IT WAS RAINING WHEN WE got back to the apartment. Neither one of us thought to bring umbrellas and we were currently contemplating if getting out in this kind of weather was worth it. Were we going to wait it out or run for our lives so we would not get that soaked? The entire backseat of the car was covered with bags—all in which belonged to Olivia—from the multiple stores we had gone into. Out of everything I could have gotten today, I only received a new phone and I was very content with it. It took me quite some time to reprogram all the contacts I had on my old phone but it was worth it. The device sat on my lap and I looked down at it, wondering if Harry was ever going to call after the conversation we had earlier.

"I think we should make a run for it," Olivia muttered. "The rain doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. If we hurry, we won't catch pneumonia and die...not that that's a bad thing. I could be reunited with my dead guinea pig from the third grade. She died on Halloween."

"How refreshing," I said, laughing and shaking my head at her. "And here I thought we would grow old and die together."

She ignored me completely, "We can leave the bags in the car. I'm pretty sure I won't get robbed or anything. Who would want to rob me?"

"Everyone," I mumbled.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to leave them in the car until the rain stops."

"What?" I gasped. "You plan on leaving all of your babies behind? That's known as abandonment and I'm calling DFCS—"

I grunted when she roughly shoved me, causing my shoulder to hit the door. She was lucky I was in a playful mood and did not shove her back. The raindrops continued to splat against the car and I wondered if it was ever going to die down anytime soon. Dark clouds roamed the sky, letting me know Mother Nature was thinking about creating a storm. Unbuckling my seat belt, I leaned forward and continued to listen to the sound of the rain.

I loved the sound of rain falling.

"How much longer?" Olivia asked. "Five minutes? Ten? Forever?"

"Until what?"

She shoved me again but I managed to shove her back before she said, "Until we take our chances and get out in all...that."

I slumped back against the seat and shrugged my shoulders. Honestly, I could have cared less about getting wet from the rain. It was not going to take long for us to dry off, if that was what worried her. My orange hair fell in front of my eyes and I closed them, smiling at the memory of Olivia offering to dye my hair while we were at the store. I immediately took her up on her offer because I was tired of people looking at me, possibly questioning why I looked like a clown who had been cornered in a dark alleyway. I decided to go back to brown and see where things went from there. With Olivia's help; however, my hair was actually going to be the color I wanted.

"Okay," Olivia cracked her knuckles as if she was preparing herself for the third world war. "Let's do this thing, shall we?"

"Are you actually going to run—"

"Hey, is that Harry?"

"—across the parking lot?"

Harry.

Oh.

Wait a second.

I pressed my palm against my forehead and shook my head back and forth. There, sitting out in the rain, was a dark figure I could barely make out. The long hair made it look like Harry but it could have been anyone. Why would Harry be here, though? We were supposed to meet up for coffee but I completely stood him up without much of an explanation.

"Idiot!" Olivia snarled. "He's going to catch pneumonia!"

"I thought you wanted us all to catch it?" I wondered.

She yanked her key out of the ignition and hopped out of the car without hesitation. I was right behind her, struggling to keep my purse on my shoulder as I ran after her. She held her purse tightly at her side and my eyes widened once I realized what her intentions were. The rain soaked our clothes and hair, making us feel much heavier than we actually were. Gravity was not helping our case, either.

The figure looked our way and I stopped dead in my tracks. Even in the cloudy darkness, I was able to see those glaucous eyes of his. He was sitting on the curb with his arms wrapped around himself. Why sit there when he could have waited for us by the apartment door? Was he asking to get sick? His decision angered me because I wanted him to be as healthy as can be.

When he started to stand to his feet, Olivia whacked him with her purse.

"It's called an umbrella, fool!" she shrieked, striking him again with her so called 'weapon.' He shielded his face this time but the amount of crap in Olivia's purse made it hard for him to keep his hands in place. "Who the hell sits outside in the pouring rain? Huh? Only stupid people in movies! That's who! Are you in a movie, Harry? Huh?"

Watching this reminded me of my mother often scolding Jett whenever he did something she never approved of.

Another hit.

I stayed where I was, my breathing quickening with every passing second. Was he here to see me? Of course he was. By the look on his face, he was not here to see Olivia and he was ready to snatch her purse and throw it across the damn parking lot. She was still screaming at him but I had drowned out her voice a long time ago. With Harry's eyes still locked on me, I felt as if we were the only people in the parking lot...as if everyone else had suddenly vanished.

From where I was standing, I knew something was wrong. He placed his hands on Olivia's shoulders and shook her slightly. His lips were moving but I was unable to make out what he was telling her. She stopped hitting him with her purse and stepped off to the side, looking back at me before smiling. My hair stuck to the back of my neck as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Olivia made her way toward the staircase, leaving Harry and I alone.

As much as I wanted to see him, I did not want him to see me.

Not in this condition.

What would he say once he saw my wounds?

Oh, God. What would he do once he saw—

A hand gripped my shoulder and I flinched. Harry was now inches away from me and my heart had not beat this fast in quite some time. His eyebrows were knitted together in confusion as he took in my features, my wounds. I studied him carefully and the skin around his nose was swollen and different shades of purple. My lips parted and I took a small step back. Did he get in a fight with someone?

"Your...Your nose," I choked.

I expected him to point out my wounds or at least tell me to forget about his broken nose. Both of our noses were broken but mine was not as apparent as his. I also noticed he had a hand placed on his stomach as if he was in a lot of pain. It took everything in me not to lift up his shirt and check for anymore wounds. What in the world happened to him and why was he not saying anything about it?

"Harry," I tried again. "I think your nose is—"

"It doesn't hurt." His voice was barely audible over the rain. "I don't feel it anymore." I opened my mouth to press on about the fact that his nose was broken but he shook his head. "Doll, you could rub salt into my wounds and I wouldn't feel it. The pain in my heart overpowers every other feeling in my body. I can't feel anything except for the pain you're causing me and I want nothing more than for it to just stop."

I raised my eyebrows, "I'm causing you pain? What about you causing me pain? Have you ever stopped to think about that? If I'm causing you so much pain, why are you here, then?"

His hand moved from my shoulder to my hand and he sighed, "I can't stay away from you. My heart is in so much pain because it wants to be with yours."

"Now, you know that can't happen." I shook my head and tried to pull my hand away from his. "We're supposed to be friends, remember? Remember when we said we were starting over? This was your idea, after all. I specifically said I didn't want to start over but you insisted—"

He started pulling me out of the rain.

My lips immediately sealed shut as he led me toward the apartment building staircase. He never once looked back at me when he pulled me up them, my short legs struggling to keep up with his much longer ones. It was as if he skipped a couple stairs when in reality, I was moving slower and not really giving a damn about it.

We approached the apartment and Harry opened the door without knocking and pulled me inside. Olivia's voice had been heard out from the hall and I knew she was complaining about getting wet. In Mother Nature's defense, Olivia chose to stand out in the rain when she hit Harry repeatedly with her purse. She did not have to stand out in the rain. I shut the door behind us and pulled my hand out of Harry's grip.

"My hair is going to frizz," she groaned. "Do you know how hard it is for me to brush my hair when it's frizzy?"

"No, I don't know. Better yet, how about you just shave it all off?"

My lips parted at the sound of his voice and I looked at Harry with my hands on my hips. He only shrugged his shoulders and followed the sound of the voices. I was right behind him but kept a small distance between us. Olivia stood in front of the refrigerator with a towel wrapped around her head and Greysen leaned against one of the counters with some string cheese.

What was he doing here?

"Shaving it off won't solve my problems. Hair grows back, you know."

"There's this thing called shaving it again, you know. Or putting Nair in your shampoo."

"If I shave my head, you have to shave yours."

"All right, deal."

"I was kidding!"

"Were you, though? I know you secretly want to be bald."

Harry cleared his throat to get their attention and Olivia looked more than grateful to see us standing there. Greysen tore a bit of his cheese and shoved it in his mouth, chewing slowly and smiling at me at the same time. I had no idea if I was supposed to smile back. A part of me still believed he hated my guts and I did not want to test my luck by smiling back.

"You need to get out of those wet clothes," Olivia said. "Harry, I think Billy left some of his clothes here a while back. You can wear them if you want."

"I'd rather stay soaked."

"They're clean!"

"How would Billy feel if he walked in right now and saw me in his clothes?"

"Oh, shut up. You're one of my closest friends. He'd be glad I saved you from your wet clothes. Come on. I'll show you where they are. Sydney, go change before you get yourself sick. And Greysen," she pointed a finger at him, "stop eating everything you see."

"No promises."

I was the first one to turn around and leave to go get changed. All of this was so awkward and strange to me. I still had no idea why Harry was here, let alone Greysen. Were they here to mess with my mind and remind me of everything I had done?

I moved my wet hair away from my eyes and took a deep breath, locking myself in my room and pressing my back against the door. Forcing myself away from the door, I got out of my wet clothes and changed into some sweatpants and a pajama shirt. I pinned my hair up into a ponytail and covered my feet with some warmer socks.

By the time I made it into the living room, everyone was already settled and comfortable. They were all sitting on the sofa and I frowned slightly when I noticed there was not enough room for me. Olivia changed into some fresh jeans and a shirt that looked like it belonged to Billy. Greysen was completely dry; therefore, he still had on the same clothes. Harry's hair was still wet but it had been pulled back in a bun. Billy's shirt seemed to be a little snug on him and when he stood up, I noticed the jeans looked tight, too.

Holy peas and carrots, Sydney, stop staring.

"You can take my spot," Harry said and made himself comfortable on the floor before I could even argue.

Feeling as if I had no other choice but to sit down beside Greysen, I sat down and placed my hands firmly on my lap. He smelled like a mixture of spearmint and cologne and the scent overwhelmed my nose.

"You're both probably wondering why Harry and I stopped by when the weather is currently shit." Greysen started. "We have an idea and honestly, it's a great one. These past couple of weeks have been hard for us and we need something positive in our lives for once, you know?"

"Oh, no," Olivia gawked, her eyes wide. "You finally bought a puppy."

He lightly flicked her forehead, "Shut up and hear me out. We thought it would be a good idea for us to get away for a bit, spend some time away from all the drama and have some well-deserved relaxation and fun. Harry has a beach house about two hours away from here and we would stay for a couple days. I thought we could all spend some time together, somewhere that's not here."

"I didn't know about this beach house," Olivia quickly turned her head to look at Harry. "Why am I just now hearing about it, 'ol buddy, 'ol pal, 'ol friend of mine?"

"You'd be up there every weekend with Billy and I'm almost certain you wouldn't wash the sheets," Harry responded, causing her to choke on air.

I watched him carefully from where I was sitting. His expression did not give anything away and I also wondered why he never mentioned this beach house before. How was he able to afford a beach house and such a huge house when he only worked at the herb shop? I knitted my eyebrows together in mild confusion as I tried to figure this out. Of course, I had never questioned it before but now? I was curious to know where else Harry was getting his money from.

"I know we don't all get along but I feel like that will change after spending a few days together. So I figured we could all go down to the beach and have a picnic or something. There are some nice restaurants and if everyone is able to go, I can reserve us a table and we can dine like the rich people in the movies and—"

"Greysen?" Olivia nudged him.

"What?" he nudged her back.

"You can't just press your elbow into my ribs like that! I'm not some dude on the street!" she snapped.

I intervened, "It's a good idea, Greysen."

He looked at me with the brightest smile on his face, "Yeah? And there are enough bedrooms for everyone."

"How do you know this?" Olivia asked.

"Oh, I've been to the beach house before."

"What?" she gasped. "Oh, God, I think I'm about to have a stroke. How could you show that boy and not—oxygen...lacking oxygen." She began to fake having a stroke and Greysen once again flicked her forehead.

Harry rolled his eyes from the floor, "I knew him before you, Olivia. Of course he was the first one to find out about the beach house."

"All right, hot billionaire with a secret second life," she threw a pillow at him. "Remember that when I show Sydney something cool and awesome before you."

Greysen continued, "I'm sure everyone will be pleased to find out they can have their own rooms. Although I'm pretty sure the couples would want to share. Hopefully, Amelia can find a babysitter for George because this is an adults only trip. Anyway, this will put your mind at ease for a bit knowing that we're at a place where no one knows who we are and how messed up our lives have been. Maybe we can all relax a bit and stop being so uptight about simple stuff and have some fun!"

"I would go," I said. "I just to know all the details so I can have everything together."

"Yeah," Olivia agreed. "This sounds like it would be one hell of a trip."

"Good," Harry beamed. "Greysen and I are going to text everyone else tonight and see if they're up for it. We can all meet up tomorrow for lunch and discuss the actual details." His eyes met mine and his smile faltered a bit. That gave me health problems. "Sydney, can I talk to you in the kitchen?"

"Oh, um, yeah," I nodded, rising to my feet and leading the way to the kitchen.

Harry grabbed my arm and whirled me around, pulling me close to his chest. My nose practically bumped into his chin and I blinked multiple times in surprise. He wrapped his arms around me and moved his chin to the top of my head, nuzzling it in my hair like the nest it was. My arms were stiff at my sides and I was suddenly concerned. Was I supposed to hug him back? I rolled my eyes at myself. Of course I was.

As soon as I moved my arms to hug him back, though, he stopped hugging me.

Ouch.

"Do you really think this trip is going to help us relax?" I questioned.

He nodded, "Are you thinking otherwise?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I mean, this trip is kind of sudden. Are you sure there isn't anything else going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, your wounds—"

"It's nothing, Sydney," he cut me off. "I never once asked you about your wounds. Why do you continue to ask me about mine?"

"Maybe because I care," I murmured, my lips forming in a pout.

He sighed and pulled me into another hug, "Just because I didn't ask about what happened doesn't mean I don't care. I assumed you didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to force you to say anything you didn't feel comfortable saying."

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

I tilted my head a bit to look at him, "Am I a good person?"

He frowned, "You know what I think about you. What kind of question is that?"

"Okay," I nodded. "Do you like me?"

"No."

"Wait, what?"

"You didn't ask if I love you."

I laughed at my stupidity, "Right. Well, do you love—"

"No."

"Get out. Leave."

It was his turn to laugh and he kissed the tip of my nose, "I'm always going to be here for you, okay? I just want you to know that."

"So, are you sure there isn't anything else going on?"

"No, Sydney," he sighed. "I just want to get away for a while, yeah?"

I nodded my head, laying my head against his chest.

As much as I hated to admit it, a part of me knew he was lying.

And I was going to do everything in my power to find out what he was keeping from me.