*Charli POV*
There was a shout from downstairs that drew my attention back to the chaos in my life. Harry's voice sounded and I jumped up from the lounger I was in.
I quickly rushed inside, tossing my phone on the bed as I whipped the bedroom door open and dashed down the stairs. Harry had Zayn held up against the front door as Gramps stood off to the side watching, a small smirk on his face.
"What's going on?" my voice sounded before I even realized what I was doing.
Harry's hands loosened from his grip on Zayn and he turned to face me, "Char, I told you to stay upstairs. Please, just go. We've got this under control."
"Harry, you just had him pinned against the door. That doesn't look like it's under control."
"Charli, I came here to talk to you," the voice - who I was not looking forward to hearing - spoke, and I brought my gaze to him, seeing him panting heavily and wiping his mouth with a sleeve. "And I was told I'm not allowed to talk to my own girlfriend."
"Well, if she was here I wouldn't see why not. But seeing as your girlfriend isn't in this house, I suggest you turn around and leave."
"You're right in front of me."
"That's right. I am. But I am not your girlfriend. We broke up, do you not remember?"
"We need to talk about this," he said in a pained tone.
"Then talk. Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of everyone here."
"Some things are meant to be kept between two people."
"Oh, kind of like a relationship? A relationship where you don't cheat on the person you're with? Because if that's what you're getting at, you've got serious problems," I huffed, getting irritated at him still being in my presence. "Harry, you can let him go. He knows better than to attempt to lay a hand on me. He knows Gramps would kill him with his bare hands."
The two chuckled, and a groan was heard from Zayn.
Harry backed away from the poor excuse of a man standing at the door and came to stand beside me, slightly leaning himself on the wall.
"What did you have to say?" I questioned. "I don't have all night, in fact we were watching a movie. So if you could hurry up, I'd like to get back to that."
"Well you seem to have moved on quite quickly, haven't you?" he seethed, staring daggers at me. "You and Haz then?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked, dumbfounded by his statement.
"Oh, don't act coy with me. It's obvious there's something between you two."
"I don't know what you're getting at, but there's nothing going on between Charli and myself. There never has been anything going on between us."
"You haven't left her side since Friday night, right mate?" Zayn asked, looking between the two of us.
"Actually, that's not true. There's been times where we've been apart," I spoke up. "But I shouldn't have to explain myself to you. You and I are no longer an issue. If I wanted to date Harry, it shouldn't be any of your concern."
"Actually, I'd quite like you two to date," Gramps cut in. I completely forgot about him being there to be honest. "I actually like Harry, so does your grandmother."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Zayn asked, his voice full of anger.
"It means that we only tolerated you out of respect for Charli. In all honesty, I'm surprised it lasted this long."
"That's a lie. That's a fucking lie," he cursed. "I was the perfect boyfriend and you all know it."
"Really? I asked, dropping my jaw open in shock. "Can I ask you something?"
He nodded, a look of terror flashing in his features.
"Would the perfect boyfriend cheat on his girlfriend with his mates girlfriends best friend, hide it from said girlfriend, and then tell her it wasn't what it looked like?"
"No, but that's not what happened at all!" His voice boomed. "You're lying and you know it, Charli!"
"There you go, calling her a liar again. There's no way that with the way she was crying, and the complete sadness taking over her entire soul, that she could be lying," Harry interjected. "I've known her longer than you, and if I'm honest, I'm pretty sure I know her better than you."
"You're telling me I don't know my own girlfriend?"
"I don't know how many times I'm going to have to tell you this before it sinks in: Zayn, we are not dating. I broke up with you and I am done with you. You're a complete pompous ass, and I don't want to hear from you, I don't want to see you, and if you ever try to contact me again, I won't hesitate to get the authorities in on it. You remember Brooke's dad is an Officer, yes?" I smirked, seeing the realization flash on his face. "I'd suggest that you just remove me from your life, and move on with Perrie because I've deleted you from mine, and I have absolutely no fucking intentions of bringing you back into mine."
I inhaled a large breath of air before looking at Harry nervously. He sent me a quick wink and I looked back towards Zayn, who stood in shock.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this..."
"You made my life a nightmare!" I screeched through tears. "Maybe you should have thought about this before cheating on me. I can't believe you hid something that big for over half of a year. What were you thinking!?"
"I- I- wasn't... I'm sorry."
"I don't get how you think it was okay, Zayn! No one deserves to be treated this way, and the fact that you were so casual about it is probably what broke my heart even more!" I ended up screaming at him, not wanting to but just kind gradually of slipping into it. "What gives you the right to go and toy with my emotions like that?"
He stood dumbfounded, staring at me like I'd grown a second head. Maybe he wasn't expecting me to stand up for myself, or maybe he was just shocked that I knew much more than he intended me to know.
"Speak," I spat. "This is your chance to tell me what I did to make you cheat. Your chance to come clean about why you had the balls to do it, but you didn't have the balls to break up with me. I need some answers, because frankly, I'm sitting in the dark here."
He shrugged and looked at the wall, "I can't answer that."
"You can't tell me why you slept with someone else behind my back Zayn?"
He shook his head and stood silently.
"Not one thing comes to mind?"
"Maybe I had lost interest in you."
"Maybe? You think you maybe lost interest in me?" I shot him a glare. "How can you maybe think that? You either did or you didn't. There's no grey area."
"I don't know."
"If you had felt that, like this was going in a way you weren't wanting anymore, why wouldn't you have just broken up with me instead of leading me on? It would've made me a hell of a lot less bitter towards you, and maybe, just maybe I wouldn't want to rip your head off like I do now!"
He looked up at me, but wasn't able to meet my gaze. He slightly looked like he may be crying but I brushed it off. He doesn't get to be the one that cries in this situation that he brought on himself. I stood quiet for a couple minutes, waiting for a response to come from him.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" I looked expectantly at him.
"I..."
"You what?" Harry asked.
"I could tell that you weren't into it as much. We never hung out as much."
"Maybe if you made time for me instead of always being with her," I scowled. "And just because we didn't hang out, doesn't mean I lost interest in you. I never lost interest in you. You don't know how many times I wanted to call you just to hear your voice, to know that you felt the same. You never made time for me."
"I made plenty of time for you lately," he scowled, balling his fists at his sides.
"When? When did you make time Zayn?" I was dumbfounded at his reply. "We never hung out except for after a show, and even then it was with a group of people. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, I'd want to spend some alone time with just you? Did that ever cross your mind?"
"We went on a date a couple days ago."
"And before that? If you can tell me the last time we went out and did something just the two of us, I'll forgive you right here, right now. And I don't mean when you came over to pick me up for a gig. I mean actually had one on one time by ourselves for a couple hours."
"Charli... are you sure this is a good idea?" Harry asked looking up at me.
"Positive Harry," I narrowed my eyes at him quickly before turning back towards Zayn. "Do you have an answer? Or what?"
"Like a couple weeks ago."
"When?"
"After battle of the bands. I drove you home because you had a lot to drink and you stayed over."
"I passed out the second I got in your apartment, and we left almost as soon as I woke up to go to Nando's. We actually picked Harry up on the way, so that doesn't count."
"Then I haven't a clue."
"Well, that's a shame for you. For me, not so much. And for your information, it was at least a month before my birthday."
"We've hung out together since February."
"My birthday is in May, you moron. Harry's is in February if you're mistaking that. We haven't hung out since the beginning of April. Don't try and get me started. You will lose, you will always lose."
He stood in shock, not moving a muscle.
"Now, are you going to leave...? Or should I have these two escort you from the property?" I stared at him.
He hung his head low and pushed himself from the door. For a split second I was terrified that he was going to lunge at me, and it seems Harry had thought this too, because he stood up in front of me, shielding me from what seems to be my finally understanding ex-boyfriend.
He took the doorknob in his hand, turned quickly and faced Harry. "It looks like you finally got what you've always been dreaming about, Harry" Zayn mumbled as he shut the door.
"That was tense," Gram spoke, popping out from the kitchen. "I'm really proud of how you handled that Charli. Your parents would be so proud of you."
I started to tear up at the mention of mum and dad. I shut my eyes and felt myself being pulled into an embrace. Even with my eyes closed, I could tell Harry's hug. I brought my arms up to his chest and couldn't help but let the tears flow freely.
"We're going to head back upstairs if you need us," Harry spoke.
I heard footsteps padding on the floor before they eventual disappeared.
"Hey, love, what's wrong?" he asked, gently rubbing my back. I shook my head and clutched onto his chest tighter. "Come on, let's go back upstairs."
I stayed still, motionless as he tried to coax me up to the second floor. The tears were free flowing, and they didn't seem like they wanted to stop.
Harry eventually got fed up with me and decided to pick me up and carry me up the stairs. He probably regretted it as soon as he started, because he awkwardly took a hold of my behind and picked me up, telling me to wrap my legs around him.
He brought me into my closet and told me to change into something comfortable because 'jeans aren't good to sleep in'.
I cried as I pulled them down, struggling to kick them from around my ankles. I ended up cursing and stomping on them, tugging with the other foot before I eventually pried them off.
I put the same pjs on as last night, because I don't give a shit to be honest. Who am I trying to impress?
I trudged my way across the carpet and flopped onto the bed like a dead fish. My legs hung over the edge of the bed because I just had no motivation or energy to crawl up.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I'd just eventually fall asleep and no have to worry about anything.
The bed dipped from the other side signaling Harry had sat down. He reached over to me and pulled me into a laying position, before stationing himself around me, hushing me down from the loud sobs that wracked my entire body.
"Love, that was amazing. What you said to him was perfect, there's no need to cry over it."
"He's not- they're- they're... my parents," I cried out. "I- I miss them Harry."
I clutched onto him tighter, another round sobs taking over my body.
"Oh, Charli," he pulled me closer into his embrace. "Love, it's okay."
"I- I- Har-" I tried speaking, but couldn't make out any full words.
"Shh, it's okay. It's okay," he cooed in my ear, his hands rubbing up and down my back.
"I miss them," I managed to get out between croaks. "Harry-"
As much as I loved having Harry here for this, I can't help but wonder what my mom would've said or done if she was in this position.
I don't recall a time where I ever saw her upset or frustrated over something. Even when times got rough, she still had a smile on her face.
I'm curious to know how she would have reacted to the way Zayn treated me. She never understood how people could talk down to the ones that they claimed they loved.
I remember back to when I wanted to introduce him to my parents, I was upset about how he never got to meet them. After knowing his actions, I'm slightly glad they never had to meet him as my boyfriend.
They never had to see their daughter have her world crushed. I wouldn't want them to get to know someone who could just tear my heart apart so easily.
The one person I'm glad they met is Harry. I'm glad that I met him before their untimely departure, and had the opportunity to introduce him. They loved him from the very first moment.
Realizing all of this made another flood of tears open up, and I started sobbing all over again, my body trembling through loud sobs.
"I'm here, it's okay baby. I think you need to sleep. You've had a rough couple of days," he whispered. The only thing I could do was nod.
He reached down and pulled the blanket over us. I shuddered when the cold fabric hit my bare arms.
"Shh," his arm that was around me pulled me closer if possible, and his other one went up to my hair, gently running his fingers through it. I slung an arm around him and buried my head in his side.
"I just miss them, Harry."
"That's understandable, love."
"I wonder what mum would say to me in this situation. Would she be proud or angry at me?"
"Are you kidding me? She'd be proud, so damn proud of the way you stood up for yourself. You didn't cave into his demands, and showed him you're strong."
I nodded and continued crying.
"Love, they would be so proud of the amazing woman you've become. They'd probably be the parents that brag on about how wonderful their daughter is, and how proud they are of her. I can guarantee you of that."
It took a good couple of hours for me to calm down from my slight panic attack. The entire time Harry never left my side, and continually whispered comforting things in my ear.
"You're probably sick of me by now, but you have no clue how much I appreciate you just being here with me Harry. I don't know how you do it, but you have this uncanny ability to just make everything better."
"I don't think I could ever get sick of you," he whispered. "There's nothing you could do to get rid of me."
Harry knows the right thing to say at the right time, and it's just like he fits perfectly into my life with everything that's going on.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" I queried, looking up to meet his gaze, his jade eyes feeling like they were burning into mine.
"Anything. Shoot."
"This is weird, but what did Zayn mean when he said you 'finally got what you've been dreaming about'?"
"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it," he mumbled, looking away from me towards the balcony.
"Nothing? It doesn't seem to be 'nothing', Harry. He wouldn't just say something like that if it meant nothing."
"He was just trying to get me going. Can we please talk about anything else? I'm not really into talking about him right now, probably ever."
"Harold..."
"Charlotte..."
"Gross, don't call me that. It sounds weird coming from you," I giggled and buried my face in his side.
We sat in silence and darkness for probably a few hours before one of us dared to speak.
"Charli?"
"Hmm?" I hummed in response, slowly drifting off into sleep.
"I have to work tomorrow," he whispered.
"I know," I pouted, forgetting that he couldn't see me.
"You're sure you don't want me to stay home? Barbara is very understanding, she would be fine with it."
"No, no, it's fine," my voice was barely audible as I curled up closer to his side. "Brooke is coming over. It's okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Harry."
"Okay, I need to get some sleep," he whispered, shifting himself to a laying position. "I'll just be a phone call away when I'm at work. Don't hesitate to call me if you need me. Ever."
I hummed and felt him press a kiss to my head before drifting off into sleep.
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Authors Note:
Three cheers for Zayn maybe finally picking up on the fact that he's no longer in a relationship with Charli! 👏🏼
I freaking cried so much while writing this. You have no clue how bad it was. It pained me to edit this too. 😔
PLEASE don't forget to comment and vote! Your liking of this story is what keeps me going, so seeing these things force me to write more! ❤️