He's Mine

Chapter 21 - A Best Friend's Advice

He's Mine

Chapter 21 – A Best Friend’s Advice

“Excited for Thursday?” Katie collapsed on Harmony’s bed, making her groan and roll over, head still tucked into her pillow.

“What’s Thursday?” She mumbled sleepily.

“Fireworks night of course!”

“Oh yeah, slipped my mind. Why is so much happening now?”

“Because the end of October and beginning of November are busy times. It’s a shame we have to go to school tomorrow…I enjoyed our week off.”

Harmony murmured her agreement, yawning loudly and getting up, lazily letting the covers fall off her body.

“A lot seems to slip your mind lately,” Katie mused, “you’re so distracted.”

Harmony didn’t reply, it was true of course. Since her birthday and the Halloween party the night before, she couldn’t get Alex off her mind. True, it hadn’t been that long…however even she could admit that he’d been taking up her thoughts long before those events. Only now she kept glancing at the bracelet on her wrist and she was reminded of him, the holiday, how he was around her now…it annoyed her and yet she didn’t want to take it off.

“So, guess who I’m bringing along to the fireworks display?” Katie suddenly asked, her smile spreading from ear to ear.

“Another guy?” Harmony teased, rubbing her eyes as she navigated herself round the room. “Someone I know or someone new?”

“Someone you know, Jason to be precise.”

 “Ah,” Harmony replied, “so the two of you are really hitting it off?”

“Like a house on fire! I haven’t felt chemistry like this before.” Katie sighed dramatically at the last part and Harmony nudged her playfully on the hip.

“Sure, sure; you always say that.”

“I mean it this time though!” She argued.

“Sure you do Kat,” Harmony agreed, already knowing she’d certainly have to see it to believe it. “I think I’m going to have a shower, if you don’t mind. I wasn’t really expecting you to come over so early on a Sunday.”

“Oh come on, it’s like twelve o’clock.”

“Exactly; early.”

Harmony left the room and made her way to the bathroom. After having her shower and putting on a pair of joggers and a vest, she went back to her room. Just as she pushed open the door, she froze and stared at Katie.

Her best friend was perched on the edge of her bed, studying a piece of paper in her hand, her face layered with confusion. Harmony slowly made her way over to her, her blood running cold as she realised what Katie held.

Katie’s words sliced through Harmony’s erratic, worried thoughts. “When was this picture taken?”

Harmony didn’t say anything in reply, instead taking a seat beside her on the bed and gazing at the picture. She already knew what it showed, Harmony smiling brightly at the camera with Alex’s arm wrapped firmly round her waist, his lips on her cheek which was blushing.

“Harmony?”

She looked up at Katie, who seemed fairly calm. Her confusion was clear from the way her eyebrows were pulled in and her nose was slightly wrinkled.

“It was from the summer.”

“This summer?”

“Yes…in Spain.”

“So…you knew Alex? Before he moved here? In Spain?”

“Um…yeah.” Harmony wasn’t sure how to explain anything. Her mouth didn’t seem to want to form any real words, not that her mind could unscramble enough itself.

“You’re not really giving me much here, Harmony. How did you know him?”

“Well we met on the holiday…dad was pretty busy with work and I ended up spending quite a lot of time with him…”

A switch seemed to click in Katie’s mind as she suddenly pieced things together. “So that guy you met on your holiday, that you were really vague about…was Alex? Like our friend Alex?”

“Yes Katie, that is Alex, I know Alex.”

Harmony was getting nervous. Her palms were sweating and she was scared, how would Katie react? She reached out and took the picture from her friend’s hand, quickly sliding it back under her pillow where it had been before.

“Why…why didn’t you mention anything before? I just don’t understand. You acted like you’d just met him when-”

“I’m sorry,” Harmony blurted out. She didn’t know what else to say.

“What? Don’t be sorry, I just don’t understand why you didn’t mention it before…”

Harmony smiled sheepishly at her. “You seemed to really like him when I came back…I didn’t really want to, you know, get in the way…Then things just got a bit out of hand and it was too late really to say anything." 

Realisation dawned on Katie’s face, replaced with a look of disbelief as she stared at her best friend. “Well yeah, but you know me! I like any guy with a gorgeous face and a hot body, if you’d told me you already knew him-”

“I didn’t mind,” Harmony hurriedly replied.

“Well you clearly did, I mean you’ve been off since we came back…it’s all starting to make sense now!”

Katie let a small smile slip on her lips and Harmony frowned. “Wait, why are you smiling?”

“You guys make such a cute couple. Why didn’t I notice it before? I thought you hated the guy. I bet it was just sexual tension.”

Harmony blushed at her comment, picking up her pillow and hitting her with it. “Shut up!”

“It totally was!” Katie cheered, appearing pleased with herself for figuring it out.

“Aren’t you a bit mad at me?” Harmony asked her cautiously.

“Way to bring the mood down,” Katie rolled her eyes, “I’m not mad at you at all. The more I think about it, the more I realise how typical it was of you. I mean if you’d just told me when you first got back…”

“I was too scared,” Harmony explained, smiling sheepishly.

“Of course you were,” Katie sighed. “Well…so what’s happening with the two of you now?”

“Uh, I don’t know.”

Katie studied her friend for a while, noticing how her gaze dropped to her new bracelet. Harmony hadn’t told Katie who’d given it to her, just that it was a family friend.

“He gave you the bracelet didn’t he?” She asked her, grinning proudly when she noticed the blush on Harmony’s cheeks.

“Maybe…”

“That’s so cute!”

“It was actually…” Harmony proceeded to tell her best friend the story behind the piece of jewellery, receiving an adorable ‘aww’ in return.

“So he does like you! Do something about it!” Katie exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

“I’m…I’m a little scared.”

“Oh my god, I know what you can do! This Thursday, when we’re at the fireworks display…you should go up to him, just as they’re all starting. Just grab him and snog him.”

“Wow, your romantic side is really coming out Kat,” Harmony laughed, falling back on her bed with a sigh. “What if things don’t work out between us? How we left it in Spain was…perfect. I’m scared that something more serious won’t work between us.” It felt good being able to speak so openly with her best friend again, she’d missed it.

Katie paused for a moment, thinking about it before collapsing beside her best friend. “You’ll never know till you try; it’s worth the risk…right?”