Harley's ~James Barnes~

I love you more

"Hey, I heard yelling? Everything okay?" Maddy asks while walking into my room.

Like Professor Banner said, the walls are thin. You can't exactly hear what people are saying but you can hear the sounds of muffled voices.

She sees me crying and she immediately walks up to me as she takes a seat next to me to wrap her arms around me.

"I saw Stephanie and Emma when I left my room. What happened? Is this about the funeral? Harley if you don't wanna come, I'll be fine." Maddy says with a little smile while stroking the back of my head.

"It's not about the funeral. Stephanie changed the date to one week after, but I'm supposed to meet James' mom and she's ill so it's probably the only time we can visit her. But it's one the day Stephanie's trip is."

"Is that why you're crying?" Maddy asks while making her lips thin because she knows that's not why I'm crying.

"I have a big day tomorrow and they didn't even wish me good luck. Not before the fight, or anything and nobody asked if I'm ready or if I need help." I cry.

"The only thing I hear is gossiping about how I'm possibly going to do this. I try to be everywhere for everyone. I try to... I don't know, make my friends happy by supporting them. I get nothing." I can't stop crying what's wrong with me.

"I canceled Emma's trip because you got hurt, I can't join Stephanie because of your parents' funeral, and I can't go on the new date of Stephanie's trip either because of James' mom and now she ends the friendship?" I say as I wipe my tears away.

"Hey, don't let Stephanie ruin your big day tomorrow. Fuck her. You don't need her. I could hear her yell at you from all the way in my room and it's not okay." She says while she places my head against her chest.

"I won't let her ruin your career like that. You know how they call that? Fucking jealousy." Maddy scoffs.

"No, no Stephanie isn't jealous that I can talk to Adrianna-" I say as I look up, but she pushes my head back against her chest.

"Shh, Shh. Stop trying to talk it right. Look at you, you're a mess. You can't go to court tomorrow while your mind is on Stephanie and the fight."

"Harley, if it goes wrong tomorrow, that's on Stephanie. Because you can't leave your best friend like this one day before a special day. You can't do that to a friend. It's like breaking up with your boyfriend before his soccer game."

I pull away and sit straight again as I wipe my tears away. "I'm fine. It was just a fight. Everything that's going to happen tomorrow has absolutely nothing to do with the way I feel right now. believe me." I nod.

She looks at me like she doesn't believe and she's still gonna blame Stephanie for all the mistakes I'm gonna make tomorrow even though I'm not that upset. I mean, I am upset because she basically ended our friendship, but I will never let that have any influence on my career.

I take it back, I don't need Emma and Stephanie to wish me good luck or asking me if I want help. I can do it perfectly fine without them. If they don't wanna be friends with me, that's their loss. I've done nothing wrong, and I can be a good lawyer with just James' help. I just need him, that's all.

"It's late, I think I'm gonna grab some food downstairs before heading to bed." I tell her so she will leave.

"Alright." She smiles and she gives me a kiss on my forehead.

"Goodnight." I say before she walks out. "Goodnight." She smiles.

As soon as Maddy is gone, I wait for her room door to close before I walk out of my own room. I make sure all my tears are away before I look for James.