𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 {𝑯.𝑺}

Chapter Forty | Friendly Favors

"I'm going to pay you back."

"Nonsense," Harry sighed. "It's a gift Mia. Please, take it."

I shook my head adamantly, disregarding his words. "I'm going to pay you back."

I took in our surroundings, trying to come to terms with the past 72 hours. We were standing in an apartment-my apartment. It was new. I had just moved into it today, thanks to Harry.

He handled everything. All I needed to do was the process of fingerprinting and a background check; but luckily that didn't take long to do.

He was determined to get me off of Alice's couch. "You need your own home," He kept saying. "You deserve at least that."

So here we were, three days later in an empty apartment. I was grateful for Harry. I hated to admit it, but I was glad to have someone like him that was willing to do this much for me. I was always the one looking after people, but I never had anyone who would support me to this extent. Of course I had Alice, but I wasn't sure if she'd do this much for me-not in the same way that Harry has.

Harry and I came to a compromise: I would pay him back as soon as I could. He spent a big chunk of money on the application fee, move-in deposit and other additional costs. To him, these expenses barely amounted to anything. But that wasn't the case for me, and it meant a lot for me to pay him back. I didn't want to owe Harry a single dime.

My apartment was in a decent area, closer to my job and easily affordable. It was small and I had already encountered a handful of frat boys that were my neighbors. But it was definitely something that I loved the moment we found it. I could tell that Harry looked for places that would best fit me.

"It'll be a few months," I added. "I can't pay you back all at once, but I cross my heart that I will."

Due to my dry bank account and student debt, I was stretched thin. It was a miracle that I was able to foot the bills of my dad's house for so long. But I now had my own place, which meant that I only had to take care of myself. And even though that made me feel weird to think about, I knew that I would have less stress financially.

"Okay, okay. Whatever you want." Harry waved me off, "Wanna go furniture shopping? It'd be fun! Somewhere like Ikea." He grinned, green eyes shinning with hope. "I'll treat."

A flicker of irritation filled me but it quickly dissolved when I noticed his excitement.

It was annoying to have to deal with Harry constantly flashing money towards me, yet endearing all the same. There wasn't any malice behind it, he meant well. It was just exhausting to deal with sometimes.

"This was supposed to be a fun vacation for you." I replied. "You're not supposed to be saving me from homelessness and going lousy furniture shopp-"

"It's not lousy. And I'd happily save you over and over again," He grinned cheekily. "As long as I'm with you, I'm content. So stop being a spoilsport, will you? I traveled all the way from England to be here with you, Mia."

I tried to fight the smile from stretching across my face. But I couldn't help it. My heart fluttered as I remembered that Harry came to New York for me. It was flattering.

"Okay. But no Ikea. I want to do something less boring." I also didn't have the funds to buy loads of furniture on a whim. But I was too embarrassed to tell him that.

Gotta love the wonderful side effects of living paycheck to paycheck...

"Okay," He gave in. "What exactly are you proposing?"

I glanced at the clock. It was 10 in the morning.

Harry seemed to grow apprehensive by the small laugh that left my tongue. He quirked an eyebrow as I grinned.

"Do you have a pair of tights and lyrical turners?"