"Welcome to the house I lived in for the first eighteen years of my life." I announced, opening the front door with my key and allowing Harry to step inside.

The others had gone to Riley's parents' house, which left Harry and I to go to my dad's that was only a few blocks away.

"This is the house you grew up in?" Harry says in awe as he took in the surroundings. Right when you walk in the front door, there is an open living area and to the right was a large office under the stairs - which is my dad's - and The lighting was warm, which gave it a more cozy feeling as nostalgia hit me like a loaded train.

"Yup."

"Wow. I never took you as the snobby rich mean girl in high school type." He teased, earning a gasp from me.

"I wasn't a snobby rich mean girl. I would like to think I was a decent human being." I defended. If anything, I was more of a loner with very few friends. I knew everyone, and everyone knew me, but I only had two close friends: Riley and Nick.

"Your house is massive."

"My parents are lawyers." I justified. They bought it when they were still together, which meant double the income that was able to buy the house I am incredibly grateful to call home.

"That explains it." He understandingly nodded. I shut and lock the front door before my ears perked at the sound of steps coming towards us.

When I spotted a grey Pitbull running towards me, I gasped and bent down. "Baby!" I grinned, allowing him to lick my face as I let his head.

After he finished pestering me with kisses, he moved over to Harry and started sniffing his leg. Harry's reaction was to bend down and let the dog lightly on the head, relaxing when the dog licked his palm and ran away.

"Girl or boy?" He asked, referring to the Pitbull.

"Boy. His name is Baby." I answered.

He raised a brow curiously. "You named your dog Baby?"

"Hey, I was fourteen." I justified, nodding towards the stairs. "Let's take your stuff to the guest room."

Harry grabbed his bag while I grabbed reached to grab mine, but he stopped me. "I've got it." He insisted politely, shocking me when he pressed a kiss to my cheek and began walking towards the stairs. I stood frozen for a couple seconds because he paused and called after me. "Coming?"

"Yeah." I managed to utter, finally ungluing my feet from the wooden floorboards and taking small strides towards him, having him follow me up the stairs and to the guest room. It was a five bedroom house - which I still don't understand why my parents bought it since they only had two kids - and one of the bedrooms was for anyone, since the fourth bedroom belonged to Taylor and City.

As we walked up the stairs, Harry still looked around with his jaw slightly open, looking like a kid in a candy store. He stared over the ledge that looked out over the living area once we reached upstairs, and I just shook my head with a quiet laugh.

"This house fuckin beautiful." He gasped in awe, continuing to follow me to the bedroom.

"I'm gonna leave you to get settled in." I tell him once we reached the room and I flicked the light on, revealing a neatly made bed set in the centre of a room across from a fireplace with a tv hanging above it. He sets his things down, completely forgetting he also had my bag.

"What, you're not gonna show me your room?" He asked cheekily, making me narrow my eyes at him.

"I didn't know I had to."

He shrugged, picking my bag back up and gave me light push towards the door. "You've seen my bedroom. Only fair you finally show me yours."

Okay, what is with him and the cheeky comments these days?

"Since you are so eager..." I trailed off, nodding towards the hall and beginning to walk towards my room which was only a few doors down across the hall. "It's not that interesting, honestly."

Once I got the door, I prepared to expect something terrible, even though I clean this room whenever I visit. I still had some old posters and vinyls on the wall along with a shelf next to my closet with a few medals and trophies. That was the first thing that caught his eye when we walked in after he set my bag down on my white duvet.

"Wow. How many times have you been to the olympics?" He asked in awe after seeing some Olympic medals hanging from a pin under the shelf.

"Twice. The first time, we came in second. The rest are just competitions like, regionals, sectionals, nationals, and so on." I briefly explained. I will never forget the euphoric feeling I felt the first time Nick and I performed at the olympics when we were sixteen. One of the best days of my life.

"You know my mum told me she watched you on tv at the olympics when you were there. She told me how stupid I was for losing you." His voice grew quieter near the end and he dropped his head in shame.

Not knowing how to respond to that, I just stayed quiet and sat down on the edge of my bed while he spoke again, his voice returning to normal.

"Although she was right about me being stupid, I'm smart enough to know what I lost."

My breath hitched in my throat and I felt my eyes sting, but I blinked a few times so the feeling subsided. I didn't have the balls to look at him right now. I don't have balls either way.

"I, uh, I'm gonna go see if anyone is home." I excused quietly, quickly standing up while ignoring his eyes burning into my head. I knew nobody was here yet. My dad was at work and Faith was getting Taylor from her friend's house. Hopefully she will be back soon because with everything that has happened recently with Harry and I, I don't think I can survive being alone with him for any longer than that car ride.

There was even a point in the car where I wanted to fling myself out of the window because he said something annoyingly sweet and my heart couldn't handle it. Not just that, but I almost slipped up and said something about the dream he had.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I'll just go." He said before I could walk out of my room, noticing my change in behaviour as he started walking away from my shelf and past me, closing the door behind him as he shot me a timid smile.

When I knew he was gone, I screwed my eyes shut and let out an annoyed whine as I fell onto my bed face first. Look at what you've done, Madison.

There has to be something mentally wrong with me. Am I just programmed to be an idiot anytime I am around Harry? Because that's what it feels like.

I don't know how long I had lain their for, but the sound of a garage door closing and my name being called made me shoot up quickly and dash for my bedroom door.

"Dede!" A two year old squealed as I came down the stairs, waiting at the bottom for me.

"Hi, beautiful!" I smiled widely, lifting her off of the floor and giving her a tight hug, her tiny arms going around my neck.

"Hey. What time did you get here?" Faith asked as she walked out of the kitchen, setting the car seat on the ground, careful not to wake the baby inside.

"We got here around...twenty minutes ago." I estimated after checking my watch, approaching her with my left arm wide open, holding City to me as I gave Faith a quick hug.

"Right. I forgot you brought Harry. Where is he?" She questions as she wiggles her eyebrows at me.

"What's with that look?" I asked sceptically.

"What look?" She asked coyly, fighting a smirk.

"That on- never mind." I sighed. "He's in the guest room settling in. I'll go bring him down." I tell her, keeping City on my hip as she played with my hair and giggled while I made my way upstairs.

"Alright. I'm making lasagna for dinner but I could make you a pasta salad?" She asked, walking back into the dimly lit kitchen, the only source of light coming from the large window.

"Yes, please." I answered from the top of the stairs, walking in the direction of the guest room and knocking on the door that was half-open, watching Harry as he tugged his sweatshirt off and folded it neatly, setting it on the bed and facing me.

"Hey." He smiled before looking at the little girl in my arms. "Who is this cutie?"

City giggled as she looked away from me and put her head into my shoulder, making me chuckle. "This is my half-sister, City." I introduced, looking down at her with a smile. "Say hi."

She shook her head and bit down on her finger as she glanced up at him again.

"Hello." Harry waved at her, walking closer and leaning against the door frame with a cute grin.

"Don't worry, she will be all over you in five minutes." I tell him, nodding towards the stairs. "Come down."

He stood up straight and looked down at his sweats and t-shirt. "I don't look presentable yet."

I roll my eyes playfully. "You look fine, Harry."

"I can't meet your family looking like I just woke up." He whispered nervously.

Although I smile at how cute he was for being nervous, I also hadn't realized that Harry has never met my family before until now. I kept forgetting that he has never really seen my life other than when I was in England when we were together.

"Harry, I promise you that they don't care about what you are wearing. My dad isn't even home yet so stop worrying." I assured, using my free hand to slip into his warm one and ignoring the feeling in my chest when he squeezed my hand as I walked him down the stairs with me.

Harry's grip tightened as we got to the bottom, but as amazing it felt to hold his hand like this, I didn't understand why he was this anxious.

I set City down on the floor but while I was still bent over, I heard a loud scream before I felt someone on my back.

"Holy shit!" I cursed through a laugh. My reflex was to grab onto the person's arms around my neck so they wouldn't fall, and I quickly recognized the black hair surrounding my face.

"You're finally home!" Taylor squeals. She released her arms from around my neck and landed on her feet as I turned around and pulled her into a proper hug.

"That I am. How's school?" I asked, keeping my arms around her comfortingly. If there is one thing I always miss, it would be this family. Their hugs are unbelievably comforting.

"It's good. Congrats to you and Nick getting gold!" She says as we finally pull away and she looks down at my left knee.

"Thank you!" I say happily. I almost forgot about Harry until Taylor introduced herself to him after seeing him standing behind me timidly.

"Maddie, you never told me you had a boyfriend." Taylor says giddily, nudging my side.

"Oh, no. He's not my boyfriend. He's a good friend." I corrected, noticing the sad glint in Harry's eyes after I spoke.

"Oh. Well hi, I'm Taylor." She greeted brightly, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Taylor. I'm Harry." He spoke with a smile before retracting his hand and running it through his hair.

"Ooh, are you British?" She says in awe as she stares at him with wide eyes.

"Yes I am." He chuckled looking down at City who was now standing by his leg with her arms up, begging for him to pick her up.

When he bends down, City practically jumps into his arms and his eyes brighten when she clung to him.

"Hello, Harry!" Faith jumped in excitedly, giving me a smirk while side-eyeing me when she approached Harry and pull d him into a hug. "It's lovely to meet you properly this time! I'm Faith."

"It's lovely to meet you too. Thank you for letting me stay here." He says genuinely, adjusting the child on his hip while she twirled her fingers around in his curls, making me smile at how cute that is.

"Of course! Any friend of Maddie's is welcome here. Are you hungry? Would you like anything to eat or drink?" She throws question after question, but he politely shakes his head.

"I am okay, thank you."

"Okay. Well help yourself to whatever you like. Make yourself comfortable." Faith finished, patting the back of his shoulder. I notice Harry's body become less tense and he seemed more relaxed now.

"Thank you so much." He grinned.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." She says before returning to the kitchen, looking back at me. "I'm gonna finish making dinner but I'll call you guys when it's done."

"Thank you." I sang, skipping over to her and kissing her cheek before leaving her alone and standing next to Harry again, who was now on the couch and tickling City while she let out the cutest little giggles and gripped Harry's curls. The sight made my heart both hurt and do backflips at the same time.

"I told you she'd like you. And she never likes anyone." I tell him in an I told you so tone.

He lifted his head up and shook his head to fix his hair, but it only made it more of an attractive mess. "What can I say? Babies love me." He says, flashing me a smirk and a wink.

"I see that." I say as I watch City start to warm up to him.

"What time does your father come home?" Harry asked, standing next to me

"Depends on the day he has, but I'd say around five or six today." I tell him.

"Oh. So I've got around two hours to make myself presentable?" He says, more to himself than to anyone else.

I shake my head with a curious smile. "Why are you so set on trying to impress my dad? You've met him before, haven't you?"

"I have, but he's your dad. I want him to like me just in case we-" Harry's face fell into a frown and he shrugged, stopping himself and forcing his smile back. "I'm gonna have a quick shower."

He started walking back towards the stairs, not even bothering to finish his first sentence.

"O...Kay?" I mumbled, watching him disappear up the stairs.

• • •