This was the thing about Bailey- she was deeply in love with her best friend, Harry Styles.

This was the thing about Harry- he was deeply in love with his best friend, Bailey Williams.

They'd known about each other's love for each other, and they dated. They were the kind of boyfriend and girlfriend that were best friends with each other, who happened to just kiss each other and credit the other with the title of their significant other.

They'd been best friends since birth, and it had been just them for almost as long. Neither had a need for any other friends, it was just them two forever and always. So when Harry Styles told his best friend he was going to X-Factor, she was so supportive.

"Bay?" he had asked, calling her by her nickname that only he called her.

"Yeah, Harry?" she had said, turning to face him.

"I've something to tell you," he had muttered, nervousness evident on his face.

"You can ask me anything," she had reassured him, taking his hand in her own."You know that, right?"

"Course," he had said, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "But... I'm going to X-Factor."

He had met her eyes, worried about her reaction. He shouldn't have had to worry, she knew him better than anyone else; she knew how much he loved singing, and how talented he was, and how much he wanted to be singing in a packed venue.

"Good," she had smiled, squeezing his hand a little. "It's about time," she joked.

Harry had cracked a smile, but worry was still evident in those green eyes that she loved so much. "I'm leaving. I'm not going to be able to see you if I make it."

"When you make it," she had corrected. "And I don't care; I want you to be happy."

Harry had frowned, biting his lip as he pondered her words. "But I don't want to leave you."

"And I'm not leaving," she had promised. "I'll always be right here," she had tapped his chest, right where his heart was. "You love me, right?"

Harry had nodded earnestly. "More than anything or anyone else."

"Then I'll always be with you," she had said simply. "So go. Win for me. Promise?"

Harry had smiled for real then, making her heart flutter at the sight of the smile that had her going weak in the knees ever since she could remember.

"Promise."

And when good-bye came, they did it differently, of course, because they were different from other couples in the world.

"I'm going to miss you," Harry had murmured, his hand glued to hers, refusing to let go until he absolutely had to.

"I'm going to miss you too," Bailey had whispered, hugging him tightly.

"I almost don't want to leave," Harry had confessed, biting his lip.

"Harry Styles, you're going to leave and you're going to like it," she had scolded, but a slight smile tugged at her lips. "You want this more than anything, you've told me."

"No," Harry had corrected her. "I want you more than anything."

Little did he know that those words had made this a lot harder for Bailey. "Harry..."

"Shhh," he had shushed her, holding her tighter. "I just want to hold you."

They had stood there for a while, everyone watching them, but of course they didn't care; all that mattered to them was the other.

"I have to go," Harry had whined, after his mum had softly told him the time.

"Then go, live your dream, Harry Styles," Bailey had smiled tearfully, but she was so, so happy for him.

"Live yours, Bailey Williams," Harry had said back, mirroring her sad smile.

"Bye, Harry."

"Bye, Bailey," and he had kissed her quickly, a final goodbye from the boy that owned her heart, the boy who had had it for so long.

And as he was walking away, Bailey had called after him, "Harry?" when he turned, she had continued. "Don't come back."

To anyone else, this would seem rude, a rough breakup, a fight, but Harry knew what she had meant. Don't come home, not yet, because then you wouldn't have made it.

"Will do," he had said, waving one final time, disappearing like fog dissipating in the sun.

Say what you will about Bailey Williams; she loved one boy so much that she would rather her be miserable and alone than have him with her, unable to live the one life that made him happier than anything else.

Now fast forward four years, with Harry Styles 1/5 of the world's most popular boy band, and Bailey still where she came from, running a small orphanage in her home town. It wasn't much, Bailey's life, but it was her dream, to help kids who didn't have anything.

Harry Styles, true to his word, hadn't come back, at least not to see Bailey, and even though he hadn't visited her, Bailey was glad. It meant that he was living his dream and fulfilled his promise of making it big, bigger than anything she had ever imagined. She hadn't seen him in four years, and even though she'd listened to his music, fallen asleep to him singing in her ear, she hadn't heard him sing in person in four years. She missed his voice, she missed him.

And he hadn't seen her in four years, like she told him to, but he couldn't stay away from her, he'd stared at her picture from four years ago, imagining how she'd changed, grown up from a sixteen year old to a twenty year old, wondering if she'd ever accomplished her dream. And he couldn't help but still listen to the voicemails on his phone, the ones that were four years old, just whispers of 'I love you' as he went to bed. He missed her voice, he missed her.

And he was coming home, he was two minutes from his house, and he didn't care what Bailey had told him, he was going to find out where she was and visit her, no matter if someone else had her heart now, she still had his and wasn't letting go any time soon.

He barely said hello to his mum, and she laughed at him, telling him that Bailey was at her job, at an orphanage in the center of town, and he could find her there. In no time, Harry was going to the orphanage, walking through the door, asking the lady where Bailey Williams was, and he found her, in the kitchen, baking cookies for the children.

"Hey, Bay," he said, using her old nickname,

Bailey's face crumpled in confusion and she turned to see Harry leaning against the wall and her face transformed one into pure shock. She stood there, blinking several times until she said, "I thought I told you not to come back."

Harry fought the urge to laugh; Bailey was still the same sixteen year old, but she looked completely different. Her hair was longer, darker, and her eyes were much, much less sparkly, and she had gotten taller, her legs filling out and curves in places that he hadn't known she had. She no longer looked like a teenager; she looked like a woman, one he couldn't hope to catch. "Well, you know I like to break rules."

Bailey chuckled at that, turning back to her batter. "Well, Harry Styles, you certainly haven't changed, although your appearance certainly has."

Harry took a couple steps forward, so that he was directly behind her. "Well, so have you."

Bailey turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Well, at least my hair isn't down to my shoulders, although puberty has done you well."

Harry did laugh at that. "I could say the same about you, Bay, you completely changed."

"I'll take that as a complement," Bailey said, turning back around.

Harry simply sat there, watching her skillful hands work, and he was content with his life. Bailey was aware of him staring at her, and she simply tried to ignore him, although she couldn't deny the somewhat of the tension there was in the room.

"I missed you," Harry whispered, so quietly she almost missed it.

"I missed you too," she said affectionately.

"I really, really missed you, like, I almost came to visit you halfway through X-Factor, but I knew that you would punch me," Harry said.

Bailey laughed, and oh God, he really loved her laugh, even after all these years. "Yes, I would, you were wise to stay away."

Harry smiled briefly, before noticing the bag of flour on the counter next to him. Sneakily he stuck his hand and grabbed a handful before throwing it on Bailey, starting one of their famous baking-gone-food-fight wars.

Bailey simply brought her hand to her hair, feeling the powder and sighed lightly. "I hate you, Harry Styles."

And Harry's heart jumped at that, because she was doing what they always did whenever the other annoyed each other, and he played along.

"You love me."

"That I do, Styles, that I've always done," Bailey turned around, the flour in her hair looking like snow, like how it was snowing when they first kissed.

Harry smiled, reminiscing on their good times, and he repeated the words that he'd been longing to say to her since the second he left her behind.

"I love you too."

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idk I might add to this later on but i really, really like this