Olivia
The next morning comes way too early as I hear an alarm and Harry's voice urging me to wake up. I didn't realize when I agreed to this workout that it would come so early. But this is important so even though I don't want to, I drag myself out of bed. Harry is already downstairs by the time I get up and start rummaging through my drawers for acceptable workout clothes. I finally throw on some leggings, a t-shirt and my tennis shoes that were buried in the back of my closet before throwing my hair in a pony-tail and wandering downstairs toward the smell of the coffee.
I hear voices as I make my way into the kitchen and find that Gemma is there, getting ready to go to work. When I walk in she and Harry include me in their conversation effortlessly as he hands me a cup of coffee. As I sit down to eat a bowl of cereal I find myself staying quiet because I'm afraid if I say too much, I'll tell Gemma what's going on. I already betrayed Lexie's trust by telling Harry and I'm going to do it again today when I tell Niall. I can't have another person in on this secret. Luckily, Harry doesn't seem to have that issue. He's acting completely normal and Gemma is none the wiser. She does make a comment about my tagging along to work out, but Harry just makes a joke about corrupting me and it's laughed off. By the time we leave I'm relieved to put my guard back down, at least for a few minutes.
I stay quiet in the car, clutching my travel mug of coffee and looking out the window while Harry drives. I know he can feel the anxiety coming off of me in waves but thankfully, he's not pushing me to talk about it. Instead he's got his hand resting on my leg, giving me gentle pats and squeezes of reassurance every so often. He gets that I need to save all of my energy to face Niall. I don't know how to do this. How am I supposed to tell him everything he's been suspicious of these past few months is true? How do I tell him I very narrowly stopped his worst nightmare from happening? I'm so thankful I have Harry here to help me because I know I couldn't do it alone.
When we get to Mark's, Niall is already inside running on a treadmill while Mark sets up what looks like a very intense circuit workout. Already I'm second guessing my decision to tag along. When Niall spots Harry he gives him a greeting nod but his face twists in confusion when he sees me behind him.
"What are you doin here Livvy?" He asks as he wipes the sweat off his face and gets off the tredmill. As he walks toward us I can feel the lump in my throat growing. Just seeing the gentle, confused grin on his face, knowing I'm about to pull the rug out from under him is enough to make me sick to my stomach.
"Harry said you guys were working out today and I thought it might be a good idea to tag along. Is that ok? I ask, surprising even myself with my easy cover. I must be better at this than I thought. Sure, I could tell him what's up right away, but I know that's not a good idea. I need to ease into this, so I've got to act as natural as possible.
"Of course. The more the merrier. Right Jarv?" Niall calls to Mark as he looks up from what he's doing. When he sees he gives us a greeting nod and walks over, clapping Niall's back on the way.
"Absolutely. Just be prepared to sweat." Mark says, a mischievous smirk on his face.
"He's not kidding. These things can be pretty intense. Hope you're ready for it." Niall warns me, a teasing tone to his voice.
"Do you see what I'm dating? I need to start working on getting fit if I'm going to be around that all the time." I joke as I gesture to Harry standing next to me. It may be my excuse for today but it's definitely not a lie.
"Would you stop? You're perfect." He assures me as he rolls his eyes at me. But listening to the strain in his voice I can't help but be concerned. I don't know how I didn't notice it earlier. It was there when he first got to my house last night but it's even worse today. I think our shouting at each other only made it worse and I'm not the only one that notices.
