"What's going on?" I asked, surprised at how normal my voice sounded considering my insides were trembling. I wasn't sure what I had just interrupted, but my mind was conjuring all sorts of crazy theories I couldn't bear to entertain.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, looking down at the floor.

"Sorry?" I echoed, my heart pounding. "Sorry for what?"

"I shouldn't have spoken to her like that," he mumbled, as Callie rolled her eyes.

"What pressure is she supposedly putting on you?" I demanded. "And what did you mean, you're trying to do the right thing?"

His eyes darted to Callie's face briefly, but her expression was unreadable.

"She thinks I'm going to hurt you again," he said after a moment. "She won't let it go. I'm just trying to make you happy, but she doesn't trust me."

I stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate but apparently this was the extent of his explanation. I shifted my gaze to Callie, who made a grunt of disgust in Harry's direction and wrinkled her nose.

"Well?" I demanded. "Is this true?"

"Of course," she answered smoothly, looking past me at the wall. "Just because you've forgiven him doesn't mean I have to."

I waited again for one of them to volunteer more information, but they remained silent, looking back at me as though waiting for some sort of cue.

"I should go," Harry said, taking a couple of steps towards me. "I'm due at the studios."

"I'll see you out," I mumbled, leading him to the door. We stepped out into the hallway and I pulled the door to behind me.

I didn't know how to approach this without accusing him of something, and in truth I didn't really understand what had just gone on. All I knew was it was enough to make me uneasy.

"Harry," I began, pulling nervously at my fingers as I tried to scramble my thoughts. "Harry... what just happened in there?"

His eyes darted to the closed door and then back to my face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean just then. Why were you arguing with Callie in low voices?"

"She doesn't think I deserve you," he answered. "I'm just getting fed up of it."

"Why, has she spoken to you about this before?" I asked, now even more confused. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Callie had only crossed paths with Harry briefly at my flat. They didn't even have each other's numbers. Did they?

He hesitated. "I just mean it annoys me that she's so openly rude. But she's upset, so it's fine. You should go and look after her; make sure she's alright."

I opened my mouth to remark on his sudden change of heart after his anger at being let down earlier, but he spoke again.

"Baby I really have to go, I'll be late to the studios."

He stepped up to me and pulled me close to him, burying his nose in my hair and breathing in deeply.

"I love you so much, you know that don't you?" he murmured as he kissed the top of my head.

"Yeah, I know," I replied, and he tilted my face up to his and kissed me softly on the lips.

"Sorry I was moody before," he apologised. "Go and plait each other's hair, or whatever else you girls do at times like these. She needs you. I was a dıck for being selfish."

"It's OK," I said.

"Ring me later and let me know what you're doing," he said, and I nodded and watched him disappear down the hallway to the front door, flipping his hair back as he went.

I returned to Callie's kitchen where she was pouring wine into two glasses with her back to me.

"What was that about?" I demanded, and she squeaked in surprise and pressed her hand to her chest as she turned around.

"Christ, Jess, you scared the life out of me," she sniffed, but I stared at her with my hands on my hips until she looked away and handed me a glass of wine. "Nothing," she muttered.

"What's going on?" I pressed. "What were you whispering about?"

"I was just goading him," she said airily, waving her hand. "To be honest, I'm really not in the mood to discuss what a loser he is."

"Callie!" I snapped. "That's my boyfriend you're slagging off! Upset or not, it doesn't give you the right to talk about him like that!"

She rolled her eyes. "You're so damn loyal, Jess. Always so quick to defend him."

"Are you jealous?!" I breathed. "Is that is what this is all about?"

My heart lurched as I recalled how close together they had been standing when I had interrupted them, and then began to pound sickeningly.

"Jealous? Of what?" she asked, looking at me in surprise, and then understanding slowly spread across her face. "Oh my God - Jess - no," she replied, her eyes wide. "You think I'm after Harry? Are you serious?"

"No, I..." I let my hand flop to my side and looked away, and took a large gulp of wine. "No," I said again softly. "No, I don't think that."

"I should think not," she huffed. "He is so not my type."

So why were you being all secretive with him? I wanted to ask, but then quickly pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind. I trusted Callie. I trusted Harry. Was I really going to throw it all away over a snippet of a conversation I had barely even heard?

"I know," I said out loud.

"And to be honest, I've kind of got enough on my plate at the moment," she added, her lip trembling.

"I know," I said again, a horrible wave of guilt washing over me as I remembered the reason I was even here in the first place. "What happened with you and James?"

She put her glass down on the table and covered her face with her hands as her shoulders began to heave, and I put my glass down next to hers and put my arms around her.

"He was banging some slut from his office," she wailed, and buried her face in my shoulder as she sobbed.

"And you found them together?" I asked, stroking her hair.

"I went to his flat to surprise him because he'd cancelled on me, saying he wasn't well," she choked. "He was fucking surprised alright. He wouldn't let me in at first, and then she appeared behind him, wearing his dressing gown, and there were two glasses of red wine on the fucķing coffee table, it was so embarrassingly cliché..." She broke off again, her body shaking with sobs.

"Oh my God," I breathed.

"I pushed past him and went and sat on the sofa and refused to move until he'd explained," she cried. "The girl's bag was next to me, so when they weren't looking I poured one of the glasses of red wine into it."

I gasped and pulled back, and Callie lifted her head to look at me. She smirked through her tears.

"Well I wasn't going to let her get away with it," she shrugged, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

"I fuckıng love it," I breathed, and we began to laugh hysterically.

"I'm pretty sure her phone was in there too," she wheezed, and this made us laugh harder, which eventually turned back into sobs for Callie so I pulled her against my shoulder again.

"So did you talk to him?" I asked.

"He got rid of her, and then he said he was really sorry, and admitted it had been going on a while," she mumbled. "He seemed almost relieved that I knew."

"So he didn't even fight for you?" I said in disbelief.

"No," she sniffed. "But I didn't let him see how upset I was. I gave him a mouthful for being unfaithful, told him he had a small dicķ, and left, knocking over the other glass of wine all over his cream carpet accidentally on purpose. He was more upset over that than he was about losing me."

"What a shit," I sympathised, rubbing her back as she cried.

"I did rub the stain into the carpet with my shoe as I stood up," she admitted. "I'm fairly certain it won't come out."

"Good," I said, savagely. "Let it forever serve as a reminder of what he did."

"I need more wine," she muttered, pulling away from me and picking up the wine bottle to fill her glass. "Come on, catch up."

I had barely touched mine, so I downed half of it and held my glass out for her while she topped it up. She grabbed the bag containing the scooby snacks and we moved through to her little lounge, curling up on the sofa with a fluffy blanket over our legs.

We spent the afternoon and part of the early evening discussing everything in detail while Callie alternated between sobbing and ranting about James, and made our way through the wine and the food I had brought. We ordered pizza around eight o'clock, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the X Factor results show starting on ITV.

"Turn it up a bit if you want," Callie offered, after catching me looking over for the second time. "I wouldn't mind watching it."

"I'm not really bothered," I lied.

"I could use a distraction," she sighed, and turned the volume up in time to hear Olly Murs and Caroline Flack talking about One Direction's performance later in the show. "Is that where Harry was rushing off to?" she asked in surprise, turning to look at me.

"Yeah," I nodded. "That's why he was pissed off at me coming here. I was supposed to go with him."

Callie's hands flew to her face. "Oh God, Jess, I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I didn't even think! You're flying to the States with him tomorrow, aren't you?!"

"Yeah, it's fine," I shrugged. "You needed me. And Harry understands, deep down. He told me to look after you."

She looked at me for a little longer than necessary, it seemed. "Did he." This wasn't a question.

"Mmm-hmm," I confirmed anyway, with a nod. "I think he realised it's better to keep you on side than to row with me over you."

"Yep," she said, taking a sip of wine and staring at the TV. "That'll be exactly it."

Our pizza arrived just as the boys came onto the X Factor stage to sing Perfect, and I felt my eyes getting teary as the song began.

"This is the one that's written about you?" Callie asked, opening the pizza box on the coffee table and handing me a plate.

"Yeah," I smiled, and she smiled back indulgently.

"As much as I'm not a fan, it must be pretty amazing to have a song written about you and released by one of the most famous bands in the world," she said.

"It is when it's your favourite band," I sighed. "And you're hopelessly in love with one of the members."

"Are you really happy?" she asked, earnestly, looking into my eyes.

"Yes," I answered truthfully. "Really really happy."

"Do you think it's for keeps?" she asked.

"I'd like to think so," I replied. "But it's way too soon to be looking too far into the future. We're both so young, with our whole lives ahead of us."

"Do you see it lasting long-term?" she pressed.

"I'm serious about him, and he's serious about me," I said. "That's as far as I've got in my head with it."

"You're so media-trained," she teased.

"Hardly," I snorted.

"This is me you're talking to. Have you, or have you not, practised signing your name 'Jessica Styles'?"

"I have not!" I insisted, and she threw her head back and cackled.

"You so have!"

I threw a cushion at her, but after a bottle and a half of wine my aim wasn't at its best, and it sailed past her and landed on the floor. We laughed hysterically.

"Thanks for tonight," she said, heartfeltly, once our laughter had subsided. "I really needed it."

"Will you be OK?" I asked. "I feel terrible that I'm leaving you for over a week when you're at your lowest."

"You know me, I'll bounce back," she grinned, but her smile didn't fully reach her eyes and I could tell she was putting on a brave face.

"What about that girls' holiday you mentioned a few weeks back?" I reminded her. "I'm still up for that, if you are?"

"That would be amazing!" she said enthusiastically. "Girls only, or open to anyone?"

"I really don't mind," I shrugged. "That's up to you. Why don't you ask around next week and see who else is up for it? We can look at dates when I'm back."

"Deal!" she proclaimed, nodding solemnly. "We could do a city break or something. We won't get anywhere warm enough to sunbathe on a beach at this time of year, unless we do longhaul. Ooohh we could go skiing!"

"Skiing would be incredible!" I enthused, and she jumped up off the sofa and grabbed her laptop. I scooted over to her as she sat back down and we spent over an hour researching different holiday destinations, from Dublin to Barcelona to Val d'Isere.

It was midnight before I called Harry and told him I would be staying at Callie's that night, and he arranged for his driver to pick me up the following morning at quarter to six. He seemed in a better mood, and said the X Factor performance had gone well and he was on his way home.

"Doesn't it bother you that he was hanging out with his ex all evening?" Callie asked, after I'd said goodnight to Harry.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Caroline Flack."

"No," I answered, truthfully. I hadn't even given it a second thought. "If I had a problem with him hanging out with his exes there would definitely be no hope for us."

"You're stronger than I am," she remarked. "I'd be so insecure, comparing myself to all those fucking models he dated."

"It bothered me at first," I admitted. "But I've always known he stays friends with them all. He mentioned recently he's closest to Kendall Jenner, and they hung out over the summer while he was touring, but I believe him when he says it's purely platonic."

"Ugh, Kardashians." Callie made a face of disgust.

"I don't know anything about them," I shrugged. "But I know Harry hates superficiality, so she can't be all that bad if they stayed friends."

Callie said nothing.

"And she won't be short of offers, will she?" I continued. "Blokes will be tripping over themselves to get to the front of that queue."

We finished the last bits of now-cold pizza and then went to bed. I cringed as I set my alarm to wake me up in four hours' time, already regretting the late night and the volume of alcohol I had consumed. The last thing I wanted was to travel on a private jet with One Direction disgustingly hungover, but it was too late now. I would just have to grit my teeth and ride out the headache in the morning.

---***---

I created an instagram page a while ago which was scooby_snacks94, but I have now changed the username to thenocontrolseries (profile pic is my No Control cover). I use this account to post quotes from the books, in between colour themed pictures of Harry. I have since created a new account as scooby_snacks94 (profile pic is the same as my Wattpad profile pic) which I'll use for general pictures etc. Come and follow me on one or both and say hi! I'll follow you back!

I know I haven't been as regular with my updates as I used to be, but now the weather is nicer (and Euro 2016 has started!) I have been busier at evenings and weekends. I would give anything to take a week off work and spend it writing solidly!! Thanks for your patience, and I don't mind you asking when the next update is coming... it's nice to know some of you are waiting for it! You are all such lovely readers :) xxx