• • •

"Gift time!" Gemma exclaimed with excitement, bouncing up and down in her seat at the table. I find it hard to believe she's almost twenty-five.

Riley's party was today. Maddie was kind enough to make dinner for everyone and allow the party to be at her place since it was slightly bigger than ours.

It was around eight at night and we had all finished the chicken Parmesan she had made, so I helped Maddie gather the dishes and brought them to the sink with her, taking the sponge from her hand and hip-bumping her out of the way. My lips held a grin as I bit down on the bottom one when she let out a gasp.

"Harry, you got soap in my hair!" She says through a giggle, trying to take the sponge back from me. Having the advantage of being much taller, I hold my arm up and look down at her as he huffed and gave up on trying.

"Thank you for the amazing dinner, but now it's time you sit your cute little ass down and let me do the dishes in return." I argued, still finding it hard to put my damn smile away.

"But it's my apartment." She tried arguing, but sighed in defeat when I was left unfazed. "You're annoying."

"I know." I wink at her, bringing my arm back down and looking away after I saw her roll her eyes with the smile I adore on her lips.

She walked out of the kitchen and gathered any other dishes left on the table, but my mum took them from her and told her to take a break, noticing her movements were slow due to the tenderness in her shoulders.

My mum walked into the kitchen and put the leftover dishes into the sink as I scrubbed a plate.

"Don't think I didn't see you two." She says with a smirk, placing her hand on her hip and the other on the counter.

"What?" I questioned, hiding my smile because I knew what she was referring to. I certainly felt something as it was happening.

"You know what I am talking about." She chuckled. "I miss you two together. I can see how happy you make each other."

As fast as my smile grew, it fell just like that into a frown. "We're friends, mum." I tell her, more to myself than anything. But it made me think back to a few years ago when I had the same exact conversation with Gemma.

• • •

June 27, 2016

"Wait, so Ferris isn't actually sick?" I asked Maddie in confusion, looking over at her as she sat next to me on my couch, her eyes on the tv hanging on the wall.

"Obviously not." Maddie snorted, gesturing told the screen where teenage boy was on the phone with his friend. "I can't believe you've never watched this before. It's such a classic."

"It's totally unrealistic, Mads."

"That's the whole point, Harry. It's a movie, not reality." She says, looking over at me to see I was already looking over at her. I've been catching myself staring at her a lot, just admiring how beautiful she is.

Before she can ask why I was staring, I quickly came up with an excuse as to why I wasn't looking away. "Your curl is flat."

Without thinking, I reached over and took it between my fingers, twirling it around to fix it. Her eyes were on my face the entire time, and I couldn't help but look up at her, my heart beating out my chest when I saw her smiling.

"Thank you." She grinned. When I dropped my hand and she turned back to the screen, I felt my face flush and I was so close to biting my entire bottom lip off.

I watched as she picked up her buzzing phone from the table and looked at it for a moment before turning back to me.

"Nick needs help killing a spider. I'll be right back." She sighs before getting up and waking to the door.

As the door closed behind her, I watched as Gemma walked out of her room with a slight smirk on her face.

"What's that look for?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You two are so in love, it's ridiculous." She retorted, sitting down on the couch next to me with her phone in her hand.

"Calm down, Gemma. She's just a friend." I tried to tell her, but saying it out loud made me frown because that's all Maddie and I ever will be - friends.

"Friends my ass, Harry. You two have been hanging out everyday for the past month we've been in Canada."

"Maybe because she's the first and only friend I made since we moved here." I argued back. I don't know why I was defending my friendship with Maddie so badly despite how much I wanted it to be more. Gemma was right about one thing; I like Madison a lot.

She tapped around on her phone for a few seconds before showing me the screen, revealing a picture of Maddie and I from a minute ago where I was twirling her hair around my finger while we smiled at each other.

Instead of being mad that she took that picture without us knowing, I smiled. The look on Maddie's face when she stared at me was enough to hope that maybe she might feel the same way about me the way that I do about her.

Gemma watched me smile instead of continuing to defend myself, and she shook her head with a satisfied smirk.

"Friends, huh?"

• • •

Present

"You and I both know you aren't just friends. Just tell her how you feel because I can guarantee she feels the same." My mum's suggestive tone switched into a more motherly supportive one, but her words just couldn't sink into my head. I wouldn't believe anyone if they told me Maddie would feel the same way. The only person I'd want to hear those words from is Maddie herself.

"You don't know that. I can't ruin what we have." I mumbled, not looking away from the sink of dishes I was cleaning.

"Is it not worth the risk, Harry?"

"Not if part of the risk is being rejected and ruining our friendship." I countered in a mumble.

I heard my mum let out a deep sigh and from the corner of my eye, I saw her pinch the bridge of her nose. "She's going to kill me for telling you this..." She says to herself before placing her hand back on the counter to grab my attention. "You know how I told you we said we weren't coming so we could surprise you?"

Out of confusion, I just nod, allowing her to continue. She leans in closer, speaking in a whisper and glancing over at Maddie, who was talking with Gemma and Louis on the couch.

"I lied. We actually weren't supposed to come. Maddie reached out to your sister and offered to fly us out here." She tells me secretly, looking relieved to say that.

My brows furrowed as I glanced at Maddie, my dish-scrubbing slowing down slightly as I processed what she told me. "She did what?"

"I mean, we didn't want her to spend money on us so we said no at first, but she was persistent because she said you were upset when I told you we couldn't come. She flew us out here just so you would be happy." She took a pause before continuing. "So don't tell me she doesn't feel the same. I understand you are my son, but she deserves to be happy too, and I know that is exactly what you make her." She finishes softly, the both of us now looking at Maddie as her laughter filled the air, the brightest look in her beautiful eyes.

"Tell her before you lose her again." My mum whispered before patting my shoulder lightly, taking the sponge and plate from my grasp and moving me aside, seeing as I couldn't move or speak.

Maddie really did that...for me?

I wanted to burst into tears, hug her, and kiss her all at once, but it killed me that I couldn't. I didn't know my love for her could possibly grow, but it did; and I felt overwhelmed by it to the point where I was paralyzed. Would it be wrong if I just yanked her off of the couch and locked us in her bedroom all night as I came up with different ways I could show her how much she means to me?

But wait, why wouldn't she want me to know she flew them out here?

Before I could even break from my paralyzation to ask my mother that very question, she turned the faucet off and walked out of the kitchen squealing "time for gifts!" I see where Gemma got it from.

I was somehow able to drag myself over to everyone else and sit down on the floor between Louis and Gemma while everything handed Riley their gifts to her.

The gifts consisted of the shoes I bought her; perfume from each Zayn, Louis, and Nick; a $200 visa gift card from my mum and Gemma; a few candles and clothing items from Maddie.

"Thank you all for everything. I love you." Riley smiled, on the verge of tears.

"Don't cry." Maddie pouted, pulling her friend into a hug. "We love you too."

We had cleaned up the living room and disposed of any trash, helping Maddie out before she can get mad and tell us she could do it herself.

"Goodnight, darling." My mum pulled Maddie into a tight hug, kissing the side of her head.

"Goodnight, guys." Maddie says my mum letting go of her so she could hug everyone else.

"Goodnight, Mads." Louis mumbled, hugging her for the second time tonight.

I was the last one, and Maddie was not hesitant at all when she hugged me, which was all the more reason to hug her as tight as I possibly could, not wanting to let her go. I know I said my mum's hugs were comforting, but nothing could top the way I would feel with Maddie in my arms.

"Goodnight, Harry." She mumbled into my shoulder.

"Goodnight, Maddie." I say right back, feeling cold when her arms slid down from around my shoulders. Our bodies were no longer touching, but she handed something to me discretely before she walked into her room.

I stare down at the object she gave me and my mouth dropped open when I saw it was a ring, but not just any ring. It was a silver ring with a big ruby diamond - the one I had circled in my magazine from Gucci. I remember a couple weeks ago she was over at my apartment and looking through it, but I didn't realize she saw I had my eye on that ring.

There was a pink sticky note rolled up and attached to the ring, so I removed and unrolled it, reading it over.

Because I know you love Gucci, and you have an obsession with rings.

Happy belated birthday :)

Love,

Maddie

My breath got caught in my throat and I looked up at the sound of my mums voice.

"Coming, Harry?" She spoke, holding the door open for me as everyone walked out.

I nervously glanced over at Maddie's room, not wanted to leave just yet. "In a minute." I tell her quietly.

She smiled and nodded. "Okay." She closed the door behind her and I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants after putting the ring in my pocket. As I approached Maddie's room, I knock on the open door to let her know I was still here.

She set her phone down on her nightstand before turning around, looking slightly surprised. "Oh, hey."

"Hi." My nerves were eating me alive as I spoke, but I cleared my throat and continued, stepping more into her room and leaning my back against the wall next to the door frame. "I just wanted to say thank you."

Her confusion drifted away and her features softened. "You're welcome. You weren't here for your birthday but I thought I'd get you something anyway."

"I'm not just talking about the ring." I cut her off quietly, growing the courage to look her deep into the eye as she tilted her head, her confusion returning. "Thank you for flying them down here."

Her shoulders tensed up and her expression hardened. "What are you talking about?" She denied. But why?

"My mum told me, Maddie." I tell her, hopefully that will be enough for her to finally admit it to me herself.

"Oh." She exhaled, sitting down on the edge of her bed and looking down. I push off of the wall and walk over to where she was, sitting down next to her as I ignored my heart ready to fly out of my body.

"Why didn't you want me to know?" I asked her softly, looking at her side profile as she hung her head staring down at her nails that she began fidgeting with. She was nervous.

"I don't know." She shrugged, still not looking up. "It's not a big deal."

As a reflex, my hand reached over and grabbed both of hers so she would stop picking at her red nail polish. "It is a big deal to me."

I sucked in a breath when she finally looked at me, not expecting to see so much fear in her eyes.

"Maddie...why didn't you want me to know?" I repeated a lot quieter, I doubt she even heard me speak. Her eyes switched between my own before looking away again.

"I didn't want you to read too much into it." She says under her breath, but I still heard it. I just didn't understand what that meant.

"Read too much into what?" I asked, practically begging for an answer. "That you brought my family here for me?"

She nodded slowly, looking almost ashamed. I was left even more confused than I was earlier. I don't know why she didn't want me to know, and I'm starting to think I won't get a clear answer.

"I don't understand, Maddie. What does that mean?" I tried to crack this code on my own, but the only thing I could come up with is the one thing I know for a fact is not the reason she has for not telling me. It's worth a shot asking, though.

"Is it because you were afraid I would think you still have feelings for me?" I regretted asking that question the minute it left my mouth, but that feeling of regret left when I saw her nod slowly, her head still looking down at my hand that was on hers.

Sensing she is uncomfortable, I retract my hand and feel a pang in my chest. So either she didn't want to give me the wrong idea, or...

"Do you?" I asked out loud before I could stop myself.

She didn't say anything, but I didn't need her too. She stood up and took a few steps away from the bed, covering her face with her hands as she took a deep breath.

She finally lifted her head to look at me again, but this time she had tears in her hazel eyes as she whispered "I don't know."

I don't know.

That could mean anything.

Without even thinking, I pushed myself off of the bed and walked over to her. I only had one thing on my mind as I approached her and grabbed her face gently.

I kissed her.

• • •