Harry's POV:

It's Saturday morning and I wake up when Louis rolls over next to me, tossing one of his arms over my bare chest. I grin to myself, choosing to lie in bed a bit longer instead of getting up and waking him too. I check the time - 10:40 am - and tell myself I'll head downstairs at 11 to make Louis something for breakfast.

I'm excited about today because I've told Louis that I'm going to meet Niall for lunch when in reality I'm waiting till an hour or so after lunchtime to surprise him with some cool things I've got planned for us today.

Louis told me he's headed out sometime today to meet up with Zayn and Liam at a new cafe downtown, so I plan to meet him there secretly and whisk him away for a day of boyfriend thing once Zayn and Liam leave.

Louis stirs next to me and I see his sleepy blue eyes flutter open. He rubs them, adjusting to the light streaming through our windows, and I plant a small kiss on his forehead.

"Morning, Lou Bear," My morning voice is low and gravelly. 

"G'morning, Haz. What time is it?" He yawns, snuggling closer to me underneath the covers.

"Almost eleven. Would you like some pancakes?"

"Mmm,  I like pancakes, but stay here for a bit longer with me. Five more minutes," He murmurs and tightens the grip of his arm around my chest. I nuzzle my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in his familiar scent. He smells like home.

"Of course. When'd you say you're leaving to meet Zayn and Liam?"

"What? Oh- yeah, 'round noon. I'll eat breakfast with you, and then I've got to head out. I should only be there for an hour or two, though," Louis closes his eyes again, tiredness present in his voice. "What are you doing today, babe?" 

Getting ready to surprise you. "Not too much, just meeting up with Niall like I told you and then hanging out around the house some when I get back."

"Tell Niall I say hello,"

"Tell Zayn and Liam I say hi too,"

Louis gives me a small smile, his soft breaths fanning out over my bare chest, giving me butterflies. Although to be fair, Louis and his existence alone gives me butterflies and everything else at this point just feels like a bonus.

✰ ✰ ✰ 

Louis' POV:

Harry and I finish breakfast - he made these amazing blueberry pancakes with brown butter he knows I like along with some breakfast sausages - and I go to get ready to head out.

There's definitely a nervous feeling bubbling up in the pit of my stomach. After Ringo texted me back at the club a few days back, I didn't respond for a solid two days until I made up my mind and agreed to meet him this morning.

It's not that I necessarily look forward to seeing him (because I don't - especially because of our history) but he said he's gone to therapy and rehab and that he's a 'new man'. My plan is to go into this with an open mind and give him the benefit of the doubt.

The only real reason why I'm meeting up with him at this new cafe is to give him a second chance; a chance to explain himself and his actions and to apologize for the things he's done. This feels similar to the time I met up with my mom that single time after she kicked me out of the house when I was still a kid. I met with her to give her a chance to apologize, but unfortunately, she hadn't changed at all. 

Hopefully this time it'll go better when I meet up with him.

My Aunt Jay always told me if I ever want people to give me a second chance if and when I mess up, I need to be willing to give that to others just the same.

So here I am, slipping on my shoes to head out to this new cafe where Ringo is surely waiting already (he's always been the type of person to be 15 minutes early to everything he does and everywhere he goes).

Harry knows I'm headed out, but I told him I was meeting Zayn and Liam, not Ringo. I just don't want him to be worried or anything about the whole situation. Ordinarily, I would've brought him with me if I was meeting up with any other friends so they could meet him, but today feels like a long-overdue conversation that's honestly just something to be discussed between Ringo and me.

"I'm headed out, Haz." I give Harry a loving kiss as I get my keys out of my coat pocket. "Have a wonderful time with Niall!"

"I will, thanks! See you soon, yeah?"

"Of course. I promise I'll be back home in a few hours if that. I thought about cooking us that chicken dish you liked tonight too since I picked up the ingredients a few days ago at the store."

He grins, remembering the entree we split at the fancy restaurant together. "I can't wait! Well, I don't want to keep you and make you late, babe." He says as he checks the time.

I give him another quick kiss before I'm out the door and headed to the cafe. I've never gone to this one before, but I'm secretly thankful Ringo didn't ask to meet me at the Beechwood Cafe. Jen surely would've had some things to say about the whole situation if she saw me with him, and I'd rather not have to justify my reasons for meeting him if I don't have to.

15 minutes later, I find a parking spot in the street and head inside. It's a small cafe but nicely furnished, with dim lighting and good natural light seeping through the windows. Soft music playing in the background through some speakers, and I can't help but notice that Harry's a much better singer than whoever they're streaming right now.

I look around the tables, many of which are preoccupied, and my eyes land on Ringo. He waves me over when he spots me. I almost didn't recognize him, for he's wearing a much more coordinated outfit, different than the random shirts and joggers he always used to wear. Not to mention he's shaved off the beard he used to have and grown out his hair a bit. He looks nice, and it's not as unsettling as I expected it to be to see him again.

"Hi, Louis. Thanks for meeting me," He says when I sit down and hang my coat over the back of my chair. 

He's got two coffees on the table for us already and offers me one. I'm surprised he remembers how I like my coffee and take a sip. It's exactly how I would've ordered it, but I don't tell him that. 

"Hi, Ricky." I look at him expectedly, waiting for him to speak.

"I just wanted to start off by saying I'm sorry. Nothing I say can and will never change what I did and how I treated you in the past when we were together, but I'd like to at least try to explain myself and see if there's anything I can do to make things moderately better."

"I'm with someone now, and I'm happy. I've moved on." I say curtly, before reminding myself that I'm supposed to come into this with an open mind, and I drop my resting bitch face.

"I'm happy for you, Louis, I really am. You and I both know you deserve so much and I couldn't give you that before, and I definitely didn't help the whole situation. Since we broke up, or whatever you call it, I found myself sleeping around and randomly hooking up along with doing drugs on a regular basis at first. When my one friend, Sheila, found out about it all she encouraged me to go to rehab and therapy and after a month or two of persuading I agreed."

"That's good to hear, I hope it helped. Truly," I probably sound sarcastic but I'm genuine and I hope he knows that. He's always been better at opening up about shit than I have.

"So I checked into rehab and was in it for months. I think once I was there, the things I did to you in our relationship sank in after talking to other people in similar situations. I'm sober now and have been for almost a year and a half. But no matter how much therapy and rehab I go through, I know I'll never be able to undo my actions within our relationship. So I guess I asked to meet you here just to talk about it face to face, and to apologize for everything because it was so fucked up and none of it was your fault," His eyes look sorrowful and the raw sincerity in his voice is unmissable. 

I know he means it, and in a weird way, it's comforting that he's giving me a real apology.

"If I could take it all back I would, because I can't begin to imagine the emotional or physical damage I've caused you when I took advantage of you," He looks down at his hands, breaking eye contact and I can see his eyes becoming watery. I wipe away my own tears that I didn't even know were pooling in my eyes with my sleeve.

"I'd just like to know if there's anything I can do to make this all up to you. If you wish for me to never speak to you again, I have no opposition to that and you can consider me gone already. I'd love to at least get on speaking terms, or whatever the terms are that you don't downright hate me anymore. But honestly, I at least wanted to say all of that and apologize while I had the chance."

I look at him and he looks back up at me, fat tears rolling down his face. We sit in silence for a few minutes while I weigh my options and consider what I do and don't want. 

I finally clear my throat and speak. "I don't dislike you as much as I used to, especially when we split. Despite all this shit, I honestly appreciate you at least coming to talk to me about it and apologize about it, because you could've just as easily not done this and left me with a lack of clarity about whatever we were. I feel like that alone speaks for itself,"

"It's the least I could do, and please tell me if there's anything more I can do. I'm a better person now, or at least I'd like to think so, and just let me know what you'd like to do next,"

I take a sip of my coffee, which is only lukewarm at this point. "I want to move on. I want to move past this since we've had this conversation now. I mean, it happened years ago and you've become a better person it seems, and I'm now in a wonderful relationship with my boyfriend, Harry. So I think it'd be healthy for us both to put this behind us while acknowledging we can't change the past,"

"Can we have a fresh start?" He nearly whispers, his voice quiet as if he's scared to ask the question out loud.

I nod, a small smile on my face. This whole conversation didn't feel unnatural or forced and in the end, I feel like a big weight has just been lifted off of my shoulders by agreeing to put it behind us. "But no more bullshit,"

"None, I promise." He says without hesitation. We both take a deep breath, feeling a bit better about everything.

"So, tell me about Harry," Ringo prompts, sipping his coffee with a small smile, "How's everything going?"

"It's going really well, thanks! I moved out of my flat and I live with him now, and we've been together for three or four months now if I'm counting right. No offense, but it's definitely the best relationship I've ever been in,"

"None taken. I'm so happy you've found someone!" He grins, his facial expressions free of all negativity or bitterness at the mention of Harry.

"How about you, is there anyone new in your life?"

"Yeah, actually. I met a really nice guy named Jacob back at therapy. We both had drug addictions so we ended up being in a lot of sessions together since the facility had group counseling and stuff. We bonded during that and got sober together, and I think after therapy neither one of us wanted to leave the other since we became so close, and the rest is history. We've been together for a little over a year now, and I plan to propose soon."

"Oh my god, you're going to propose? That's so exciting, congratulations!"

Ringo blushes. "Thanks, Lou. I just hope he says yes."

"I'm sure he will," I promise him (not that I actually know if Jacob will or not but there's no reason to be pessimistic), "I wish you two the best."

"Same with you and Harry. Do you think he's your person?"

"I do, I really do. I mean it's still kinda early in our relationship compared to you guys but everything is going splendidly well. I can't imagine anything going wrong at this point, he's absolutely perfect."

We continue to talk for another hour or so, and I find the conversation flowing quite nicely and naturally. We share some laughs and I kind of hate to admit it, but it's nice to talk to him especially now that we've both moved on and know there's no secret motif to get laid or anything behind our small talk. 

✰ ✰ ✰

Harry's POV:

Everything is not okay.

I got to the cafe a few minutes or so ago and walked up to enter the front door when I spotted Louis and Ringo smiling and laughing at one of the tables. When I tell you I fucking stopped and stared at the two of them, my jaw hanging open in disbelief.

It's not just that Louis met up with his ex, the one who literally fucked him when he was drunk, but also the fact that he lied to me about it. Zayn and Liam are nowhere to be found and it's fair to assume that Louis made the whole thing up when he planned to meet with Ringo all along.

All the excitement for today's plans rushes out of my body, and it's replaced with upset and hurt feelings. I don't know why Louis is here with Ringo, let alone why he lied to me about it. I can't help but conclude that somehow I'm not good enough for him or that he's been seeing his ex behind my back.

Am I really that awful of a boyfriend that he's falling back onto his ex as a Plan B?

I abruptly turn on my heel without even going inside the cafe, sudden tears clouding my vision as I quickly make my way back to my car. I slam the door aggressively as I get inside, running multiple stop signs as I drive home. The police could give me a fucking ticket and I couldn't care less right now.

I can't even begin to imagine how long this has been going on, let alone what would've happened if I decided not to try to surprise him. For fucks sake, this could've been going on for months. After all, Louis said they were the fuck-buddy type so maybe Louis keeps seeing him for a good fuck. 

But shit, what do I know? Clearly, I didn't know about this, and I bet there are tons more things he's kept from me. When I gasp for air after running my third stop sign, I realize that I've been holding my breath for a while now, too afraid to breathe in the case that I start crying.

But it's too late for that, as tears begin to stream down my face. I don't care if I'm being dramatic right now because I don't see any reason why I can't be upset; my boyfriend is seeing his ex behind my back and I'm here assuming everything is fine in our relationship when it clearly isn't.

My heart feels like it's been ripped from me and forced through a fucking paper-shredder and I can't shake the sight of them in the cafe, laughing and joking with one another as if they were closer than ever. Which with my luck, I bet they are now. I might as well leave if I'm the one coming between them because who the fuck needs a middle man.

What the fuck is love, anyway? Because, apparently, I don't know.

***

jealous harry jealous harry jealous harry

What do you thinks going to happen next (i know but I'm not telling you hahahaha), and do you think its fair of Harry to be this upset? 

Also, how does everyone feel about Ringo's apology? Was it enough and does he seem like a genuinely better person now or...

Thoughts or comments?

VOTE if you want everything to be okay between Louis and Harry <3