It was the following night and I, along with our group of friends we had managed to create, were all gathered in the living room of mine and Lila's apartment. A glass of pink moscato was in mine and Lila's hands while the boys all opted for beers. I was already on my second glass and felt a little buzzed from it, a wave of calmness washing over me as I watched Liam try and act out his card he had picked out for our game of charades. An amused grin pulled at my lips as Lila stared up at him in concentration as he flapped his arms around and squatted where he was.

"Are you supposed be a duck?" Andy asked and Liam threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "The mighty ducks?"

Liam shook his head and tucked his arms back in to flap them again. Squatting lower and waddling around the living room. I laughed and clapped my hands.
"I know what you are." I sung and Lila threw me a glare. Our team was winning by three and buzzed Lila became a competitive Lila.

"The chicken dance?" She tilted her head and Liam shook his head, throwing up two fingers and then four. Two words, four syllables.

"Donald duck!" Anthony shouted and Liam stood up straight, throwing his head back just as the timer went off.

"That's 3 syllables! It was chicken little you fucks! Did you not get the part where I pointed to how I was going lower to the floor?" He shook his head and sighed before moving to plop himself on the couch, tossing his feet up on the table and waving to our side. "Your turn."

Grinning, I stand up and place my wine glass on the table. Bending down slightly I move to pick a card out from the box and flinch when I feel a pinch to my bum. I automatically look over my shoulder to see Harry leaning his elbow on the armrest of the love seat, two fingers pressed to his lips as he tried to suppress a cheeky grin. The look on his face with his eyebrows raised combined with the faded pink beanie on his head made it impossible to be annoyed with him but I still forced a reprimanding frown on my face and shook my head slightly. He only grinned more and sent me a wink. The cheeky bastard.

A throat clearing breaks our eye contact and I immediately stand up, walking towards the middle of the room. I glance at Caesar who had been sitting on the floor next to the love seat and then Niall, who sits right next to him with a scowl on his face. His gaze is on Harry but as if knowing I was watching him, he tears his eyes away and his expression completely shifts. A smile is sent towards me and I move from one foot to the other when I notice Harry turning his head to look at Niall. I had hoped they would have let whatever happened in Niall's car between them go and that things wouldn't be awkward between them. But boy, was I wrong. The tension with them being in the same room was too much and they were constantly glaring at each other through out our game of charades. Their tones harsh with each other if one of them guessed wrong. It was ridiculous.

Feeling even more tense the longer I waited I finally looked down at the card and read the words there, biting my lip as I thought of how to act this out. Placing my card down back on the table face down, I glance around the room and then to my clothing. Quickly, I unzip my sweater and glance at Lila to indicate for her to start the timer then turn back to my team and hold up my fingers.

"Four words," Harry says first and I hold up my fingers again. "Seven syllables."

Nodding in approval, I lift the hood of my sweater over my head until it shields half of my face. Then shrug off the arms of the sweater so it hangs loosely on my back like a cape. Caesar and Niall stare up at me in concentration, and then Caesar snaps his fingers.

"Are you Dracula?"

Rolling my eyes I shake my head and hold the hood over half my face again but this time open my mouth and make it look like I'm singing. Except no words come out of my mouth.

"Is it a famous singer?" Niall asks but I don't answer him and instead do the same thing as before.

"Phantom of the Opera!" Harry shouts suddenly and I clap, pointing at Harry with a wide grin.

"Yes!" I laugh and Lila curses behind me. I end up pulling my sweater completely off and toss it on the couch. Once I'm standing in front of Harry I give him a high five with both hands and he mirrors me, but intertwines our fingers before I bend down to give him a swift peck. "Nice job babe."

"We make a good team." He murmurs but its loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"I ain't even going to try anymore, you guys are carrying our team." Caesar pointed out before taking a sip of his beer.

"It's not fair, you guys shouldn't be on the same team. You're too in sync with each other." Lila whines then turns abruptly to slap Anthony on the chest. "You suck at this game."

"I told you I sucked and you still made me play." He tells her while rubbing where she had smacked him. "You're just too competitive for your own good."

"Shut up or I'm never blowing you again." She threatens and Andy chokes on his beer while Liam laughs. Not being able to stop myself, I take a peek down at Caesar to see a grimace on his face but his gaze is on his beer. No doubt he felt uncomfortable being here but he had sucked it up and introduced himself to Anthony the moment he walked into the apartment. He didn't show an ounce of dislike he might have towards him and instead has made an effort to get to know him. I know it must be hard, he might of gotten laid by that girl Sarah but I know he isn't over Lila yet. And here he is, putting a smile on his face and handling this with grace. I was proud of him.

Knowing he was sad deep down, I plopped myself back on the couch beside Harry and sling my hand off the arm off the couch. My fingers grazed his hair and then I lightly patted his head. He tilted his head back to look up at me and I sent him a comforting smile. A small sad one that seemed a little forced was sent back to me but still, he grabbed my hand on his head, squeezed it once before releasing it. I'd give him a big hug later.

"I don't want to play this anymore," Niall suddenly says with an exasperated tone. "I'm over it."

"Agreed." Liam chimes in and tips his beer in Niall's direction before chugging the rest of it.

"You're just saying that because you lost." I tell him and then send Lila a wink when she narrows her eyes at me. I shape my fingers into the letter 'L', place it in the middle of my forehead, then mouth the word Losers to her. She gasps and I end up laughing at the disbelief on her face.

"Rude!" She shouts and picks up her glass of wine, sipping on it angrily.

"Baby don't be a poor sport." Harry chuckles, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his chest.

"I'm only kidding." I tell him and nuzzle more into his warm body, suddenly regretting taking off my sweater. The thin tank top was doing very little to keep me warm but I opted for using Harry as my source of heat.

"Can you believe Thanksgiving is already this week?" Liam voices his thoughts aloud and we all look in his direction. "I feel like the school year just started and we're a little over a month away from Christmas."

"I know, I'm so excited to go home. My mom's stuffing is to die for." Anthony says with a groan and I feel my mood dampen at the mention of going home. I hadn't figured out what I was going to do this year, considering it was clear I wouldn't be welcomed at my mom's house. And there was no way I was going to spend it with my dad and Jessica.

As if knowing where my thoughts were, Liam turned to look at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Hey, you're coming to my house right? Like you do every year?"

I feel all eyes on me and I tense beside Harry, moving to sit up straighter. "Um, I don't know."

Liam frowns. "What? Why wouldn't you come?"

Why wouldn't I go over? His question annoys me considering he knows every single detail that had gone down with my family. His mom was my dad's sister after all, I had no doubt he would be there. "Is my dad going?"

Liam's lips thin out and he furrows his eyebrows before slowly nodding. "Yeah, he told my mom he was."

"And I don't doubt he'll bring Jessica." I stated coldly. "So no, I won't be going."

He looks angry. "Where will you go then Ems?"

"She can come to mine." Harry, Lila, and Niall all say at the same time. I look around the room to see Harry looking in Niall's direction with thunder in his eyes, Lila with her eyes shifting back and forth between Harry and Niall, and Niall looking up at me with his teeth sunk into his bottom lip.

"Er," I turn and glance back at Harry to see he looks beyond irritated. No more of this. Harry is right, you need to put Niall in his place. My eyes fall back on Niall and I force a small smile on my face and shake my head. "Niall, thank you for the offer, but I'll probably spend it with either Lila or Harry."

The way his shoulders slump and his face literally falls kills me but I know it had to be said. He nods once firmly and clears his throat, looking down at the floor. "Okay, no problem. Offer still stands if you change your mind."

I don't respond to him and lean back into the couch, feeling Harry's previous tense body relax beside me. His fingers against my shoulder lightly brush my skin, tracing shapes as we both stare ahead. My stomach flips when I feel him trace the shape of a heart on my shoulder.

"Well then," Lila says awkwardly and leans back into the couch. "Just uh, let me know what you decide."

"I will." I tell her and she nods, pressing her lips together and glancing around the room. I can tell she feels the tension rolling around between Harry and Niall and she's trying to find a way to diffuse it. Good luck with that, girl.

She's quiet for another long moment and my eyes turn to stare at the TV we've had on as background noise, just as Lila gasps and sits up abruptly at the end of her spot on the couch. "We should have a friendsgiving."

"A what?" Caesar asks and Lila is practically bouncing in excitement.

"A friendsgiving! You know like a thanksgiving but for friends? We should do it, this weekend!"

"You mean the same weekend right after thanksgiving? Won't everyone be busy?" Liam asks as he looks around the group and everyone shakes their heads. "I mean I wanted to go Black Friday shopping..."

I rolled my eyes and turn my attention back to Lila. "Where would we have this?"

She tilts her head in thought for a moment, looking around the apartment. "I mean we could do it here but the kitchen isn't that big." She states and then, its as if a light bulb has switched on because her whole face brightens. "The beach house!"

"Never mind forget Black Friday shopping." Liam immediately states and nods fiercely. "I am in. I am so in."

"What beach house?" Harry asks curiously.

"Remember how I told you Lila's dad owns a beach house at the Hamptons? That beach house."

He whistles lowly, eyebrows shooting up. "I mean I've always wanted to go to the Hamptons."

"So then everyone is in?" Lila asks excitedly, darting her eyes around and it's Anthony who slowly raises his hand. Her smile falls a little but she arches her eyebrow in question.

"Not to be the realist here, but isn't it too cold to be going to the beach?"

Lila rolls her eyes and pats his thigh lovingly. "Babe don't be a wuss. It will be a little cold but nothing we can't handle. Just don't go into the water and you should be fine."

He playfully scrunches his nose at her but intertwines their hands together. "Fine, then I'm in."

"Me too." I state and Harry agrees after me along with everyone else. "But wait, Morgan! She has to come too."

Lila whips out her phone so fast I was almost convinced she pulled it out of thin air for a moment. "I'm on it."

While Lila is texting Morgan, Liam sits forward with his elbows on his knees and looks around the group. "So what day should we head there then?"

"Friday." Lila says before she locks her phone and leaves it on her lap. "We could head there Friday morning, then leave Sunday afternoon or night."

"That sounds good. What about car situations? Are we carpooling?"

"I have a car." Anthony says and looks around the group. "Fits five total. But I can always use my dad's SUV. That one fits eight."

"I've got my car too, fits five." Andy chimes in and I nod.

"Okay so let's take both of your cars. There's eight of us here, and then if Morgan comes knowing her, she's going to bring her roommate from school. So that's ten," I pause and then glance at Caesar. "Why don't you invite Sarah?"

His eyes widen and he looks around the group a little timidly. "I'm invited?"

"Course," Lila is the one to answer him and she smiles. "You're officially part of this group. So why wouldn't you be?"

I can literally see his eyes go goo-goo for her in that moment and I want to hug him so bad because I know her being this nice to him is not helping him move on in the slightest. But I keep my mouth shut and nod in agreement instead before Caesar manages to pry his eyes away from Lila.

"Yeah, then I guess I'll invite Sarah."

"Cool." I look beside Caesar at Niall and grin. "How about you? Any girl you want to bring with you?"

"Uh," he coughs and shakes his head. "I didn't think I was invited either if I'm honest."

"You are." I tell him and feel Harry tense up beside me but his arm still remains around my shoulder. "Hey what about Amanda?"

"Amanda?" He furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "Amanda from our psychology group project?"

"Yeah her." I nod and lean my elbow on the arm rest, head resting on my curled fist. "I've been talking to her a lot lately and she's really nice. And she has a huge crush on you."

He grimaced and looks down at his blue jeans, picking at a fray thread in the knee. "I don't really like her like that."

"Come on, Niall. Have you actually tried to like her like that? You've never really even spoken to her. You'd like her if you did."

"Is that the blonde girl I saw you talking with when I ran into you in the halls?" Andy asked and when I nodded he whistled. "Dude, she's hot. I say you go for it."

"Agreed." Harry chimes in beside me in an overly excited tone. I briefly glance at him to see him with the most sarcastic grin on his face. I elbow him in the rib for it and immediately he loses the grin and sends me an apologetic look instead.

"I don't know..." Niall says and scratches the back of his neck. "I mean yeah she's hot, but I don't know if I see her that way."

"Well you can find out this weekend." I tell him. "And if you don't like her like that you'll at least like her as a friend. Trust me, she's really sweet."

He's quiet for a moment and then finally, he nods with pursed lips. "Fine, okay. I'll text her and ask if she wants to come with us." He says and then as an after thought, worriedly asks, "You don't think it'll be weird if I invite her do you? I mean I haven't spoken to her that much. Won't she think it's weird? We're kind of friends I guess but not like you and her are. What if she thinks I'm just trying to get in her pants or something?"

The way he's suddenly babbling tells me he's nervous and that alone gives me hope that he'll start liking her. I smile inwardly to myself and go to answer when Harry beats me to it. "If she likes you like Em said she does, she won't think it's weird. She'll probably be surprised but happy about it. Just be causal, ask her what she's doing this weekend for thanksgiving break and then see if she wants to join us."

"But shouldn't Em invite her since they're closer friends?"

"No, it'll mean more to her if you ask her. She'll say yes if she isn't doing anything, trust me."

I stare in awe between the two boys but not dare move a muscle, afraid if I do this moment of peace will be ruined. A long beat of silence draws out and then Niall presses his lips together and awkwardly shifts where he sits. He clears his throat and rubs his jaw. "Uh okay. Thanks."

"Sure." Harry responds and I turn to look at him with admiration. He gives me a small smile and I squeeze his thigh in a silent thank you.

"Morgan said yes!" Lila says happily as she stares down at her phone, her fingers moving quickly over the screen. "She's going to bring Alex with her."

"Who's Alex and is she hot?" Andy asks and Lila shakes her head but she's smiling.

"She's Morgan's roommate and yes, Andy. She's hot."

"She's a spicy little Latina." I tell him and his eyes widen.

"Dibs!" He shouts quickly and glances at Liam. "I call dibs."

"Man I don't care. I wasn't interested anyways." He rolls his eyes and I smirk.

"Right because he's interested in only Morgan." I tease and he instantly shoots me a glare but his cheeks flush a bright red as Andy laughs beside him.

"Shut up." He mutters and shakes his head. "I forget how annoying you can be sometimes."

"The feeling is mutual. Let's not forget how many times you've embarrassed me."

He smirks. "Oh like when I gave Harry the sex talk and-,"

"Okay!" Lila interrupts thankfully, saving mine and Harry's face from turning any more red then they already were. "Back to planning this shindig out; we can all meet here Friday morning at ten in the morning. We should get there by noon if we leave on good time."

"Okay. Who's going in who's car?"

"I'm positive my dad will let me use the SUV so like I said I can take eight."

"And I can take five." Andy says and grins deviously. "Leave Morgan and her roommate to come with us. The rest of you go with Anthony."

Liam rolls his eyes, knowing Andy was going to try his hardest to get close to Alex. The conversation turns to what we should bring with us and I rest my back further into the couch, my side pressing into Harry's as I tilt my head to lay it on my shoulder. My eyes blink sleepily in exhaustion, the lack of sleep I had gotten the night before suddenly hitting me. I feel relaxed thanks to the glasses of wine and Harry's hand repeatedly tracing shapes into my arm that I fight to stay awake. Partially because we had guests over and I didn't want to be rude, and also because I was a little afraid I'd have another nightmare tonight. Sleep was supposed to be the one place I got peace and it seemed so unfair that It was now something I feared doing.

"You're tired," Harry murmured in my hair. "Go to sleep, love."

"I'm not tired." I lamely tried to say with my eyes closed.

His chest vibrated as he chuckled lowly. "Yes you are. Come on," he said and began to push me up on my feet but I was too exhausted to stand on my own. I didn't care if I stayed on the couch I was too comfortable to get up. Noticing this, Harry stood on his feet while I slumped against the couch and began to curl up in the space he had just be occupying. His hand tucked under my curled knees and I whined like a child when he snaked his other arm beneath my back. "Bed time for you, baby." He said and I didn't bother fighting him as he hauled me up in his arms, carrying me bridal style. "I'm going to take her to bed, she's about to pass out. Night, guys."

I faintly heard them softly saying good night but then pried my eyes open and tugged on Harry's shirt. "Wait," I glanced around Harry's shoulder to look at Caesar. "You better not leave tomorrow with out saying bye."

He grinned and shook his head. "I'm not going home until Wednesday when you guys do. Harry's going to let me stay in his room after tonight until then."

"Oh," I mumbled and then smiled sleepily. "M'kay. Night then." I waved my hand then briefly glanced at Niall. "Night, Niall."

"Night Emmy." He said quietly and forced a smile on his face before Harry turned and walked me into the direction of my room. I closed my eyes and curled up against his chest, knowing fighting off sleep was impossible. It didn't matter if I was afraid of what I'd dream of, I couldn't stay awake forever.

I felt the soft duvet around me seconds later, my fluffy pillow supporting my head. The blanket was pulled up to my chin and then warm lips were pressed to my forehead in a light kiss. "Goodnight baby."

Forcing my eyes open when I felt the warmth of Harry's lips appear, I saw him pulling away and turning to walk out of the room. "Where are you going?"

He looked back at me with raised eyebrows, halting where he was. "I was going to go home. Got work in the morning and I didn't bring a change of clothes."

"Stay." I mumbled and reached my arm out to him.

"I didn't bring my stuff, love."

I whimpered. "Stay, please?" I whispered, my eyes fluttering closed in exhaustion and I too tired to filer what I was saying by now. "I'm scared."

There was a long beat of silence and I thought maybe he had left but I didn't have the energy to open my eyes and check. But then, I felt the covers briefly moving off of me and then my bed dipping beside me. Warm arms encircled my waist before dragging me into the a bare chest, where I curled into. I took a deep breath and felt at ease when I smelled the familiar scent of Harry's cologne and then the tickle of his hair against my forehead. "You're staying?"

His arms tightened around me and he pressed a light kiss on my forehead. "Always."

* * * * * * *

Just a filler! Sorry if there are mistakes, no time to edit so I'll go back another time and fix it.

Questions:

Who is she going to spend thanksgiving with?

How do you think this Friendsgiving is going to go?

So I wanted to do a shoutout to one of the books I had read to help give me inspiration! It's called "Affliction" by crstlbtrfly and the series is AMAZING. It deserves so much more credit so if you guys like action, hot, and steamy books or if you like the show the walking dead go read it!

I'll update again soon! Don't forget to vote + comment :) thanks for reading <3