"You need to leave," comes out of my mouth before I even have a chance to think. I see Harry standing before me when I thought it was going to be someone new. A stranger who really isn't a stranger at all. A person I confide in with all of my secrets. But when I turned around, I saw Harry, of all people. And of course the first thing that comes out of my mouth, is something rude. Which is well, rude of me, considering what happened last night and he hasn't got a damn clue as to why I'm actually standing on this hill right now watching the sun set.

But apparently I'm annoyed to see Harry standing here and not Boy_Undiscovered. I'm not sure if I am more annoyed with myself for not thinking of a better place to meet this guy or if I'm actually annoyed with Harry for being here, probably about to ruin everything with Boy_Undiscovered, which who knows now, if it could have been perfect. Because he will probably show up before Harry actually leaves. Because Harry is Harry and he is damn stubborn.

This is already not going so well.

"What are you even doing here anyways?" I ask next. I really need to learn to be nicer when I'm freaking out inside my head. I can't help it. I'm so damn nervous right now, wondering how this meeting is going to go and I don't want Harry to be here messing with my thoughts.

"I came to meet you," Harry answers, a small smile appearing on his face. "Why else would I be here?"

"Well I didn't ask you to meet me here tonight," I say, running my hands through my hair as I start to pace. My head turns to look down the hill to The Clearing to see if I can see anyone else looming around. Not surprisingly, there's no one, just as always.

Looking down at my cell phone, I see that Boy_Undiscovered is now a few minutes late. Maybe he isn't coming? Or he got lost? Maybe I should message him to see if he is? This place isn't exactly the easiest place to find. Why did I tell him to meet me here? Right. I was mad at Harry at the time. I wasn't thinking clearly.

I'm an idiot.

"Since when do I need an invite to meet you here?" he asks. "Not once that we've been on this hill together, have I ever had an invitation. What's so different about right now?" I fumble all the letters in an attempt to message Boy_Undiscovered, but with shaky hands and Harry standing in front of me, I know I won't be able to concentrate hard enough to send him a coherent sentence. Pressing down on the backspace, I decide that if he isn't here by the time Harry leaves, I will message him then. "Why do you want me to leave so bad? You didn't want me to leave last night."

My eyes shoot up to meet Harry's gaze, my eyebrows more than halfway up my forehead, slightly in shock at his words. Although I don't know why I'm shocked. That's exactly something he would say. "You just can't be here right now," I finally answer. "I don't know why that's so hard for you to comprehend."

"Look, last night was amazing, Jayde," he says, taking a step closer to me, ignoring all I just said to him. "And I know you think so too."

"I—"

"It was proof that we're supposed to be together," he interrupts. 

"Harry—"

"I want to be with you, Jayde," he continues. "And I know there's a part of you that still wants to be with me. I know there is."

"Would you please listen—"

He grabs a hold of my hands and pulls me closer to him, his eyes flicking back and forth between mine. I've lost all train of thought with his closeness, my heart beat picking up the pace once again. "You are the combination of everything I've been looking for, everything I've always wanted. You're the girl that will get dirty with me in more ways than one. You are equally as beautiful to me dressed up in a pretty dress or walking around in a t-shirt and unshowered. You push my buttons in all the right ways that drive me crazier than ever. You push me to do better, Jayde. To write better songs, to be a better person. You are my inspiration. You are stronger than anyone I know. The girl who walks through fire and still comes out smiling. You make me feel ways I never thought possible. You give me hope, that passion exists. Because it lives in us when we're together. I need you, Jayde. I need you to keep going. You're everything all rolled into one."

Suddenly I'm speechless. Never have I heard such words come out of someone's mouth about me. I knew how he felt about me, but to have so many reasons seems to baffle me. He loves my flaws just as much as anything else. Just like Boy_Undiscovered.

Shit. Boy_Undiscovered. I start to panic as I come back to reality, taking my hands out of Harry's and looking around. Is he here yet? The trees cast shadows through The Clearing from the sinking sun, the rest of the world shining a bright reddish orange. But no sign of someone else's presence anywhere.

There's slight relief that he didn't see this scene unfold before him and uncertainty that he isn't here yet. Is he actually going to show up? Because in reality, it wouldn't surprise me if he blew me off and everything between us was a lie. But if he didn't, would that justify everything between me and Harry? Would that make me believe everything Harry just said? That we should be together? After all, I did say that maybe after meeting Boy_Undiscovered, I'd have some answers.

"I need to tell you something," he says, breaking the silence. His finger grazes the skin on my cheek, tucking my hair behind my ear. "Something no one other than my parents know."

I gulp, unsure of just about everything right now. Sure, he knows just about all of my secrets, I deserve to know something he's never shared before, but why right now? Of all moments? I can't seem to tear my eyes from his, waiting for him to pour out even more of himself to me.

"I have been so ashamed of where I come from," he starts, grabbing my hands again. "And I know that I could have told you sooner, because you were living and experiencing the same things I did, when we were together. I should have told you so you didn't feel so alone."

"What?" My eyes widen trying to figure out exactly what he means. I hope he doesn't mean what I think he means.

"My Dad," he answers. "I mean, my real dad. He treated my mom like shit, exactly like your dad with your mom. And one night he beat me to a pulp. It left me in the hospital and it opened my mom's eyes. That's why we moved. That's why we live so far away from him. I have understood everything you've been through, Jayde. And I should have shared this with you sooner, but I was still so ashamed, and I'm so sorry I couldn't man up and tell you. I have no excuse."

"So, why tell me now?" I ask. It pains me to see the hurt in his eyes, and as much as it would have been helpful to me to know this part of him prior to this moment, I understand why he wouldn't want to share these details with me, or anyone, no matter how good it would have felt to know he understood.

"Because I want you to know me," he says. "I want you to know all of me. I trust you and I want you to see that even the hard things, I want to share with you. And I want you to know that without even knowing it, you have gotten me through so much."

I don't dare interrupt anything he is saying. My eyebrows rise and I keep eye contact as I wait for him to continue. He's always helped me through everything, whether it was giving me an escape or just being there, but how have I helped him?

"My father has been trying to talk to me," he explains. "He's been wanting to make things right with me for a while now and I've been ignoring him. Every time he called me, you were there to make the reminder of him go away, and I needed that so much. He made me so angry and I wanted nothing to do with him. I hated that I was related to someone as lousy as him. But you were always there to make me feel better. You always made me realize that I was so much more than a son to a man as awful as him."

"I had no idea," I whisper. "I wish you had told me."

I feel for this boy standing before me. Never in my life could I imagine him living something as dreadful as I have. He has seen the trials and tribulations of an unfortunate life the same way I was forced to, and I wouldn't wish for even my worst enemy to live that way.

It suddenly makes sense why Anne took me in as quickly as she did. She could see the truth from miles away without me even having to say a thing and it made her love me for it all. I want to cry for these two individuals who have taken care of me during a time they knew I needed them because they understood completely what I was going through.

How could someone put them through that? How could someone even lay a finger on them? They are the sweetest, most kind, loving people I have ever met in my life. And the thought of this man, Harry's father, hurting the woman who stepped up to be a mother figure to me....How? Why?

And to Harry....?

"I finally talked to him," Harry says, interrupting my horrific thoughts. "I decided that it might be good to see him."

"What?"

"I realized this," he continues. "I know it's not something that I will forget. The mind doesn't work that way when someone hurts you. And I only understood this, because I have been begging you to forgive me. Something just click inside of me, Jayde. If I can't forgive my dad for hurting me, how the hell could I even think for a second you'd forgive me?"

"You forgive him?" I ask, raising my voice. Learning all of this has just angered me and I can't understand why he'd want to give this monster a second chance. "He ruined your life, Harry! How could you forgive someone for that?"

"He didn't ruin my life, Jayde," he raises his voice to equal mine. "This happening to us, brought me here. It brought me to you. Everything happens for a reason, you know that just as much as I do. I'd let it happen again, if it meant I'd get to start all over with you every time."

"You can't be serious?" I ask, bewildered.

"I can't expect you to forgive me for hurting you, if I can't forgive my dad for what he did," he says again. "Forgiveness, I understand, just takes time. I don't expect you to forget because I know that's not how it works, but I know that if I can forgive him for everything, you will eventually learn to trust me again and forgive me. Unlike my father, I know what I did was wrong. I knew it much sooner than he ever did. He never fought for us when we left, but I have been fighting for you, and if I have to, I will make it my life's mission to make you see how sorry I am. Because I love you, Jayde. I have always loved you."

I can't fathom a single thought coursing through me at this moment. I'm upset about how his father treated him and Anne. I think it's absurd he would forgive him because I can't imagine even taking the time to ever see my dad again, forget ever forgiving him. It's just never going to happen. I don't know how he somehow made me feel on top of the world with just his words, but somehow he's gotten me feel like a ball of mush and I want to fall into his arms and have him never let me go.

Once again, I'm speechless. Confused and unsure. And now is not the time for any of this. Looking down at my phone as I take it out of my pocket, I see that Boy_Undiscovered is now twenty minutes late and I can feel it in the pit of my stomach, that somehow I have fallen for someone's lies.

He isn't coming.

"Are you going to say something?" Harry asks, making me look back up at him. "Please say something. I just gave you so much, poured my heart out to you—" His eyes drop as if his confidence just broke and I wish he would have picked another time for this to happen. Any other time would have been better than a night I am supposed to be meeting someone else.

All of this is just a big mess and I haven't got a clue as to how I got here and why it worked out to be this way. I don't know what to say because I know he is wanting to hear something—anything come out of my mouth and I feel all stressed out.

"I don't know what to say, Harry," I finally say, seeing a worry in his eyes. "I'm still confused about things, still hurt and I would give anything to turn back time and have everything just the way it was with you. I miss you. And you're right, forgiving you won't be something that happens over night. There's still a big part of me that loves you—" I hear something in the trees behind me, making me turn to see if Boy_Undiscovered is there. Even more panic starts to set in despite not seeing anyone. "But I can't do this right now."

I turn back around to see Harry already staring at me. "Why not?" he asks quickly.

"I need you to leave right now. We can do this another time," I huff. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone here tonight." I don't dare look at him with my admittance. I'm not sure how I feel about expressing the truth. But he does need to leave.

"Boy Undiscovered?" he asks, making my eyes shoot up to his. What? "That's who you're meeting, isn't it?"

A/N: So, this is going to be the last chapter for a while, and I'm so sorry that I will have to make you wait again. My daughter, who will be 8 on Friday, and I are going on vacation for 10 days to Vancouver, BC for 10 days, in a week. I have such a busy schedule this week because it's her birthday and I need to pack and work almost every day. Hope you understand and will, once again be patient with me. I promise this story will be written when I get back!

Thanks so much for 20.9K Reads!

Much love,
amberlove

xo