Petal [h.s.]

SEVEN - LET ME IN

"What the fuck was that about?"

I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect this.

Buffy stomped into my shop, her eyes on fire as she approached me, looking angrier than I'd ever seen her. She was the calm one of us, always level-headed and non-reactive to situations that set me off. She'd only gotten loud with me a handful of times in our lifetime of friendship, but this time was probably the loudest. I couldn't even be upset. She had every right and I knew that.

"Buff, I'm sorry..." I breathed out, shaking my head at her.

"How could you do that to me? My first day! Harry, that was so embarrassing... do you think before you fucking act anymore? Or are you just running on pure rage at this point?" She was on a rampage, clearly needing to get all of this off her chest, so I just stood there in silence and let her speak.

"You know what? You need therapy. I'm sorry about what happened to your mom, Harry. I am so fucking sorry. But this person you've turned into since? It's not good. You are so mean and cold and... and Arabella doesn't deserve any of that! You don't even know her well enough to be storming into her shop and screaming at her over a package!" Buffy stepped back, breathing heavy, her eyes flickering over my face.

I looked down at my hands, seeing that they were clenched into fists against the counter, and I forced them to unwind. She was right. I had no excuses and no rebuttal. It had been over three years now and the wound was still fresh for me as if it happened yesterday. I'd done the least amount of work to heal from it all, I avoided it and I let myself get angry instead and I took that anger out on everyone who loved me until they didn't love me anymore. Buffy was the only one left who did and I was ruining that, too.

I just didn't know what to do with all of these feelings. They were confusing and hard for me to accept. The hole inside of me felt like it would never heal for the longest time and then I just went numb instead.

"You're right." I whispered to her, nodding as I looked back up at her, ashamed of the way I hurt her. "But Arabella..."

The door let out a quiet ding as it opened and we both looked over to see Arabella walk through, as if I summoned her to me by saying her name once. My chest tightened at the sight of her, but Buffy relaxed visibly, turning to give me a stern look as a warning.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt..." Arabella said, moving further into the store, her eyes looking all around. I watched her take in my shop, looking curious and impressed with it all, the complete opposite of how I took in her own shop.

"That's okay. We were just talking about you." Buffy said, raising her eyebrows at me and jerking her head toward her new boss, wanting me to jump in.

I shook my head at her, widening my eyes, "No."

"I need some flowers for my dad. He likes sunflowers." Arabella said, her eyes flickering over the various flowers in the shop.

I watched her bend over to inhale some pink daisies, grimacing afterwards at the smell. She scratched her nose, shaking her head, "I hate the smell of flowers. Living next to you is kind of a nightmare for me."