But in the end, they all drift away. // Even the ones who promised to stay.

It was a Saturday evening when you were standing in front of your closet, trying to pick an outfit for the party your friends had invited you to. Summer had just begun and Uni wouldn't start again until a few weeks later. You weren't one to go out that often, but Jack really wanted to go and all of your friends would be there. Pulling out a pair of black skinny jeans and a red top, you decided that it should do great for the night.

While you were putting your make-up on, your doorbell rang and only a few seconds later you heard your mum greeting your boyfriend. They liked each other, he was being nice to you. He was the one who ended up fixing some pieces of you that Tom had broken which went a long way with your parents. You never told them why the two of you stopped being friends - mostly because you still had no idea why it happened.

Tom never said another word to you, but you knew he was living his life to the fullest. Partying with Harrison and his brothers, hooking up with different girls every week and failing his exams were the three things he did in his life. Your parents were still close friends with the Hollands and you talked a lot to Tom's brothers, but you usually avoided talking to any of them when Tom was around. You never went over for family dinners at their place and Tom never came over when your parents were hosting the dinners.

It was still painful seeing him even after all this time. Your heart still hurt every time you saw him get into his car, play basketball in front of the house and especially when you saw him bring home different girls all the time. You wanted him to wrap his arms around you and tell you that it was all a bad dream. You wanted everything to go back to like it used to be - just the two of you.

"(Y/N)! Stop it!" Tom laughed as you started another tickle fight. The two of you were chilling on the Holland's couch, Harry and Sam sitting opposite of you.

"Don't touch me!" You laughed as Tom was now pinning you to the couch, tickling your sides.

"You started this, Darling."

"You're so full of shit!" You grinned as you pushed him off you.

"It hurts me to say this, but Tom's right, you started this." Harry laughed as he watched the two of you play around like 5 year-olds.

"Are you trying to get on my bad side?" You shot Harry a look that made him raise his hands in defense.

"Stop threatening my brother! You scared him, look, now he's running away from you." Tom laughed as he threw himself back on top of you, pulling you closer and resting his face in the crook of your neck.

"Get off me!" You laughed as his breath tickled the soft skin in your neck.

"You're too comfy. And you smell like flowers and cookies."

"Cookies?" You couldn't help yourself but burst out laughing.

"Just fucking date already, you're both annoying as fuck." Sam shook his head as he got up and walked towards the kitchen, leaving the two of you behind with a light blush on both of your faces.

Tom was also getting ready for the night. Harrison had convinced him to go to a party to meet up with some old friends. Looking out the window he saw you pulling out your outfit for the night, wondering if you would be at the same party as him and if he should ditch Harrison and not go. You weren't exactly someone he wanted to run into at a party. He usually managed to stay out of your way since the parties he went to weren't really your scene, but he also knew that a lot of your new friends were going to be there, including your boyfriend. Speaking of your boyfriend, when Tom saw you greet Jack with a soft kiss, he closed his curtains and finished getting ready.

The music was already blasting through your ears when Jack pulled up in front of the house. Jack had volunteered to be the driver for the evening so you thought to yourself that you might as well grab a few drinks to enjoy the party at least a little bit.

Somehow you ended up losing Jack in the crowd which led to you being dragged into a beer pong game by your friend Mia. Mia was a party girl through and through, so you found yourself having more and more fun the later it got - and the more intoxicated you got.

A little while later you were mixing yourself a new drink when no other than Tom Holland's best friend Harrison Osterfield walked through the door, his lips forming a smile when he saw you. The two of you still talked here and there but you didn't know if Tom knew that you did. Seeing Harrison, you were one hundred percent sure that Tom would be showing up as well - and you didn't know if you were ready for it.

"Ayyy (Y/N)! I haven't seen you in ages!" Harrison greeted you with a tight hug.

"Harrison! How are you? How's life?"

"Ah, you know me, I'm always living life to the fullest." The blonde boy laughed, leaning on the kitchen counter next to you. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, Jack wanted to come but I somehow lost him in the crowd and now I've played like two rounds of beer pong and there's a hell of a party going on in my head right now." You grinned.

"Oi, beer pong! We have to play a round as a team! I remember that the two of us never lost a game when we played against Tom and Harry." There it was. The name that still sucked the air out of your lungs. The name that cut through your chest like a knife.

"Y-yeah... umm, is Tom here?"

"Yeah, he is... shit I'm sorry, I forgot." Harrison put his hand on your shoulder when he saw you tensing at the mention of Tom.

"It's all good, promise. It's been like what? Three years? I've moved on." You tried to laugh it off, when you saw him standing the door frame - looking at you and Harrison for a split second before turning around and walking away.

"So about that beer pong?" You smiled at the blonde who was immediately hyped to play a round with you. You wanted to get his face out of your brain, the sound of his name out of your ears and the hurt he still caused you out of your chest.

After winning your game, you asked Harrison to help you find Jack since you wanted to go home, it was getting late and the alcohol made you even more tired. The two of your made your way through the house, not finding a trace of Jack. Walking out in the garden you saw him sitting next to a few of your friends with a beer in his hands.

"Oh you have got to be shitting me." You groaned and excused yourself from Harrison to talk to your boyfriend.

"Babyyyy." He got up from his seat and you could see that he was clearly drunk off his ass since he had a hard time standing straight.

"Uh, so when did you start drinking?" You asked, your annoyance showing in your voice.

"I couldn't find you so I was bored and started drinking." He shrugged his shoulders like it wasn't a big deal.

"You're supposed to drive us home."

"I can still drive." Jack giggled making you roll your eyes.

"Are you kidding me? You're not driving anywhere, give me your damn car keys, I don't want you getting in a car in your condition." You held open your hand for him to drop his car keys in. If there was one thing you hated, it was people drunk driving.

"You're being so damn boring."

"Excuse me? I'm being boring because I don't want you to drive when you're drunk? Are you listening to yourself?" You raised your eyebrow.

"I could still drive."

"Of fucking course you could. You can't even stand straight." You laughed. "I swear, Jack, if you get into a car tonight- "

"-you're one to talk, looked like you enjoyed yourself getting drunk with Harrison over there."

"First of all, leave Harrison out of this - second of all I never said I was driving! You know what? Enjoy the rest of your drinks, I'm walking home. I don't want to have this conversation right now. I'm taking your keys with me, we can pick your car up tomorrow." You said before making your way back inside - tears of anger pooling in your eyes.

Tom saw you talking to your boyfriend. The boy heard all of the things you were saying and he couldn't help himself but ball his hand up in a fist. He was angry at Jack for telling you he'd drive you home before getting drunk off his ass and he was angry at you for showing up at the party in the first place.

When he saw you in the kitchen with Harrison he wanted nothing more than to leave or down all the drinks he could find. Keeping his promise to be the driver for the night, he took another sip of his coke as he saw Harrison looking at him with a raised eyebrow. His best friend had seen him watching you argue with Jack.

"You good?" Harrison grinned, fully knowing why Tom was looking so pissed.

The boy hid his emotions well, but they still showed when it came to you. What you didn't know was that after all these years, Tom still instinctively looked out for you. Harrison would've bet his right hand that as soon as someone laid a hand on you or just looked at you in a weird way, Tom would get into a fight for you.

The blonde boy never understood why the two of you drifted apart and it still made him kind of emotional to see you two not even sending a friendly smile each other's way. For him, it had always been Tom and you as this amazing duo, so when you stopped talking it hit him almost as hard as it hit you. He liked you and he liked how Tom was around you.

"I don't get it, Tom." Harrison said as he saw the look Tom sent your way.

The two of you had stopped talking four weeks ago and Tom seemed to be fine on the outside, but Harrison knew that he was hurting. So were you, but everyone could see how miserable you were. You looked like you didn't get any sleep for the past weeks.

"I told you to stop talking about that shit."

"But why? You never told me what happened? Like two months ago you were inseparable - two magnets, pulling each other close everytime you were next to each other. I don't get it, it's like you're trying to forget that she actually exists."

The blonde boy tried to understand his best friend, he really tried, but there wasn't any valid reason why he was acting that way - at least not a reason that he knew of.

"There's a reason. That's all you fucking need to know. It's for the best, now leave me alone." Tom stood up from his place in the cafeteria and left.

"You should ask her if she needs a ride home." Harrison said, leaning against the wall next to Tom, who was still looking in your direction as you were arguing with Jack.

"Yeah sure, or I could throw myself off a roof." Tom snorted, shaking his head.

"You're seriously going to let her walk home alone right now?"

"Not my girl, not my problem, Haz." Tom shrugged, leaving Harrison behind to head inside.

"I'll always protect you - you'll never be alone."

Lies.