Through The Ups & Downs

Couple; HarrisonXBriana

Rating; Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD or any songs I might use! Also, from this point in the story and in future chapters, I do not own the character; Ella(Eira) Solveig. She belongs to my good friend, ShadowSpirit020.

20) Go Back To Kuwait

{Harrison's POV}

[4/19/2015-3:35 pm-Haddock Residence]

I was only upstairs for six minutes at best to help Nate move his bed and dresser around so he could clean under them as Mom and Dad had asked him to do this morning as part of his summer chores. I stopped on the second level of the stairs so they wouldn't see or hear me but I could overhear them. I only stopped to listen because I heard Regina ask Addilyn: What is it? What's wrong?

"That 'Bri' person Harrison was talking to in another language on Sunday isn't just a friend," Addilyn started, and I knew they figured it out. However, as I made my way down the stairs, I saw my phone unlocked with the Skype screen up in Addilyn's hands. Although I was pissed she was looking at my messages; I stayed calm, and I made myself known to them.

"She's my girlfriend," I stated in a firm voice. Of course, at that moment, my parents happened to walk through the door and into the living room as I said what I did about having a girlfriend. Nate was next to me, he only got curious, but I watched my friends, and parent's faces turn to shock. Getting off the stairs, I moved to the couch Addilyn was sitting on as I saw the screen she was on; my conversation with Briana. I took the phone from her and saw the message Bri sent after I'd left to help Nate. I didn't like knowing that Bri wasn't able to rest and she was alone there with the others on a mission or patrol. So she wanted me to call her, that was all right with me.

"Girlfriend? Awe, why didn't you tell us, big brother?" Nate asked with a smile.

"Eventually when I knew if things were going to stay stable since we're deployed at the moment. It seems the officers don't care as long as we're doing our jobs. So, announcement, I have a girlfriend," I stated.

"Can we meet her?" Nate wondered.

"Well, she's in Kuwait right now, kiddo and sick at that so gimme a minute okay?" I told him as Nate nodded his head and the others didn't seem to have anything to say. I hit the phone icon on the Skype application, and it started ringing. After three in, there was an answer. "Hello, Milady," I greeted her with a smile.

"Harry, I'm so...glad you called," Briana replied gently, coughing once or twice.

"You sound terrible, babe," I frowned.

"Shut up," Briana mumbled. "Is it Sunday yet?"

"Four more days, gorgeous. Seriously, you don't sound like you have a twenty-four-hour bug. Sounds more like the flu because you're shivering, sniffling, and coughing a lot. Have you been back to the medic since this morning when Skye messaged me?" I asked.

"No. I slept a lot after that. I feel so weak and dizzy, but there isn't anyone to walk with me," Briana stated.

"You shouldn't be by yourself dealing with this. Who authorized that decision? Which TMC did you go to?" I wondered.

"Uh, I think it was the far side of the bathrooms and showers," Briana replied.

"You should have gone to the one past the dragon stables. Closer and they wouldn't have let you stay alone in the barrack if they knew others were leaving," I informed.

"Well, I can't get there now. If I try to walk without someone with me, I'm gonna knock out," Briana coughed again.

"I'll find someone," I stated.

"How? You're way over there in Berkville," Briana pointed out.

"Bri, I thought we established not to doubt me or my ability to make something happen," I chuckled.

"Forgive me oh great one," Briana teased, and I laughed a little. Gods, this woman always did make my day.

"I prefer one who makes the impossible possible. Wait there for a second," I told her as I brought up my friend's list and found Ella online. I clicked the 'add to call' button and waited as her face came on screen, then I turned my camera on, and Briana did the same.

"Hi, Harrison!" Ella greeted with a smile, "Hi Briana,"

"Ella. What are you doing right now?" I asked.

"Sittin' in the barrack with Steph. Why? What's up?" Ella replied.

"Will you two do me a huge favor and walk over to Bri's room and escort her the TMC past the stables?" I asked.

"Sure thing, Harry. We'll be right over, Briana," I heard Stephanie say from the background.

"I owe you one," I said before they got off of the call. "By the way, babe, my brother wants to meet you. Nate, this is Briana. Bri, this is Nate," I said showing her Nate on camera.

"Oh, he's so cute, Harrison. Looks like he could be your twin," Briana complimented as Nate got shy and blushed at what she said.

"Alright you, go get ready for when El and Steph get there. I got a couple of things to do here. Let me know how you feel when you leave the TMC, okay?"

"Aye, aye, one who makes the impossible possible," Briana said as I smiled at her. "I love you, Harrison,"

"I love you too, Briana. Talk to you later, beautiful," I said, and then the call ended as I slipped my phone into my pocket.

"I like her, Harrison. You better not let her go," Nate chuckled.

"I had no intention of doing so, little brother. Briana is freaking fantastic, and hey, she digs the truck too," Harrison smiled as he messed up Nate's hair. At that moment, I saw Addilyn get up and start getting her things to leave with. "Don't feel like hanging out more?" I asked her.

"Hang out? Pfft, yeah, okay. You mean sit around watching you be on your phone? No. No, I don't, Harrison," Addilyn stated as my eyes widened a little.

{Normal POV}

"Um, excuse me? Have I missed something? What crawled up your ass?" Harrison asked now, not understanding the sudden coldness in her voice.

"You and the stupid phone. We haven't seen you in four months, okay? Not since April when you got on that plane to go to Kuwait and finally, you're home again, but all you wanna do is be back there," Addilyn remarked.

"That's not true; I love being home," Harrison countered.

"You sure have a funny way of showing it. Then again, how should we know how you do things? My assumption is that you don't think about anyone but yourself and do whatever it is you want to do and not care who it hurts in the process," Addilyn huffed.

"Because you have room to talk, going through my phone and messages. You realize I could call the cops on you for an invasion of privacy, right?" Harrison stated.

"Do it then. I don't care; I would rather be anywhere else than in the same room as you right now," Addilyn said coldly.

"Alright, look. I know you're all pissed off that I got a girlfriend and didn't tell anyone. It was two weeks ago, Bri and I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be a problem with our CO's first. She hasn't even told her family yet," Harrison informed.

"That doesn't make it any better, Harrison," Frankie pointed out.

"I know I was wrong to be on your phone, but I wanted to know who the hell you were talking to that had you so distracted from your friends and family. You know, the people you haven't seen since April and won't get to see again until after however long you spend in the states," Addilyn enlightened.

"Well, now you know. I was talking to my girlfriend. I was going to tell everyone before I went back. Ya know, I feel like this isn't about me being on my phone," Harrison remarked while crossing his hands over his chest.

"No, it's about you being a cowardly liar to the people you claim to care for," Addilyn scoffed.

"Excuse me?" Harrison asked. "Did you just call me a cowardly liar?"

"Yes, because you are one. This situation is no different than when you took off for four months to do your training after you joined the army. Something else you didn't tell us about until AFTER you did it because didn't care what anyone else though. You just did what you wanted to do, as I said!" Addilyn raised her voice a little.

"Oh, come off it, Addy. I was eighteen, an adult. I don't need to tell people what I'm doing. I wanted to join so I did. What is your fucking problem, huh? Let's hear it. This has nothing to do with my joining the military. You tell me I'm a coward, but you won't even come out and say what has you so ticked off about all this. If I recall, you all told me you supported my decision," Harrison glared.

"You are my problem! All week we've been trying to hang out and talk to you, but you're not here! You're still in Kuwait with your new friends and that girl because that's where you rather be!" Addilyn returned the glare back to him.

"That's what this is about," Harrison said quietly. "Wow, Addilyn. Really? That's what has you so upset? You don't care that I've been talking to my friends in Kuwait or that I joined the army. You care that I'm not single anymore. You don't like that I have a girlfriend now," he added as Addilyn flinched a little.

"It has nothing to do with that," Addilyn defended quickly.

"Yeah, right. You're jealous, and you know it. As soon as you referred to Bri as 'that girl' I knew what this was about. You tell me I'm a coward and you can't even be honest. Some friend you are," Harrison retorted. In a matter of seconds, Addilyn approached him with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, and she smacked Harrison across the face hard. No one moved or talked as Harrison looked back at Addilyn slowly, shocked that she slapped him.

"How dare you you say 'some friend I am' when you led me on after I poured my feelings for you out before you left for Kuwait. I told you how much I liked you, that I wanted to be with you and you said you didn't know how you felt about me and that we'd talk when you got back. Yet here you are four months later with a girlfriend that you had no intention of mentioning!" Addilyn yelled at him.

"I didn't lead you on! I said I had to think about things because you can't expect me to figure out if I return your feelings the night before I leave for my deployment!" Harrison scolded back.

"You've been with this girl for two weeks and have said nothing to me about not returning your feelings. For Odin's sake, you're telling Briana you love her. I wouldn't have cared if you didn't like me back, but you could have said something to me, Harrison! You could have said it anytime, so I wasn't sitting around and hoping you cared about me," Addilyn argued.

Harrison was going to yell back, but he couldn't. Addilyn was right, Harrison should have told her from the beginning that he didn't like her back. "I'm sorry okay. As I said, Bri and I weren't sure if things were gonna work out in the start," he finally said.

"Keep telling yourself that, Harrison and maybe it will start being true. The fact is, you knew I had feelings for you and you didn't care. I've been sitting, waiting, hoping for any answer from you and nothing was known until today when I decided that I had enough of you being so secretive! You're a coward! You don't tell anyone anything until you've already gotten into it because you're scared to get judged on your choices! What makes us judge you is the fact you keep it hidden until it comes out!" Addilyn raged, and then she calmed down a little.

"But whatever right? As long as Harrison is happy, it doesn't matter what he does or who it affects. Thanks for finally letting me know about your feelings, I guess. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go. There's no point being here, and there's zero reason that you and I should continue to be in one another's lives because it's painfully clear that you have new friends you rather be with than us. I know now that I don't have a place in your life anymore. I hope you have a good life, Harrison. Goodbye," Addilyn said as she briskly walked past Spencer and Viviana while trying to hide her tears, exiting the house and getting to her car, then driving off out of sight.

Harrison didn't know what to say or even do. Addilyn stopped being his friend just now, and all he could wonder was if she was right about him. Did his choices affect so many others and hurt them? Finally, Frankie, Regina, and TJ got up as well.

"What Addilyn was trying to go for was that you were afraid to get judged because of your decisions, Harrison. We've been your best friends since 5th grade, and you didn't trust us enough to tell us the things you planned to do. Not with joining the army, or this now with having a girlfriend," Frankie said lightly.

"Yeah. We just want you to be happy and honest with us, but you didn't," TJ added in.

"And you hurt Addy the most," Regina frowned. "See you around I guess. Let us know when you get back,"

"Guys...I-I am back. I'm standing right here," Harrison tried.

"What my sister means is for you to let us know when you're ready to be our friend again. You might be standing there, Harrison, but you aren't here with us. You're still in Kuwait, just like Addy said," TJ interjected. At that, the three of them left. Harrison looked at his parents; the shock on their faces had faded to disappointment.

"Am I going to hear it from you too?" Harrison asked.

"You broke your promise to us, Harrison," Viviana started. "You swore after we learned of you joining the army to keep us in the loop and updated."

"What happened to you? You are not the same person you were two years ago at seventeen," Spencer said next.

"Addilyn was right. You've lied to all of us, didn't tell us the truth in fear of being judged. I-I don't know who you are anymore, but you aren't the boy I raised," Vivian said sadly as she walked away.

"Your friends or ex-friends now, not sure what to call it, are right. You're still in Kuwait, that's where all your new friends are, and it seems that you care for them more than your own family here. I'm going to calm your mother down. In the mean time, maybe you should take a walk or think about things," Spencer said slowly. "Or better yet, maybe you should go back to them. It seems they need you more than we've missed you,"

Harrison couldn't believe this. Addilyn, Frankie, TJ, Regina, even his parents were against him, and he didn't know how to feel about it. Honestly, in a matter of fifteen minutes, Harrison felt like he just lost everything he cared about and it...hurt him pretty badly. Sure, he was wrong for not telling them right away about Briana, but to stop being his friend and say he wasn't himself anymore?

"Big brother? Are you okay?" Nate inquired.

"No. No, I'm not, Nate," Harrison admitted as he made his way towards the stairs. Harrison didn't know what to do, but right now it felt like no one wanted him here anymore. His now ex-friends had left, and his parents were saying they didn't know him anymore and he wasn't himself. Yeah, he was in the wrong. Harrison shouldn't have spent so much time on his phone but he didn't want Briana to think he wasn't thinking about her; he'd never had a girlfriend before. Harrison apologized to them for not speaking up sooner and this felt extreme. Everyone abandoned him, except Nate No one gave him a chance to talk, they all walked away and his father even said he should go back so why should he stick around longer? Harrison made his decision; he was going to go back to Kuwait.