Rachel’s P.O.V.

“Seriously, you’ve brought the whole house with you,” Harry complained, dumping the last bag of my stuff on the bed. I simply grinned in response.

I was living with Skylar and Lizzie again this year, but so far only Skylar was here. It was a tad awkward, being in the same room as the two of them, given Harry’s not-so-secret affections for Skylar.

“I’m gonna go meet Louis anyways and find our room. I’ll see you later Rachel,” Harry announced, walking toward the door. “Bye Skylar,” he added, before the door was shut.

“So,” Skylar immediately began while he was gone. “How are you?”

I sighed, knowing exactly what she was referring to. I had spent the summer avoiding her calls, along with everyone else’s. Getting out of the country to spend a bit of time clearing my head had been good for me. I had felt much better coming back than I had leaving.

“I’m doing good,” I replied instantly, which she raised an eyebrow at.

“Seriously, I am,” I continued. “I mean, of course I’m still hurt over what happened, and I have absolutely no intention of seeing or speaking to Ashton or Delia anytime in the near future, but I am okay. This summer has given me a lot of time to think, and I’ve realised I’m really just not good at relationships,” I concluded.

Skylar looked confused. “What do you mean?” She asked, cautiously.

“I just mean, I’m clearly just not cut out for the whole girlfriend thing, I mean, of the two relationships I’ve been in, they both cheated,” I explained.

“Well, yeah. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on the whole idea of dating,” she interjected.

I shrugged. “I’m not. I just don’t think I’ll be up for anything remotely serious anytime soon,” I answered.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But hey, the problem was never you being a bad girlfriend, Rachel. Ashton just.. Well actually I don’t know what Ashton was thinking to be honest, but it wasn’t your fault. Just don’t write off guys altogether,” she said softly, turning to start unpacking.

I thought over her words in my head. I wasn’t planning on giving up on guys for good – just until I had moved on properly. Despite the fact that I hated Ashton for what he had done, I couldn’t help but miss him. He had been my friend for a year and a half before we had gotten together, he was someone I had really loved spending time with. If he had wanted to end things with me to be with Delia, he should’ve said something. Sure, I would have been angry and upset, but we would have moved past it, went back to being friends.

There was no way to recover our friendship now, things were too far gone. He completely betrayed me, for who knows how long, with someone I considered a good friend. I definitely didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. The summer away had given me time to move past my anger, but I still couldn’t forgive him. Or her. There was no way I would be able to be around either of them anymore without constantly thinking about what they had done.

The summer away had also given me time to think about something else. Louis.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, quickly texting him to meet me at the fountain as soon as him and Harry had found their room. I spent the next twenty minutes unpacking my stuff, and chatting with Skylar and Lizzie – who had just arrived. As I was making my bed, Louis text back to say he was on his way to the fountain and to meet him there.

By the time I had walked there, he was sitting down, waiting. “Louis!” I exclaimed as I got closer. It had been months since I had seen him and I hadn’t fully realised how much I missed him until right then.

“Rach,” he responded, standing up quickly to pull me into a hug. I couldn’t help but giggle slightly as I hugged him back. “It’s so good to see you. You have to tell me everything about America!” I gushed as we parted, quickly sitting down. He grinned in response.

“It was absolutely amazing, I loved it. I did miss everyone though,” He admitted, sitting down with me, a smile still evident on his face.

I felt my stomach flutter with nerves a little as I sighed and dropped my gaze.“Louis. About what you said at the end of summer-“ I began.

“We can just forget about that, you know. I get that my timing was awful and I shouldn’t have said anything, I’m sorry,” he rambled the words out quickly, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

I smiled a little at his nervousness. Louis was rarely nervous, so it was always strange to see. “Relax Lou, you don’t need to apologise. I just.. I can’t,” I began, trying to maintain his gaze.

“Things with Ashton and I ended so badly, and I’m just really not in a position to.. start anything right now, I really hope you understand,” I explained softly, biting my lips once I had finished.

“Of course I understand, Rach. Don’t sweat it,” his smile was reassuring but still, I felt guilty.

“Yeah? So we can just keep things the same, continue being friends?” I needed him to confirm that things would stay the same.

He nodded.

“Definitely, if it’s what you want, things can stay exactly the same between us,” he promised, without dropping my gaze.

I broke out in a smile then, leaning across to pull him into a crushing hug. “Thank you, Louis. I think I’d go crazy if I lost you too in this whole mess,” I mumbled into his shoulder.

He chuckled at that. “You needn’t worry. It’ll take a lot more than one rejection to get rid of me,” he teased, causing me to laugh as I pulled away.“Good to know Tomlinson. So tell me, how was your summer?”

Notes