"Let's go to brunch."

I look over my book to see Louis staring at me with a look of eagerness on his face.

"Now?"

"Yeah. Why don't we all go to Evviva's? It's almost eleven and I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything." He says as he rubbed his stomach.

"I'm down." I shrug and look down at the page. "Wake everyone and tell them to get ready."

"They are so far." He whined as he typed something on his phone. "I'll just call them. You handle Nick."

"Lazy ass." I chuckled, pulling my phone out of my hoodie and to text Nick.

"I'm not lazy! My ass is just sore from working out yesterday." He said defensively, and I couldn't help but snort.

"I know the meaning of a sore ass and I know for a fact that you did not work out yesterday."

"Whatever. You're just mad because you aren't getting any from Harry." He murmured, making my mouth drop open in shock.

"What about me?"

A smile grew on my face when I heard his deep voice fill my ears, watching as he came into view from my front door.

"Nothing. Would you like to have brunch today?" I asked him, ignoring Louis as he teased me for smiling so widely. He's lucky the back of his head was to Harry or else I would have backhanded him for being obvious. I settled with scratching my nose with my middle finger as I looked at Louis, who rolls his eyes at my response.

"Just us two?" Harry replied, hiding his excitement. Dammit.

"No. The others would come too." I specified, watching as Harry's excited expression fell.

He hid his disappointment with a smile. "Yeah, I'd love to join you guys." He answered, sitting on the seat opposite of the couch Louis and I were on.

"Great! I'll go wake everyone up." Louis chirped, hopping up and skipping to the door.

"Oh, so now you get up!" I shout after him.

As I was typing a text to Nick, I slowly look up when I felt Harry's gaze on me.

"Take a picture, Romeo." I winked confidently, looking back down at my phone after seeing his face heat up when I caught him.

"I prefer the in-person experience." He spoke lowly. I smiled to myself, my straightened hair hiding my face from him as I opened my messages and went to Nick's contact.

-Lou Zayn Riley Harry and I are going to Evviva's. Care to join us?

Immediately I got a response. He must have been on his phone already.

- I'd never turn down brunch. When?

- around twelve.

-Text me when you leave I'll meet you guys there

-kk

• • •

"Do you call it Soda or pop?" Louis asks us as he took a sip of his Pepsi. Gross.

"Soda." I replied, reading the menu in front of me.

"Soda." Nick answered.

Riley also answered with soda, which made Harry, Zayn and Louis look at us weirdly.

"Really? I call it pop." Harry says, feigning a look of disgust. My eyes trained on his lips as they wrapped around the straw, sucking up the water in his cup.

Oh dear lord.

Why did he have to sit across from me? Everything he does is distracting.

Nick was between Harry and Louis on the other side, which left Riley and Zayn to sit by me. While those four created their own conversation, I turned out and looked out the window, watching the snow fall lightly.

When I glance over at Harry, he was concentrating on something on his phone, and he pinched his bottom lip between his thumb and pointer finger, brows furrowing.

"You okay?" I asked, making his attention shift onto me and his face softened as he released his lip.

"Yeah, why?"

"You looked a little constipated there." I shrugged with a snicker, making him chuckle and shake his head.

"No. My, uh...My mum texted me saying her and Gemma might have to cancel their trip to come out here. The flights are almost fully booked." He tells me, his smile falling back into a frown.

"Oh. I'm sorry about that." I mirrored his frown. If there is one thing I know Harry loves unconditionally, it's his family. I didn't even know they were going to come visit, but now I wanted to help Harry so he could see his mom and sister.

"Don't be. I'm the one who moved to another country. That comes with not seeing family for a while." He shrugged, stirring the water and ice with his straw.

"It will be okay. You have us, at least." I say with a comforting smile, his frown slowly melting away as he stopped moving the straw and smiled up at me. "Consider us your Canadian family." I added in jokingly.

I felt a wave of satisfaction when Harry laughed quietly, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

Despite my comment, I tried thinking of anything that would be able to help Anne and Gemma come here. All I really need is a way to contact either one of them.

After we had gotten our food, our conversations slowly died down while we ate. I had gotten a waffle with fruit, and I teased Harry when he stuttered and ended up getting the same thing.

I felt a small tap on my leg as I was pouring syrup on my waffle, and I look under the table to see Harry's feet planted on the ground. I sit up straight again and stare at Harry, who was looking out the window innocently, a smile on his face when I saw the side eye he gave me.

Glaring at him, I lift my foot and kick his ankle. He jumped slightly, obviously not expecting me to do it back. He hissed and reached under the table to grab his ankle, making me roll my lips into my mouth as I held in a laugh.

He didn't try kicking me again, grumbling curse words under his breath while he went to take a bite of his waffle. I couldn't help but release my smile when I saw his tongue stick out of his mouth as he bit the piece of waffle from his fork. When he noticed me staring, he stopped chewing and looked worried.

"What?"

I shake my head, still smiling. "You still stick your tongue out when you eat."

His worry melted away and I could have sworn I saw a tint of pink on his cheeks. "Oh." He mumbled, almost as if embarrassed to be doing that absentmindedly.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way." I tried reassuring, adding a timid shrug. "It's cute."

I didn't expect his eyes to light up when I said that, but they did. He hid a smile as the both of us continued to eat our waffles in silence.

After the six of us finished and split the bill, we walked out to the parking lot.

"Do we have training tonight?" Nick asked from the left side of me, tossing his arm around my shoulder.

"No. Tomorrow morning." I tell him, my mind still roaming with ideas on how I could get Gemma's number without Harry knowing.

Then I had a thought. I could just send her a message on Instagram.

"Damn. I don't feel like waking up early." He whined, dragging himself down as he walked, his boots making a scraping sound as they were being dragged on the concrete.

"Boohoo. You've been doing it for over ten years." I pat his shoulder before going to walk to Louis' car.

"Wait, just ride with me. I'm going that way anyway." Nick stopped me, nodding towards his car.

My response was almost no, because I didn't want to leave Harry with the very awkward thrupple, but it was only a ten minute drive. He'll survive.

"Never mind. You have no choice." He decided before I can tell him okay, grabbing my shoulders and dragging me towards the passenger's side.

"I'm going with Nick!" I shouted to Louis, who was walking towards his car with the others. He responded with a thumbs up and I got into Nick's car.

"You seriously can't make it anymore obvious." He scoffed the moment both of us were in the car.

A little taken back, I stare at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"You guys were in your own little world, flirting and playing footsies."

My tense shoulders relaxed when he explained the problem he seemed to have, and I rolled my eyes.

"We weren't flirting or playing footsies." I countered, clicking my seatbelt securely. "He kicked my foot so I kicked his back."

"That's footsies."

"Not really. And how is having a conversation considered flirting?" I asked very curiously. I didn't think Harry and I were flirting? We were talking about family, so that wasn't really anything weird.

"Seeing the way you two were looking at each other made it feel like we shouldn't have even been at the table with you." Nick says dramatically, backing out of the parking spot.

"Okay, you are exaggerating. I've already admitted to you that I still have feelings for Harry so I don't know what you want from me." I shrugged, folding my arms over my chest after adjusting the vents to blow heat on me.

"The only thing I want is for the both of you to just get back together." He replied nonchalantly.

The frown on my face didn't leave, because I knew it was more complicated than that. Yes, I like Harry. Yes, I would like to be with him again. But how do I even know he feels the same way? I can't just come out and ask him without telling him how I feel, and I will most definitely not be doing that.

Ending our conversation there, I pull out my phone and go to Instagram, remembering to find Gemma's profile in my followers. I cheered to myself when I found it, and I went to send her a message.

Hey Gemma! I know it's been a while since we've spoken but I was wondering if we could talk. If you can, give me a call or text please :)

I attached my number to the message, hesitantly sending it before setting my phone down in my lap.

All I needed to do now was wait for a response.

• • •

It was around five in the afternoon, and it was dark as shit outside.

Nick and I ended up hanging out with Harry and Zayn at their apartment after we got back since Riley got called into work and Louis passed out at his place, so the three of us were sat in the living room talking about what our plans were for the summer since it was a month away. The weather was being a little bipolar, but it hasn't snowed in a while so that was good.

"I just can't wait for it to be hot so I can go to the pool." I sighed, imagining the warm sun on my face as I worked on my tan.

"Amen to that." Nick agreed as I felt a vibration in my pocket. I pulled my phone out to check the number that was calling me. When I saw the location, my smile widened and I jumped up, walking towards the front door so I can answer it. "I'll be back."

I quickly stepped outside of the apartment, answering the call before it goes to voicemail. "Hello?"

I retract the phone from my ear when a murderous scream came from the other line. "Madison! Oh my god, I can't believe this. You don't understand how much I miss you!" Gemma rambled on excitedly, making me smile more.

"I miss you too. I'm so glad you called. I didn't think you actually would." I sighed in relief, casually walking around the hall.

"Of course I would have called. Just because my brother is an idiot, doesn't mean I won't talk to you. I nearly beat him with a bat when he told me about what happened. It's so good to hear your voice." She continued. My eyes started to water and it hit me just how much I missed his family.

"I can't believe I'm actually talking to you right now." I chuckled. "How have you been? How's your mom?"

"We are both really good. I actually got married not too long ago!" She announces to me with a squeal.

"Harry told me about that. Congratulations!"

"Thank you so much. Anyways, before I start crying right now, you said you needed to talk. What's up?" She asked, reminding me I did actually need to talk to her.

"Right. Um, Harry told me you guys might not be able to come visit. He's been down since then and I was wondering if you and your mom would let me fly you guys out for a week." I asked anxiously. I didn't expect her to accept my offer right away, but I was hoping she would.

"Oh, Maddie, we cannot let you do that. These tickets are very expensive." She declined politely.

"And it would be worth every penny because I know how happy Harry would be if you guys came." I spoke softly, walking up and down the hallway as I bit the inside of my cheek. I added in "you guys wouldn't owe me anything. It can be a very late Christmas gift to you."

I heard a sigh on the other end before a quiet groan. "I hate you." She whined jokingly.

My nervous frown grew into a tiny smile. "I love you guys. Just...talk to your mom and let me know what you decide."

"I would gladly accept this offer. It's my mum we have to persuade." She said, the sound of a door shutting in the background. "I just got to her place so I'll talk to her right now and let you know."

"Okay. Tell her I said hi."

"I will! Bye beautiful!"

"Bye." I smiled to myself as I hung up, feeling more relaxed. Anne would be very hard to persuade, but knowing Gemma, I trust she will convince her mom to come.

I put my phone back in my pocket and walk back to Harry's, two pairs of eyes landing on me once I stepped inside.

"Who was that?" Nick asked cockily, seeing my smile.

"Wrong number." I cleared my throat and wiped the grin off of my face, sitting back down between the two of them.

Harry eyed me weirdly, but ignored my uplifted behaviour.

Around ten minutes later, I receive a text from Gemma, making the grin reappear on my face.

- she's on board :)

• • •