✓ | 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 ━━ 𝒋𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕

𝒙𝒙𝒗. ━━ 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆

(    ☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:     )
━━━━ STEAL YOUR HEART,
the one where austin visits harley!

      𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓, scrolling through her social media when a rhythmic knock echoed against the trailer door. she furrowed her brows, locking her phone and tossing it on the empty spot next to her. "pizza delivery for harley!" said a funky voice from the other side of the door. harley's face scrunched up before she got up from the couch and took at couple of steps toward the door and opened it as she said, "i didn't order any—"

    a gasp escaped harley's pink plump lips when she saw who was in front of her. there stood austin brown holding a box of pizza with a wide smile on his face.

    once the shock wore off, an excited squeal left her mouth as she quickly ran down the three steps connected to her trailer before tackling austin, making him drop the box of pizza before hugging her back.

    it took harley a minute or two before releasing austin from her bone crushing hug, and austin grinned at her. he had missed his best friend and her hugs because it was known by everyone who knew the cooper girl — harley gave the best hugs. they had a tendency to just swallow you in just the right amount of warmth that made you wanna melt into them and sometimes, people did.

    "what are you doing here, bubs?" she questioned austin after he picked up their pizza and they finally made it inside her trailer to sit down on her quite comfortable couch.

austin cringed. he didn't want to admit that he had underlying intentions in his visit to see her, hazel had called him to talk some sense into her and while he was hesitant, he wouldn't pass up an opportunity to see his best friend. "do i have to have an ulterior motive? can't i just miss my best friend enough to come see her?"

harley sent him a pointed look.

    a defeated sigh escaped austin's mouth. "okay, hazel called me and said you were being dumb so i figured that me being here with pizza would soften the blow. . ." he admitted with a guilty look on his baby face.

    "are you serious?" harley asked incredulously, taking his silence as an answer, she scoffed lowly. she couldn't believe hazel actually sent austin to try and talk some sense into her for something that wasn't even her concern. . . wait, scratch that. yes, she could actually see hazel doing something like this.

    at least now she understood what hazel meant when she texted that she had to call in the calvary. harley shook her head. "i don't need this, austin," she gritted out, feeling her anger start to rise. she loved her best friends with her whole heart but they didn't know what it was like to be cheated on and to feel that lack of trust in men afterward. they didn't know how horrible it felt so they had no right to rush her into something that she was not ready for.

austin rolled his eyes. now he knew what hazel meant, harley was pushing everyone away to avoid talking about her problems. typical harley, he mused. she always did this when things got difficult. "oh, wow, shocker! harley cooper shutting down when things get too hard," he clipped out, sarcasm laced in his tone as he watched her storm away from him and toward her mini fridge to grab a bottle of apple juice.

harley froze for a split second. austin never snapped at anyone, he was the sweetest one out of the three best friends. she shook her head, slamming the fridge door with her apple juice in hand. "what the hell do you want from me, austin?!" she cried out, throwing her hands up in defeat. it was easier for her to just ignore her growing problems but with austin in front of her, it was becoming difficult.

which was, unknown to her, a part of the plan.

"i want you to talk to someone!" austin shouted, his eyes softening as he lowered his voice, walking toward the distressed girl. "this isn't healthy. you can't just keep ignoring your problems, thinking they're inevitably going to go away, they're not and you have to deal with them."

    she knew. she knew he was right. tears of frustration pricked at her eyes as she twisted the cap off of her bottle of juice before taking a gulp of it, she was mentally preparing for what she was about to admit. "johnny was our best friend first," she started, keeping her eyes on the black and white keyboard a few feet away from her.

"johnny was our best friend before i fell in love with him and he still cheated. now, here i am — repeating history. josh is the sweetest human and he has easily become one of my closest friends so i am so fucking scared to admit that i am falling in love with him. because i am, i am falling in love with him and his kind eyes, bright smiles, melodic laugh, corny pick up lines, and thoughtful personality."

austin smiled softly at harley, she was already in love with him. he approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her glance up at him with her teary brown eyes. "harls, you know i'll love and support you no matter what but please don't keep living the rest of your life in fear, you're not truly living that way."

"you're right," harley breathed out in a whisper, smiling at him softly. she needed to hear that.

austin shrugged his shoulders. "of course i am," he grinned smugly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "now, come on, let's watch lilo and stitch and eat this probably now cold pizza."