Harry’s P.O.V.
Putting the car in park, I unbuckled, threw open the door, and ran around the car. Luckily, I didn’t notice anything unusual about the front bumper and hood, where the cat hit. I hurried over to my Stephanie staring at the car in shock.
“Steph?” I questioned, approaching her slowly. Her eyes stayed on the car for just a moment longer before locking with mine. They became wide and before I knew it, she was hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around her even tighter as the tears poured down my face and I could hear sobs coming from her, too. My breaths slowed down and I rocked her back and forth, relief flooding through my veins.
We stayed connected for a few moments, neither one of us wanting to let go of the other. Finally, I took a deep breath and loosened up, allowing space to occupy the emptiness between us. I slid my hand down to hers and led her to the car, opening up the passenger side and guiding her inside. Closing the door, I pulled out my phone and nervously called home. My mum was going to be pissed but I can’t drive this thing back home with the airbags still open.
“Hello?” my mum answered.
“Mum, you’re not going to like this, but I need you to take Gemma’s car and come get me,” I delivered, biting my lip.
“Harry? Wait, Gemma’s car? Why? Where are you? Is everything alright?” she rushed.
“I’m fine,” I replied. “I’m on the south side.”
“Why are you over there? And where is my car…?”
“I need you to stay calm,” I answered.
“Okay, okay, I’m calm,” she breathed.
“There have been some tense issues between some of us and earlier today, Stephanie ran away. She didn’t come back for a while, so I took your car and went throughout the city looking for her and I found her on the south side. As I saw her, there was a cat in the middle of the road and I accidentally hit it, causing the airbags to open and now we can’t get back home,” I explained.
“Oh, my God, Harry, you should have told me something was wrong! I would have gladly gone with you to find her, considering you don’t even have your license yet,” she scolded.
“I know, I know, and I’m sorry. Can you just please come get us?” I pleaded.
“Of course. Just give me a few minutes, I wasn’t expecting this,” my mum said.
“We’re on 5th Street, just so you know,” I informed.
“Alright. Just stay in the car. I’ll be there soon,” she responded.
“Thanks. I love you,” I replied.
“I love you, too,” she answered, and ended the call.
Turning around, I saw that Stephanie was still in the car and I took a deep breath, walking around to the driver’s side and getting in. We were both silent for a few moments, not sure what exactly to do. And then she spoke.
“Thank you,” I heard her whisper, barely audible.
“You know I will do anything for you,” I responded.
“I don’t even know what just happened,” she admitted.
“Wait, are you…?” I asked, concerned.
“No. I’m not drunk or on drugs at all. I don’t know, I just felt like I was in a trance or something,” she confessed.
“Because of everything that’s been happening?”
“Yeah,” she responded. “I think when I ran away, I didn’t have any more tears to cry or any emotions to show. I think I got tired of crying and feeling all depressed that I just didn’t care anymore.”
She became quiet for a second, looking around at our surroundings.
“Part of me is now wishing I hadn’t run away, but the other half is glad I did because I was able to be alone without knowing where I was, just somewhere I could let go of everything.”
A car whizzed by on my side, creating a sound in the silence Stephanie gave. I watched as they turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
“I’m scared to go back, Harry. I feel like everyone’s mad at me and that I don’t belong here. Not only that, but also what I explained to you earlier, about my future and what’s going to happen next.”
“And remember what I told you earlier, too: I promise, one way or another. I won’t let anything hurt you, and I bet you anything Rachel feels really bad about what she said. The only thing worse than going back is not going back,” I told her. “We will figure this out. We can’t figure anything out if we don’t go back, anyways.”
“I love you,” she whispered.
Chuckling, I answered, “I love you, too.”
Soon, my mum drove up in Gemma’s car and we had to wait even longer for the tow truck to arrive and pull my mum’s car to the body shop. I’m so thankful she didn’t yell at me or anything during the entire time; just pulled both of us into a tight hug and kept repeating that she was glad we were okay. Steph and I climbed in the back of Gemma’s car and waited for the tow truck.
After it showed up, my mum talked to the guy behind the wheel and got it all sorted out, then clambered in the driver’s side of Gemma’s car and we drove off back to the house.

Rachel’s P.O.V.
All of a sudden, Anne bursted through the door to the cottage, looking frazzled as ever.
“Harry just called. He found Stephanie and they’re alright,” she informed. We all breathed a sigh of relief as she continued, “I have to go pick them up from wherever they are, so I’ll be a little while. Oh, and Harry told me things have been tense between a lot of you, so I would suggest putting whatever it is that’s irritating all of you behind and do something nice for each other.”
And with that, she left the cottage.
“Well,” Liam began. “I think we should do something nice for them when they return.”
“Like what?” Zayn asked.
“Obviously welcome them,” Louis shrugged.
“More than that,” Liam replied. “We have to do something to welcome them, not just be sincere.”
“How about baking something? Like cookies or cupcakes?” I suggested.
“Yeah!” Niall agreed.
“I’m up for that,” Louis responded, while Liam and Zayn nodded.
“Let’s go,” I said, and led everyone to the main house.
Once inside, we collaborated on making chocolate chip cookies and since there were 5 of us trying to make them all at once, we ended up burning the first batch. Luckily, we didn’t set off the fire alarms, though, but the kitchen smelled pretty bad so we had to open the windows.
“Okay, we need a new plan, guys. This isn’t working,” I laughed.
“How about Zayn, Louis, and I make the batter and you and Niall put them on the sheets and in the oven?” Liam suggested.
“I think we can handle that,” Niall responded, winking at me.
For the next hour, we were able to make 3 good batches of about 15 cookies each, the total coming to about 45. Fresh baked cookies are the best thing ever and we each ate a few warm ones to ease our temptation of eating them all. It also relaxed the pain and memory of Steph and my fight earlier. I hope she’s okay.
“Do you guys think they’re alright?” I asked nervously. All 3 of them have been gone for a long time now and suddenly I wasn’t hungry for the cookies anymore.
“They’re with Anne now, they should be fine,” Zayn assured.
“They’ll be okay,” Niall whispered in my ear, snaking an arm around my waist and pulling me close. I rested my head against his shoulder as the nerves continued throughout my body.

Stephanie’s P.O.V.
The ride back was silent, as I was expecting. I wasn’t sure if Anne knew why I ran away and all that, but I wasn’t prepared to tell her. I didn’t even want to talk or anything.
Finally, we reached the familiar driveway and to be honest, I was actually glad to be home. I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sleep.
Harry helped me out of the car and led me inside the main house. The smell of cookies greeted us as we walked inside and I was surprised to see Rachel and the other lads in the kitchen. Rachel’s eyes lit up when she saw me and she gave me a huge hug before any of us could speak. I was slightly taken aback since she seemed pretty mad before, but I didn’t push her away. Her efforts were nice and I also didn’t have the energy to.
After what felt like an eternity (but really was only a few seconds), she released me and held out a plate full of the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I looked up at her and the expression told me everything, so I gladly grabbed one and began eating it. She turned away and headed into a different room.
Never have I ever eaten a better tasting cookie. Since I hadn’t eaten practically all day, the cookie seemed to taste better than usual, and it also helped that it was homemade by my second family.
“We feel horrible about what happened today, so we baked you guys these,” Liam started.
“And also, welcome home,” Louis shrugged, a cheesy smile plastered on his face.
“Thanks,” I whispered, half-smiling.
“Wow, you guys made all of that?” Harry asked.
“Yeah. We burnt the first batch but the other batches turned out just fine,” Zayn explained.
“These are amazing,” Harry exclaimed, biting into a cookie.
“It’s made with love,” Liam said. We groaned and laughed in response to his poor comment. Everyone started chatting with one another while I just kept eating the cookies.
“Hey, I think someone wants to talk to you,” Niall told me, lowering his voice so I was the only one who could hear him. He nodded his head to the side and I looked over to see Rachel sitting on the couch alone, her back to me. I glanced at Niall once more and then approached her.
“Hey,” I cautiously greeted, sitting next to her.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “I’m very, truly, sorry. I was being selfish and only thinking of myself and not you. You’re the one who’s had the tough time and I should have respected that.”
“It’s okay—”
“No, it’s not okay. You were already broken and I smashed you into tiny little pieces.” She paused and I didn’t say anything, then she continued, “After you ran away and you hadn’t come back for a while, I started beating myself up. This was all my fault and I caused you to be this way.”
“It’s not your fault,” I replied.
“Is it?” Rachel questioned, finally looking at me in the eyes. “I made you run away! I caused you to go off somewhere alone for a couple of hours! I was worried sick when Harry decided to go find you! And then when Harry didn’t return, I was so nervous that I didn’t know what to do! All I wanted was to know that you were okay, and when Anne told us, you have no idea how relieved I was.”
This next pause made me realize how silent the house had become. I looked over in the kitchen and the guys weren’t there anymore. I guess they went back to the cottage.
“I’m so sorry, Steph. I don’t know what got into me and yeah, the story is kind of important, but not important enough to come between our friendship. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. I respect you for that.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“We good now?” she asked.
“We always have been,” I responded with a smile, reaching over and hugging her tight.
“Ooh, you stink,” she cringed.
Laughing, I replied, “Sorry, I took a nap in an alleyway. You can’t expect me not to smell when I was near trash cans for a few hours.” We released each other from the hug and I was happy to see Rachel smiling too.
“Okay, go take a shower now, I can’t stand you anymore,” she giggled.

“Yeah, yeah, mother,” I responded sarcastically, laughing with her. But then I kept repeating the word mother in my head and the smile wiped off of my face, the reminder that I don’t have one constantly replaying in the back of my brain. I shook my head to get rid of the thought and walked to the cottage with Rachel, ready for a good night’s sleep.

Notes

Not much to update on. School's taking up a lot of my time as usual and I hate it that I keep updating like this, once every 2 weeks or so, but I don't have all the time in the world to write.

Rachel and Stephanie :)