A long road to happy

Chapter 1: Plus 1

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Slowly opening my eyes, 'Ugh, what the hell' I thought, hitting my alarm as I shield my eyes from the bright bedroom light.

"OK, google, Brightness 50. . . . 'Seriously,' i think as nothing changes. "Why the hell do you never listen to me?! OK, GOOGLE, BRIGHTNESS 50!!". As the lights finally dim, I let out a sigh of content, "I swear to god, one of these days I'm going to replace your ass with an alexa, stupid thing."

'Yup, now I'm threatening an inanimate object, I need to spend more time with actual people,' I think as I chuckle to myself. 

Slowly, I stretch and get myself out of bed. As I make my way to the bathroom, I freeze at the sudden remembrance of what today is. 

"Holy crap, today is secret party day." I mumble out loud, a mixture of excitement and anxiety hitting me all at once. 'It's all good Harley, you've got this. You've got this.' I think, whilst trying to talk myself out of an anxiety attack. 'There is absolutely nothing to worry about, it's only a party where the only people you will know are yourself and Danny. . . . No no no, wrong line of thinking, no, what I mean is at least you will know someone there, yeah, positive spin, you won't be on your own, besides, its Danny, Danny is awesome, lets call him, yeah, that'll help'.

I sit on the edge of the bed, playing with the spinner ring on my middle finger, wondering how i get myself into these situations. 

**Memory/Flashback**

Sitting in a spoons at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday with Danny, Rachel, and Sky, glasses and pitchers scattered across the table. 

"I love a good afternoon drinking session!, what more could you want with a Saturday afternoon?" Sky asks. 

"I dunno, a bathroom that isn't 1000 miles away, down the steepest stairs in history and along the creepiest corridor known to man?" I chuckle whilst slurring my words slightly.

"Oh, oh, aaaannnnd, why the fuck is the women's toilets ALWAYS further away than the men's? That's pretty sexy if you ask me" I add on whilst pointing at my 3 mates in front of me. 

"Umm, I think you mean sexist? Don't you Harley?" Danny just about gets out through fits of laughter as the other 2 cover their mouths sniggering.

I narrow my eyes, scrunching my eyebrows together in thought, mouth open ever so slightly "thats what I said, wasn't it?" I say whilst trying to recall the exact phrasing of my earlier statement "ohhhh, hahaha ha, sexy, sexist, it's all semantics, my point still stands." I say whilst swishing my hand around dismissively as I down my last shot and stand up to start the long trek to the bathroom.

As I return, I hear them bickering between themselves, as I get closer to the table Rachel spots me. "Harley, help us out here, Danny boy just told us he has a "work" party to attend next month", she says whilst using air quotes when saying work. "He won't tell us anything about it, but has said he needs to find a date, apparently they all think he's gay, so he's made up a girlfriend that he now has to bring to said party" Rachel chuckles out

"I mean, I know my dress sense doesn't help me, but these bad boys must help." he says flexing his 'guns' and lifting his very tight shirt to show off his six pack.

"Why? Because gay men can't be buff?" Sky questions in an incredulous manner. 

"Guys, we're getting off topic here, Danny's an idiot, gay guys can be however they want to be, including buff as fuck. . . So, Harley, should Danny take the fabulous Sky as his date, or the Incredible, sexy, drop your jaw to the floor beautiful me?" Rachel asks, looking at me expectantly 

"Um, hold your horses, why is it just between  you two?" I ask pointing between Sky and Rachel. "Why am I not in the mix?"

All 3 of them look at me with a dead straight face for a split second, then look at each other and burst out laughing. 

"What's so funny?" I ask "did someone tell a joke?" I deadpan 

They stop giggling, looking at me "Harley, don't take this the wrong way, your face morphs into one of disgust when a guy even asks you to dance, how are you going to pretend to be his girlfriend for a whole night? You'd have to hold his hand, dance with him, have his hands around you and on your waist, you might even have to kiss." Sky says

'I am so gay, the thought of having to do those things with a guy, any guy, disgusts me. I'd have to do that with my best friend? Oh god, I'm gonna barf. . . . No, no, you got this, you're a fully grown ass woman, you can pretend to be his girlfriend for 1 night, even if its just to prove that you can to the three stooges sat in front of me. Now pretend like the idea isn't that bad. ' I snap back to reality 

"Well, yeah, I can do all of that. . . Maybe the whole kissing thing would be weird, Danny is my best friend, he's practically a brother" I say, scrunching my face up. "But, I think I could do it. I mean, I know everything about you." I say looking at Danny. " There is no one else here who knows more about him than i do. I know his likes, his dislikes, his top celeb crushes, which guys he'd swing that way for." "TOM HARDY" Danny pretty much screams, earning glares from the other patrons of the pub. He sheepishly holds his hand up in apology and slides down his seat a little to hide his embarrassment.

 "Don't pretend like he's the only one" I say whilst winking at him, a smirk playing on my lips as he blushes slightly and looks away

"OK, fine, you wanna play this game?" He asks whilst sitting up straight, seemingly finding his confidence again, "Let's make it interesting" an evil smirk grows on his face as he thinks. "IF, you can find a guy tonight, spend some time with them being friendly, chatting for at least 2 hours without him questioning if you are gay or frigid. . . You can be my date." He sits back with the smuggest look on his face. . . Oh, this mother fucker, this absolute bellend, he thinks i wont do it. He thinks he's got me, he thinks he's called my bluff and I'm about to fold, go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. . . . I mean, he's right, he's totally right, he's my best friend, he knows he's right too. . . The problem is, he hasn't fully assessed the situation. If I was sober, I would 100% fold, no chance, I'm not flirting with a guy, laughing at their shit jokes whilst fluttering my eyelashes and leaving subtle little touches on their arm and biceps. I'd normally rather stab myself in the hand. . . .Notice the choice of words there? Normally? 

If he was sober, he would've gone harder on those conditions, in his drunken state he has forgotten to calculate my stubbornness and need to prove a point when challenged, this only gets 10x worse when I'm under the influence. . . I cannot wait to see his face drop when i accept his terms, and obviously win this little competition. The game is fucking on you little shit

"Those conditions sound reasonable enough to me" I offer offhandedly whilst sitting back and sipping on my drink to hide my smirk

All 3 jaws drop whilst looking at me

**End Memory/Flashback**

I sigh at the memory and my idiocy, why didn't i just leave it be. . . Stupid drunk me. I let myself fall back on the bed and call Danny. 

"Hey! I can't believe you made it to 10am before calling me! I was sure I'd be getting a call at 8am!" Danny chuckles down the phone. 

"What can I say? I like to keep you on your toes, you know, mix it up a bit. Anyway, are you going to give me details of this party? All I know is when to get to yours and I'll be staying the night at a, and I quote, swanky hotel." 

"OK, I'm trusting you with this, Har, no telling anyone. . . So, it's a 'we're half way through filming  yay' party. . . . There's going to be a couple names and faces you're going to recognise, please don't freak out about it." He says through the phone whilst running his hand down his face

"Freak out? Me, nah, I'm cool, I'm soooooo cool. I mean, when am I not cool?" I say, totally starting to freak out. What have I got myself Into, why did I compete to be his plus 1? I sigh

"OK. . . . Let's go through the girlfriend story one more time. . ." He says. This is going to be a long day. . . .