Settle Down with Me: Chapter 38

LIAM'S POV:

        I followed her outside to the backyard, her head looking down at the ground while she walked. I heard someone cough behind me; I turned around just before I stepped outside to see Anne and Gemma giving me thumbs up.

"Good luck" Gemma whispered as Anne beamed, probably trying to make me feel better. I laughed quietly and thanked them before I slipped through the glass doors and walked towards the swing, Emily dangling her feet over the edge of it.

        My plan was a lot easier when I wasn't actually here. I tried to calm myself down as I walked towards her, my brain buzzing with how I could explain this to her. I had to tell her about Danielle, that was a given, and it wouldn't be pleasant- this I was sure of. I took the last final steps to the swing, sitting down next to her so our legs were touching. I looked over to her sad face as she stared down at the ground some more, but she didn't move away from me- I considered that a good sign.

"How did you find me?" She asked as she cleared her throat, her eyes still glued to the grass.

"You told me where you were" I said as a small smile tugged on my lips.

"Oh right" She smiled before wiping it away quickly.

"I know that I owe you an explanation, but it's kind of long so get comfortable" I said quietly, hoping to loosen her up a bit. I watched as her eyes looked a little happier, a small grin on her mouth. I nudged her arm with my elbow so she would look up, her eyes now staring into mine.

"So basically, I did see Danielle, just before I came home and we talked about a lot of things. And she did say that she missed me but I didn't say it back, or anything of that sort... I actually sort of yelled at her" I said seriously, Emily's face looked more confused than sad now as a small pout formed on her lips.

"Why did you yell at her?" She asked as her eyes squinted slightly.

"That's the long story part, I actually did it to protect you" I said slowly, my hand moving to rest on her knee. I sighed happily when she didn't brush me off, simply sitting up a little straighter.

"Protect me?" She repeated, but this time it was a question. I nodded yes and waited a few more seconds before I took a deep breath and bit down on my tongue, I had to do it.

"She tricked you Emily, and I am apologizing on her behalf because I don't want anyone to every hurt you like that or lie to you and she did" I started, her eyes became huge and puppy like as she remained silent, pointing at herself with her small finger.

"She worked on your lot; she was trying to get a job in your movie. You bumped into her that night outside your trailer, when she said her name was Marcie... she lied. It was her that you had sleepovers and went clubbing with. It was her that you got the part for and became friends with, it was Danielle all along" I said as my throat started to feel heavy. I watched as Emily's face remained blank, she was in shock and completely silent.

"I'm so sorry baby I know how much you wanted a good friend in London. But she says she didn't mean to lie the whole time, not that it makes what she did better" I said that last part quickly.

"So Marcie... she's Danielle?" She asked, her voice breaking slightly, I nodded yes and tried to catch her gaze again.

"And when did you find this out?"

"Few days before she came to the show and we talked" I said honestly, watching Emily wince.

"Did the other boys know too?"

"Yes" I said sadly.

"Why didn't anyone tell me? I feel so stupid" She said quietly, looking down at her fingers as she shook her head.

"I didn't want to have this conversation over the phone. And you are not stupid Emily, you are good, you trust people and are welcoming to everyone that you meet. None of this is your fault, unfortunately some people just take advantage of other's kindness" I said as I grabbed her chin in my hand, forcing her to look up into my eyes again.

"I can't believe I fell for it" She sighed as her eyes started to get clouded.

"Don't do that, she doesn't deserve for you to beat yourself up" I said as I shook my head.

"I'm so sorry Liam, I'm sorry for leaving and getting angry... I should have known better" She slurred as wet tears started to stream down her cheeks.

"No- don't! This is not your fault" I said quickly as I brought her face closer to mine.

"Feels like it" She squeaked as her crying started to speed up. I wiped away as many tears as I could with my fingers, wiping under her sad eyes as she leaned into my hands, the sound of her sniffles breaking my heart.

HARRY'S POV:

        I gripped the phone in my hand while the lads all crowded around me in a circle. We had the call on loudspeaker; we were all sat in mine and Louis' living room.

"What are they saying?" I asked my mum, everyone waiting to hear her answer.

"I can't see their mouths moving but they're sitting close together, and Liam's holding her face" She said as I heard her move around the kitchen. I loved my mother, she was quiet the spy.

"Does it seem like it's going well?" Zayn piped up beside me.

"I think so, there was no screaming that's always a good sign" She said loudly. Niall nodded along with her as he sipped his beer.

"Oh no she's crying" She announced, her voice sounding panicked. That sent my defenses up, I sat up straighter and asked for as many details as possible, I hated when Emily cried. I had the urge to drive home and hug her till she felt better but I knew that I couldn't, she needed to fix things with Liam, not me.

"More crying" She sighed.

"Did Liam say something to upset her?" Louis asked nervously as his hand gripped my arm.

"Don't think so, he seems to be comforting her" I let out a long breath of relief as we all smiled at each other.

"We need to know if he told her about Danielle" I whined before clapping my hand over my mouth. Mum wasn't supposed to know about that, crap.

"Harry!" Niall hissed as he punched my arm.

"Oh save it, she told me the whole story" My mum tutted, I smiled happily as I leaned over to smack Niall.

"Speaking of, Harry Edward Styles I am very disappointed in you" She growled, the other boys looking at me with pity in their eyes. I sighed heavily before asking why she was upset with me, wincing as he long rant started.

"You boys should have told her about Danielle the second you found out! I trust you to take care of my baby Harry and you failed to do that" She scolded me in a serious tone.

"Mum I'm your baby" I reminded her.

"You know who I mean" She snapped.

"As much as you don't want to admit it she's not actually your child" I said quietly, getting another lecture in return.

"Might as well be!" She yelled through the phone, the boys all nodding in agreement.

        I stopped arguing with my mother long enough to get her to start narrating again. She spoke quietly as she described what was happening outside again, her voice sounding like someone on a TV show. The lads and I were all silent; we wanted this to go well. We wanted our Emily to come, and our Liam to be back to normal when she got here.

"She stopped crying" She whispered.

"Are they still talking?" Louis asked as he placed a hand on my arm.

"Yes"

"God I wish I could be there to listen myself" Zayn sighed as he leaned back in his chair.

"Emily will kill us if she knows we're spying" Niall added with a small laugh.

"Wait- oh my" She said loudly, we all jumped up right and begged her to continue.

"I think" She started before pausing again. I groaned loudly at my mother's stubbornness as I pleaded with her to finish her sentences.

"They're going to- oh yes It's going to happen" She said happily.

"WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?" We all yelled in sync.

"They kissed!" She gushed; we all erupted in cheers and clapped hands with each other, Louis and Niall hooting in the background. I said goodbye to my mum before I ended the call and walked into the kitchen, grabbing four beers in my hands. I gave each of the lads one, we all twisted off the caps and held the bottles up in a small circle, toasting to our two best friends.

        I walked slowly up the small walkway, my face covered by my sunglasses and my beanie. I kept my head down and looked around nervously for fans or paps, I didn't want anyone to see me outside her house. I stretched up onto my toes to run my hand on top of the door frame, underneath the green plants where she hid her extra key. I felt around for a few minutes before I felt the cold metal key in m fingers. Unlocking this door was always a pain, you had to really wiggle it to get inside, and Emily refused to let me fix it. Ah ha! I opened the door slowly, looking around the dark house that hadn't been lived in for a few days.

        I dropped my shoes off at the door, putting them in the neat pile so Em wouldn't freak out about the mess. The house was slightly cold so I walked around and cranked the heat, she would freeze if she came home to this temperature. Next was the lights, I went into every room and turned them on and off to make sure none of the bulbs were dead. I left on one light for every floor so it wasn't so eerie.

"What else? Oh the fish!" I remembered as I jogged up the stairs to Emily's bedroom. I let myself inside and smiled at the familiar space, we had spent a lot of time in here, just sitting and laughing. I ran my fingers over the pictures on her desk, she had one of all us from the show as well as a couple shot of her and Liam. I smiled down at the memory and moved onto the cork board hanging on her wall, I played with the metals and small awards she had gotten, she was so proud of all of them. Then there were tons of pictures of her and Charlie, some from when they were little and others of her recent trip here.

"Crazy bird" I laughed at a picture of Charlie doing a weird dance, Emily's head thrown back in laughter. My eyes continued to look at all of the photos, I liked Emily in these pictures- she was real, this is who she is- not Emily Carlisle the actress. I sometimes wish I had known her when we were growing up, when we were both out of the spotlight and just ourselves, no images to upkeep. I read some of the birthday cards she had saved and placed on top of her desk, all the nice messages from us, her friends from home and her family. I was just about to walk away when I saw a small silver frame that caught my eye. I picked it up carefully in one hand and smiled at the three pocket size pictures of her and I at the mall from the photo booth. I laughed like a fool at the weird faces we were making, and in the last one I was kissing her cheek, a huge smile on her pretty face. This was one of my favorite days we spent together; it was actually the first time she and I went out without the boys. It was a simple frame but I couldn't tear me eyes away from the hand written label on the bottom: Emily & Harry, mall, 2012 BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

        I placed the frame at the front of the photo pile and moved to the small tank to feed the little orange and red fish Louis bough for her a few weeks ago, she named it cracker, don't ask why. I took a few pellets of food and dropped them into the small bowl of water, smiling as the little creature popped up to eat. I stared down at the small face while it ate and then eventually swam away, back down to the little cave Emily had bought for him.

"You miss your mum?" I asked it casually as I sat down on her bed, my feet dangling over the edge.

"I miss her a lot" I told it with a small nod.

"But she'll be home soon, and Liam too, and then everything will go back to normal" I sighed, tilting my head back to look at the ceiling.

"And then they'll hang out every day and I'll get my usual hello, maybe a wave, or one of her nice smiles. I like those smiles" I sat there, as if I was waiting for the fish to answer, but I knew he could hear me, his face was now pressed against the glass.

"Does she smile at you often?" I asked, waiting to see if he would respond.

"Bet she does, she loves you, even though you don't really do anything. But Emily loves everyone, she's not capable of hate" I laughed as I thought about all the times she should have flipped out on me and didn't, always the sweet side of her showing.

"She told me that she loved me the other day, it was nice to hear again, hadn't heard that in a while. But I deserved it I suppose, I almost broke up her relationship... not a very good best friend thing to do you know?" Again there was no answer; I was simply being stared at like I was crazy.

"Katie would love to meet you too, she loves animals. But I would be careful if the little devil ever comes to the house, she'll poke you or something. She might look cute with her blonde curls but she's crazy" I laughed as my eyes landed on a picture of the sweet little girl on the bed side table.

"But that's okay because her mum would save you; she's the sweetest lady I've ever met. Or maybe my mum would, seeing as she's adopted Emily as one of her own" I laughed to myself, Cracker still ogling me with his bulging eyes.

"You know sometimes I think she likes Em more than she likes me, and I'm her blood. She's always saying how I need to take care of her, that I need to protect her from harm but in reality it's the other way around. I've caused her the harm, and she's always there to pick up my mess" I sighed, running my hands over my jeans.

"She shouldn't do that you know? And neither should I, I shouldn't cause her harm or stress! I'm supposed to be her best friend, we used to be good, we would never argue or any of that dumb stuff. We were always happy around each other, but then things got weird" His eyes stared at me through the glass, I have no clue why I was talking to this fish but I just needed to get it all out of my head.

"Why did it get weird? Well that's easy, guys and girls cannot just be friends forever, I knew I was going to fall for her at some point... I just didn't think it would be that fast"

"Did you every have a fishy girl friend?" I asked the small animal, my head cocked to the side as she moved his tail back and forth.

"Well you're a lucky man then, because love sucks. It's supposed to feel good and happy but it doesn't, it hurts and it makes you want to die"

"Don't fall in love Cracker, it's not worth it" I grumbled as I drummed my fingers against my leg. Was I in love with Emily? Had I finally said it out loud... like it was the easiest thing in the world to say? Maybe, I mean I guess it was possible, and everyone else had always said I was mad for her... maybe they were right.

EMILY'S POV:

        I dragged my luggage up the front steps to my flat, waving goodbye to Liam as he drove down my road. I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and went to unlock the door, but it was already open. I was starting to get nervous as I pulled my things inside, the lights were on, and it was warm... I had turned the heat off. I hung up my bag and moved around the main floor slowly, checking all the rooms, but they were all empty. I walked over to my shoe rack and kicked off my TOMS, placing them on the small white shelf. I looked down to see a pair of Vans that looked like they could fit a clown, Harry was here.

        I smiled to myself as I jogged up the stairs, he had to be up here somewhere, I checked all of the rooms but there was no sign of him. I pouted slightly as I checked the last few rooms until I got to my bedroom, stopping outside the door. I bit down on my lip and counted to three before I burst the door open, Harry jumping at least a foot in the air as he screamed like a little girl. I grabbed my stomach as I laughed so hard that I fell onto the ground, my head leaning against the door as he tried to calm himself down.

"Jesus Christ Emily!" He yelled as his breathing was heavy and raggid.

"God your face was priceless" I said through my giggles, my chest lifting and sinking quickly. I looked over through my tear clouded eyes to see a small smile on Harry's face, all the anger gone from his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him nicely as I inspected his lazy day outfit.

"I came to make sure the house would be warm and stuff when you got home, oh and I fed the fish" He smiled shyly.

"Thank you" I cooed as I stood up to walk across the room, sinking down onto my bed beside him.

"How was Holmes Chapel?" He asked as he turned to stare into my eyes, his green orbs sparkling.

"Lovely, your mom told me to say hi and that she misses you" I said with a small smile.

"I'll go see her soon" He said with a small nod as he kicked his feet.

"How are the boys, everyone still alive?"

"We barely made it through without your cooking, but thankfully Nandos has a very large menu to choose from" He laughed as he nudged my arm with his.

"Maybe I'll cook something tonight for everyone" I said casually as I stated to plan out a good meal in my head, my eyes focused in front of me.

"No I'll cook, you just relax, you just got home" Harry tutted as he kicked my foot playfully.

"Do you really want to start a footsie war with me Styles?" I asked dramatically as I nudged his foot harder.

"Bring it on little girl" He teased as we started to wrestle with our feet, our legs wrapped around each others as we battled for the top spot. I gripped the duvet in my hands as Harry narrated our match, his huge feet overpowering mine.

        Eventually the foot wrestling became full tackle wrestling on my floor. We rolled off the bed and landed on the soft rug with a thud, Harry's hands wrapped around my wrist as he tried to pin me down. I lifted my knees up into his chest through my giggles as he pretended to be wounded, a sarcastic grin pasted to his face.

"So painful, don't know if I will live" He mocked as he clutched his chest, releasing one of my arms. I took advantage of this and managed to pull his beanie off, revealing his curly hair pulled back into a headband. My mouth dropped open as his face went red, I giggled quietly before placing it on his head, and he gave me a thankful smile as he hovered above me.

"I missed you" He said quietly as he stared down at me.

"I missed you too Harry" I smiled up at him as I adjusted my legs underneath him.

"Like a lot" He said shyly, his cheeks turning pink. I gave him a small smile as I stroked one of his cheeks, his dimples popped out as his eyes wandered all over my face. I could feel his breathing pick up again as we watched each other, I looked up at him nervously, I couldn't understand what was going on.

"Gemma and I talked a lot" I said in my most normal voice as possible. Harry nodded, showing he had heard me but he didn't answer, his eyes were still burning holes in my face. I was about to say something else to break the tension but I was cut off by Harry's husky voice whispering down to me.

"Don't hate me" He said quietly.

"Why would i?" I asked quickly as I arched one eyebrow. He simply smirked in response before his chest lowered slightly, his lips attaching themselves to mine.