matchmaking for experts || h.s au

eight

"Harry, mate! Wait up!"

Harry stops before he could take the first step that leads him to Matchcierge and glances over his shoulder. He sees Niall jogging up to him, his fingers wrapped around a small cup of coffee, he presumes, and he waits until his friend has caught up to him before he continues his walk up the stairs.

"Wait," Niall says again moments before Harry steps into their office. Harry looks at his friend, brows furrowing in confusion. Concern written all over his face, he asks, "Are you alright?"

Harry expected this. He knew his friends would want to know what happened between him and Maia - considering that neither of them replied to anyone in the group chat. He knew they would be curious, but what he didn't expect was this: sympathy.

"Yeah," Harry answers with a nod. "Of course."

"Are you sure?" Niall asks again and Harry doesn't warrant his friend's second question with an answer as he pushes the door to Matchcierge open and steps inside. He holds the door open for Niall who thanks him as they make their way to their office together. It isn't until they're both seated at their chair that Niall speaks up again, "How's your weekend?"

Harry gives his friend a non-committal shrug and says, "Fine."

It's a lie because his weekend was anything but fine.

After the shitshow at his family's brunch, he went straight home and spent the remaining of his day ignoring calls and messages from his sister whilst also fighting the urge to pick up his phone and contact Maia.

Then on Sunday, instead of waking up early to go for a morning jog and grab his breakfast at a shop near his flat like he usually does, he allowed himself to sleep in and he didn't wake up until it's already noon. Again, he ignored Gemma's calls and messages. He knows he's being unfair to her because she did nothing wrong; in fact, she did everything right. She had his back and he was thankful for that but there's a part of him that's angry with her because she was one of the reasons why he changed his mind at the last minute and, against his better judgment, came to his parents' house. So she probably understands why her brother is ignoring her.

"How was yours?" Harry quizzes before Niall could ask him another question.

"Eh," is his only answer along with a shrug before he redirects the conversation back to Harry. "So are you not gonna tell me what the fuck happened between you and Maia?"

And there it is. The million-dollar question that Harry knows has been at the forefront of Niall's mind since last Friday. Harry spent his weekend figuring out how he's going to play this exact moment out. He considered calling in sick or working from home, but he knew that if he were to do that, his friends would get more suspicious - as if they aren't already. He also considered telling Niall the truth, but that's a risk that he's not willing to take because although he trusts Niall, he has a feeling that if he's pressured enough by the others, he'd open his mouth and tell everyone everything.

"Earth to Harry," Niall says as he waves a hand in front of Harry, who then blinks his eyes once, twice, before he brings his fist up to his mouth to cough into it, clearing his throat. Niall raises an eyebrow at him, still awaiting a reply and Harry realises that all of those thinkings he did over the weekend and the restless sleep he got last night aren't helping. Because he can't, for the life of him, think of a reply.

"Oh, erm, you know, it's a..." Harry trails off as he runs his fingers through his hair, buying himself some time whilst he thinks of something to say. Anything that won't reveal too much about what happened. Finally, he settles on, "We had drinks together."