Tess POV

The girls were all playing Marco Polo on the pool. I didn't know where Louis was. Had he left because I had pushed him away? I hoped not.

I heard the door open and turned around, and saw Harry running towards me. He grabbed me and hugged me, but he managed to knock me off balance and we plunged into the water.

I came up spluttering for air and shoved some water in Harry's face before wiping my eyes.

He splashed back and then swam over to the edge of the pool, pulling himself up before helping me. Niall was waiting with a towel in his arms.

I smiled at them.

"What are you doing here? I've missed you guys so much! Are the other boys here?" I told them, giving them proper hugs, not caring if I got Niall wet.

"Yeah, they just had to bring the trailer around. Didn't want to take up all the space in here. When Lou said 'cottage' I thought he meant little cabin. But this…" Niall trailed off, looking around at the entire glass wall looking out over a lake.

"Yep, I know. It's like a mansion. But you guys are famous so this is probably small for you." I said, laughing.

"Not really, we're still getting used to it. But how are you?" Harry asked.

"Alright. At least I was, then you called earlier and then things got weird and now I really don't know." I told him, looking at the pattern on the floor.

I looked back up after a minute of silence to see Harry and Niall sharing a knowing look.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"He told us what he said to you and how you responded." Niall said simply.

"You mean how I pushed him away? I didn't mean anything by it. My mom has this thing where she lets me do what I want with the exception on one or two rules. What I'm trying to get at is my mom highly disapproves of non-famous people being with famous people. That's why she acts different towards him than before X Factor, if he's ever mentioned anything about it. I didn't want her to kick him out or anything. I barely ever get to see him, or you, and I miss you guys." I took a deep breathe.

Harry had just opened his mouth to say something when Zayn, Liam, and Louis came in wearing their swimsuits and t-shirts.

I gave Zayn and Liam huge hugs, and forced a smile onto my face. I loved all of the guys, but I was probably closer to Harry and Niall. I knew they would tell them what I said, maybe even tell Lou, but I couldn't tell them while he was there.

Harry's POV

As I watched Tess hugging Liam and Zayn and starting up a conversation with them, I had a million thoughts running through my head.

I didn't know what to do. She had on a fake smile, I could tell, and I knew that all the other guys could too, but they pretended not to notice.

Louis didn't do a very good job of it, though. His eyebrows were creased together and he kept looking towards me and Niall, silently asking what happened.

What would we tell him later? Liam and Zayn needed to know, but what would we do about Lou?

I gave out a little sigh and tried to organise some of my thoughts.

Tess likes Louis. Louis likes Tess. It should be simple.

But Tess' mum does not like that Louis, or any of us, for that matter, are famous.

What to do, what to do?

Niall's POV

I could see Harry was thinking very deeply. I couldn't blame him.

All Louis ever talks about when we're on tour is Tess.

I wonder what Tess is doing? I miss Tess so much. I miss spending time with my close friends, like Stan and Tess. What do you guys think of Tess? I wish Tess was here.

Even in Louis' sleep he would say her name. It was cute at first but it got on all of our nerves superfast.

Tess made Lou happy, and that was all we wanted for him. On tour he would mope around, clearly sad. In his "Tess Moments" as we called them (though he didn't know), the only time he would smile or let out a little laugh was when he was on his phone, texting her.

If only she knew that.

If only Louis could get it through his head that this beautiful girl loved and cared for him as much as he did for her.

Louis' POV

Great, I thought. Now what did Harry say to make Tess sad?

This was not a good day.

At least later I could have been alone with Tess, but now the guys were here, and the girl guides had started to notice.

The girl who had recognized me earlier ran up to Harry and threw her arms around him. He stumbled back a bit in shock, and then tried to pull her off of him. Unfortunately for him she had a strong grip.

I heard Tess' familiar laughter fill my ears as she watched this, and looked to see her fake smile replaced with a real, genuine one. I felt myself grin.

The whole time I was looking at her face, so I was a little shocked when she looked up and her eyes met mine. I gave her a warm smile. She returned it but quickly looked away, but not quick enough to stop me from noticing that she looked sad again.

"Alright! Girls! Calm down, they'll be here all week. Stacey, can you please check to see that Liz hasn't had a heart attack? Okay, let's get dried off, and we can do some crafts." Tess said.

"What can we do?" Liam asked.

"Ummm… make sure they get back to their rooms and don't go off exploring. Then set up their crafts."

Liam walked off with Zayn and Niall to take back some of the girls. Harry hung around Tess, trying to talk to her, but it seemed like she kept changing the subject, frustrating him.

I moved to the benches with some wet towels on them and began to pick them up. I could just make out what they were talking about.

"You have to tell him, Tess." Harry told her.

"I don't have to tell anyone anything. In fact, I'm already regretting telling you. At least Niall isn't bothering me."

"Yet. It's you're mum that's making this difficult. Come with us on tour. Then she won't bother you."

Tess stopped what she was doing and looked him in the eyes.

"Lou already asked me. I said no. my mom, remember?"

Harry gave out a sigh then looked in my direction, noticing that I was watching. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he shrugged, looking back to Tess.

"Just ask her. Maybe not today, we have a week. But still…what I told you on the phone was true. He never shuts up. Ever. Every other word out of his mouth, Tess this, Tess that. You know that video diary we did when he couldn't talk because we covered his face? That's why we did it."

I got up and walked over to them. Harry had said that loudly on purpose. I slapped him hard on the shoulder and he screamed out like a little girl, making Tess laugh again.

"Come on, pumpkin