Just Friends || h.s.

41

**Song: Almost by Hozier

• • •
Madison

I have never been more genuinely worried about myself.

At eleven in the morning on a Saturday, I am having a staring contest with a journal.

And the journal is winning.

I have been staring at the brown leather book that haunts me in my sleep, trying to decide what I should do with it for the past ten minutes. I am almost a hundred percent sure that I want to give it back to Harry, but I don't know how to approach him about it.

Having just about enough, I grab the journal out of frustration and throw it on my bed with a heavy sigh. As I begin to walk out of my room, I notice a piece of paper fall onto the floor and I stare at it intensely, not knowing if it came from the journal or if it was already there.

I walk over to the paper and pick it up skeptically, unfolding it a few times until the words are legible. My breath gets caught in my throat as my eyes read the first couple of words on the paper, suddenly feeling like I just committed a crime by reading them.

I'm sorry.

It definitely came from inside of his journal, but the paper I was holding had a rough edge, so he must have torn it out because it also looked like he had crumpled it up and tried to fix it.

Instead of reading what was on the paper, I scanned the amount of text written down, and it covered the entire first page. The last few words read: Ti amo, baby
- H.

The familiar feeling of heartbreak hit me as I read those those words in his voice, my chest tightening as I folded the paper back up and slid it back into the journal, not bearing the sight of it anymore.

I have to give it to Harry.

I grab the journal off of the bed and make my way out of the apartment before I can change my mind.

I stop in my tracks when I spot Zayn walking out of the elevator. He smiles when he sees me and makes his way over to where I stood next to the door that led to the stairs.

"Good morning." He greeted, his smile slowly falling when he saw what was in my hands. "Did you finally read it?"

"No. I'm giving it back to him." I tell him, regretting it when I see his expression. He is not happy.

"What? Why? You can't do that." He says sternly, reaching over and attempting to take the journal from me. My reflex's kick in and I move it away. "Maddie, give me the journal."

"No." I replied, pushing his hands away. I open the door quickly and make a dash up the stairs, hearing his heavy footsteps behind me.

When I finally make it up to Harry's floor, I close the door behind me to slow Zayn down, knocking on the apartment door a little to roughly.

"Jesus, you run like a track athlete!" Zayn groaned as he comes running out from the door, appearing out of breath.

"I'm not keeping it." I tell him quietly through gritted teeth.

He gets extremely close to my face and whispers "yes you are."

He tries taking the journal from me again, but fails when I shoved it up my sweatshirt and put my hands out at my sides. "Try getting it now."