matchmaking for experts || h.s au

fifteen

A couple of days have passed since Maia confessed to Harry and then went on a date with him, and she searches her stomach for that familiar feeling, the feeling of worry — worry that the other shoe might drop soon, but it's not there. Maybe if she searches hard enough she'd find it, but this time, she doesn't want to go there. She doesn't want to continue denying her feelings and sabotaging her own happiness. She just wants to bask in this... this warmth. This happiness. It's about time she feels this way.

Maia's starting to realise that there's a possibility that her fears, the ones she held on to for so long, are unwarranted. She was so worried that things would be awkward between her and Harry if they were to pursue something beyond friendship, but so far, things have been great between them. But then again, perhaps it's too soon to judge.

"So, are you two official?" Chelsea asks.

Laura, Niall, Grace and Chelsea learned about them the day after their first official date as they showed up to work together. They got to Matchcierge later than everyone else because they decided to grab breakfast together earlier that morning, something they've never done before, but it was Harry's way to make up for leaving fifteen minutes after he agreed to come inside Maia's flat. Maia still doesn't know what prompted his hasty departure and she refuses to let that bother her.

Their friends were vocal in expressing their feelings about the couple, especially Laura and Niall who were convinced that if it weren't for them, Maia and Harry would've taken several more years to get their shits together and realise that they're meant to be together. Neither Maia nor Harry denied that because they knew that's the truth. If Laura and Niall didn't nudge them, they probably wouldn't have done anything about their feelings. Would have probably left things the way they were — where they're more than friends but less than lovers.

"No," Maia answers.  "Not yet."

"Well it's only been two days," Grace says.

"A few years if you count the time when they pined for each other," Laura interjects.

Maia frowns. She opens her mouth to say something, to argue, but upon receiving a pointed look from Laura, she presses her lips together and decides against it. Laura is right. Whilst she can't say for Harry, she did pine for him, secretly (or maybe not so secretly because everyone else knew about it) harbouring feelings for him but never doing anything about it. Instead, she chose to bite her tongue when words threaten to leave her mouth and bottle up her emotions when they threaten to engulf her.

"Do people still care about labels?" Grace asks, sounding genuinely curious and sounding like she's been sitting on this question for quite a while and finally gotten the chance to ask it. "Is it still important?"

"I guess, yeah, I do care about it," Maia replies. "Do you?"

Grace doesn't answer immediately. She seems to be mulling over her own question, her brows drawing together into a frown as the cogs in her head turn and turn and turn. Finally, she says, "Not really, no. Labels aren't that important, are they? I mean they're just... words. You don't need labels to know where you stand in each other's lives. Besides, it's common courtesy, isn't it, to not sleep with other people if you're sleeping with someone."

"That makes sense," Maia nods. "But I don't know. I think it'd do my head in if I don't know where we stand. Not saying that I want Harry and I to already decide what we are, you know, because like you said it's only been two days, but I just think that it'd give me peace of mind if I know we're on the same page. If we could have some sense of clarity and officialness, I suppose."

"Yeah, I'm with Maia on this," Chelsea chimes in.

"Right, yeah, that makes sense too. Guess not everyone feels the same way about it," Grace replies with a nod. She has a distant look on her face, the kind of look that says she has a lot on her mind. Maia wonders what's going through Grace's mind.