Jen's POV
"Hey guys!" Kat said as soon as Skype was connected.
We all chorused hellos.
"Okay, so it's May."
"Yeah, bae. So what?" I said.
She gave me a look.
"Oh shit." I muttered. I fell against Harry's shoulder. "I hate you."
Niall looked between the computer and me, "What does it being May, mean exactly?"
"It means that you guys can't call me or anything."
"All month?" Liam asked.
"All month, Payno."
I sighed, "Like I said, I hate you." I leaned toward the screen. "You can't leave me with these people, Kat!"
"Jennifer, you will be fine. Calm down."
I scowled, "Whatever, bae. I suppose it's for the best. You've got May term and then you're done right? We get you all summer?"
She laughed, "Yes."
"Good!"
The boys laughed.
"So what do you guys want to talk about?"
We talked about her school and a few of the places on tour. We even asked her to show us some assignments she'd done. It was nice to catch up as a group. Maddy left about halfway through to go home for a week. We Skyped with Kat for four and a half hours altogther.
"Okay, guys. I know it's late there so I'll let you go." She said after a bit.
We all said goodbye and then left so that her and Niall could say goodbye too.
Harry and I walked to my bus hand in hand. We decided to just bunk together now since he usually stayed with me until I fell asleep.
"Do you want to go out tomorrow night?" Harry asked suddenly.
I was caught by surprise with that one. "Like a date?"
He nodded, "Yeah. I don't want to hide out anymore. I want to show the world how much you mean to me."
"You're too sweet to me Harry. Yes, I will go out with you tomorrow."
He stopped us and leaned down, kissing me softly. "I love you."
"I love you too."
*****************
I had strict instructions from Modest! to keep the boys on a tight leash. I also got instructions from Kat to keep them from contacting her at all.
I had more trouble with the latter.
"Niall James Horan you can't do that!"
I bounded across the back of the couch to get his computer.
"What the hell, Jen! Really?"
I picked up the laptop after disconnecting the Skype call in progress. "Kat told you to leave her alone! She's very busy."
"I haven't talked to her all day!" He groaned. "I'm falling apart."
"Stop it, you're fine. Kat and I scheduled more shows for you so that you all would be happier, cheerier, easier to work with. It isn't working and I don't do much right, but I can do this."
Niall huffed and pulled his phone out.
"Um, no." I swiped that from him too. "Leave her alone! She'll call when she can."
Niall got up from that couch and plopped down next to Harry on the other one. "I hate your girlfriend."
Harry looked up from his book, "Why? Because she told you not to do something you already knew not to do?"
"You too? She got to you too?" Niall exclaimed. "Jesus! You two are together too much."
"She's my girlfriend Ni. She also works for us. Of course I'm with her a lot."
Niall looked up at me and our eyes met for a second before I looked away.
"Yeah, true." Niall answered. "Um, Jen, can we talk?"
I nodded and sighed, "Yeah, I have to do your hair anyway."
Niall got up and went into the other room while I grabbed the extra hairspray.
Once I was in the room, Niall closed the door.
"Okay, look. I don't want to pry into your relationship with me best mate, but hear me out. If you don't tell him how you're feeling then he won't know how to fix it."
"We're better now, Niall."
"I don't believe you." He sat down on the chair in front of me.
"I love him. I really do and I love the time we spend together. He's just very focused on the band. And that's okay because it's your guys' job, but I wish he didn't come to bed so late and leave right away in the morning. You know how you and Kat call each other all the time and it's really gross and sappy?"
He chuckled, "Yeah?"
"We don't do that."
"You guys do it in person all the time. I'm constantly grossed out."
I rolled my eyes.
"Jen, I think you're still caught up with something at home and it's distracting you from what's right in front of you. You have to be done."
I didn't have to look at Niall to know he could read my face.
"You're smart, you're funny as hell, and you're an amazing friend. And according to Harry, you're everything a guy could want. But I think you're hiding something from him and that's holding the both of you back."
I put the finishing touches on his hair. "Okay fine, so let's say, hypothetically, my ex boyfriend keeps sending me messages telling me how Harry is just going to hurt me and that I should leave Harry to go back to my ex."
Niall turned in the chair, "Jen, what the hell?"
"I said hypothetically."
"But you're asking for real."
I sighed.
"See? This is why Kat's May term sucks. You haven't told anyone about it because she's been busy right?"
I nodded.
"Jen, talk to Harry. And frankly, please block your ex. Letting him have your number is not going to help anyway. But Haz will help, okay? Trust me!"
"Okay. Fine. I'll at least think about it okay?"
"Deal!" He said getting up. "But I'll go tell him you want to see him."
I grabbed his arm, "You will do no such thing!"
"Watch me." He pulled out of my grasp and ran to the door, yanking it open. "Harreh!" He ran through the room with me a few strides behind him.
"Damn it, Horan." I muttered, giving up.
"What, Niall?" Harry asked.
"Jen wants you."
I sent him a glare.
"Okay, well not like that apparently. But she has something she wants to talk about."
I sighed and left, going back to the other room. I leaned against the wall and heard Harry and Niall talking.
"What's it about, mate?" Harry asked.
"Just go talk to her."
"How come you know?"
"Because I figured it out."
"Really?"
"Yeah, mate. She needs you right now."
"How come I couldn't figure it out?"
"If I wasn't dating her best friend I wouldn't have figured it out the way I did. Those two are exactly the same. But that one in there is so in love with you that it scares her. So go talk to her!"
"Okay, okay. I'm going."
Harry soon walked into the room and closed the door. His gaze met mine and I suddenly began to ramble.
"Harry I'm so sorry. I didn't want to keep anything from you. That was the last thing I wanted. I love you so much."
"Jen, babe. Calm down and just tell me what's wrong."
"My ex. He's been calling me and texting me. A lot. He says you're going to hurt me and that I should leave you now."
"He wants you back?"
"Only because I'm with someone better than him."
Harry gave me a sad smile, "Babe, I love you."
"I know. I love you too."
"Then let him go. Please."
I slid to the floor hearing his voice crack. He came over and sat down next to me.
"Give me your phone."
I took it from my back pocket and put it in his hand. He unlocked it and went straight to the contacts. He scrolled until he found the number.
His eyes met mine, there were tears forming. "Baby, I'm doing this because I need you to be here with me. I need my girlfriend. I need you."
I nodded and wrapped my arms around his waist. I watched as he blocked the number.
My phone was set on the floor and his body turned to face me. "J, you're my best friend. I can tell you anything. But I feel like you keep too much to yourself. I don't want you to be like that."
"Harry-"
"I need you right here with me." His arms tightened around me.
"Haz-"
"Jen. Please. Come back to me and just be with me. Let it all go. Please."
I sighed, feeling a weight being lifted from my chest as my head fell against his body. We sat like this for a few more minutes. He kept whispering how much he loved me over and over again.
I let out a huge breath. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Maybe later?"
"Okay. As long as you know how much I love you."
I nodded. "Of course I do. I'm sorry."
His lips rested on my cheek. "It's okay babe. I just love you so much. And I never want to let you go."
I giggled, "I feel the same about you. Now let's go get ready for this show. Those fans aren't going to want to wait forever."
*****************
I am on my last nerve with these boys. We're all so used to being able to text or call Kat whenever we need her opinion or help, but not during May term.
"Louis! No!" I raced after him.
"But I want her to order me a new pair."
"Stop Louis!"
He stopped and I caught up to him. I took the phone from his hand and ended the call that I knew Kat was ignoring anyway. "Okay, listen. We'll text her and have her send us a link okay? And I'll do it okay?"
"Yeah, fine."
I gave back the phone and texted Kat.
'sorry for louis' call. He needs a new pair of Adidas Tennis shoes. Can you just email me the link when you get a chance.'
A few seconds later I got a response.
'yeah. Will do later. Tell Niall to quit 'Butt dialing me' would ya?'
'yeah of course.'
I went to find Niall but ran into Liam first.
"Hey, Jen. Um, Niall is wondering if you've talked to Kat."
"I'm on my way right now to go talk to him about that."
I went to step around him but he stopped right in front of me.
"Liam, move."
"Um, can you fix my hair?"
"Sure?"
I pulled a chair over and had him sit. He handed me the comb and hairspray he had with him.
"I'm confused, Liam. Why did you ask me to do your hair if it's already done?" I trailed off. And then it hit me. "Oh shit."
I dropped the comb on the floor and ran through the doors leading to the dressing room.
"Niall! No!"
I snatched the phone out of his hand.
"Stop doing that, Jen. I need to talk to her."
"No you don't because she just told me to tell you to stop talking to her."
"Really?" His face dropped.
"Ni, she's working really hard right now. She can't take your guys' every call."
"I just miss her. She called me this morning but I didn't wake up. I usually do."
"You're tired and that can be expected. She's almost done."
He sighed. "Okay."
*******************
"Hey!"
I opened my eyes and glared at my boyfriend. "What do you want?"
"Your phone is going off again."
I rolled over and picked it up off the floor.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
I sat up, "Hi! How are you?"
She chuckled, "I'm good. How are you?"
"I'm really good! Did you pass?"
"Yeah." She breathed out. "I did."
I could tell she was overwhelmed but that she was relieved.
"Oh my God! Kat! I told ya you had nothing to worry about!"
I looked up at Harry, "She passed. You can go tell the boys."
Harry ran out of the room.
"So?" I said into the phone. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm just so tired. I could sleep for weeks."
"What's next for you?"
"I'm here for another week. My meeting with my advisor isn't until the end of next week."
"Wow, I can't believe the last ten months happened. Remember talking about that trip to Cali we wanted to take after May term?"
Kat laughed, "Yeah I do! This is insane!"
I heard some noises in the background.
"Hey, Jen, I'm gonna go. My roomie and some of her friends invited me to dinner."
"Yeah of course! Go! Have fun! And congrats!"
"Thanks bae. Bye."
"Bye."
I hung up and stood from the couch. Just then Niall, Louis, Liam, and Harry ran into the room.
"What?"
"Can we go now?" Niall asked.
I sighed. I had told them that as soon as she said she passed, we would go surprise her.
"You guys, we can't all go. We're done in a few days anyway."
"But we need to party it up!" Louis exclaimed.
"Lou, we have two shows left."
"Can she come here?" Niall questioned.
I shook my head, "No. She has stuff to do there next week."
"Well how about after the shows, Niall and Jen can go out there." Liam suggested.
"What about me?" Harry said pouting.
"Ok." I said to Liam. "Hey, Ni? You okay with Haz going?" I asked him.
"Of course!" He jumped on Harry's back. "Iowa isn't the same without him!"
They wrestled each other to the floor as I sat down again to look up flights leaving in three days.
