"Em! Come here. You're not going to believe this."
"What?" I skidded in to the kitchen where Rey stood hunched over my phone, looking as if she were about to faint.
"Just come look." She chocked out, the colour leeching from her skin. I made my over to my phone and saw that she was only looking at an Instagram notification on my Lock Screen.
"Ugh Rey I swear I'll look later I'm not in the mood to reply to people."
"You had better come look right now! I swear if you don't get your ass over here..."
"Fine! What the heck could be so important...?" It was only Harry. She made me get up for this? I huffed and her and went to go grab some cereal.
"Em? What are you doing? Why aren't you freaking out?" She looked like a kicked puppy.
"I don't like him that much? Why should I care if he's requested to follow me?" I decided on weetabix.
"Because he only follows three hundred and forty eight others? And because you're not even following him?" I ignored her and poured semi-skimmed milk over my bowl. "He's following three hundred and forty nine now."
"WHAT?" I dived towards her and grabbed the phone out of her hand. "REY!"
"What's the harm? Why is he even requesting to follow you?"
"I met him yesterday too — I was extremely hostile but he doesn't seem to have taken the hint."
"You met him? And you didn't tell me?"
"Well it was a meet and greet, so I didn't realise it was such a big deal. You met him too."
"I did meet him but we didn't really talk. He had thirty others to get through."
"Well he most definitely made time for me." I muttered.
"Well tell me everything then! I can't believe you didn't mention it before." I told her everything, most importantly my closing statement to him, but whilst we were talking, I had completely forgotten about my phone.
*ping*
Rey and I both stopped talking. Her face lit up, and she lunged for the phone and began to screech.
"He messaged you! He messaged you! He messaged you!..." She kept singing the mantra whilst skipping around the kitchen.
"Hand it over then! Let me see." She gave me my phone, but still stood over my shoulder whilst I opened it.
I believe you owe me a number
"Em! Harry Styles wants your number!"
"I can see that Rey." I rolled my eyes at her but she wasn't going to be put down. She reached for my phone again, but this time I pulled it out of her reach.
"You've done enough."
"Aww come on." She pouted, giving me puppy eyes.
"No." She went down on her knees.
"Stop it Rey. The more you pester the less likely I am to reply." She shot up from the floor, looking like she was about to cry and walked out of the room, leaving me to sit at the island, staring at the message. I read it again.
I believe you owe me a number
I told myself I was doing this for Rey, not me.
How so stalker?
He saw my message, and immediately began to type back.
Well I found you didn't I? You promised ;)
I wouldn't say I promised.
Ember might not be a popular name but it was still hard to find you...
Shouldn't have wasted your time.
Come on, please?
For Rey.
————— <3 —————
"Hey Rey?" I shouted down the hall, but got no reply. "Rey?" Still nothing. "REY!"
"What? Unless you've decided to stop being a brat I'm not interested."
"I have." A thunderous stomping of feet raced down the hall and a grinning head appeared around the corner. "Have you stopped sulking with me then?"
"If you've messaged him I have."
"I did."
"And..."
"And I gave him my number. I can always just ignore him, but I don't think he'll message now."
"Thank you!" She sang, back to her extremely jovial mood. "Ew Em, your cereals gone soggy."
————— <3 —————
It was our last week on holiday. Rey and I had decided to have a small party, and whilst she was texting people she knew, I was stringing white and blue balloons from the beams and setting out delicious smelling cakes with small paper plates. There was a fresh breeze wafting in from the open patio doors, which lead out to a small platform, the only thing separating our apartment from the edge of an eroding cliff were flimsy wrought iron railings. I leant against them, allowing the breeze to rake through my hair whilst I looked out to the turquoise sea, dotted with doll-sized surfers.
"Ember! People are going to be arriving soon!"
I changed out of my bikini into a cream silk slip dress with small heels and dragged a comb through my long knotted hair. Rey bust in a few seconds later, her matching silk dress blue, and moaned at my lack of makeup. After a small argument I won, and was allowed to keep my skin free from the stuff she loved so much. I wasn't in the mood.
The doorbell rung, and soon after the house was filled with chatter and music. To my distaste a Harry Styles song was playing.
"Hey Em, over here!"
"Ari!" I walked over to my ebony haired friend and smiled at the boy standing next to her. "I haven't seen you in weeks!"
"I know, you promised we'd meet up before uni starts again."
"Sorry girl, it's been busy. But who's this?" They were stood really close together, and Ari blushed pink the very second I mentioned him.
"Ember meet Gale, Gale, Ember."
"Nice to meet you." He said in a deep, quiet voice.
"How do you two know each other?"
"He's in my Classics class. We met up a few times to compare some pieces of work and now we're friends!" She gushed. Sure — friends.
Rey started to violently wave me over so I said goodbye to Gale and Ari (who didn't even look my way as I left) and walked through everyone towards the patio.
"We're all going to take a group photo! To commemorate our last week on the best holiday ever." Rey slurred.
"How many drinks have you had?"
"Just one." She insisted indigently, but her staggered steps as she placed the phone down said otherwise. "Three, two, one, POSE!" She ran up and grabbed the phone. "Ooh pretty! You have to post it." She said and then continued in an exaggerated whisper "so Harry can see."
"Maybe." It was no good arguing with her when she was drunk, I wouldn't win.
Two hours later everyone had been kicked out, and I was in the the midst of hoisting a tired Rey to bed. She flopped down and panting heavily, I rested against the wall.
"Em?" Rey muttered sleepily.
"What's up?"
"Don't be mad." She whispered, pushing a phone towards me before falling fast asleep. It was my phone — and she'd posted lots on Instagram. Suddenly a notification popped up.
Hey, it's Harry
————— <3 —————