I stared at the message, my heart thudding so hard I felt sick.

A million questions were racing through my mind: Why was he texting me? Why couldn't he just leave me alone to get over him? Why was he being so breezy? Didn't he know how this text would make me feel? How could he be so casual? What was he doing right now?

My mind scrambled to work out the time difference. It would be afternoon in the US, and they weren't due to play Seattle until tomorrow night. Was he at home?

I pictured him sitting at the central island in his kitchen, looking out through the floor-to-ceiling windows over the hills. I could imagine every last detail, from the afternoon sun to Harry's expression as he typed out the text message, pressing his lips together in concentration and doing that slow blink.

I threw my phone down on the bed covers and flopped onto my back as tears burned behind my eyes. Why couldn't I just get over him? For the first time in ages, things were looking up. I had an exciting new job opportunity, a new guy on the horizon, and friends who were going to miss me like crazy while I was away. But here I was, lying in bed crying over a text from my ex, wishing more than anything that he was here, or I was there, so he could put his arms around me and press his lips to mine and tell me he loved me.

I wasn't going to do it anymore. I couldn't let this guy control my life. I had learnt the hard way what happened when I got involved with Harry Styles and I couldn't make that mistake again.

I picked up my phone and deleted both messages from him before switching it off altogether. I set my radio alarm instead, turned the light off and went to sleep.

~~~~

Of course, my dreams were plagued with mysterious green eyes, plain white tees and conspiracy theories, so when I woke up I felt even worse than I had the night before. I didn't bother to switch my phone on until I walked into the office, where Sarah literally ran over to me, her eyes wide and wild.

"Is it true?" she demanded, breathlessly.

"Is what true?" I asked, confused. She couldn't possibly know Harry had texted me?

"Has Louis got some girl pregnant?" she panted. "It's all over Twitter! Where have you been? I tried to call you last night!"

"Ohhh," I said, as I understood, and then realised this was supposed to be a secret, but hid my expression too late.

"Oh my God," Sarah breathed. "It is true isn't it! You know about it! Who is she? What happened?"

"I don't know," I lied. "This is news to me. It's probably just a rumour."

"You're a terrible liar, Jess," she said, shaking her head. "How far along is she?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about," I lied again. "You shouldn't believe everything you read on Twitter. It'll be bullshıt, made up by the fans or something."

"You're not fooling anyone," Sarah chuckled. "But I get it, you can't talk about it."

"There's nothing to talk about. I wouldn't go spreading rumours though, if I were you," I said desperately, but even as I said it I knew if it were all over Twitter there would be no stopping it. I wondered who had leaked the story to the press.

"OK," she grinned.

I sat down at my desk and switched my phone and laptop on. As soon as my phone started up texts began to come through from my conversations last night, but I ignored them and went straight to my message thread with Louis.

To: Louis Tomlinson: Who let the cat out of the bag? Hope you're OK xx

I scanned my other messages and was relieved to see I had none from any unsaved numbers, meaning Harry hadn't texted me again, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he had got the hint and would leave me alone from now on.

When I went on lunch I had a reply from Louis.

From: Louis Tomlinson: Some fųcking friend of Briana's! At least my family and El already knew. Thanks love xx

To: Louis Tomlinson: xx

I didn't know what else to reply. I didn't know him well enough to start asking questions about it, but I had wanted to let him know I cared. I wasn't sure why; it wasn't as if I was ever going to see him again, but he had been so sweet to me over all the drama with Harry, and we had got on well from the start. It seemed churlish just to ignore this latest crisis and not to ask if he was alright.

Not that Louis would have been bothered, I reasoned. He meant more to me than I did to him, as he had been a major part of my obsession with One Direction for the last two years. But he had told me to keep in touch, and surely he wouldn't reply to me if he wanted me to go away. I wondered if things were alright between him and Harry, and then forced my thoughts away from this path and back to my own life. Checking Louis was OK was one thing. Delving into his issues with Harry was a step too far. I wasn't going down that road again.

~~~~

I made more progress with my Cardiff preparations that evening and organised my clothes and necessities for my first week there. Thankfully the hotel I was going to be staying in wasn't the same one I had stayed in with Harry, which was a small mercy. I had only been to Cardiff on that one occasion, and I hadn't been paying attention to the area, other than finding the stadium and the hotel. My new office was nowhere near either, so I would be spared any painful memories.

I was just having a quick tidy round before I went to bed, when I heard my phone ping with a text. I picked it up, and my stomach lurched.

From: Unknown: So what have you been up to? x

It was definitely the same number as yesterday.

Harry.

Why was he doing this? What the hell was going on?

The more he occupied my thoughts, the more I craved him. Yesterday, after the plain white tees incidents, I had been so adamant I wasn't going to text him or contact him in any way. I had been so strong-willed in deleting the messages last night. And now, here I was, mentally composing replies ranging from 'Not much, just texting Louis' (bad idea) to 'Got a promotion and a new boyfriend' (even worse idea.)

I sat down at the kitchen table and put my head in my hands, staring down at my screen. Why did I want to reply so badly? I knew it would only end in my tears for the twentieth time, but I was really struggling not to text him back.

I could just delete the message. Then I wouldn't be able to text him back because I didn't have his number saved.

My finger hovered over the delete button. My heart was racing. Did I have the strength to do it?

Fųck it. Delete.

Delete Message. Are you sure?

For fųck's sake.

No.

Why was I so indecisive? Why couldn't I just do what was best for me? Why was I so weak?

I sighed and closed my phone.

But, I reasoned, if I didn't reply, maybe Harry would think I hadn't moved on. And I wanted to show him I was absolutely fine without him, that texting him meant nothing to me, and our break up was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

I opened my messages again.

To: Unknown:

Wait, I wasn't replying straight away, like I had nothing better to do. I would reply when I was ready. And that would not be tonight.

I switched my phone off, so I wouldn't be tempted, and went to bed.

I managed to make it through the whole of Thursday without texting back. I obsessed about it constantly though, and finally caved just as I was getting into bed. I opened up Harry's message and typed a quick reply.

To: Unknown: Been busy with work and friends. Hope the rest of the tour goes well.

There. That should give him a clear message that I was moving on with my life. And the second part was ending the conversation, so he wouldn't text me back. I was rather proud of myself.

I had clearly forgotten Harry's persistence. I woke up the next morning to another message:

From: Unknown: Thanks. We've got Vancouver tomorrow, then a few days off. Do you think maybe there's a chance we could stay friends? x

Stay friends? STAY FRIENDS?? What the hell? To stay friends, we would have to already be friends. And we were definitely not that. Friends didn't set each other up. Friends didn't break each other's hearts. Friends didn't post cryptic messages on social media with no explanation.

Well, OK, maybe lots of people did that last one.

I struggled to maintain my composure. I was literally shaking with fury. How dare he ask me that? How dare he act like what he'd done could be forgiven? How dare he assume I would even consider it?

It was obvious why he was asking. Selfish bąstard.

To: Unknown: I won't go to the media. You don't have to keep me sweet

Ha. Take that, Harry Styles. You think I can't see through you, but I can.

I flung my phone in my bag and went to work.

I spent the morning finishing off my last few bits, and clearing out my in-tray. By the time I went on lunch I had another text.

From: Unknown: I know you wouldn't. That's not my intention.

What the hell was his intention then? I wasn't stupid. And I wasn't falling for his act anymore.

To: Unknown: Whatever

After I'd sent this last message I switched my phone off again and focussed my attention on my handover with Nicki in the afternoon. I passed everything over to her for her to distribute between the rest of the team, and went through each section, one at a time. I would be taking my laptop with me, and I put my pink sparkly pens into my pink sparkly pot, ready to take home at the end of the day. My desk had never been so tidy. It looked positively miserable.

At about half past four I looked up to see a massive bunch of flowers standing next to my desk, and as I blinked in surprise Sarah's head popped over the top and smiled, and I saw everyone was out of their seats and hovering near my desk, looking at me.

"We're really going to miss you Jess," Sarah said, setting the flowers down on my desk and handing me a pink sparkly gift bag. "Please come back soon."

"Oh my God," I said, softly, feeling tears well up in my eyes. "I wasn't expecting this."

"You didn't think we'd let you go without making a fuss did you?" Gary teased.

"Well, I don't know if it's permanent," I said, my voice wobbling, and Nicki came and gave me a massive hug.

"Don't get all emotional!" Sarah warned, and I could see her eyes looked a bit watery, which only made me worse.

"Open your presents!" Nicki urged, and I wiped my tears away and looked into the bag, to see a new mug with a picture of me, Nicki, Gary and Sarah on the last staff night out, pulling silly faces.

"We thought you needed a new one to replace your Harry Styles one," Sarah explained. "It's so you don't forget us."

"It's perfect," I choked. "And I won't forget you! I'll be home every weekend!"

"You'd better be," Sarah sniffed, leaning down to give me a hug.

"Open the rest!" Gary called, and I looked into the bag again to see a Links of London box, that contained a new 'J' charm for my bracelet, and a bottle of my favourite wine.

"I can't believe this," I said, wiping my eyes again. "Thanks guys. I'm so touched."

Gary came over and gave me a hug.

"Come back and see us, won't you," he murmured into my hair.

"Of course," I murmured back.

"I hope I never made things awkward," he said quietly and I shook my head and he hugged me tighter.

"Come on, it's almost five o'clock," Nicki said. "Let's pack up and go for a drink. Leave your stuff in Reception, Jess. You can get it on the way home."

So I put my new charm on my bracelet while everyone got their stuff together, carried my flowers and gift bag to Reception and left them behind the front desk, and went off to celebrate one last time with my work mates before I took the next step of my career in Cardiff.

----****----

I'm so excited - this story got ranked after the last update! It was #994 in Fanfiction and it's all thanks to your votes and comments! So please keep them coming and help me get ranked again after this update! I appreciate you all so much xxx