H a r r y

I didn't want her to marry someone else.

I didn't want her to have children with someone else.

I didn't even want her to so much as kiss, someone else.

Not anyone, that wasn't me.

Before Kaydence had pointed out that we might not even be in each other's lives years from now, it never crossed my mind how far I wanted things between us to go. I never thought about getting married, especially with the career I had. It seemed too difficult to handle so I had always just tossed the idea to the side. Sure, I had always assumed I'd end up married and have kids one day, I think that's what everyone assumes their life will turn out to be. I definitely had before the band, before being in one direction I had planned to go to uni, to get a degree in either English, law, or sociology. Get a stable job, find a girl I tolerated enough to marry, and start a family with her. That was my plan in the beginning. But then the XFactor happened, I was placed into this band with lads I now consider brothers and our career flew skyward from there. I didn't expect my life to be that way it was now, for it be chaotic and for me lose a majority of my privacy. I completely discarded the possibility of marriage and children the moment I realized my lack of complete freedom. Marriage doesn't even seem to last in this industry. Do you know how many married celebrities have divorced? Tons. I can't even count how many because there were just too damn much. So why bother, right?

That's where I realized though, I was wrong. Why bother? Because of one girl. Kaydence. She is the only reason I would bother to get married. To bother to have children. She is the only one who has actually had me thinking about it, has had me daydreaming about what it would be like to be able to call her my wife. Or has me wondering what our kids would look like if we had any someday. Would they have my green eyes or her brown ones? Would they inherit my pigeon toed feet, or her short genes? It was thoughts like this, that made me realize I want to get married and have children in the future. It didn't matter what kind of career I had, I'd find a way to work around it. No one ever said I couldn't have it all, but the problem was I only wanted it, if I had Kaydence by my side.

And that's why I sat here on the couch now, with Kaydence laughing at something Nicole said, feeling sullen. I wanted that with Kaydence someday, but the truth is I don't know what the hell is going to happen to us. No one really ever knows how their life is going to turn out and the uncertainty of it all is both exciting and terrifying. I wish I could see that far into the future just so I wouldn't feel so...sad. It scared me to think there might be a day where Kaydence is married to another man and mothering his children. And it scares me even more to think I could end up with another woman as well. Who could I possibly end up loving more than her?

I forced a smile on my face when Kaydence turned her body towards me, looking at me with curiosity when she noticed the shift in my mood. I suppose I was doing a horrible job at hiding how what she said, had actually affected me but I didn't want her to worry. I hated seeing her sad and even though I myself was failing at not thinking about it, it was difficult.

Her eyes narrowed at me suspiciously and I lifted my hand to brush a strand a hair out of her face, relieved to see my touch had distracted her long enough to forget about trying to read me. Her mouth pulled into a small smile and she nudged me lightly in the rib with her elbow.

"You okay there Styles? You're awfully quiet."

I shrugged and twirled a strand of her hair around my finger. "Just staring at you, love."

Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink and my lips pulled up into a smirk, glad to see my words had affected her. She shook her head at me and glanced back at the TV screen to the movie Logan and Aiden had forced us to watch. James had came back while Kaydence and I had been in the guest house, but once we arrived he had to take another call on his phone and excused himself, muttering how we'd take the horses out the moment he was finished. Charlotte had joined us as well and was sitting on the opposite couch from us, not paying much attention to the screen and instead looking down at her phone regularly. She had been in an upbeat mood when she came down, talking our ears off about the horses and about the end of the summer party kids from her high school were throwing. She talked excitedly about it and there were moments where she'd make a certain face that I saw glimpses of Kaydence. It was definitely something I wasn't used to seeing, and every time it happened I would look over at Kaydence to see she had obviously noticed too.

Now, with her mouth turned into a frown and her shoulders hunched over she looked like Kaydence again. Her cheerful mood had diminished and had changed to glum. I nudged Kaydence in the arm, and when she looked up at me I nodded my head towards Charlotte, Kaydence's eyebrows pulling together when she noticed her sulky mood.

"Charlotte, come sit with me." Kaydence whispered, careful not to disturb the others while they were watching the movie. Logan had almost bitten our heads off several times already for talking during it.

Charlotte looked up from her phone, blinking once and then slowly swinging her legs off the side of the couch and standing. She dragged her feet across the carpet and walked around the table to Kaydence. Kay scooted towards me to make room for her, but the couch was small and when she did, it left her half sitting on my lap while the rest of her body weight was on her hip. She crossed her legs to make herself more comfortable and gave me a apologetic smile for sitting on me. Not that I minded, of course.

Charlotte sunk into the couch on the other side of Kaydence, leaving us squished. Charlotte leaned her elbow on the arm rest and rested her head against her palm, sighing in defeat.

"What's wrong?" Kay whispered to her. Charlotte looked at Kaydence and her eyes were slightly red, meaning she was ready to cry.

"Remember how I said there was this guy I liked, going to that party that happened last night?" Her voice was low and raspy and my eyebrows drew together in concern when Kaydence frowned and nodded slowly.

"Yes, what about him?"

Charlotte's lip jutted out and Kaydence threw her arm around her shoulder, rubbing it in comfort. Charlotte leaned her head against Kaydence's arm and sighed sadly as she looked up at the ceiling. "Kaitlyn hooked up with him at the party."

Kay's mouth fell open and I looked between them in confusion. Kaitlyn. Was that her friend she was texting last night? I felt Kaydence tense and her jaw was set while her eyes narrowed. She looked like she was thinking about something and it's only when her eyes flickered over to me did I realize this probably reminded her of what happened with Madison. That bitch.

"Why would she do that? Isn't she your best friend?"

Charlotte snorted and rolled her eyes, quickly swiping the tear away that had fallen on her cheek. "I thought she was. She did it because she was pissed at me about them," She gestured to me and the lads. "Being here and me not inviting her." She sniffled and her lip quivered. "I would have invited her but I knew she'd get crazy and go telling the whole world they were here. Obviously I was right to not trust her."

I frowned and Kaydence pulled her closer, leaning her head against Charlotte's. I had the urge to take Charlotte's phone and call Kaitlyn myself and put her in her place. I never put myself in the middle of girl drama and instead ran the other way every time there was any, but the fact her best friend betrayed her like that out of jealousy was ridiculous. I stared at Kaydence and her sister, biting my lip and trying to think of something that might cheer her up. Kaydence looks to me for help and I can see she's having trouble with trying to come up with something to say.

"He's just a guy, Charlotte. There will be plenty of others." I try and she looks up at me sadly.

"I don't care about him. I'm upset because of the fact Kaitlyn would do that to me."

I nod slowly in understanding and another tear falls from Charlotte's eyes. She ducks her head down so the others don't see and I nudge Kaydence's arm. She looks up at me and I lean down to where my lips are right next to her hear.

"Scoot over, please." I place a kiss on the side of her head and she scoots off of me but ends up squished against Charlotte even more. I lean across Kaydence and gesture for Charlotte to come over, earning a confused look from her but she stands up from the couch. I grab her hand and tug, making her fall on top of Kaydence and I. Kay laughs and Charlotte moves to stand back up but I keep her half sitting on Kaydence and half sitting on me.

"Give me your phone." I say, holding my hand out and she hugs it protectively to herself, looking at me with caution.

"Why?" She asks slowly and I roll my eyes, taking it from her and opening her camera. She looks at me with curiosity and I hand the phone to Kaydence, who's smirking and has obviously caught on to what I'm doing.

"Because we're going to make Kaitlyn wish she had been a better friend to you." I state, leaning my chin on Charlotte's shoulder and gesturing to the camera Kaydence is holding up. "Now smile."

Charlotte smiles at the camera and I make a funny face, holding a peace sign up. Kay laughs and Charlotte leans over, looking at the photo and smiling when she sees it. I reach for the phone and open her instagram, posting it for her and tagging myself. Charlotte watches me quietly and her eyes widen when I take my own phone out, going to my own account and liking her picture, knowing the fans are going to see my activity.

"What are you doing, oh my god." Charlotte shakes her head and I grin at her, meeting Kay's twinkling eyes over Charlotte's shoulder.

"Oh, I'm not done yet." I chuckle and hand my phone to Kaydence. Charlotte moves to get up but I snake my arm around her shoulder and hug her to me, giving a toothy grin to the camera while Charlotte is laughing and struggling against me. Kaydence laughs but takes several pictures then hands my phone back to me. I release Charlotte when she does and she immediately moves to Kaydence, jumping in her lap and hugging her from around the neck and watching me with uncertainty.

"What the hell are you going to do with those pictures?"

I snicker and choose the best photo out of the four Kaydence took, where I'm smiling and hugging Charlotte who has a bewildered but amused look on her face as she tries to lean away from me. I go to my twitter account and attach the photo, smirking when I type the caption and tweet it. Charlotte stares at me and two seconds later her phone dings with a notification. She glances down at it and her eyes widen before she looks back up at me.

"What did you do!"She gasps and unlocks her phone, clicking on my tweet and her mouth falls open. Kaydence looks over her shoulder and the biggest smile appears on her face before she bursts into fits of giggles.

"Oh my god, Kaitlyn is definitely going to wish she was a better friend, no doubt."

"Pals, Pals, Pals." Charlotte reads my tweet out loud and shakes her head, laughing in disbelief. "I can't believe you did that, now I'm going to get attacked by fans."

I shrug and lean back in the couch, gripping Kaydence's hand that's lying in between us. "You'll be fine. Plus, Kaitlyn is going to hate that you're getting so much attention."

"You are an actual genius, Harry." She laughs again and leans back into Kaydence, looking at her over her shoulder. "You've got a good guy here, keep him."

Kay smiles and her eyes meet mine, her gaze softening as she brings her lip between her teeth. I wink at her and she rolls her eyes, leaning her head back on the couch. "Yeah, yeah. He's alright."

She sticks her tongue out at me and I squeeze her hand. Charlotte stays sitting on Kaydence's lap and Kay and I look over Charlotte's shoulder while she scrolls through her notifications that are blowing up. She shows us that Kaitlyn had texted her twice already but Kaydence advises her to ignore her, which she does. We stay like that the rest of the movie, the three of us talking and messing around. Charlotte goes to show Kaydence a picture of the guy she had liked and Kaydence's nose scrunches as she tells Charlotte she can do so much better. The three of us end up taking sneaky pictures of the others on the other couch, zooming in to their face and laughing when we get a ridiculous picture where they are not paying attention. We try to laugh quietly but apparently we're being too loud when Louis looks over and narrows his eyes at us. Charlotte opens her snapchat and zooms into the glare Louis is shooting us, taking a picture and then doodling on his face. Kaydence chokes on her laughter and Louis pivots in his seat, staring suspiciously.

"What did you guys just do?"

"Nothing." Kaydence sings and Louis watches us for one more moment before turning away. I reach over Charlotte's phone to save the picture before she can delete it and take her phone to take another one of Niall this time. We keep doing the same thing with the others and Logan glares at us from across the room for being so loud. Aiden stands up in annoyance and tells Charlotte to shut up, but she only sticks her tongue out at him. The movie ends soon after and Logan and Aiden continue playing with Livy's rubber ball. Charlotte is scrolling through the pictures we took of the others when they weren't paying attention and I'm back to having a laughing fit when I see them again. Nicole starts arguing with us to show her what we did but Charlotte is clutching her phone to her chest, shaking her head as she silently laughs so hard that tears are coming out of her eyes. Luckily, this time they're happy ones.

Emma comes downstairs moments later and Kaydence's laughter dies down when she steps into the room. She eyes Charlotte's and Kay's close proximity and she visibly tenses, crossing her arms over her chest and forcing her eyes to Aiden and Logan.

"Hey, you boys want to go get some ice cream?" She asks and they nod, standing from the floor.

"Mom, you're not going horseback riding with us?" Charlotte asks, her eyebrows furrowing. Emma shakes her head and avoids making eye contact with Kaydence.

"No I have things I need to do. But you all have fun." She says to us, smiling but again it seems forced.

She walks to pick Livy off the floor and the boys trail behind her when she walks out of the room. Charlotte is staring after her mother in confusion, shaking her head to herself and pressing her lips together. James passes Emma on her way out and he stops her, grabbing her arm and his eyebrows pull together in concern. I can't hear what they're saying but he smiles at her and nods, letting go of her arm and watching her walk out of the house. He blinks and then turns back to us, his mouth turning up into a grin as he claps his hands.

"Alright!" He says excitedly. "Who's ready for some horseback riding?"

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Sorry it's not a super long chapter!

I'll be updating again soon (:

ALSO I posted the first chapter of the new Harry AU fic, 'HOSTAGE', so go check it out and let me know what you think. I'm going to be updating LBD soon too. :D

Hope you liked it <3