new york city

3 | whatever

THUD THUD THUD

   Anne woke with a start, all the dogs having gone insane at the loud knocking on their condominium door. She jumped out of bed, grabbed her glasses in haste and thrusting her feet into her slippers and rushing to the door. It had been 3 days since her "date" with Oliver, and since then, Ava had been swamped with work and hadn't had a good night's sleep until, coincidentally, last night.

   Anne didn't need a grumpy Ava first thing in the morning.

   "Just a second!" she shouted from the couch, desperately pulling Ava's hoodie over her barely-clothed top. Bucky meowed loudly and rushed to the door, clawing at it angrily. "Hey, hey stop that!"

   She opened the door, scolding Bucky, and attempting to hold the oversized hoodie over her small form. Her hair had fallen out of the messy bun on her head and was falling in her eyes, making it difficult to see.

  "Hey, sorry I took so long. But maybe next time you could ring the...doorbell," she trailed off at the end, realizing who was at the door. Her face brightened into a wide smile and she threw her arms around the larger male's frame, hardly reaching around his shoulders. His arms wrapped around her petite frame, picking her up and whirling her around in a tight hug.

   "Hey, Annie! It's been forever!" Harry stepped into the condominium, before closing the door, putting her down and nearly falling back due to all the dogs hounding him. "Jesus! When did you get so many dogs?! Not that I'm complaining!"

   Anne laughed at his disheveled form before clumsily helping him up, which was difficult due to his much larger size. Bucky calmly strutted over, before rubbing himself and twisting around Harry's ankles.

   "If it isn't our own Winter Soldier! He's a lot more handsome than our facetimes made him look." Harry exclaimed, picking the Bengal up and rubbing his back. 

   "How old is he now?" he asked, putting Bucky down and absentmindedly heading to the kitchen. Anne followed, scratching Bucky's head as she passes, eliciting a purr from the smaller animal. "Um, I got him on my 17th birthday, so he's turning twelve in about 2 months."

    Harry nodded slightly, still walking around the condominium. "Nice place you have here," he said, heading back towards the living room. Anne jumped when a thud came from upstairs, followed by loud footsteps and a shout of frustration as well as a string of mumbled profanities.

 "Boyfriend?" he asked, brows furrowed in confusion. Anne laughed and shook her head. "No, absolutely not. It's my roommate, aka my female best friend. But you can call her-"

   "I knew I wasn't a weak-ass bitch! Anne! Anne! Remember how I was crying last night over accidentally dropping my pen! I'm actually on my... period?" Ava's sentence ended in a question when she saw Harry standing in their living room, a gentle, yet amused, smile on his face.

   "Uh, who's this?" she asked soberly, walking down the steps slowly. Her dogs rushed up the stairs past her, probably to claim the warm bed she had just been laying in. She stumbled on the last step, catching herself at the last moment, and more mumbled profanities followed

   "This is Harry. He's my best friend from primary school. Before he moved away, that is. Now, he's kinda, whatever." Harry looked at Anne in mock hurt, before jabbing her side, earning a loud squeal. She glared at him as he walked over to Ava, and he put his hand out to shake hers.

   "As she said, I'm Harry. Her 'whatever' apparently." Ava laughed slightly, and took his hand, shaking it firmly. "And I'm Avani. You can call me Ava though."

  Anne noticed that they took an immediate liking to each other, and a devious smile rose on her lips. 

    "Oh, yeah Anne," Ava said, glimpsing over at the smaller girl who watched her two best friends amusedly. "Your phone was buzzing when I was stepping out. It sounded urgent 'cause whoever was calling you wouldn't shut up."

   "Thanks." With that, Anne walked upstairs, scratching Marmalade's passing head as he walked downstair. Her phone was, in fact, still buzzing on her bedside table and she swiped the green button. "Hello?"

   "Anne! Jesus Christ woman what were you doing, taking a shit?! You need to get to my office in ten minutes. I need to talk to you." The phone cut off, leaving Anne dumbfounded before she realized what her manager just said. 

   TEN MINUTES!!

   She sprinted to the bathroom, brushing her teeth with one hand and brushing her hair with the other, then changing into leggings and a graphic tee, before dashing to the front door, nearly tripping over multiple dogs. She barely caught a glimpse of Ava and Harry sitting in the living room talking over a cup of coffee before she nearly tripped again, this time over the small pile of shoes that had built up beside the door.

   "Alright, I'm off. Don't make babies, use protection. Wrap it before you tap it, yeah? Bye, I love you both!!!" She shouted over her shoulder and she slipped her running shoes on before sprinting out the door, barely grabbing her keys and wallet in time before her arm got caught in the doorway.

  "I'm here, I'm here! I'm not late am I?"

   Her manager looked up, a disbelieving smile on her face. "You actually came within ten minutes! I expected you to be, like, a half hour late."

   "So, I'm... I'm not... late," Anne managed to heave through gasps of breath. They really needed to get an elevator in this place. She finally noticed the male sitting at the large table in the middle of the room, watching her, an amused smile on his face.

  Oliver.

  "Oh, hey," she said awkwardly, waving slightly flicking her eyes between her manager and the model. What is going on? Her manager stood, clasping her hands together jovially and Anne felt like a stone had dropped in her stomach. Her manager was up to something. What a snake.

   "Oliver here contacted me the other day saying that he thoroughly enjoyed his date with you three days ago. So, I thought that you two should make a public appearance!" her manager squealed in joy and Anne's blood ran cold.

   "You're making it sound like we're, a, a thing," she said apprehensively, slowly sitting in one of the chairs across from her manager and Oliver. Her manager smiled evilly, and Oliver smirked and she knew. He had won.

    "Well of course. I mean, you've been secretly dating for the past few months and the only reason you're coming out with the relationship now is because," Her manager sighed dreamily and Anne resisted the urge to hurl on the expensive carpet under her feet. 

    "You're engaged!"

    ~Sarah