I can tell my words got to Maddie's head.

Now all I had to do was talk to Harry, which would be a lot harder considering he is more stubborn than Maddie is.

"Hey, Haz. What are you doing?" I asked enthusiastically, leaning against his door frame. He was sat on his bed with his camera in his hands, plugging it into the laptop in front of him. He looks up at me and I almost jump back because he did not look like himself.

He looked exhausted.

"Working." He answered plainly before looking down at his camera and turning it on. .

"You alright?" I asked, dropping the happy act and becoming more concerned while I invited myself into his room and sat on his bed.

He put his camera down and let out a long sigh. "Do I look alright, Zayn?"

"No. You look like shit." I bluntly answered, earning a glare from him.

"Nick already gave me a pep talk earlier today. I'm fine." He says sharply.

"Yeah. And I'm a world famous artist. Cut the bullshit, Harry. We all can see that you and Madison are miserable." I scoffed.

Harry clenched his jaw and his shoulders tensed up. "You don't know anything."

"Oh, so you aren't hiding from the world because you made out with your ex?" I argued. Harry stayed silent and avoided looking at me, not even bothering to ask how I knew that. "Boo fuckin hoo. Two single adults kissed each other. Get the fuck over it and talk to her already."

Harry obviously didn't expect me to call him out on his shit. He was staring at me with wide eyes, but had yet to deny that I had a point.

"I know Maddie isn't all that innocent either since it takes two to fucking tango, but she's at least doing the mature thing by trying to talk to you while you're busy running away like a bitch - excuse my language." I cursed at him.

"Don't call me bitch." He says offensively.

"Then stop acting like one. When Maddie gets back from training, you better talk to her." I tell him sternly.

He stayed silent, fiddling with the wire between his fingers that connected the camera to his computer with a deep frown on his face.

"Woman prefer a smiling man over a frowning one." I tell him, reaching over and lifting his cheeks up with my thumbs.

He pushes my hands away aggressively as I let out a chuckle, failing to get him to smile.

"What's holding you back, mate?" I asked him quietly, trying to sympathize with him.

Harry sighed, setting the camera down and shrugging. "I don't know anymore. I don't think she wants to be with my like that again."

I almost snorted when he said that, knowing that Maddie told me the exact opposite just this afternoon. "For Christ's sake, mate. You two frenched and you are still doubting how she feels about you? She wouldn't have let it happen if she didn't still have feeling for you."

"I'm starting to think we moved to Canada just to try and fix with my relationship with Maddie." He mumbled in annoyance, not admitting that he knew I was right.

"It certainly looks that way." I agreed. "You're lucky to have found someone like her."

"You think I don't know that, Zayn?"

"That woman saw your most ugly moments and preferred loving you over leaving you. She was the realest thing you've ever had and lost. Grow a fucking pair before you lose her again." I continued to tell him, hoping it will get through that pretty little head of his.

He didn't say another word after that. I know I was being a little harsh but I can't let him ruin himself like this. Madison is the only girl Harry has ever loved. I would know because I grew up with him. Their relationship was damn near close to perfect and I just know that they belong together. I can't let them throw that away because they were too afraid to make a move on each other.

I only knew Maddie the summer that I was here helping Harry settle in, but she is the only female friend I have felt really close to. I wouldn't say our friendship is like her's and Nick's, but it's along those lines. I know both Maddie and Harry will regret not fixing things in the future. I'm only doing them a favor.

"I need to edit these pictures." Harry says quietly after a while. I took the hint and left him alone to let my advice simmer.

Once I got to my room, I flopped onto my bed just as I received a text from Nick. I opened it to see a picture of Maddie and I on the ice playing hockey a few summers ago.

I was laying on my back while she was standing over me, and I laughed to myself as I remembered what happened that day.

• • •

"Remind me why I asked you to help me practice." I groaned, taking Madison's hand so she could help me up. This girl is small, but she is strong as fuck.

"Because I'm your only friend that knows how to play hockey." She smiled through the helmet on her head. "I haven't played in years though so you have no excuse to be losing right now."

She skated away from me and back to the goal, guarding it with her life.

I look over at Harry and Nick, who had come for moral support, and Harry gave me a thumbs up while Nick smiled at his phone.

"Oh, yeah. I'm gonna frame this." He cackled, showing the picture to Harry.

"Your partner is going to kill me, mate." I tell him out of breath.

"That's why she's my partner." He says, smiling widely as he looked at her.

I shake my head before getting ready to attempt at another goal, praying she won't knock me down this time.

I hold the hockey stick in my hands, resting it behind the puck in front of my skates.

Cautiously, I aim it over to the goal she is at and take a shot, but she blocks it with her knee guards. I huffed and moved over to the next puck, hitting it hard enough to send it flying towards the next, but she blocked that one too.

"Come on, Malik! You can do better than that!" She shouted in my direction with a slight snicker.

I took a few more shots, but became hopeless when I couldn't seem to get them past her.

"Were you normally the goalie when you played hockey?" I asked her in defeat.

"No, I was right wing." She replied, lifting up her helmet and skating over to me. "But then again, I was fifteen the last time I played a real game."

This wasn't fair. Am I really that bad?

"How about we don't worry about the goal right now. Let's just both play center." She says, gathering one of the pucks and bringing it towards the middle of the rink.

We tapped our sticks together three times before we went for the puck. She got it first and skated it towards my side of the rink. "Are you even trying?" She sighs, skating back over to me.

"Yes!"

"Then come and try to take the puck from me."

Channeling my frustration into the game, I skate towards her and try sweeping the puck from her stick, but something straight out of the matrix happened and she rolled over my back, landing on the ice again with the puck sliding towards where my goal was.

"What the actual bloody hell was that? Did you see that?!" Harry jumped up in excitement, pointing at his girlfriend proudly while he looked down at Nick, who had his phone aimed at the rink.

"How on earth did you do that and not get hurt?" I asked her in disbelief, the both of us taking our mouth guards out and lifting our helmets.

"I figure skate and ice dance for a living. That requires not falling on your ass." She says like it's something I should already know.

"I suck, don't I?" I frowned.

"You don't suck. You just need to be more focused when you play and it's easier when you have an actual team to play with." She tells me, patting my shoulder pad as we made it towards the exit.

"That was hot." Harry breathed as he looked at Maddie in awe, eyeing the entire uniform she was in. "Do you think you can wear this tonight?"

"What kind of fantasies are you having?" Maddie snorted, looking over at me as I agreed with her.

"Right? You would give up after two minutes of trying to take this shit off. It's not fun." I tell him.

"Let me have my moment." Harry whined, earning a playful eye roll from his girlfriend.

"Are we done or should I go change?" Maddie asked me.

"I think we are done. I'm pretty sure you bruised my rib when you knocked me over." I say, wincing when I put pressure on the spot that felt tender.

"Shit. Sorry, I didn't realize I hit you that hard." She frowned, but I waved it off. It didn't even hurt that badly.

"Don't worry about it."

• • •