Goodnight and Go [H.S.]

II

*Two months after the engagement*

"You can do this," I whisper to myself, staring into the mirror in my bathroom. "Do it for Gwen. Do it for Harry. You can do this."

Licking over my bottom lip, I press the cold compress I had been using back over one of my eyes. They were swollen, and so irritated given I had spent a good portion of my night crying.

I would be going to tour a wedding venue with Harry and Gwen today. I was surprised when she told me that she was already trying to narrow down places, but I knew she wanted to get the wedding done as soon as possible. Given that I was Gwen's maid of honor, she wanted me to be involved in a lot of the planning, and of course I agreed. However, agreeing didn't make it any easier on me. If I had it my way, I'd be involved in the planning as little as possible, and I'd only participate in the things that were absolutely necessary.

But I'm too fucking nice, and I agreed to be there for anything she wanted.

I sigh as I realize that my eyes are just going to stay pretty puffy for the day, and I slip my glasses onto the bridge of my nose. I had tried to get my contacts in several times already, but my eyes were so irritated that they felt too uncomfortable for me to wear today.

Flicking the light off, I exit my bathroom, and then I head towards the door. I pull on a light cardigan due to the mid-April treating the city well, and then I'm slinging my purse over my shoulder - walking out. Thankfully this venue was within walking distance from my apartment, so I start down the sidewalk - one earbud in as I listen to music.

Things had been okay over the past few weeks since Gwen's birthday, and the engagement. Harry and I ended up having that dinner that he wanted, and I forgave him for keeping me in the dark about his proposal. I knew he felt awful. Harry is in no way a malicious person, so I knew that he had no ill intent by not telling me.

I'm glad he cleared it all up though because I know how my sister can be, and I've always felt that she was intimidated by Harry and I's friendship. That was something I found extremely ironic considering there would be no 'them' without an 'us' to start, but I would never tell her that. I had seen her jealousy a few times throughout their relationship - one of them in particular always sticking out in the front of my mind.

It was one of the first times I had seen it, but it was after she came to the realization that Harry and I both had butterfly tattoos. This wasn't something that we had done together. I remember when Harry and I both discovered we had them. It was the second or third time we had hung out at his place, and I had taken off my cardigan when he saw the butterflies on my arm.

"I have a butterfly tattoo too," he told me, and he didn't hesitate to lift up his shirt to reveal the ink stained on his stomach.

I never thought anything of it. I never thought that somehow connected me to Harry in any way, but she did. I explained to her not too long after they were dating that we didn't even get them together, and deep down she knew that considering I got them the summer before my first year of college, Harry having done the same with his, but for some reason she was still so hung up on it.

I'll never forget the day she walked into the house, and showed me that she got a small palm tree on the side of her wrist to match the one Harry had on the back of his arm. Part of me wanted to shake Harry, and make him realize what was going on then, but I kept my mouth shut. As much as I love my sister, she's always been like this. She always has to one up me.

The one thing I did have over her, which I knew that she would never do, is that Harry came with me when I got both of my piercings - my septum, and my tongue. When Harry and I went to get my tongue done, he had made the decision that he was going to get his nose pierced as well. I had done the best job of hyping him up on the way there, but when they asked who wanted to go first, I spoke up and said I would.