"Let me guess, you never told them that we broke up?" Harry asks calmly. "No, I just didn't have the heart. I did whatever I could to make them give you a chance not knowing that we would break up. They still want to meet you because they don't know that we aren't together. I will tell them right away when we get there that we aren't dating but for now I really don't want to have to tell them because they will just say I told you so. They don't know you like I do and I want them to meet the person that I care about so much." I said speaking very quickly. "Care about as a friend" I added. Harry just looked at me and his eyes widened when I said I cared about him. I saw them fall just as quickly when I used the word friend. "Stella, I told you that I would be there for you no matter what and if this is what you need me to do, then I will do it without a question." Harry said grabbing my hand trying to calm me down. My heart is beating fast. "You will?" I say sounding very surprised. "Yeah of course, you didn't think I would?" he asks. "Well no actually, I didn't know what you would say." I said. "There is one condition though," Harry begins. Oh God, what is he going to say. I raise my eyebrow at him. "Here we go..." I say smirking at him. He laughs and says "You have to come with me back to Holmes Chapel to meet my family as well. I promised you that I would go with you so you have to hold up your end of the deal and come with me." A large smile grows on his face. It makes my heart melt when I see his perfect dimples. "I would love to." I smile at Harry. "Are you sure they would even want to meet me?" I ask. This is my first time every meeting a boy's family. I dated Mason for a year and never met anyone in his family once. It's like he didn't think I was important enough for me to meet them. I am starting to get nervous. I hope they like me... "Of course! They know all about you, my mum can't wait to meet you!" He says reassuring me. I smile at his kindness and thank him a thousand times for doing this for me. He truly is the best. Why are we not together again? Oh right, cause it was my idea for us to stay friends...
After all my four singles have been released, I am so busy with interviews a few live performances around London. Going to Sweden was crazy! I got to work with amazing producers, shopped, worked a little bit on my album that should be out around Christmas time, did interviews and performed 'Tonight' live! This whole experience is amazing. I am so thankful for getting to do what I love everyday. Honestly I never thought that all this would happen so quickly! I am leaving for the world tour in less than a month! This is so crazy.
Today Harry and I are driving to Holmes Chapel to meet his family and hang out with them for a week before flying to Toronto to meet my family. The drive is 3 hours and Harry and I are leaving at 11am. Cristina and Niall left yesterday for Ireland so I have been home alone since yesterday. I did some cleaning and packed my suitcase for our week trip. Harry and I will be staying at his house with his mom, Anne, stepdad, Joe, and his older sister, Gemma. I am nervous to meet them but at the same time I have heard nothing but good things about them so hopefully it won't be so bad.
"Stella hurry up, what are you doing anyways?" Harry said as I walked out of my room. "I was changing! I was still in my pajamas when you got here, do you want me to meet your family in a silk nighty?" I ask zipping up my suitcase. "You were in a silk nighty and I missed it? Fuck..." Harry said. I hit him and rolled my eyes. "Always a pervert." I say laughing. "You look nice." he said ignoring my comment. "Really? Thanks..." I said. I am wearing black crop leggings with a white tank top and an oversized crème coloured cardigan from Brandy Melville. I have on my white converse and my hair is straightened and in a bun. "Yeah, you always look good." Harry said avoiding my eyes. Strange. I put my Ray Bans on my face, grabbed my purse and locked the door behind me. Harry carried my luggage down to his car and put it in the trunk. "What the hell do you have in here?" he asked breathing heavily. "My necessities." I said laughing. He just rolled his eyes and got into the car.
We drove for about an hour and a half until Harry and I both had to pee. We stopped at a rest station, used the bathroom and got some food. We ate in the car and continued to drive. "Okay, lets play a game." Harry said turning the radio down. "A game? Like what?" I ask. "20 questions. I get to ask you 20 and then you get to ask m 20." he says keeping his eyes on the road. "Okay, me first." I said not giving him a chance to argue. "Where is your favourite place in the world?" I ask. "Ehm, I would have to say Holmes Chapel. You will see why. I grew up there and I have so many great memories. I am so happy that you are coming with me." he said squeezing my thigh quickly before returning his hand to the steering wheel. "Who is your best friend?" I ask. I don't know where I am coming up with these questions, they are just coming to me. "Ed Sheeran. I would say the boys but they aren't my best friends, they are my brothers." he says. "Awww, that's so cute! Hey, what about me?" I question. He just shrugged his shoulders and didn't reply. I decided to ask another question. Our relationship is not something I want to be discussing on the way to meet his family. I ask all of my 20 questions learning several new things that I didn't know about Harry. It's his turn now. "What happened between you and Mason?" he asks. "I'm not answering that." I say. I don't need to be talking to Harry about my ex boyfriend even if we aren't dating right now. I have done my best to keep Mason out of all of mine and Harry's conversations because I know how passionate Harry gets and I don't want him to say anything that will affect this 'friendship.' "That's not fair, I answered all of yours." Harry complained. "I don't want to answer that one, just put it this way, he was an asshole and I ended things. Next question." I said sternly. Harry got the message and asked me something else. He asked me the remainder of his questions and he had one more left. We were now in Holmes Chapel and Harry said that we were almost at his house. "Would you ever consider getting back together with me?" he asked. My mouth dropped open. Is he serious? How am I supposed to answer this? I know the answer to the question without even thinking but I don't want to admit it to him. I have wanted to get back together with Harry since the day we broke up. I just don't think it is what's best for us right now. If you asked me why I think that, I have no idea. I just don't think it's a good idea. I need to protect myself from heartbreak and the only way to do that is to stay friends with Harry. "Um, I, well..." I stutter as we pull into his driveway. A beautiful woman with dark brown hair comes running out of the house. It must be his mother. Thank God for her right now other wise I would have had to answer that question. Harry sighs and opens the door. I get out of the car and watch Harry and his mother hug. She is in tears and he is fighting back his own. She lets go and runs over to me. "You must be Stella, it's so nice to finally meet you! I'm Anne, Harry has said nothing but good things about you! You are so beautiful!" she said pulling me into a hug. "Thank you so much for having me! I'm so happy to meet you as well!" I say returning the hug. She is so friendly! "Come in, come in!" she said motioning us towards the house. "How was the drive?" she asks as we walk in. The house has a warm scent, I already feel so welcome here. "It was alright, not too bad!" I answer. "Here let me show you up to your room. I will give you guys a few hours to rest before I bombard you with questions. Gemma and Joe have gone out to get some last minute groceries. Dinner will be at 6:30." she says as we walk up the stairs. She leads Harry and I to a medium size room with a large bed. "Here we are, Harry will show you the bathroom and take you on a tour of the house. I will be downstairs, let me know if you need anything! I'm so happy that the two of you are here, you make a lovely couple." she says smiling as she walks down the stairs. I nearly choke when Harry pulls me into the room and closes the door. "Couple?" I ask. he avoids my stare. "Explain please." I say growing angry with him. "Well I didn't exactly tell them that we broke up either. She was so excited when she found out that I had a girlfriend and didn't want to tell her that we broke up so soon." Harry says. I have no reason to be angry about this because I am literally in the same situation. "Okay, so are you going to tell her that we aren't dating?" I ask. "Yeah but not tonight, she is so excited and I don't want to ruin it for her. I'm sorry Stel, I should have told you. I was just afraid that you wouldn't come if you knew." he said as his face fell. I walked over to him and lifted his chin. "Hey, you are there for me, so I am here for you." I said reassuring him. His eyes widened and his smile grew. I melted once again under his stare. His eyes moved down and found my lips. His eyes met mine seconds later and I moved away. "So should I just put my clothes in here then?" I asked pointing towards the dresser. "Uh, yeah I guess." he said turning his body away from me. It kills me to turn him down but I have to. "Are you going to sleep?" I ask him as he lies down on the bed. "I don't know." he answers. "Well if you are, I am going to go downstairs and talk to you mom. I want to get to know her, she seems really sweet." I tell him. "Well I was thinking that we could go grab a coffee from my favourite little café that I always used to come to when I was younger and I could show you around here a little." he says getting up from the bed. "Yeah that sounds good. Am I okay like this or should I change?" I ask looking in the mirror. "I already told you, you look perfect." he said touching my elbow. My heart fluttered. "Okay then lets go." I said. He led me down the stairs. "Mum, we are just going out for a bit, we will be back in a few hours." Harry tells his mom. "Okay, be careful and have fun. Stella you will love it here!" she tells me. "I already do!" I tell her and grab Harry's hand. She smiles and heads back into the kitchen. Harry and I walk out the door and he lets go of my hand. I wish that would have lasted longer. We walk a few blocks until we see the café. When we walk inside Harry is greeted by an old man. "Harry, how have you been?" the man asks Harry standing up to hug him. "Very well thank you, this is my friend Stella. Stella this is my old friend Rob. He used to work here and now he just comes to hang out every day." Harry explain. "So nice to meet you!" I tell the man extending my hand. He ignores it and pulls me into a hug. "My Harry, you've got quite the beautiful friend here." Rob says smiling at me. "I know, she's amazing." Harry replies. I blush and wink at Harry. He smiles and puts his hand on my back. "I'm here for a week so I will definitely come visit again." Harry tells Rob. I wave and we walk to the counter to order. We get two cappuccinos and sit down at the closest available table. There are a few girls seated in the corner that recognize us but are too afraid to say anything. Harry and I just wave at them and they giggle. "I can already see why this is your favourite place in the world. I already love it here." I tell Harry and he smiles. "I told you." The cappuccinos are so good. "Mmm, its delicious" I tell him. He smiles and says "I can't wait for you to meet my sister. She will love you." "I'm excited. If she is anything like you, I'm sure I will love her." I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did but honestly, I don't care. I am not going to take it back. Harry's eyes grow wide and he blushes a little. We sit at the café for a few hours not realizing that it is time to head back to Harry's. "We should go" he says standing up. I nod and follow him out the door.
When we get back to his house I can hear voices in the kitchen. "HARRY?" a female voice calls out. "Gem!" Harry says pulling gorgeous sister into a tight hug. "Gemma, this is Stella, Stel, this is Gemma, my sister." he says introducing us. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Harry hasn't stopped talking about you since you moved into their complex! You are just as gorgeous as he said you were!" she said squeezing me into a hug. "Thank you so much! You are so pretty! I'm so excited to meet you!" I tell her squeezing her back. "Tomorrow, you and I are having a girls day. I will show you the Holmes Chapel shopping." she says smiling. I look at Harry and his smile is from ear to ear. I wink at him and Gemma pulls my hand into the kitchen. "This is our step-dad Joe." she says pointing at the man standing beside Anne. "Hello, I'm Stella. So nice to meet you! Thank you so much for having me here!" I say extending my hand. Again my hand shake is ignored. He pulls me into a hug and I smile. Everyone here is so friendly. "Thank you for making our Harry so happy. I can already see why he loves you." Joe says. I blush and smile. "He makes me just as happy." I tell him meaning every word I say. I look at Harry and he avoids my eyes. "Let's eat!" Anne says. We sit at the table and I am asked about a thousand questions. I tell them all about myself and how I am liking everything so far. They compliment my singing and I thank them. "I am so happy that you will be on tour with the boys that way Harry will never have to be without you." Anne says. "Yeah me too, we are very lucky to have had it happen that way." I respond. We chat for a few hours at the table until Anne and Gemma stand up and begin to clear the table. I get up from my seat and help clean the table. "No, no sweetheart don't worry. We will clear everything. You are probably very tired. You can go ahead up to your room. Harry will show you to the shower and you guys can relax for the rest of the night." Anne tells me. "Are you sure? I don't mind helping!" I say bringing my plate the sink. "Yes of course, Harry go on up with her. Stella I am so happy that you are here." she says hugging me. I smile and thank her and Joe for dinner. Harry leads me up to our room and shows me to the bathroom. "You can have a shower now if you want, I will take one after you." he says. I nod and grab my white lace bra and matching thong out of my bag along with my black nighty. I didn't know Harry and I would be sharing a room otherwise I would have brought longer pajamas. He smirks at me when he sees my nighty and I roll my eyes. I take a nice hot shower and lotion my body with my peppermint body butter. I put on my bra underwear and nighty and head to the room. Harry is on the bed looking through an old photo album. "Look, this is me when I was 5 at Gemma's birthday party" he says pointing to a picture of a younger Harry dressed in a Spiderman outfit. "You were so cute! Look at how little you were!" I said smiling. His eyes were soft and he gave me permission to continue looking through the pictures while he went to take a shower. When he returned I was checking the messages on my phone. My mom wanted me to text her when I got here to make sure that I was okay. I sent her a quick message and put my phone on the dresser. My eyes met Harry's when I saw that he was in nothing but his boxers. "Are you serious.." I ask. He is definitely doing this on purpose. He just smirks at me and I pull the while lace bra off and let it fall to the floor under my nighty. I smirk back at him. His eyes are nearly popping out of his head as I climb into the bed. I scoot all the way to the corner leaving as much space as possible between Harry and I. He laughs and rolls his eyes and gets into the bed beside me. "Night Stel, thank you for coming here with me. It means a lot." Harry says shutting the light off. "Of course Harry, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else" I tell him meaning it. I can almost feel his smile as he hooks his arm around my waist pulling me to his chest. My brain is telling me to push him away and scoot to the edge of the bed again but heart wins this battle and allows me to stay in Harry's embrace. I fell asleep happier than I have been in a long time.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you guys are enjoying it! What has your favourite chapter been so far? What is your favourite part? Let me know in the comments! Lots of love.
xoxo,
Stella
