"How are you feeling today?" Ele asked, striding through the lounge with her laundry basket. 

"Fine."

"Liar." She glared at me before disappearing into the utility room. 

Unfortunately, and once again, Elenore was right. Since I had called off things with Harry I'd felt nothing but miserable. I had, however, been completely panic attack free. After pulling up outside my flat following the disastrous events of our date, Harry hadn't said a word. I'd leant over to kiss him on the cheek, feeling that it was the least I could do considering the circumstances, but he'd squirmed away not making eye contact with me once. I had been surprised at how much his rejection had hurt me, despite rejecting him myself only minutes beforehand. In my eyes my decision had been the right one. If I was healthy, comfortable and confident then so was Nola. Even if my relationship with Harry had to be a sacrifice for that, it was still the right thing to do. Anything that was right by our daughter was the right thing to do. I'd ended up leaving the car in silence, feeling more awkward around Harry than I ever had. It had been as though he'd shut down as soon as he was over his emotional breakdown, almost as if he thought I no longer deserved to know how he was feeling. It was heartbreaking. I couldn't stop thinking about the days that had followed either.

Harry had, quite immaturely, begun to call Elenore's phone whenever he wanted to speak to Nola. I'd sat with her and waited while she babbled to him, expecting her to pass me the phone once Harry asked for me towards the end. But it never happened. The calls would end and Elenore would take the phone back, shrugging at me innocently every time. My call log and text message conversations with him became distant memories and non-existent. I felt side lined.

The worst came when I arranged for us to meet with a family lawyer to discuss the custody and birth certificate situation. I'd wanted to meet Harry outside and talk things through with him first, see why he was shutting me out completely, but as soon as he'd arrived he'd marched indoors, not even giving me a sideways glance. I'd ended up walking into the lawyer's office with the sting of rejection visible like a red mark slapped across my face.  Even worse was that not once did he speak directly to me. He'd just sat there, bolt upright in the faux leather armchair, dramatically dressed in all black with a scarf and boots to match, and agreed with everything that was said:

a) He'd be listed as the father on Nola's birth certificate

b) He'd be allowed to see Nola whenever his tour schedule was free

c) He paid Child Maintenance monthly

d) He got a say in Nola's schooling

And then his own suggestion:

e) He paid for Nola to have private health care until she turned eighteen

I'd wanted him to turn to me and ask me for my opinions, ask me for my own ideas and comment on what I had to say, but aside from his own suggestion and the repetitive 'yes', he said nothing at all. The tension between us had practically been visible like some sort of electric current, buzzing out of my body and straight into his. The lawyer had squirmed under our awkwardness on more than one occasion, throwing me frantic glances every now and then in the hope that I would pry something more in depth out of Harry. It had been the most uncomfortable and yet straight forward ninety minutes of my life. 

I'd tried to catch up with him as we'd left, hurrying after him down the corridors of the huge building we'd found ourselves in. He hadn't even bothered to stop and say goodbye, despite clearly being aware of my frantic footsteps behind him. I'd stood and watched as he'd thrown himself into his car as if some sort of stalker had been after him, bringing his car to life in a matter of seconds and driving away. My stomach had churned at the fact that he'd been so desperate to get away from me. So eager to avoid any form of communcation. 

The worst thing about not speaking to Harry wasn't just the floundering and tensity. It was the loneliness. Of course I had Elenore and Nola, but I missed Harry's friendship as well as the relationship we'd begun to build together. We'd gotten along so easily and it had felt natural. When I'd called quits on us dating I'd never thought that it would impact our friendship quite so severely. I'd never realised that our friendship hadn't been something Harry considered as a big deal. Perhaps I had been wrong to end things when they'd only just begun, but at the same time he was both wrong and cruel to just give up on us altogether. A week or so ago I'd been happy but an anxious and paranoid mess. Now I was healthy and...lonely. I couldn't win. 

"Earth to Marnie!" Ele's voice drifted into my morose thoughts and I lifted my gaze to find her standing before me, waving her arms around in an attempt to catch my attention. 

"Yes?" I sighed, lifting Nola from the floor and pulling her into my chest. I nuzzled my face in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent and wishing her father wasn't such a stubborn mule. 

"I have had a beyond genius idea." Elenore told me, her eyes twinkling as she spoke. The empty laundry basket lay on its side at her feet, the lid a few metres away. It looked as though she'd come up with the apparently 'beyond genius' idea while walking through the room and dropped it like some sort of cartoon sketch. It was very rare that an idea of Elenore's could be classed as clever let alone 'beyond genius', so I wasn't holding my breath that this one was going to be any different. 

"Regarding Harry and I, I assume?" I raised a single eyebrow at her as she hovered in front of me, practically bursting with excitement. 

"Well, duh!" She rolled her eyes, her words dripping with sarcasm. "There's nothing else exciting going on around here." The bitterness of her tone told me she was referring to her lack of anything with Niall. Either he was blind to her advances or completely and utterly disinterested in pursuing anything with her. I felt bad for Ele because in all fairness she'd laid all her cards on the table and put in a lot of a effort for nothing to be reciprocated. 

"So what's the idea then?" A part of me felt as though I was going to regret asking. Nola wriggled in my grasp and began tugging on my necklace, her bandana falling down her face so that she had to peek out from underneath it. My hand twitched towards my phone, wanting nothing more than to take a photo and send it to Harry, but he'd probably blocked my number or at least wouldn't reply. His childishness made me angry and disappointed that after everything he insisted on behaving this way. It was completely unnecessary when I hadn't exactly done anything wrong. 

"Stop thinking about Harry and listen to me for a minute." Elenore clicked her fingers in front of my face. I frowned.

"Spit it out then, Ele!" 

She took a deep breath as a grin stretched itself across her face. "Ok. If you can't date Harry then at least date other people. I could make you one of those online dating profiles and hook you up with some other lonely hearts instead?"

"Lonely hearts?" I echoed, stifling a laugh. It sounded pathetic. Pitiful. "I'm not a lonely heart, Ele." I told her, although it was quite obviously a lie.

"You are now." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You know what, I'm going to make you a profile anyway. It'll do your self-esteem good to see that other people think you are completely and utterly gorgeous too. Not just Mr Curly Fry." 

My mouth fell open and Elenore marched towards the laptop, leaving the laundry basket still in pieces on the lounge floor.  The determination on her face surprisingly gave me hope that this idea was actually going to work. On the other hand, I wasn't sure how I felt about dating guys who weren't Nola's father. I hated the thought of Harry having a girlfriend or Nola having a step-mother and so I dreaded to think how Harry would feel when he found out I was dating. Basically I just couldn't tell him. Ever. My phone buzzed in my pocket as Elenore began tapping away, muttering to herself as she did so. Harry's name flashed up on the screen and my heart stopped momentarily, feeling that it was all too coincidental that he was messaging me now. Perhaps he wanted to apolgise? Wanted to tell me that our friendship was still worth it?

Could Mum have Nola this weekend? She really wants to see her. I can pick her up on Friday and bring her back Sunday evening? Let me know. H

I let out a deep sigh, mentally kicking myself for ever thinking that Harry was going to give up being so pigheaded. 

Of course. See you Friday :)

I added a smiley face for good measure, hoping that it might lighten his mood. My phone buzzed again.

Yep. 

Instead he full-stopped me. He actually full-stopped me. 

"Harry is taking Nola to Anne's this weekend." I huffed to Elenore. She looked up from the laptop, a wicked glint in her eye.

"Perfect!" She purred. "Time to get a date lined up for this weekend then!" 

And in that moment I honestly believed that my friendship with Harry was lost. Forever. 

a/n: We Are Done - The Madden Brothers seemed kinda perfect for this. Four chapters left, thanks for reading!