Reason number...I don't even fucking know - to hate Canada: you never know when it will stop snowing once spring starts. Once again, it was snowing to the point where most of the roads were closed so I was stuck inside again.

I still felt really bad for what happened last night, but Harry wouldn't even talk to me, no matter how many times I tried to text him, so I simply gave up. Nick told me I don't have to explain myself to Harry, and he was right. I don't have to reassure Harry that I'm not dating anyone, even though deep down I wanted to.

Now today, instead of everyone being over at my place, I was at Riley's. She decided to go through a bunch of stuff in her room again, and I obviously had nothing better to do than to watch her.

"I still can't believe I never noticed it before, Maddie. He would always point out hot guys whenever we were out somewhere together." Riley says near disbelief. "I'm very happy for him, but man, I'm blind."

"You're not blind. I didn't really see it coming, and I'm already halfway there." I joked. "How do you feel though?"

"Oddly enough, I feel relieved now that I know what was going on, and I'm glad we are still close after the breakup."

"That's good. I just want to see the both of you happy." I smiled, and she returned it.

"I did invite Zayn over, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." I say, eyeing her weirdly with a smirk. "You two have been hanging out a lot recently."

"We're friends. I was just used to being around him whenever you and Harry were together." She shrugged as she pulled a box out from under her bed.

"You guys hated each other when Harry and I were dating. There wasn't a single day that you two didn't argue about something." I remembered.

"Things change, I guess."

Suddenly Zayn bursts into her room and jumped on her bed, sending me flying to the floor since I was sitting on the edge.

"Son of a bitch." I groaned, rubbing my shoulder in pain.

"Sorry." Zayn said, sucking in a breath and helping me off of the floor.

"It's fine." I mumbled, sitting back down on the bed. "Where's Harry?"

"About that...we just got back from the emergency room." Zayn answered, catching both Riley and I's attention.

"Oh my god, is he okay?" I asked, stranding up frantically.

"Aren't the roads closed?" Riley asked, her question causing my eyes to roll from how different her reaction was to mine.

"Some of them are. Not all." He shrugged, resting his hand on my shoulder and sitting me back down on the bed. "And don't worry, love, he is fine. He coughed up a little blood so I took him to the ER. The doctor said he had acute bronchitis so they gave him a breathing treatment and prescription meds then they sent us home." He cleared up.

I frown. "So you left him alone? What if he needs something?" Should I go check on him?

"He said he was fine, and it might be contagious. Don't get any ideas because we still have a wedding to go to in a few weeks. We can't get sick." He tells me as if he could read my mind.

"You're going to the wedding?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah, I'm Riley's plus one."

I looked at Riley with raised brows while she looked anywhere but at me. "Really? Interesting."

"Sure is. So don't even think about going over there." He scolded, but of course I wasn't going to listen.

"He could have an asthma attack, so I'm not gonna sit here and do nothing." I pointed out to him, pushing myself off of the bed and landing on my feet. I stick my hand out. "Give me your key."

He stared at me for a second before giving in, reaching into his pocket and handing me his key. "Spray yourself with disinfectant before coming back."

I ignore that comment and grab my phone, making my way across the hall to his apartment. I unlocked the door with the key Zayn had given me and put it in my hoodie pocket once I was inside, calling out to Harry.

When I got no response I knock on his bedroom door that was wide open, but I didn't see him. I was about to call him another time until I was interrupted by a furious series of deep coughs coming from the bathroom. The coughing turned into gagging and I cringe at the sound.

I find Harry crouched down, hovering over the toilet dry heaving. Some of his hairs were falling in front of his face so I used the extra hair band I kept on my wrist and tied up the pieces that managed to stay up on his head.

I felt déjà vu as I sat next to him on the bathroom floor while he dry heaved, thinking of all of the times I took care of him while he was drunk.

I place my hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly while he emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet bowl.

He flushed the toilet and leaned away from me, resting his head against the wall as he kept his eyes closed.

"What are you doing here, Madison?" He asked once he finished. Madison? Ouch.

A piece of hair dangled in front of his face and brushed it out of the way. "I wanted to make sure you were okay. Zayn said you were sick."

He covered up a few coughs that forced its way out before rubbing his throat with his hand. "I appreciate it but you should go. I don't want you to get sick as well." He mumbled. I frown and stand back up on my feet, holding my hands out in front of me.

"Come on." I say softly, not listening when he told me to leave. He looked at my hands and shook his head. "I'm not leaving until I know you are okay."

He continued to stare at my hands before sighing and resting his own in them. I squeeze them tightly and help him off of the floor, walking him to the bathroom sink so he could brush his teeth. I watched him as he moved slowly, and once he was finished I grabbed the trash can from next to the toilet and brought it back into his room as he slowly climbs back into bed.

"If I even cough or touch you in any way you might end up getting it and that can't happen. I know your dad's wedding is coming up." He reminds, scooting over to the opposite side of the bed so he wasn't close to me.

"Is this the face of a person who cares?" I point to my unbothered expression and he shows a lopsided smile. "I just want to help you get better."

"Maddie, you have been doing nothing but taking care of me ever since I met you. Give yourself a break." He chuckles but it turns into a cough. He sits up and holds his stomach and I grab the trash can to stick in front of him. He waves it away and lays back down, groaning. "I don't understand why I threw up. It's bronchitis, not the flu."

"Coughing can trigger gagging and make you throw up." I tell him. It's true, too. I got bronchitis a few years ago and I almost made the phrase 'coughing up a lung' become literal, not metaphorical.

He looks at me confusingly. "How do you know that?"

"I took a nursing health class." I answered, setting the can back down on the floor.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So if you don't want to throw up again then take some cough medicine and place an ice pack or something against the back of your neck. It helped when I had bronchitis." I notice his hair falling out of my hair tie so I reached over and pulled it out carefully to put it up again. Harry watched my slow movements as I moved back and put distance between us.

"You know, you'd be a good nurse." He says quietly, clearing his throat when his voice was scratchy.

"Thank you." I smiled.

He sighed and ignored my gaze. "I meant what I said last night. Nick is right. You should go on that date."

Tensing up next to him, I looked down at my hands and answered truthfully. "Well I can't really say no now. Nick said yes for me."

"Good." He only nods and finally brought his gaze up to me, changing the subject. "You know, when Zayn found out I could possibly be contagious, he almost made me walk home from the hospital. He didn't even come into the apartment when we got back, he went to Riley's." He explained, making me laugh. That sounds like Louis.

"I know. I was there." I chuckled. My eyes scan his face while he yawns and I can tell he was exhausted. "I should let you rest now. Text me if you need anything, okay?"

"I know, thank you."

I pat his thigh over the blanket before standing up. "Do you want the light off?" I asked on my way out of his room.

"Yeah, thank you." He responded.

I shut the light off but before I leave, I called him again. "Harry?" He turned his head to me and gave me a questioning look.

"Stop thanking me." I smiled. "I hope you feel better."

He returned a tired smile and I left him alone for the night.

• • •

I woke up around nine-thirty to go get coffee from Tim Hortons and when the workers knew my name I took it as a sign to cut down on the caffeine.

I also stopped at cvs to get hauls, Mucinex, and a Gatorade for Harry. I was going to get him tea but I remembered he wasn't a fan of tea, and that's when I ran into a familiar brunette that had texted me a couple nights ago.

"Hey, Maddie!" He calls from the other end of the aisle I was in.

"Adam!" I say in surprise as he walked over to me with a smile and pulls me in for a hug.

"Exams are finally over." He informed me in excitement. "One year down, three more to go."

"That's great!" I say with enthusiasm before preparing myself to let him down easy. "Look, about the date. Nick was the one who texted you yes after I told him not to. I'm sorry."

He shook his head and chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I kind of knew it wasn't you. You always end your messages with punctuation."

I smiled sympathetically. "Yeah. Uhm..." Just do it. "You know what? I wouldn't mind grabbing lunch with you whenever you are free."

"Really?" He asked sceptically. "You're not saying that because you feel bad, right?"

My eyes widened. "No! I would honestly like to go to lunch with you."

Adam just smiled and let out a quiet laugh. "I'm joking, Maddie. I'm available tomorrow around twelve. How does that sound?"

"That's perfect."

"Great." He says, his good mood rubbing off on me. "I have to go but I'll text you tonight so we can decide where we will eat tomorrow."

"It's a date." I confirmed with a grin. He gave me one last smile before we both walked our separate ways. After paying for the stuff, I got back in my car and drove home.

Adam was a very sweet guy, and I do like him as a friend; but after being with Harry I couldn't seem to genuinely like anyone else - and that scared me.

"You know what I just realized?" Zayn spoke, grabbing my cup of coffee from my hands and taking a sip after I had walked into Riley's. "It's almost April and the Christmas tree is still up."

I snatch my coffee back from him, pulling my sleeve down to wipe his saliva away from the dome lid. "Riley's too lazy to take it down."

Zayn reaches for my coffee again but I smack his hand. He pulls it back and rubs it with a pout. "Meanie."

"Nobody touches my coffee." I growl, trying to stay serious but failing miserably when I cracked a smile. I check the time on the stove and it read '11:04'. I figured Harry should be up by now so I grab the Gatorade from the fridge and the cvs bag from the counter before going across the hall.

I heard water running when I walked in so I took it he was in the shower and sat on the bar stool, scrolling through Instagram until he was finished.

"Maddie?" My head snapped up at the sound of my name being said. Harry stood in his doorway, his hair wet from his shower and making it a couple centimeters longer than when it's dry. I tried not to drool when I caught sight of his bare chest. "Where's Zayn?"

"Where else?" I asked sarcastically and he nodded, understanding what I meant. "I brought you some remedies if you want to try them out." I scoot the bag closer to the side of the counter nearer to him.

He steps out of his room and looks into the bag I had on the counter. "You didn't have to do this."

"I know but I wanted to. You look like you're in a lot of pain and I kinda miss being around the only friend I don't get annoyed with." I grab my coffee and take a sip, frowning as it had gone cold.

"That's very thoughtful of you. Thank you." He smiled timidly, but I kept my stare on his body, taking in the chest tattoos that I couldn't rip my eyes away from.

"I told you to stop thanking me." I say, fighting a grin.

"I'll thank you as much as I want." He teased, seeming to have more energy than he did yesterday.

"I won't welcome it." I said, my voice filled with humor and evidence of a hidden laugh.

His grin lit up the entire room and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling like an idiot.

I don't know what changed between us in just a few weeks, but I can't really complain...because I liked it.

• • •

;)