Fool's Gold

Chapter 20

Harry came to a stop after about a kilometre of running. I stood in front of him,
"What's wrong? I'm sorry about what Nick said. I knew that our game of truth or dare wasn't going to end well," Harry was looking at the ground. Embarrassment was obviously a hard thing to go through and I knew from past experience how bad it was when the person you liked found out you liked them,
"I hate Nick. He ruined everything for me. It's not fair," Harry said in a low voice. He was barely speaking. Harry finally looked up at me. Seeing his crying eyes broke my heart. The only thing I could think of doing was hugging him, so I did. Harry cried into my shoulder. I felt the hurt that was inside him,
"Hey, let's go back and sort this out. Trust me, I will stand up for you," I spoke to Harry in a gentle voice, knowing that he needed to be calmed down,
"Why would I go back to see that idiot boyfriend of yours. You would stand up for him anyway. You love him, don't you?" These words hit my stomach hard, like a someone had just pounded me with a sledgehammer. I didn't want to hurt Harry. He was already hurt enough,
"Come on, all I'm trying to do is help you. Please let me," It was the only thing I could think of saying. Everything else didn't seem right,
"If you were truly willing to help me then you would tell Nick that he should shut his mouth every once in awhile," Harry spoke with a firm voice now. His inner anger coming out,
"If that's what you want me to do then I'll do it. You just have to go back with me," I offered this to Harry, hoping that the temptation would end up overtaking him,
"Ok, I'll come but if he starts opening his big mouth again then I'm leaving," After Harry said this we started making our way back to my house. I started getting nervous at all of the possibilities of how this situation could end up. We walked into the house. I told Harry to wait in the hallway so that I could talk to Nick. I wanted this problem to be sorted out without a friendship ending,
"Nick, could I talk to you for a second?" The room was bursting with conversation until I started speaking. He got up and followed me to the kitchen,
"What's wrong?" Nick spoke sounding genuinely concerned. How didn't he know what was wrong? Obviously I was going to talk about Harry,
"Look, I know that you're going to get annoyed at me saying this but don't you think you should apologise to Harry? He was so embarrassed and you were being a bad friend," This was either going to go really great or really bad. I would do anything to make it go good,
"No, it was a game of truth or dare and he just got a dare to kiss the girl he has been crushing on since Year Six," I didn't know that Harry had felt like that towards me for such a long time. Nick not wanting to apologise made things hard. I couldn't give up though, I had to keep trying,
"Even if you don't think you should, could you please just do it. He is so annoyed and it's hard enough that I don't like him back, but you still have the nerve to be a bad friend to him," Nick gave me a defensive look but I knew that he would do what I asked anyway,
"Ok, but I still don't think I should have to," We walked out of the kitchen talk to Harry. I saw him sitting on the ground near the front door. His head was in his hands,
"Hey Harry, Nick and I wanted to talk to you," I looked at Nick implying that it was time to apologise. He sighed and then started to speak,
"I'm sorry for embarrassing you. I didn't know that it hurt you that much," Harry lifted his head and made eye contact with Nick. His face still showed anger,
"It's not about that. It's the fact that you took Grace away from me even after I told you that I had a thing for her. I hate you so much. You're the luckiest person in the world because you have Grace and you take advantage of that. I wouldn't," Harry bursted out the words as if they had been sitting on his chest for an eternity. Nick stood up. His knuckles turning white from clenching his fists so hard,
"You know what, I love Grace and I don't take advantage of her. If you hate me so much then you may as well not be my friend. You can get up and leave right now actually," Harry wasn't going to let Nick have the last say in this argument. He wanted to go out with a bang,
"I'm leaving because I want to, not because you just told me to. I hate you so much. If you don't take advantage of having Grace then prove it to her when you go on holidays. If she were dating me I would tell her that I love her every single chance I got. I'm just asking for you to prove me wrong," Harry talked quieter now. He kissed me on the cheek and then left the house. His words left Nick thinking. Harry was sweet, but I'd never liked him in that way. The fact that Nick and I were going to Hawaii the next day came to mind. We could finally get away from all of the drama.