Change My Mind

Chapter 26 - Acceptance

Lily's POV

I gasp as Harry's falls to the ground. Ed goes on top of him and is about to hit him again but Harry shoves him away. Ed is about to grab him again but I rush to them and use all my strength to pull him off of Harry.

"Stop it! Why the hell did you do that?!" I shriek at him as I kneel down beside Harry and help him into a sitting position. He's clutching his nose and, not a second later, I see blood running down his chin.

I pull his hand away and see blood oozing out of both nostrils. "Oh my gosh, Harry! Are you okay?"

He looks a little bit dazed. I reach over and grab the towel hanging on the back of the chair and wipe the dripping blood before pressing it onto his nose.

"I'm fine," he reassures me as he holds the towel in my place.

"Stay here," I say.

He nods before I stand up and face Ed, glaring at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I say.

"What's wrong with me? I see my two best friends lying in bed together and you think something's wrong with me?"

"Yes. If you had let me explain, you wouldn't have had to punch your best friend in the face."

I understand how it must have seemed to see me and Harry in bed together. But we didn't do anything. Of course we should have told him right away but I wanted to wait until he got home to tell him in person.

"There's nothing to explain. You two are hooking up behind my back! In my own place, may I add."

Irritation grows inside of me and I hear scuffling behind me. I look behind me and see Harry getting up and moving to the end of the bed. His expression is unreadable as he looks at me. I turn back to face Ed, crossing my arms.

"Me and Harry are not 'hooking up', Ed. I really care about him."

"Oh, really?" He raises an eyebrow at me and chuckles humourously.

"Yes, really. If you don't believe that, then that's your problem."

He shakes his head. "I find it hard to believe when I told him to stay away from you."

"What?" I ask incredulously.

I see him glance over my shoulder before looking back at me. "When you arrived here, I made him promise to stay away from you, to keep things between you as friends. Shows how much of a friend he really is."

"Why would you do that? That is the most selfish thing I have ever heard of. You knew that I liked him and you still did that. I can't believe you," I say through gritted teeth. "Why are you so against me being with Harry?"

He remains silent but his eyes are still slightly narrowed.

"He makes me happy, Ed," I say softly. "He makes me feel special."

"And what's going to happen when it doesn't work out? He's done this with other girls, make them feel special and then he throws them away."

I can sense that Ed was implying something with his statement. It takes me a while to remember Harry's most recent ex. The one who's good friends with Ed right now. I understand that he thinks that Harry's going to treat me the same way and that he's trying to stand up for Taylor. But this has nothing to do with her. This is about me and Harry and what we have now.

"You can't think like that. I really think that me and Harry are going to work out. And you need to believe that, too."

"Yeah, well you thought that about Marcus too, and look where it got you."