Permanent [H.S. || A.U.] - Book 2 - ON HOLD

Chapter 9

Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had

Alayna, my best friend, is finally meeting Harry today.

I know it sounds weird that Harry and I have been dating for about two months now and my best friend has yet to meet him. But she has actually been out of town the past two months.

I guess she met some big shot guy who travels a lot for work. It was kind of weird to me when she told me that she had only been seeing the guy for a few weeks before he asked her to come travel with her for two months while he does some work stuff.

But I'm not her mother and Alayna is as grown woman in her thirties. She can do what she wants.

I've been watching her dog, Cookie, while she has been away.

Cookie has met Harry. He actually loves Harry, probably a little too much.

I literally caught Cookie trying to hump Harry's leg the other day.

It was actually quite funny, Harry was standing there looking panicked and confused, trying to shoo Cookie away while he was going to town on Harry's leg.

I think that Cookie likes Harry for many reasons, but the main one being that Harry tends to be a little heavy handed on the dog treats.

I don't know what Alayna meeting Harry is going to entail. We are meeting her new boy thing today too. I say 'thing' because she never told me exactly what they are.

I suggested that the four of us go out to a bar for the evening. Drinks and some food sounds like a nice neutral territory for the whole 'meeting the boyfriend' venture.

Harry is a nervous guy by nature and Alayna is very...not. She is loud, not afraid to say what's on her mind, and also very protective over me.

Alayna is an only child and she's also a good five years older than me. Safe to say that we have a bit of a big sister, little sister, friendship.

Though, she is older, I sometimes ending up feeling like the big sister with how reckless she can be.

But I don't mind. I love Alayna and she's my best friend.

My idea for going out to a bar was suspiciously shot down by Alayna, though. She said that her man doesn't like being in crowded public places. Which I totally understand, Harry is the same way. But Harry has actually gotten better with crowds. We have gone out a few times, just the two of us, and as long as he takes breaks to go get some air and we sit somewhere towards the wall where there aren't as many people he usually is pretty good for an hour or two.

I didn't try and push it, though, when Alayna said no to going out. Her boy thing might have his own anxieties about going out. And nobody struggles with anxieties the same way, or handles them the same way. Like how Harry has worked to find ways to deal with his anxiety about crowds, that might not work for everyone.