Girlfriend?!

"Oh wow! Well it's lovely to meet you! You must be something special." Liam said. "Harry hasn't even looked at the female species since Danielle."

I stood there still in shock from Harry, a tight lipped smile on my face as I nodded slightly. Harry cleared his throat, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Come on then, there's a game on right now." Louis shouted rushing to the living room, everyone following after him. I followed behind as they all sprawled themselves on the couches.

The guys were quick to get comfortable and they instantly started to chat amongst themselves. I could tell that they were close, practically family by the way they settled in with no regards to Harry.

"Uhhh can I get you guys anything to drink?" I stood by the doorway. They all answered back with short answers and I pinched Harry's arm.

"Harry, love. Would you care to help me?" I smiled at him, widening my eyes to him to let him know he didn't have a choice. He pursed his lips, already knowing that I'm about to chew him out.

"Of course love." He smiled and followed me to the kitchen.

"What in the fuck is wrong with you?!" I whisper shouted at him once we were out of sight and out of ear range from the other guys.

"Look I'm sorry, it just slipped out!" He whisper shouted back. My eyes widened and I shook my head.

"How do you just slip it out? We haven't even discussed this and you're blurting out that I'm your girlfriend? That doesn't just slip out, Harry!" I tried my best to keep my voice down so the guys couldn't hear. I was frantic.

"If you're not my girlfriend then what are you? What are we?!" He looked offended.

"Harry we literally said we would talk about this and figure it out. In case you haven't noticed, we haven't really had the chance to talk yet." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Look, Ana. They're just my friends. What's the harm in telling them you're my girlfriend while we figure things out okay?" Harry walked towards me and grabbed my hands in his own. "Because trust me. I do want you to be my girlfriend." He said, staring straight into my eyes.

"You do?" I raised my eyebrow at him, tugging my lip in between my teeth slightly.

"I really do." He said softly. A smile broke on my face.

"Harry I would love nothing more than to be your girlfriend." I grinned. Harry's face lit up at my words and his arms instantly wrapped around me and he lifted me up and spun me around.

"But.. This is still something we should've talked about beforehand. We still need to talk about this later." I said pointing my finger at him as he put me back down on to the ground. He stuck out his pinky for me to latch onto.

"Deal." He grinned, pressing his lips against mine softly before opening the fridge to grab the drinks the guys requested. I quickly threw together some sandwiches and snacks they could eat and put it on a tray.

The guys seemed to be too engrossed in the game playing on the screen so hopefully they didn't notice how long we took to get their drinks. I'm not much of a soccer/football fan so I let them watch and I decided it would be great to look for classes to register for in the fall, since it's coming a lot sooner than I anticipated.

To say I was nervous for school to start was an understatement. I always had a hard time balancing school and work, but hopefully I'll be able to do better now that I have more down time.

"Love, you're not going to join us?" Harry asked as I walked away to go to my room.

"No I'm good, I've gotta register for classes. But you guys have fun! I'll order us a pizza later." I smiled at them and made my way to my room.

"Classes?" Liam asked once Anastasia was out of sight. I sighed and rolled my eyes, knowing this would be an issue. I could practically feel the judgement crawling out of his throat

"Yes, classes." I muttered shortly, keeping my eyes fixed to the screen.

"Like college classes?" He repeated.

"Yes, Liam. Is there an issue?" I glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Good for her, getting her masters?" He questioned, my blood was beginning to boil.

"Undergrad." I said, clipped.

"Harry how old is she?" Liam pushed. There it is. I sat up straight and stared at him.

"She's 21. Again, is there an issue here?" I questioned. The other lads sat awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"21? Fuck's sake Harry." Liam muttered. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.

I was getting more and more frustrated with every passing second.

"I'm an adult. She's an adult. We're both consenting adults." I glared at him, not liking where this conversation was heading.

"Liam.." Niall said, trying to stop him from escalating the situation.

"No, Niall. Let him say what he wants to say." I folded my arms. "I'm going to ask one more time. Is there an issue?"

"Look Harry, I'm just saying. This is your first relationship since Danielle, are you sure this is the right girl to do that with? She's barely an adult." Liam said raising his hands up in defense.

Logically, I know that Liam is only concerned because he cares. And as my best mates, they have their right to be concerned and I value their opinions deeply. That doesn't give them a right to jump to conclusions or judge me or Anastasia without even knowing the depth of everything.

"You don't know anything about her. Yes, she is the first girl I've been interested in since Danielle, doesn't that say enough?" I raised my voice slightly. "Do you think my judgement is poor now or something? I've never been one to fall in love easily or quickly. Anastasia is the first girl that's made my heart feel anything since Danielle died. That should speak a thousand words in itself." I shook my head.

"Besides, you guys are the ones that are constantly pounding me to move on and find another woman, now that I've finally done it, it's a problem?" I was beyond annoyed at this point. "I get a girlfriend and expect you guys to finally hop off my back and be happy for me! And she's not good enough for you?" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air.

"Harry." Louis nudged me, his head nodded off behind me. I winced when I heard a small cough from the corner of the room and I froze, knowing exactly who it was. I turned my head to see Anastasia standing in the entryway to the living room, laptop in hand and a hurt look on her face.

"Anastasia.." I stood up and took a step towards her but as soon as I did she turned back around and ran back to her room. I let out a sigh and turned to face Liam. Whatever bit of calmness I had left in me was now completely gone.

"Great." I muttered. "I think it's best if yous leave." I pointed towards the front of the house.

"Harry, mate calm down." Liam stood up from the couch.

"I said leave! You guys come to my home uninvited and that's fine. That's not the issue." I spat. "Liam you don't get to disrespect me or Anastasia. I appreciate your concern mate, but that was out of line." I shook my head disapprovingly at him.

"Anastasia is great, she's amazing in fact. I wouldn't even consider being with her if I didn't think that. I get it. I get that she's much younger than me, I get why you're concerned. But I've already beat myself thinking of everything. I don't care if she's younger. I don't care if she's still in college. She's amazing, and caring, and she loves the kids so much. The kids love her, they can't get enough of her. Frankly, I can't either." I said. "I really hope you can be happy for me."

Louis and Niall stood from their spot on the couch.

"We better get out of here, mate." Niall patted Liam on the back, pushing him towards the door.

"I'll talk to you later, alright mate?" Louis whispered to me and I nodded my head. "For the record.. I am happy for you. I haven't seen you smile like that in months." He gave me a smile.

I walked behind them they headed out the house without another word. As soon as they were out I ran to Anastasia's room.

"Anastasia, please let me in." I knocked on her door softly, she didn't say anything and I let out a sigh. I tried the doorknob but of course, it was locked. "Please let me in so we can talk.. Anastasia." Great, we're not even an hour into this relationship and there's already a conflict.

Finally I heard the door unlock and heard her feet pad away from the door, I slowly opened the door and saw Ana laying in her bed, the covers over her head. I walked over and lifted the covers, she instantly turned around to face away from me.

I sat down on the bed and rubbed her shoulder. She tried to hide it, but I felt her lean into my touch.

"Baby, please talk to me." I said softly. I heard her sigh before she sat up propping herself up on her elbows.

"What was that?" She asked softly, hurt was still written across her face.

"Liam was just being.. Liam." I said, trying to explain what just happened. I see why Liam would be concerned, he just wants to watch out for me. But I'm grown and can handle myself.

"He doesn't like me." Anastasia stated, I instantly shook my head and grabbed her hand.

"No, I didn't say that. He's just protective. He was just concerned. But I'm an adult, and you are good for me." I pleaded to her. "That's just how he is, he's a good guy I promise. It just caught him a bit off guard about our age gap."

"What you said.. They pressured you a lot to get into another relationship.." Her voice was so soft, almost hard to hear. But I shook my head, I knew what she was going to say. I don't blame her, the way I phrased my comment earlier with the guys, it sounded bad. I instantly regretted it as soon as it left my mouth.

"Are you only dating me to get them to shut up?" She finally locked eyes with me and my heart melted with how hurt and sad her eyes were. "Is that why you jumped in to say I was your girlfriend earlier?"

"Anastasia no. Absolutely not." I said sternly. "You mean so much to me. Nobody pressured me into having feelings you. That came all on it's on, so naturally, and so easily. What we have, I could never force that or fake it." I placed my hand on her cheek, caressing it softly.

"Don't ever think that what we have here isn't real, okay?" I said softly to her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Liam and I'm sorry for making you think I'm only in this to get them off my back. I'm in this for you, I'm in this for me. I want us to work and I want us to be happy."

She slowly nodded her head, but she still looked bothered.

"What's on your mind?" I asked scooting closer to her. She just shrugged and fell back onto the bed with a huff, I scooted my arm under her and pulled her to my chest laying down next to her. I wanted to give her comfort and ease whatever worries she might still have.

"What if we're not good for each other?" She asked quietly.

"Why would you say that?" I frowned at her.

"I don't know, we're so different." She shrugged again, not confident in her words or her voice.

"It's scary." I admitted. "This is something new for the both of us. I guess there's really no way of knowing if we're good or not until we try." I combed my finger through her hair. "But I can feel it." I smiled, pressing a small kiss to her forehead. "We're good for each other."

We laid there in silence for a while longer, my hand continued to comb through her hair in a way to soothe her. It was comforting to be able to lay here with her peacefully, even with the events with Liam, we felt right.

"Stay with me tonight?" Her voice broke the silence. I smiled at her request and pulled her even closer to my body.

"Always."