I'm unsure of what could have happened as I run through the woods back to Niall's house. Kate was so vague on the phone before she hung up, but she sounded panicked enough that it's made me feel like something bad has happened and I need to hurry.

When I'm halfway through the woods, I stop in my tracks, realizing how drunk Harry was and wonder if somehow he let the secret of us slip out of his mouth. I know that I left him seemingly unhappy with me, and it's hard to say if he might have said something.

When I get to the fire, Niall stands from his place on the log. "What happened?" I ask, walking over to him. The lighting of the fire lights up his face and I notice his right eye is swollen and he has a cut on his lip. "What the fuck? Who did this to you?"

"Before anything, I need to apologize," he sighs, looking down to the ground. "I was drunk—still kind of am, but I think that fight sobered me up to be honest."

"Just get to it, would ya?"

"Right," he sighs again. "This fight, it was my fault."

"Why?"

"Please don't be mad at me," he says, looking back at me. "I mean, at least not as mad as Harry was—"

"Harry did this to you?" I ask, raising my voice. "Why would he—?"

"You know that I like you, right?" he asks, making me freeze. I gulp, unsure of what to say. "Well, I do. And it's not a secret. And well, I was trying to get with Kate earlier—I don't know. It was a stupid drunken mistake."

"It's fine, Niall," I tell him. "You don't need to apologize for that. Sorry to tell you, but I just want to be friends. I'm not looking for anything else right now."

"I kind of figured," he sighs again.

"But why was there a fight?" I ask. "I don't understand."

"He said something about how it wasn't fair to you that I'd try and get with someone else if I liked you, and that you deserve better than that," he tells me. "It was hard to understand what he was saying, he was so drunk. But he thought it would be a good idea to punch me because of it."

"Stop being fucking difficult, Harry!" we hear Maddy yell through the trees, as Kate appears in front of us. 

"Oh, thank God, you're here," she breathes out. "Harry's bleeding like crazy and he won't let any of us touch him. He keeps asking for you."

There's a plethora of thoughts running through my head at the moment, but all I can think about is running across the backyard to get to him. There's plenty of time to be mad at him later for this, because I don't think any of this is going to end well.

"Oh yay, the apparent savior is here!" Maddy belts out drunkenly, flinging her arms in the air.

"Save it, Maddy," Kate scoffs.

When I get to Harry, he is sitting at the table hunched over looking at the ground. Under the light, I can see his hand is covered in blood and I bend down to his height, hoping he will sit up to look at me. "Harry," I say calmly. "Are you okay?"

He lifts his head to look at me. "My sweet girl," he mumbles quietly. Thankfully everyone is standing far enough away from us at the moment, probably knowing not to go near him anymore, that they couldn't have heard him say that to me.

All I can see is blood across his face, making me scrunch up mine in disgust. "Fuck, Niall!" I turn around to look at him. "What the fuck did you do? This looks like a fucking horror movie!"

"He threw him into the side of the glass table," Kate says, pointing to where a table used to be and is now just a pile of shattered glass.

"Seriously?" I ask. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I told you I'm sorry!"

I turn back to look at Harry, who has his head hanging back down again. "Harry, I'm here to take care of you okay? Is that okay?" I ask, making sure not to talk too loud. 

"That's all I asked for," he mumbles.

"I need you to keep your head up, okay?" I lift his head with my finger to his chin, as he leans back against the back of the chair, his eyes barely open as he looks at me. "Will you let me take you to the hospital?" I ask, calmly.

"I'd love that, to be honest," he tries to laugh, as he holds his head with his bloody hand.

I stand from my place and look around. "Niall, I need some kind of cloth—now! Can I use your car?"

"It's in the shop," he says, running to the back door. "And you don't even drive!"

"Just because I don't have a car, doesn't mean I don't have a license, you idiot!"

Harry hands me his keys after reaching into his back pocket. "I live six houses down, you can get my car."

"Is this for real?" Maddy asks. "Is this really happening? Because I feel like I'm in some kind of nightmare! I should be the one he wants! Why does he want her help?"

I take the keys from him and bend back down. "I'm going to ask them to bring you to the front of the house, okay? So don't fight them on it."

I tell Kate to bring Harry to the sidewalk, as Niall runs outside with a washcloth, and I make sure they know to put it on his head, before I run through his backyard to the side of Niall's house. I can feel myself in panic mode, wanting to make sure that Harry is okay, that I don't care how hard my heart is pounding or that I can barely breathe as I run down the street to Harry's house.

The only reason I know it's his house, is because of his car that sits in the driveway with two other cars, and all I can hope is that it's like riding a bike, because I haven't driven a car in a year, which makes me panic even more, not knowing if I'll remember how or not. 

But I know in the moment, this is not a time to think too much about it, because Harry is bleeding from the head and I have to make sure that he is okay.

Kate and Niall help Harry into the front seat when I pull up in front of the house, as Maddy bitches about me helping him somewhere in the background. Luckily it seems like everyone else had already went home and no one had to see all this commotion. I could only imagine the blogs that would be written if everyone was still here—

Living in a small town, everything is relatively close. The hospital is just across town, but as I drive, it feels farther and farther away, making sure Harry keeps the washcloth on his head.

"You're so pretty," he mutters, pressing his finger into my cheek. I can't tell if he's just drunk or if he's just losing his mind with all the blood he's lost. "I don't tell you that enough, do I?"

"You don't need to tell me things like that," I tell him.

"But I should," he goes on. "Because you deserve to hear things like that."

"Honestly, what were you thinking, punching him?" I ask. I don't mean to raise my voice, but I do, because I can't help it. I know I shouldn't yell at him right now for this, but this car ride is much longer than I thought it was and I can't hold it in anymore.

"He's a douche," he yells back. "He was trying to hook up with Kate and you deserve better than that. He doesn't deserve you!"

"Okay, calm down," I tell him, putting my hand on his leg hoping it'll do the trick. "We're almost there. Let's just talk about this later."

"I don't want to share you, Jayde," he mumbles, quietly. "I liked the rules. Please  don't take the rules away."

I decide not replying would be best right now, as I pull into the hospital parking lot. Because I know he's not one hundred percent with it right now, and the last thing I want is to discuss this when he's not coherent enough to know what he's saying.

**

I held Harry's hand the entire time the doctor stitched him up, as he mumbled about how happy he was his hair would always cover them up so his mother would never be able to notice. The gash in his head was a good inch, just under his hairline on the right side. 

Niall surely did a number on him, all because of me. I wonder if I had waited to talk to Harry about the no rules idea, if this all would have happened, but I know that I can't rewind time. I can't take it back now. I just know that this was all my fault. If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened.

I make sure to listen to the doctor's instructions on how to clean his stitches, in case Harry doesn't remember, as he tells him to come back in five days to get them removed. By this time, both Harry and I just need to go home and get some sleep, because it surely feels like it's been the longest night ever.

Harry had drank enough water at the hospital for me to know that he isn't drunk anymore as we walk out of the hospital. The sun is starting to rise on the drive back to his house and we don't say a word to each other until I drive into his driveway and park the car.

He takes his seat belt off and looks at me. "Thank you," he says.

"It's no problem," I tell him, taking off my seat belt and opening the car door. "Just go and have a shower, get cleaned up and get some sleep."

As I get out of the car, he follows suit, running over to my side. "Jayde, wait," he says, making me look at him.

"I'm really sorry," he says, leaning against the car door. "I fucked up so many things last night and—"

"Can we just talk about this later, Harry?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. "It's five thirty in the morning and I just want to go home."

"Just hear me out," he begs.

"Harry, please. It's been a long night," I tell him. "I need to sleep. We'll talk later when we're both not so groggy."

I start walking in the direction on the path I usually take up the street. "Just go through my backyard," he tells me. "It goes right to The Clearing and it's faster to your house."

I turn back around, and give him a small wave as I walk passed him. He looks at me sadly, giving me a slight smile, and every part of me wants to run back to him and hold him in my arms. I want to tell him that I want the rules back like he said he wanted too. I want to tell him that I don't want to share him and that I'm happy all he wanted is for me to come and take care of him. And despite how mad I am that he started a fight with Niall, a part of me feels lucky that he would look out for me. To show someone that my feelings shouldn't be messed with and I deserve better than that.

That feeling is nice, and I want to tell him how grateful I am. Instead, I continue walking without looking back. Because with him, I don't want to use words. I know that sometime soon, I will be able to show him, the best way I know how, that for everything he is and everything he's done, I am lucky to have him.

**

I can hear the doorbell ringing in my sleep, making me barely open my eyes at the sound, to see the clock on my nightstand read 1:13pm. I close my eyes again, not wanting to be awake just yet, no matter what time it is. But hearing Dad call out my name, makes my eyes jolt open and my heart start to pound instantly.

I sit up in bed, unsure if I had been dreaming. No one comes to ring the doorbell anymore at our house, and I feel confused. But when Dad calls my name again, I know it's real, and wonder what's going on.

"Come downstairs, please," Dad calls. "Someone is here to see you!"

I walk down the creaky steps, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, to see that Maddy is standing in the doorway with Dad. Thoughts instantly rush through my head at the sight of her, but I know I have to keep my cool, because I have a feeling I know why she's here, and she can't see that every part of me is in panic mode.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask, as I reach the bottom of the stairs. I push her out the front door and close it behind me.

"We need to have a serious conversation," she tells me, walking down the front steps. I follow her and sit down on the top one, when she turns around to look at me.

"What about?" I ask.

"Are you serious?" she screams. "Last night was fucked up! Explain to me why Harry would only want help from you!"

"I don't have an answer for you, Maddy," I tell her, calmly, leaning back on my hands and yawning. "Your guess is just as good as mine."

"Don't lie to me," she says, angrily. "I know there's something going on with you two. What is it? You have some secret fling that's happening? Because it's so obvious!"

"I'm not lying to you about anything!" I fight back. "Nothing is going on with me and Harry, so there's nothing that could be obvious, except how crazy you are to think there is!"

"I'm not crazy!" she belts out. "He acts all different when you're around. He won't touch me when you're there, and the way he stares at you in class! I'm not crazy! I can see something is going on!"

I shrug my shoulders and yawn. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you over and over again that nothing is going on," I tell her. "I don't know if he acts different or if he stares at me. I have barely even talked to him before."

"Then why would he ask for you last night when I was already there?" she asks. "I was there! I don't understand!"

"Ya wanna know what I don't understand?" I ask, as I stand up. She tilts her head as she looks back at me curiously. Her eyebrows furrowed over her big blue eyes. "You're so much more worried about why he wanted me there, than to even ask how he is!

"You claim to like him so damn much, but instead of asking me how it went at the hospital or if he's alright, you scream crazy assumptions at me!" I scream. "Maybe that's why he didn't want your help! He can sense you don't actually care about things that matter!" I start to walk backwards to the front door. "Go home, Maddy! Because as far as I'm concerned, he deserves better than that! And because I know I need to say it again to get it through your head, nothing's going on with Harry! You're just trying to blame someone else because you know he doesn't want you! I know there's a lot of shit to blame me for, but this isn't one of them. That's all on you!"

My heart is pounding out of my chest, as I slam the door behind me as I walk back into my house. I lean back against the door for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts, when I realize Mom and Dad are staring at me from the living room.

"If she comes back, don't let her in!" I tell them, before running up the stairs.

I already had a feeling that Maddy would be onto us after last night, and her coming to talk to me about it, doesn't surprise me. It shouldn't have surprised me that she didn't care to ask how he was before asking the questions she did come here to ask, but it did. I thought she had more of a heart than that. Sure, she has been a bitch to me on many occasions, but I know that she cares.

I hate that I had to lie to her like that, and tell her that she's crazy, but I know that Harry and I have to remain a secret no matter what, if I want to keep things the way they are. And in my reality, in the life I live, for now, I need the escapes he gives me.

I feel restless, unable to stop pacing my room. I know that I have to talk to Harry. I have to tell him that Maddy is onto us and we need to make sure we're not so obvious about anything. I also want to see how he's feeling after last night and I know that we already have so much to talk about.

I quickly change out of my pajamas and brush my teeth, barely running a brush through my hair before I climb down my ladder and run through the woods to The Clearing. I make my way back the same way I came this morning and I allow for myself to catch my breath when as I walk up the front steps to his house, before I ring his doorbell.

A/N: Woo! Two updates in two days! I'm on a roll!! I didn't want you to wait too long after that little cliff hanger I ended with in the last chapter!....cuz I'm nice! 

Thanks so much for 12.2K Reads and 2K Votes! ♥♥♥

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ambelove

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