waitress through the restaurant.

"Finally you show up!" A man with jet black hair and a strong American accent announces as Harry and I turn around the corner. He stands and makes his way over to Harry and enthusiastically shakes his hand.

"We made it, sorry to keep you all waiting but we wanted to freshen up before we came out" Harry makes his apologies as the group who were sitting with the man also stand.

"And freshen up you did! It's good to see you man, and you must be the lovely Elena" He grins before turning his attention to me, picking up my hand that was resting at my side. "Pleasure to meet you darling, I'm Mark" he shakes my hand as Harry moves away from my side to greet the others.

"It's nice to meet you too" I mumble before Harry reappears, his arm around the shoulders of a man who's about as tall as he is with a scruffy beard and short brown hair.

"Elena this is Jeff" Harry introduces the man who steps forward and warmly shakes my hand.

"It's great to finally meet you, heard a lot about you" Jeff says to me, I'm about to respond when I see Harry give a half hug to the blonde woman who stood up when we walked in, she must be Holly. I direct my attention back to Jeff and smile at him.

"Great to meet you too Jeff" I answer before he takes me around the long square table introducing me to the others seated around it. Harry is immediately wrapped up in conversation with Mark and Holly, seeming to have forgotten me already. No, I banish those thoughts from my head, they're his friends and he hasn't seen them in months he hasn't forgotten about you he's just catching up.

"You might remember me" Dale says as he stands up to give me a quick hug.

"Yes that's right, we met briefly last year, it's nice to see you again" I respond politely before Harry finally appears back at my side, his hand resting on the small of my back.

"Already made the introductions" Jeff tells him with a wide grin "You guys are up here" he directs us to two seats in the middle of the table. Harry and I sit down beside one another, with Jeff and his wife Glenne sitting beside me and Mark and his date beside Harry. I make a quick scan of the table and note that Holly is sitting farther down away from Harry and I, she also was the only person who actively avoided saying hello to me.

"You alright?" Harry asks me quietly as we get settled into our seats.

"Mhmm" I hum and give him a soft smile. He seems unconvinced, tucking a few loose strands of hair behind my ear until I give him a warm smile which he instantly returns.

"Good flight you guys?" Jeff's friend Robbie leans over from across the table and directs his question to us.

"It was pretty good actually, thank fuck we didn't have any delays or else we would have missed dinner entirely" Harry smiles and responds as Jeff picks up two bottles of wine from the middle of the table and holds them in front of me.

"Are you a red or a white drinker Elena? Or do you prefer something stronger?" Jeff asks with a small smirk, my eyes flicker back and forth between the two options and I feel overwhelmed before Jeff chuckles. "It's not a test, just want to know which one to pour"

I laugh at myself for thinking that he's asking some version of a 'what your favourite alcohol says about you' quiz before answering. "Red is fine, thanks" He grins and places one of the bottles back down and pours me a relatively big glass of red wine.

"How have you guys enjoyed your trip so far?" Glenne leans over and asks as I feel Harry's lips touch the corner of my temple, his hand resting  around the back of my chair.

"We've had a lot of fun so far" Harry begins. "I even took her to Disneyland" His smile gleams as a waiter placed down a short glass of amber liquid in front of him.

"You went to Disneyland?" Jeff questions. I nod and smile up at Harry.

"He sure did, I have evidence" I take my phone out of my back and quickly find one of the many photos I made Hannah and Ivan take of us that day as we waited in line for ice cream. I didn't actually know they took this one until I found it later, Harry and I are both examining the hanging sign displaying the flavours of ice cream that were available. Harry's arms are draped over my shoulders as he stands behind me, Sleeping Beauty's Castle clearly evident in the background. Both Jeff and Glenne review the photo with wide eyes, Harry's fingertips lightly trace small shapes across my shoulder before Jeff hands the phone back to me.

"Wow, I bet you had just the best time man" Jeff smirks as Harry who softly chuckles, shrugging his shoulders and picking up his glass.

"I will admit I was dreading it a little bit, but my lady wanted to do Disneyland so we did it. And it ended up being a pretty great day" Harry answers, I lean my head against his shoulder briefly as Glenne 'awws' at his answer. The rest of the table seem to be already wrapped up in sweeping conversations with one another.

"Well if that ain't love then I don't know what is" Jeff grins at Harry as I take a sip of wine, I know I'll probably regret it as it will likely make me feel jetlagged and weird but I don't want to seem lame in front of Harry's friends. "I once waited in line for six hours to see a Van Gogh exhibit for this one" Jeff gestures to Glenne beside him.

"Hey you loved that!" Glenne retorts as Harry and I laugh and watch on.

"Yes I did but even you have to admit it was a long time to wait for not a lot" Jeff replies, the goofy grin evident on his lips.

"No menus?" I turn to Harry and ask quietly, looking around the table to find no way for us to figure out what to order for dinner.

"This place does a whole lot of sharing plates, Dale told me they already put in a large order for food so they'll be plenty to go around" Harry explains, gently stroking the side of my neck with the back of his forefinger. Just as he finishes talking, a collection of waiters make their way over to our table and lay a series of different plates in front of all of us. Just the sight of it all is enough to make my mouth water, so I start to load my plate with the different dishes that I can reach; sliders, ribs and a couple of different salads.

"This food is amazing" I tell Harry after a few minutes of eating, everyone else around the table seems to be as hungry as I am, even Harry is reaching over to take up another slider.

"It's always been great, it's been open for years so we all used to come here on a semi regular basis" Harry tells me as I eat, wiping his mouth with a napkin placed in his lap. Down the other end of the table, a debate has broken out between Robbie and Dale regarding some kind of foreign policy, others around them are starting to get involved.

"Am I doing okay?" I take the opportunity to quietly check in with Harry, who turns his attention away from the group down the end and back to me.

"Bub you're great, I'm not worried about them liking you at all, I want you to like them" Harry reassures me, his lips curled upwards slightly. A lot really has changed since we first began our relationship; he's worried about if I'll like his friends, not the other way around.

"I still want them to like me, you obviously care a lot about these people and if they hated me it would be a major problem" I whisper quietly in response. Harry shakes his head and tilts his head down to place a featherlight kiss on my cheek.

"They couldn't possibly hate you bub don't worry about that" Harry's words have the intended affect, soothing some of the tension in carrying. But I do know one person at this table who could possibly hate me, and I've seen her watching us on and off throughout dinner out of the corner of my eye.

"Styles, get down here!" Robbie calls for Harry from the other end of the table and gestures to the seat next to him. "We need an impartial opinion" He explains; a couple of people have switched seats throughout the course of dinner and I believe one couple left before the food came, there's a lot of people here.

"You'll be okay?" Harry asks me with a warm smile.

"Of course, me and my slider are going to spend some quality time together" I gesture to my plate with a grin before Harry presses a quick kiss to my lips and stands, walking down to the other end of the table and settling into the seat Robbie offered him.

"How're you holding up love?" Jeff turns and asks me half a minute later. I nod my head as I finish eating my mouthful of slider before I respond.

"Yeah I'm okay, how did you meet Harry?" I ask. It seems like Harry has a lot of friends, but it's clear that some of them are more genuinely friends and the others are just people he often runs into. Jeff seems to be one of his main friends and I'm intrigued to learn more about him.

"I um" he chuckles and scratches his chin before speaking again. "I met him through one of his old girlfriends about ten years ago. I represent her and we met at an event" Jeff explains. Great, more exes, how many ex girlfriends can one person have?

"Represent her? Does that mean that you're a lawyer?" I ask him, surprised when both he and Glenne start to chuckle.

"Oh fuck no, no I work in talent management. She's a model so I find her jobs, handle her endorsements and take a handsome pay-check from it" Jeff explains with a soft smile. I guess that makes more sense, of course he's dated models that really shouldn't surprise me. "Harry tells me you're getting a degree in business, is that something you're passionate about?" Jeff inquires. I could lie, I could totally just lie and say that I'm fascinated by the world of business but why bother?

"Honestly, not particularly, I kind of got pushed towards that degree" I reply before taking a sip of my wine. Jeff grins softly at my answer and nods his head.

"If you'd got to pick anything what would you have picked?" Jeff asks, sending my brain into meltdown mode. I try not to think about how much happier a different degree would make me, but it dawns on me everyday that I walk into lectures or tutorials at my university. I see everyone around me so excited and interested in what we're learning and discussing the internships they're hoping to get or interviews they want to go well, and I just don't feel it. And it sucks, it really sucks.

"I'm not sure, maybe something with literature, or something that could get me a job where I could help people" I settle back into my seat. Jeff nods understandingly.

"You could always go back and try something else, I know Harry'd support you in that" He replies genuinely, nodding his head towards Harry down the other end of the table. He's sitting back in his chair as Robbie and Dale talk across him, his arms folded across his chest and a smirking grin on his lips as he watches them bicker with amusement.

"I guess" I shrug "But I'm still not quite comfortable with this whole lifestyle just yet, I'd feel bad letting him support me like that. It's only a few more months before I have the degree and I'm sure I'll find a way to make it work for me" Jeff smiles warmly and nods his head.

"I can only imagine the transition would be tough, Harry's world is a lot more different than many other peoples. And I have to be honest, when Harry first told us about you we were all a little concerned..."

"That I was either a gold digger or a social climber?" I finish his thought for him, causing him to chuckle and nod his head once more. Deep down it still upsets me that that was exactly what this all started as, a transaction and not an actual relationship. But now we're here, and both Harry and I know that Harry could lose everything tomorrow and nothing would change between him and I, and I think that comforts us both greatly.

"He's had that in the past and it's never really bothered him before, but I truly have never seen him as happy as he is with you, and so if that had been your ulterior motive it would have been devastating" Jeff explains. "But I can see the goodness that you bring out of him. He's kinder to himself, he's more mindful of others, you genuinely make him a better man. So I guess I just want to say thank you for treating him the way that you do" His voice and his words are both so sincere, I'm scared I'm going to cry and turn into a slobbering mess right in the middle of dinner. That is, until the tall blonde places her hand of Jeff's shoulder.

"Jeff babes, Alex really wants you to tell Paul and Rita the story about Barbados" Holly tells him sweetly and Jeff excuses himself, standing up and crossing over to the other end of the table. To my surprise, Holly takes his seat and my stomach curls with dread. Glenne is wrapped up in conversation, Harry's still with Robbie and Dale, it's just Holly and me.

"I didn't get the opportunity to introduce myself earlier, I'm Holly" She confirms the theory I've held all night by introducing herself with a sparkling smile. Her perfectly tanned legs are crossed and she turns her body to face me, a mint green silk dress clinging to every curve of her body.

"I'm Elena, it's nice to finally meet you" I reply politely, trying to nonchalantly keep my guard up. Holly purses her bright red lips together and nods softly.

"I just thought that maybe you and I should have a quick chat, I'm not sure how much Harry has told you about me but we have a history" She explains with a soft grin, one that sends chills up my spine.

"I'm aware of your history" I tell her, I think she was maybe hoping that Harry had kept me in the dark and that this would be the first I'm hearing about any of it. She clears her throat and plays with the stem of her wine glass that she brought over with her, she's clearly a white wine drinker herself.

"Right, so I guess I just wanted to check that we were okay" Holly says. I'm confused, cool about what? So I ask her.

"Cool about what?" Holly smiles at my question and leans forward slightly, an overwhelming floral perfume wafts over me as she does.

"Harry and I didn't ever really date, it was mostly just physical. And every so often we've met back up and, 'rekindled the flame' so to speak" She giggles at my shocked expression. "Come on hun, we both know that Harry's not the kind of guy who's needs can be met in a monogamous relationship" Her words purr as they fall out of her mouth, I can feel my heart thundering in my stomach. Is she just freely admitting to sleeping with Harry since he's been with me?

"That's not the kind of relationship we have" I calmly explain.

"So then why do you think he keeps me around? I'm sorry darling, I think you're lovely, but if you think that he's not either already sleeping with other people or wanting to then you're kidding yourself" Her words knock me over like a wrecking ball, my mouth completely dries up and I hold onto the edge of the table. No, no he wouldn't, not my Harry, but what if...

"How long have you known him? A year? I've known him for a decade, I think I know what I'm talking about" Holly continues before she takes a sip of her wine.

"Maybe that's the Harry you knew but that's not my Harry" I tell her quietly. I feel like I've just been through this with Poppy, the Harry that he was with them is not the same Harry that I know now. It doesn't make any of this easier to listen to, and it's not something I can just so easily brush aside.

"He's still keeping me around, ask yourself why" Holly says with a soft smile before standing back up and leaving the seat, walking over to sit down in her original spot. I reach forward and take a large sip of my wine and push my plate away from me. I stew in my own self pity as I mull over Hollys words, I'm not sure how much time passes but eventually I feel a warm hand on my shoulder.

"Tired?" Harry quietly asks as he settles back into his seat beside me. I snap back into reality and nod my head; yes Harry, I'm emotionally and mentally exhausted.

"Alright everyone, we're going to take off" Harry announces as he stands up, holding out his hand for me to take. I place my hand in his and stand as a few people stand to wish us goodbye.

"Let's catch up again before you go, yeah?" Jeff asks Harry as he shakes his hand before giving me a small hug. "Wonderful to finally meet you" He says by way of goodbye. The rest of the goodbyes are over fairly quickly, Holly doesn't move from her seat, instead she raises her newly topped up wine glass to me and grins widely. Harry holds his hand up and waves to everyone else before he leads me through the tables towards the exit. The man who dropped us off is patiently waiting to open my door as we exit, I wonder how long he's been waiting there.

"Did you have a good night?" Harry asks me as we settle into our seats and the car begins to weave through traffic. I nod my head and focus my attention outside of the car, I need to talk to him about what Holly said just not in the car with another stranger listening in.

"Nice to see your friends?" I ask him as his hand rests itself on my thigh, sending a warm thrill through my body.

"Yeah it was great, couldn't have asked for a better night" I can see in the shadow of the car that Harry has a big smile on his face, and it makes me feel bad that I definitely could have asked for a better night. I focus instead on his hand, tracing my fingers around the curves of one of his rings. The rest of the ride is filled with comfortable silence, I think we're both tired, both just happy to listen to the soft jazz music emitting itself from the radio. Eventually we pull up outside of the apartment building and I'm quick to open my door and step out from the car. Harry places his hand on the small of my back as we walk in, wait for the elevator, and ascend in it together.

"Big day" Harry sighs happily after he unlocks the front door to his apartment and locks it after the both of us. I slip off my high heels, instantly feeling the relief as my bare feet touch the ground. "Let's get some rest"

"Holly talked to me" I say abruptly as Harry starts to make his way to the stairs. He turns around and nods his head.

"I figured she might, did that go okay?" He asks nonchalantly.

"No, no it wasn't okay, not at all" I vent. Harry's demeanour quickly changes, his posture straightens out and he takes a few small steps back over to me.

"What happened?" He asks.

"She wanted to make sure that she and I were 'cool'. You know, because you guys often rekindle your relationship and that she knows that one relationship is never going to be enough for you. Basically just wanted me to meet her because she thinks for sure that you and her will at some point hook up again." I huff and fold my arms over my chest, waiting for him to prove me right, to deny that anything like that has ever happened, curse her out and tell me to forget about her.

"Well that's ridiculous. There's no way that's what she meant" Harry explains gently. I raise my eyebrow.

"What?"

"We used to hook up when I came to New York, but we haven't since I met you. I've talked to her about you and made it clear that nothing would happen with her and I again, and she was very accepting of that, even spoke to her a few weeks ago when I was putting this thing together. I think maybe you're just confused about what she meant" Harry calmly explains and steps towards me, I instantly step back and out of his reach. He thinks I'm lying?

"That's what she said to me; that you'll never be okay with just a monogamous relationship and that if you weren't already sleeping with other people then you would be eventually" I tell him.

"You sure you're not just projecting some of your insecurities into this conversation you had" He replies defensively.

"No! You think I'm lying?"

"Of course I don't think you're lying, I think that maybe with the Jetlag and what just happened with Poppy and meeting everyone for the first time you may have gotten overwhelmed and confused about what she meant. I'm sure she didn't imply that I'm going to sleep with her" He calmly explains, again trying to step forward, I walk around him and shake my head as I move further into the living room, desperate to find some open space between him and I.

"I'm not overwhelmed and I'm not confused. This is what she said to me, why don't you believe me?" I ask him, trying to keep the tears away. If I wasn't so angry at his blatant refusal to believe me I would probably be crying.

"Because it doesn't make sense. She knows that you'd tell me she said this and she knows that we don't have that kind of relationship anymore so it doesn't make sense for her to do this" Harry sighs and follows me into the living room.

"You think I'm confused?" I ask him, feeling the anger bubble up inside of me.

"I do, I think you're confused" He looks at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Tell me Harry, how could I confuse the words 'if you think he's not either already sleeping with other people or wanting to then you're kidding yourself'?" I repeat Hollys words back to him, and he blinks for a few seconds as he digests them.

"I think maybe that's some of your insecurities that you're projecting onto her" He replies defiantly.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I finally raise my voice. "Why are you so insistent on giving her the benefit of the doubt?"

"Because we're friends! We're working on being just friends again and I don't think that that's what she said to you" Harry responds.

"Do you keep her around in case things go wrong between us?" I quickly ask in a quiet voice, the question she asked me herself eating me from the inside out. Harry runs his hand through his hair and grits his teeth together.

"Elena you've got to be fucking kidding me. After all of this you think I'm keeping her around so I can fuck her?" His question bites back at me.

"Why else are you so keen to give her the benefit of the doubt" I shrug my shoulders, now it's Harry's turn to be the angrier one.

"Because we are friends, that's all we are now! We're a part of this bigger group, if she and I just stopped interacting and stopped being friends it would make a huge shift in the group and I don't want to do that" He huffs and shakes his head. "You really think I'd cheat on you?"

"Well I didn't! But now that you're so quick to defend your former fuck buddy and basically call me a liar can you really blame me?!" I reply, the anger surging once more. I know I don't really think that he would, but his reaction to this whole situation isn't exactly comforting.

"I haven't been with anyone else since I met you, nor have I wanted to. Why the fuck don't you trust me on that?" His words portray a hint of sadness

"I do trust you, but you insisting that this woman is your friend when she's actively trying to antagonise me is really messing with that" I explain.

"That's not what she's doing Elena" He tells me firmly. I wrap my arms around myself and shake my head, allowing myself to catch my breath for a moment or two.

"You do know that you're being a big hypocrite right now don't you?" I turn back to calmly face him. Harry looks back up at me and raises an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?" He asks, clearly caught off guard that I'd say something like that.

"You made me quit two jobs because there were guys there that made you feel insecure" I remind him, he grits his teeth and widens his eyes slightly, clearly I've hit a nerve.

"Hey! They did not make me feel insecure and I had a reason behind both of them. Ryan couldn't keep his grubby fucking eyes off of you and asked you out on a date in front of me. While Luke was very open about his intentions of trying to get with you and you told me that he made you feel uncomfortable" Harry defends himself. And therein lies the problem. They made him uncomfortable for small stupid reasons and I cut them out of my life. But the second I bring up the insecurity of knowing that his fuck buddy and him are still great mates and he believes her over me, all of a sudden I'm confused and I don't trust him.

"The difference being that there was never anything between any of them! There was never anything going on, but you didn't like it and so I let them out of my life." I sigh as I respond.

"Well I'm sorry that I don't want guys drooling after my girlfriend". Harry mumbles defensively, despite the fact that I wasn't finished talking.

"Yes! And I acknowledged that and let them go! But you, you get to keep your fuck buddy of over half a decade and have the audacity to call her a friend when I tell her the shit that she said to me?" He pauses for a moment as he digests my words, his chest rising and falling at an accelerated rate.

"Holly was a friend, and a big part of my life a long time ago" His tone is so quiet and yet so forceful, and it just makes me madder.

"But then you decided to make her a friends with benefits and ruin that friendship. Now she's an ex, and it makes me uncomfortable" I reply firmly.

"You're uncomfortable because you think I'll fuck her, because you don't trust me" Harry says flatly, and I outwardly groan. If I was alone I'd grab a pillow and scream into it for 2 minutes straight out of frustration.

"I told you already that's not the point! The point is that you're insisting to believe her and keep her as a part of your life while also basically banning me from having male friends is completely hypocritical" The words burst out of me angrily, and they seem to have taken Harry by surprise. Sure the thought of Harry cheating on me terrifies me, but I believe that he loves me enough to not want to destroy me in that way. Holly can try all she likes, Harry isn't her little fuck buddy anymore, but his nonchalant attitude about how her hanging around him affects me is what's forcing this anger to stay trapped inside of me.

"Elena it's not like I even spend lots of time with her, we see each other in group settings a couple of times a year. You worked with those fuckers, there's a big difference there" He huffs.

"Yeah, the difference being that I quit two jobs to get away from them so that you would feel better and you won't set up clear boundaries between you and your fuck buddy of over a decade" I say calmly. That's the defining feature between these two scenarios. I would also argue that she said basically 'your man will cheat on you and I super hope it will be with me' and when I brought this information to him he pretty much told me I was a liar, but I'm exhausted.

"I have set up boundaries" Harry tries to defend himself, but even I know there's no real conviction behind his words.

"No you haven't. And we said that when we had issues we would bring them to each other and talk them through. That's what I did; Holly told me some stuff that bothered me and I brought it to you and instead of trying to come to a resolution with me you called me a liar and insisted your fuck buddy of a decade has only good intentions" I state, exhausted and out of breath, no fight left in me.

"New York's fucking awesome, I love it here" I say solemnly as I breeze past him and up the stairs. He appears to be rooted in place and lets me go. I make quick work of the stairs, gathering up my suitcase and dragging it into one of the spare rooms and shutting the door forcefully behind me, there's no way I'm sharing a room with him tonight.