The weather was absolutely shitty, but I'd expect nothing less in March. It was snowing a lot today and the roads were extremely icy so that made my day a little difficult since I had a lot of driving to do.

"Still no sign of Louis?" Riley asks as she opened the passenger side door of my car and hopped in, rubbing her hands together and placing them over the heat vents.

"Nope." I answered, pulling out of the parking lot and beginning our twenty minute trip to Home Depot.

"Where the hell is this man?" She spoke again frustratedly, plugging her phone onto the chord to play music.

"I wish I knew, Riley. I'm sorry." I sighed, bringing my right hand off of the steering wheel to turn the volume up.

"It's okay. I'm sure he'll turn up soon. How are things between you and Harry?" She asked.

Tell her about the dream.

"I don't know." I answered honestly. "I had a dream about him."

She whips her head to face me with a curious expression. "Like... a dirty dream?"

"No!" I scrunch my face in disgust. "I wouldn't even call it a dream. It was more like...a memory of us together."

"When was this?"

"The night we went to David's."

"Can I ask what it was about?" She asked warily.

I stop at the red light and glance at her. "It was the night we slept together for the first time." I whispered loud enough for her to hear as I closed my eyes for just a second, driving again when the light turned green.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I had a dream about our first time together." I repeated in annoyance with myself.

"Didn't Vanessa ask Harry about his first time? Maybe you fell asleep thinking about it and then you just dreamt of when it happened."

"Maybe." I muttered. "Being friends is going to be so much harder than I thought."

"I don't know how you are handling this so well. You two had the world's most perfect relationship from what I saw." She said enviously.

"I wouldn't call it perfect." I tell her. My relationship with Harry was not perfect. No relationship is.

"Are you kidding? Whenever you would talk to me about him, a smile would not leave your face." She states, making the frown on my face grow. I tried to keep my eyes from watering because of how painful it was to think about the past. "The amount of trust and love you two had for each other was unbelievable, and I don't know how you could ever be just friends with him after that." She finishes just as I pull into the parking lot of Home Depot.

"That didn't help at all." I commented with a sigh, putting the car in park and taking the key out of the ignition.

"I'm sorry, but I just think you should be more aware of what you are putting yourself through." She says, walking along side of me into the building.

Dropping the subject, I pull my phone out so I could see what supplies my dad had asked me to get. "My dad sent me the name of the shades he needs and a few materials so let's get the paint at the end." I said, grabbing a cart and pushing it towards the aisle that had paint rollers and brushes.

"Is your dad reimbursing you for this?" Riley asked as I grabbed the exact brushes he had asked me to get.

"When he gets here, yeah." I responded, pushing the cart again. Within thirty minutes, I got all the small stuff first before going towards the paint aisle, finding the exact shades my dad sent and grabbing the cans of paint, taking them to the desk for the employee to mix the colors with.

"Hello, Maddie." He greeted cheerfully, and

"Hello, Adam." I smiled at my old classmate from college, setting the cans on the desk and handing him the sample colors. "How's grad school?"

"It's pretty good. I watched your programs at the Olympics. Congratulations." He said, grabbing the cans and opening the lids to add the color.

"Thank you." I grinned. "As much as I love skating, I am so glad I can take a break for a while."

"I bet. Do you and Nick plan on trying for the next Winter Olympics?"

"I hope so. We would have to start training by the end of the year so I guess we shall see what happens." I replied, watching as he closed the lids tightly and set them into the mixer.

"What is your dad painting?" Riley asked, interrupting my conversation with Adam.

"He's been renovating the basement. He already did the floors and now he's painting the walls." I answered, leaning against the counter. Adam stood next to the machine that mixed the paint, and he flashed me a smile that I couldn't help but return. He was a year older than me, and he was now attending grad school for his Masters in Psychology. We only had one class together in my last year, and he was the reason it was tolerable.

"Why didn't he do it the other way around to avoid getting paint on the floor?" She questioned, eyeing the way Adam and I stared at each other.

"I don't know. He's weird." I chuckle, finally looking away from Adam for a brief second.

"Here you go, Mads." He said politely, placing them in my cart for me.

"Thank you." I sang, before beginning to push the cart away. "See you later."

"You too." He responds before going back to working on something else.

I push the cart to the checkout counters and wait in the shortest line patiently. After paying for everything, we leave the store and go to the house to drop it off.

When we got there, everything looked exactly the same as the last time I was here a couple months ago. Riley held the bags in her hand while I carried both of the paint canisters down the stairs and into the basement. It was dark going down the stairwell since the light switch was at the bottom rather than the top so I tried my best to be careful, setting the cans down next to the wall so I could turn the lights on.

Each row of lights turned on one after another, slowly illuminated the pitch black underground room.

There wasn't much down here since it wasn't done yet, but it was a largely open space. I don't know what my dad planned on turning it into once it was finished, but I was excited to help him paint it tomorrow.

"Can we stop at Tim Hortons on our way home?" Riley asked, putting the bags down next to the paint.

I stop studying the basement and walk out of the small kitchen that was built down here. "Yeah. Ask Zayn if he wants anything."

I walk past her, shutting the lights off on my way up and heading back up the stairs.

I made sure every light in the house was off and all the doors were locked before leaving, turning both locks

on the front door as well.

"He wants an Ice Capp." Riley tells me after we get in my car and I start it. The ten minute drive back towards our building was filled with music now that we were in a lighter mood despite it being only ten in the morning.

As I pull into the drive thru, I realize I forgot to see if Harry wanted anything; but already knowing his usual order, I decided to just get that.

Riley questioned me when I ordered four drinks, asking who the fourth one was for. "Harry." I answered, pulling into the first window to pay.

"You got one for Harry? Why?" She asked, seeming like it was a crazy thing for me to do.

"Because there is no harm in being nice?" I responded, wondering why she was so surprised.

"I know. I didn't think you were in a place where you would buy him something." She shrugged, turning the music a little lower so I could hear the woman working as I handed her my card.

"It's just coffee, Riley. I think you are reading too much into it." I tell her, taking my card back with the receipt and moved up to the next window.

She said nothing further on the subject that seemed to bother her for whatever reason and I drove home after I was given the cup holder with the drinks. Riley takes it and puts it on her lap and I thanked the worker before driving off.

Our building was around the block so the ride was short. When we get inside of the lobby, we take the elevator to her floor and walked to Zayn's apartment. Riley thought it was the perfect time to bring up something I was not at all expecting. "I have to ask, what the hell was going on between you and Adam?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, please. You two were flirting like I wasn't right next to you!" She exclaimed with a smile.

"Riley, we literally only said a few sentences to each other about school and work. How is that flirting?" I asked, looking at her a little weirdly.

Zayn swings the door open after my fist hits the door just one time, the wind from the force blowing my hair back.

"You are an angel." Zayn sighed happily as I hand him his drink, stepping inside with him along with Riley.

"Yeah, I know." I chuckled, taking the other cups out so I could toss the holder in the trash.

"You guys were eating each other with your eyes. That's pretty flirtatious, if you ask me." Riley smirked.

"Oh my god, Riley." I groaned.

"What's going on?" Zayn asked in confusion.

"We just ran into a friend of Maddie's and she won't admit that they were undressing each other with their eyes." Riley tells him, and Zayn eyes me in amusement.

"Can we stop talking about this?" I whined.

"I'm serious. I can one hundred percent tell that he likes you." She nudged my side and I turned to her, not wanting to believe her.

"Really?" I asked, scrunching my nose.

"Definitely. You have his number, so why don't you ask him out?"

"What are we talking about?" Harry jumped in as he walked out of his bedroom. My mouth gaped when Harry walked out wearing only sweatpants that hung low on his hips, exposing every single tattoo on his upper body. He tiredly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and brushed his hair back with his other hand. I managed to look away for a brief second, trying to salivate my dry mouth before facing him again with a little more confidence.

"Nothing. I, uh...I brought coffee." I answered nervously as I handed him his cup of black coffee.

"Oh. Thank you." He took the cup and smiled at me.

"Mhm." I replied, grabbing my cup and backing away.

"Well if you were both giving the bedroom eyes, I say ask him out and see how it goes." Zayn brought up with a shrug, making my eyes widen. I did not want to talk about this, especially in front of Harry.

I chuckled nervously, shaking my head. "No. He's just a friend."

"Yeah, okay." Riley snorted, making me frown.

"Ask who out?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Maddie has a little crush on one of her friends and she won't do anything about it." Riley answered, and I placed my head in my hands in embarrassment.

"Would you stop? I don't have a crush on him. I'm not in middle school."

"Come on. He supports your career and your relationship with Nick. When does a guy like that ever come around?" Riley pointed out, which made me go quiet because she was right.

Adam was probably the only friend of mine who's shown interest despite knowing how close Nick and I are. He doesn't mind our relationship, and I guess that increased my likeness for him.

"If I say I will think about it, can we drop this conversation?" I asked Riley.

"Yes."

"Then fine. I will think about it." I tell her just to shut her up about this.

I felt Harry's eyes on me, and it made me feel weird that I basically just admitting to liking someone right in front of him. I didn't miss the slight frown on his lips, but he quickly recovered them into a dull smile.

"On a different note, any word from Louis?" Zayn changed the subject.

"Nope." Riley sighed. "I even tried calling his work but they said he took a few vacation days."

I throw my arm around Riley's shoulders despite her being taller than me. "The next time I see that asshole, I'm gonna kill him."

• • •