BABY! HARVEY MILLS.

FIFTY !

a few days had passed since the last time stella had spoken to either of the twins. she wasn't intentionally avoiding max but she knew if she was to speak to him he would ask about harvey, and that wasn't pain she wanted to go through.

she decided it was time to move on, try her hardest to forget harvey and continue with her life before she met him; drama free.

"so what did you think of the movie?" sam asked as the pair began walking back from their local cinema to stella's house.

she knew going to see a movie with sam would cheer her up. being with him always did.

"it was good," stella replied, no texture to her tone.

sam frowned, "stella, i know something's wrong. you're normally so quick to give me a full review of any movie we see and now you're silent when we both know you analysed every second. you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you know you can always talk to me."

stella nodded and turned to meet sam's sympathetic glance, "i know, sorry. it's just...."

stella paused.

she had never actually spoken the words out loud, she had never physically admitted her break up with harvey out loud, and she was scared. to say it out loud meant that it was finally over and she had to accept it. so why was she holding back if this was what she thought she wanted?

"me and harvey....we..we broke up," she stuttered. the words came from her mouth with hesitation, but they came out. and it was over.

sam gasped.
"oh stella, i'm so sorry! this was not what i was expecting! what happened?"

"he cheated with his ex," stella muttered,
the sorrow was detectable in her tone. it was clear to sam that the girl before her was broken, and he hated seeing her so hurt.

"what a dick! are you serious?"

stella nodded. she turned to face sam as she heard the hum of anger that resonated from the back of his throat.

"i never liked that guy," the outraged boy spoke.

stella furrowed her eyebrows, "what?"

she couldn't imagine he meant any harm by this comment but she couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach from it either.

"with risk of overstepping, long distance relationships don't tend to work out in the long run. in a relationship you need that physical affection to stay close to one another, so really, i'm not surprised the dick did something like this."

stella gulped, trying to rid the dryness that was now dominating her mouth. the words coming from her best friend's mouth seemed foreign to her. this was not the sam she knew.

"my apologies, sam, but i don't really see how this is something you should have an opinion on," stella retorted, a tinge of anger flowing throughout her words.

sam sighed, "i don't mean any harm, stella. i'm your best friend and i just don't want to see you get hurt is all."

stella smiled at the genuineness in his voice, "thank you, sam, really. but i can look out for myself."

"whatever you say, " he began, "all i'm saying is, if i was your boyfriend i wouldn't even dream of treating you with such disrespect."

stella kinked a brow and turned to look at sam sharply, hoping she had misheard the words that seemed to come from her best friends lips with no ounce of hesitation, like he thought they were okay.
her nostrils flared at the parallel he was very obviously drawing, "what are you implying?"

sam held his hands up in the air as an act of surrender to the very obvious edge in her tone, "hey, hey, i'm not implying anything. it was just a statement."

stella paused for a second, piercing the boy with her narrowed glare before mustering up the courage to reply with a question she needed an answer to, "do you - wow okay.....this is going to make me sound like such a narcissist. i promise i'm not a narcissist, okay? i just want to know so i can stop overthinking." stella couldn't believe the words that were about to come from her mouth. she was not one to usually ask anything of the sort that she was about to, but this time it felt different. this time she felt obliged to ask for the sake of her own sanity. "do you...like me? as in, more than a friend type of way?"

sam smirked before shamelessly nodding — almost as if he was waiting for her to ask. "of course i like you, stella. what's not to like? you're incredible. i mean look at you! you're literally the prettiest girl i've ever seen, and you're so funny, brilliant in school, just an all round amazing person." all of the blood has rushed to stella's face, the whites of her eyes doubling at the unstrained and unexpected confession. "i've always liked you. and i hope i don't sound stupid when i say, i know you feel the same way."

the pair had neared stella's house now and she couldn't wait to jump into her bed and hide away from all of the sudden complications forming in her once so plain life style.

she felt sick to her stomach. she couldn't bare telling the boy before her that she didn't return his feelings — not even slightly. he had put his heart on the line here and although she was angry, she cared about the boy too deeply to want to upset him.

"sam, i-"

"no she fucking doesn't."