The Only Exception | W2S

TWENTY TWO.

"George, I've kissed you! I've basically got Guinea Pig on my lips," she says, her mouth wrinkled in disgust. 

"So melodramatic," he grins, reaching out and pulling her towards him gently. "Obviously I've washed my teeth since then. Thoroughly," he tells her, and it seems to ease her disgust - if only a tiny bit. 

"What about you, Holly? Anything as exciting as eating Guinea Pig?" Arthur asks lounging on our sofa. He'd been very busy recently - he was a popular man, and had been collaborating with a lot of other YouTubers as of late, but he'd given himself a week off, just to relax. It was the first time we'd spent a day together, all of us. 

"Uh, no," I lie, scratching my head. "Just - y'know, saw the Colosseum, ate pizza, played tennis, made pasta and yeah - drank too much alcohol," I explained, and at least this part wasn't a lie. They didn't need to know that I slept with Harry. That I couldn't get it out of my mind. That I'd quite literally broken both of our hearts. 

George glanced at me, and I made the mistake of looking back at him, quickly looking away before I had a chance to reveal I was lying. He knew me too well, and I knew that he would recognise a guilty face. My guilty face. 

"Oh, yeah. The Maradonna Spritz segment was my favourite part of the entire video. Never seen you so wasted in my life," Arthur chuckles, blissfully unaware of what wasted Holly had gotten up to. 

"In my defence, Italian's make their drinks with lethal substances. I've never enjoyed a drink that reminds me so strongly of...petrol," I settle on, making everyone in the group laugh. 

"Did you bring us back any souvenirs?" Arthur asks, because - well, because of course he does. 

"Way to ruin the surprise," I complain, lightly rolling my eyes. "Yes, I did, actually. They're in my room, give me one sec," I explain, climbing up to my feet, and retreating to my room. 

My phone was in here, which I'd done on purpose, and the lock screen displayed a few messages from Harry that I'd been ignoring for the last two days. 

From: Harry 

Hey, hope you're okay? Chris was on about inviting you to another pub golf, in Germany, he asked if I could ask you first 

Hey, thought about the pub golf yet? 

Holly, are we okay?

More importantly, are you okay?

Am I picking you up tomorrow like usual?

I knew I had to reply to him at some point, but everything still felt a little too raw at the moment. It was cruel, and I knew it, but in the name of my own self-preservation, I continued to ignore the messages. I could reply later tonight. Or maybe tomorrow. 

Tomorrow was Thursday. 

Yet again, I tucked everything to do with Harry into the back of my mind, and focused on the present. I couldn't afford to withdraw from reality right now - there was too much going on for me to do that. 

The bag with everyone's presents were in the corner of my room, and I grabbed it, not giving my phone, nor Harry a second thought. 

"George, that's for you, Hattie, that one is yours, and Arthur - there you go," I say, handing out each little souvenir to my friends.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Arthur says suspiciously, eyeing up his present. 

"I believe she is trying to tell you that you need to get laid," George adds in, and Hattie and I cover our mouths, trying not to laugh. 

"And how do you know that I'm not?" Arthur shoots back, perhaps too quickly, which makes George and I both raise our eyebrows in surprise. 

"Arthur, we have lived together far too long. I would know if you were getting laid," George says arrogantly, and Arthur's shoulders deflate a little. 

"It's alright, Arthur. If George keeps being a mean little shit, he won't be getting laid for a while either," Hattie interjects, and now everyone really is laughing - everyone except for George, that is. 

"I could definitely get laid if I wanted to," Arthur says, perhaps a little too confidently. 

"Is that your way of saying you have your eye on someone?" I ask, because reading Arthur was too easy. He was practically an open book.

"There might be this one girl," he says suggestively, and I'm practically leaning forward, eyes wide open, feeling very happy for my friend. 

"Do spill," George encourages.

"Alright, well - she's one of Shannon's friends," Arthur explains, and of course, Shannon is Chris' ex girlfriend. 

"Have we met her?" George asks, which basically means he's asking if we've filmed with her. 

He shakes his head. "No. She's not a YouTuber. Shannon introduced me to her, actually. And that is all I'm going to say because I don't want to jinx things," he finishes, making a motion to zip his mouth. 

"Just make sure you don't talk to her for more than three months, or she'll get bored. Isn't that right, George?" I say, grinning across at Hattie, before George mouths the words fuck you over to me.

"Wait - what? What does three months mean?" Arthur asks frantically, as Hattie and I double over into laughter. He continues to ask, but the conversation is finished, and I feel the lightest I have in weeks.