BABY! HARVEY MILLS.

THIRTY ONE !

"i broke up with jess."

his words were concise, straight to the point. nothing extra to his tone, no sadness, no anger, just emptiness. there was nothing to them.
as if the break up really didn't mean anything to him.

"y-yo-you w-what?" stella asked, confused.

"just an hour ago actually. we got to our hotel, she called me going on about how she didn't want me to go and see you today and if i did she'd dump me. so, i broke up with her."

the way harvey described it made it sound so meaningless to him. as if breaking up with someone was no big deal. that alone was enough to confirm her suspicions that he was THAT guy.

"but, why? i mean..i thought you liked her," stella exclaimed, earning a dry shrug from harvey in response.

"i think you and me both know i didn't really. plus, max has been giving me talks ever since i got with her, constantly reminding me about what she did to me back then," harvey explained, missing out the part where max had shown harvey stella's message admitting her feelings just moments before his call
with jess took place.

"with caution of overstepping, do you mind me asking what happened?"

harvey sighed, knowing it had to come out eventually.
"we dated for two solid years, you know, i felt like i was really falling in love with this girl. then i was sent a video one night of her and some older guy at this party. anyway, turns out she was cheating on me for the last three months of our relationship," he explained briefly. harvey didn't want to admit to stella that it broke him and caused him to deal with having new found trust issues, he didn't want her to see him as weak. he didn't plan on mentioning it to stella, but her coming into his life when she did was the thing that helped him the most.

stella's jaw had dropped wide open.
she was shocked. she didn't know how someone like harvey could have ever been cheated on, yet suddenly everything made sense. his grouchiness, refusal to talk to her at the beginning. the boy had been hurt, and she felt for him. truly.

"why on earth would you even think about going back to her after that!" stella exclaimed, feeling a sense of anger yet not knowing why.

"i don't know! i know it was dumb but i did it anyway! but now i'm free," harvey said,
staring contently at the girl sat before him.

"yes you are, and i say cheers to that!" stella said, raising her glass of water and clinking it against harvey's as the pair giggled.
"for real though, i'm sorry she treated you that way, harvs."

harvey shrugged, "it is what it is. it's happened, and now it's time for me to move on."

stella smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
she so badly wanted to confess her true feelings for the boy in the very moment, but she resisted.
she was too scared of embarrassment if he didn't feel the same way.

little did she know he already knew.

"i admire that. if someone did that to me i'm almost one hundred percent sure i'd curl up in a ball and just cry for like the rest of my life," stella said, chuckling in order to try and make harvey feel better. which didn't really make sense considering he seemed perfectly fine with the break up.