As I was getting ready, I got a phone call from Miles. "Bonjour, Miles. Quoi de neuf?" (Hey Miles. What's up?)
"J'ai peut-être fait une erreur." (I might have made a mistake.)
I sighed. "Qu'est-ce que tu as fait?" (What did you do?)
"Alors je suis resté avec Tabitha - ce qui n'était pas l'erreur, mais l'erreur est survenue ce matin quand je pensais que je m'en étais tiré, mais je suis tombé sur Ollie quand je suis allé prendre un café." (So I stayed with Tabitha - which wasn't the mistake, but the mistake happened this morning when I thought I was out of it, but ran into Ollie when I went for coffee.)
"Donc tu as couché avec Tabs et tu t'es parfaitement faufilé mais tu t'es quand même fait prendre?" (So you slept with Tabs and then snuck out perfectly but still got caught?) I chuckled slightly. "Toi seul peux te faire prendre après t'être déjà glissé dehors, espèce d'idiot." (Only you could get caught after you've already snuck out you bloody idiot.)
"Je n'ai pas couché avec elle. Nous venons de nous embrasser et de partager un lit." (I didn't sleep with her. We just kissed and shared a bed.)
"Aimez-vous vraiment cette fille?" (Do you genuinely like this girl?)
"Je ne sais pas. C'est tellement nouveau, comme, c'est juste arrivé. Je pense que je veux que cela se reproduise cependant." (I don't know. It's so new, like, it just kind of happened. I think I want it to happen again though.)
"J'aime ça." (I like this.) I told him honestly. "Je pense que ce sera bon pour vous et, évidemment, cela vous éloignera de Jamie." (I think it will be good for you and, obviously, it will keep Jamie off your back.)
"Avec espoir." (Hopefully.)
"Babe, you ready?" Harry asked as he walked in.
"Yeah, two seconds." I went back to my conversation with Miles. "Je suis sur le point d'avoir un double rendez-vous, ce que nous espérons pouvoir faire bientôt." (I'm just about to go on a double date, which hopefully we can do soon.)
"Ne prenez pas de l'avance sur vous-même." (Don't get ahead of yourself.) he chuckled. "Je vous laisse faire, alors." (I'll leave you to it, then.)
"Bien. Je t'aime Milesy." (Alright. Love you Milesy.)
"Je t'aime aussi, amuse-toi." (Love you too, have fun.)
"À plus tard au revoir." (See you later, bye.) I hung up. "Let's go."
We met up with Habbs and Sam for a little bike ride. Habbs and I hung back while the boys sped ahead.
"Harry can you take me home?" I whined as we caught up to them and stopped.
"Aw, baby, you look so cute though."
"Do I really look cute as well?" Habbs asked Sam.
"You actually do look very cute."
"Sam, give her a hand, mate." Harry half joked as Habbs almost dropped her bike.
"I'm sorry, Habbs."
"Can you come and teach me how to ride this?"
"I would love to. It would be my absolute honour and privilege."
"They look cute together." I smiled as I watched them head off together. "For me, it looks like Sam would be ready for a relationship."
"I... yeah. I don't think that's going to happen."
"You've been acting so weird for a couple days now about Sam and Habbs, like what's going on?"
He hesitated. "Ok, if I tell you something you have to swear to me that you will not tell anyone."
"Ok."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, promise." I agreed.
"Say: I promise."
"I promise you I won't tell anyone. Now tell me."
"Ok." He sighed. "I mean, I said to Sam I wouldn't mention this to anyone, but you're-"
"Oh god, what's he done?"
"No, you're my girlfriend and I love you and I don't want to lie to you. Um, uh, I mean, I don't necessarily think it... what he did is a backed thing."
"Oh my god you're killing me, just tell me."
"Because... ok. Well, you know how me and Sam went to Vegas? He slept with someone whilst we were there."
My jaw dropped. "Fuck off, no he didn't, shut up. No, he did not!"
"Yeah..." Harry nodded slightly. "Please you..."
"Were you in the room?"
"No! Obviously not."
"I thought there was three of you in one room."
"He got a different hotel room."
I dread to think what the face I was pulling looked like. "So, he really wanted to... oh no, this is so bad."
"Oh god."
I was still trying to process everything. "He got a different hotel room so that he could have sex with some random American chick? Did you see... what did she look like?"
"I don't really remember."
"That's just so gross, I'm sorry. I love Sam to pieces but that makes me feel physically sick."
"You can't tell anyone, baby."
"Well, have you said to Sam: if you don't tell her, I will?"
"What? No. Obviously not, no."
"I just feel like I need to tell her. Sammy's my best mate but she deserves to know."
"But you can't. He need to be honest with her, and he needs to talk to her properly, so don't say anything because it ruins the opportunity for him to do that, ok?"
"I mean he ruined that when he lied to her but..." I sighed. "Ok."
Habbs organised a couples dinner for us. So it was her and Sam, me and Harry and Digby and Liv. It wasn't awkward with Liv because Sam and I talked to her separately and sorted everything but I felt awkward knowing that Sam had lied to Habbs and she didn't know.
"Guys, cheers." Habbs raised her glass. "It's so nice to have us all together. Thanks Liv for hosting this."
"That's alright." Liv smiled and we all clinked glasses.
"Thank you Liv for having me in your home." Sam thanked.
"It's so nice, isn't it, that everyone's finally just in, like, a happy sort of place." Liv stated.
"Yeah, it is." Digby agreed.
"With you two though-" Liv looked between Sam and Habbs. "Are you ,like, what is... what's the deal? Seeing each other?"
"There's no labels on anything right now." Sam said and I could feel myself glaring at him. "Just enjoying it and see what happens, like..."
I couldn't help myself. "Enjoying what?"
"This."
"Which is?" Liv questioned.
"Dating." Sam clarified.
"Have the lines been drawn as to what you can and can't do, as in crossing them?" Liv asked. "Like, you're not hooking up with other people?"
"It's just a general assumption." Habbs half shrugged. "I mean, if you were... you'd be an extremely busy boy if you were managing to do that out here."
"Yeah, I mean, yeah. Fair. I'm not."
"Go at your own pace." Digby advisers
"Thank you, mate." Sam nodded at him. "I would like to think one day in the future, not too far away, that I could call you my girlfriend at some point. I'd like to think it's going that way, and..."
"That's so nice." Harry smiled and I was just trying not to roll my eyes or scoff.
Sam continued. "But then again, I don't... but I..."
Once again, I couldn't help myself. "But we're not starting on a bed of lies, are we, Sam?"
"What?" Sam looked at me slightly worried.
"Bed of lies?" Liv looked over confused.
"Where's that come from?" Habbs asked me somewhat quietly.
I looked back at Sam. "You haven't lied?"
"I think we should move on from this conversation." Harry said.
I ignored him. "The conversations you two have had, you haven't lied in them?"
"Baby." Harry looked at me to try and get me to backtrack and shut up.
"What?" Sam questioned.
"What's the lie?" Habbs asked.
"Bella, just say it." Liv told me.
Sam looked at Harry and I knew that he knew what I was talking about so I gave him another opportunity. "Sam, you just say it."
"Say what?"
"What you've been saying that you've done. What's the lie?"
Sam turned to Harry. "You're a fucking wanker."
"No, I'm not, mate. You shouldn't-"
"You're a fucking. Do you know what, screw it. I ain't helping you out anymore." Sam then turned to Habbs. "Ok, so, Habbs, basically in Vegas, I hooked up with someone. And I did lie to you on the boat, like, snap-lie, because I was scared."
"So, you're making me out to be a bad person?" Harry furrowed his brows slightly.
"You just fucking told your girlfriend."
"I'm not going to be the one to be a liar." Harry defended himself.
"Okay, where did you go in Vegas, mate? With the exact same girl for an hour!" Sam called him out.
"Nowhere, mate." Harry said with no hesitation. "Absolutely nowhere."
Sam looked at me. "Really? Where was Harry in Vegas for an hour, Bella?"
"I don't know."
"Neither do I." Sam said.
"I did absolutely nothing wrong out there, so don't try-"
Sam cut Harry off. "I'm not saving your arse any more and I'm so sorry, Habbs. Habbs, I am so sorry because I shouldn't have lied to you."
"Sam, Sam-"
Sam got up. "Fuck you, you're a wanker!"
"Why the fuck am I a wanker over this, dude?"
"You're a shit friend." Sam started to walk away.
"No, you're walking away from it, mate."
Sam pointed at me. "Ask him where he was in Vegas though." Sam walked off.
"Did you cheat in Vegas?" Liv asked him straight up.
Harry scoffed slightly. "Absolutely not."
"What's this about you disappearing for an hour?" I questioned. "Has he just made that up?"
"He's just deflecting. That's complete bullshit."
"Well, that's really dark, if he's just made that up." I said. "Has he just made that up?"
"Yes, he has just made that up. Of course he has, Bella." Harry reassured me but I wasn't really convinced. "Bella, you... I would never lie to you, ever."
"No, I don't fucking believe anything he just said." I believed Harry.
I carried a huge fruit tray over to where Habbs was sat.
"Oh, look at you!" She smiled as I walked over. "That looks amazing. Have you been slaving away?"
"Yeah." I put it on the little table and sat across from her. "Just a little treat."
"Thank you. This looks insane, thank you so much."
"I hope it tastes as good as it looks. How are you feeling?"
"I just feel like an idiot."
"I mean, I can tell you from experience, you're never gonna be able to look at him the same way again, are you?"
"No, I... I can't. It's so embarrassing."
"I'm genuinely so sorry about the way it came out last night. I can't even..."
"No, no, don't be sorry."
"It just came over me, like, word vomit, I couldn't, like, not say anything and watch him lie again."
"I honestly was like: this is the nicest a boy has ever been to me. But the weirdest thing, we were on this boat and he was like: did you get with anyone in Mykonos? 'Cause I didn't get with anyone in Vegas. He lied with such confidence and, like, literally with a smile on his face, he was, like: neither did I." She told me. "We, like, cheersed to it."
"Oh, gross!"
"I just feel like such an idiot, because, like, I was actually starting to really like him and I'm... he's just ruined everything. The worst thing about it was, like, he didn't even ask me if I was ok, or even... he couldn't even look at me in the eye."
"Didn't say sorry to you, did he?"
"And thirdly, like, he was full on accusing Harry. He was, like, insinuating..."
"I know. Yeah, well, it was just a complete reaction. He stood up, he shouted at me and then he shouted at Harry and was like: you disappeared for an hour."
"From where I was sitting, it was like he was fully insinuating, like... if someone said to me: where was your boyfriend for an hour with a girl? Like, my head would just jump to one conclusion and one conclusion..."
I shook my head slightly. "No, it didn't for me at all. I just thought like: you were just... I just smirked at him, I was like: you're just deflecting. Like, if Harry was alone with a girl for an hour, like, I'm sure it wasn't-"
"For me, I'd be like: tell me what the fuck, what the fuck do you mean? Like, you didn't even react to it."
"What do you think he was... what do you think he was saying?" I asked.
"I think, like... I don't know. Have you not spoken to Harry about it?"
"No." I admitted.
"I feel like you should speak to him about it." She advised.
I thought for a second. "Yeah."
After a little while, Harry walked out and joined us. I moved round and sat next to Habbs and he sat across from us.
"I feel really awful about the situation because I obviously knew about it for a while." Harry explained. "I just wanna say I.. I'm sorry that I couldn't come to you with it. I'm sorry but I couldn't do that."
"No, I do understand, yeah, like, obviously your loyalties do lie with Sam. It's like if Bella ever told me something, I wouldn't tell you." Habbs said. "I mean, I would've liked to have known about it sooner, because I have started opening up with him..."
"No, I know..."
"And now I'm just embarrassed that I did."
"Yeah." Harry nodded slightly. "And I'm... I'm so disappointed in Sam. So disappointed in him. Like, he... he's meant to be... he's meant to be our best friend." Harry gestures between himself and me. "And for him to come out with... with an accusation like that..."
"I'm just wracking my brain to why he would say something like that." I told him. "Like, why would he say something like that?"
"I mean, technically, it... theoretically it is true." Harry confessed. "I did spend some time alone with the girl that was in Vegas. It was at a bar, and Sam had gone off, basically, so I just didn't.. I didn't wanna leave the poor girl alone. Might try and say: oh I don't know what-"
"So you're were a bar, alone with a girl, for an hour?" I repeated back to him.
"Yeah, around an hour."
"And then what?"
"And then we went to the club afterwards and she reunited with Sam."
"Wait, you and her went to the club together?" Habbs asked.
"Yeah."
"What, alone?"
"Yeah, from the bar, with them."
"Well, why were you in the bar alone with her?" Habbs questioned.
Harry sighed. "So Sam... Sam went off and I... I don't wanna be saying this."
"What do you mean Sam went off?" I asked. "Were you all together and then Sam left?"
"The reason why she was left alone was because Sam went off with another girl." Harry said.
"What?"
"Are you joking?" Habbs could barely even look up. "Just gets better and better."
Harry continued. "So I... I stayed with her and then Sam messaged me saying: yo, all the boys are at the club, come down, so I was like: sweet. Me saying that, people can be like: oh, Harry was alone with a girl for an hour. Like, it's just..."
"Why didn't you go to the club with her straight away?" I pressed for more details. "Why would you stay there alone?"
"This is, this is... it's like I'm being accused of something that I haven't done."
"It doesn't look good." I told him.
"I know it doesn't look good, but I'm being completely honest about it."
Habbs then spoke up again. "Why would your friends leave you and go to... it doesn't make... none of it adds up. Why...?"
"I don't know, they just did. It's just... it's just what happened. It's not like I'm taking a girl for a drink. No, it wasn't like that." He couldn't even meet my eyes.
I didn't take my eyes off him. "Then what was it like?"
"We were just sat there-"
"How did you get to the bar, how did she get to the bar?"
"We walked there, like..."
"Who's we?" I questioned. "You and the girl?"
"Me and her, yes."
"Why did you leave-"
I cut Habbs off. "From where? Why were you going out of your way to-"
Harry started answering over me. "'Cause everyone else went off."
"No, no, no, you're changing your story." I realised.
"I'm not... this is so ridiculous."
"You said that you were all in the bar and the boys went off to the club. At what point did you realise it was gonna be a good idea to take this girl away from the group to have a drink alone, just you two for an hour? At what point did you make that decision?"
"She was by herself. She was alone. All of her friends had left her."
I was starting to lose it. "That doesn't fucking make sense that she was by herself."
"Ok, well, she was."
"Why didn't you take her with all your friends, with you?"
"I don't know. I should've done." He half shrugged. "In hindsight, should've done. This has all come out in such a bad way, you're now doubting me, when all I'm doing is telling you the truth."
"No, I'm not doubting you, I think what you've done is really bad. That's not a doubt." I corrected. "That's a fact. I think it's disgusting that you've had a drink with a girl by yourself."
"It wasn't like that." He repeated.
"And you've gone out of your way to take her out for a drink alone." I used air quotes for the next part. "Because you felt sorry for her." I took a deep breath. "I'm gonna go inside. I'm going."
"Are you... Arabella, please, can we just talk about this?"
"I don't wanna be here. I don't wanna talk about it." I walked off.
I grabbed my phone and called Miles.
He answered immediately, as always. "Hé les filles, quoi de neuf?" (Hey babes, what's up?)
"Puis-je venir chez vous?" (Can I come round to yours?)
"Ouais, laisse-toi entrer." (Yeah, just let yourself in.)
"Je vous aime. Je serais là bientôt." (I love you. I'll be there soon.) I hung up and headed over.
I sat with him and just distracted myself, I didn't tell him what was going on and he didn't ask. I ended up staying round at his for the night but I did call Harry and heard him out I guess.
The next day, everyone was going to this drinks thing and Harry pulled me aside.
"How are you?"
"I'm still pissed off about everything."
"I know. Thank you for hearing me out last night and I am sorry. But what's Sam's making it out to be, it really isn't." He told me for the millionth time.
"I accept your apology, but I'm not gonna forget it straight away. I don't really want anyone to know that I'm pissed off or that there's, like, a problem."
"Yeah, of course."
"Especially Sam, 'cause I don't wanna have to deal with it in front of him and then him have to ask me questions about how I'm... do you know what I mean? I don't wanna be involved in it."
"No, of course. I completely understand that, I think that he will now do anything and everything that he can to try and show or make out that I've cheated, when I haven't. I would never, ever cheat on you, Arabella. Ever. And thank you for standing by me in our relationship."
"For having so much bloody faith in you. I don't wanna end up looking like a fucking idiot."
"You won't, I promise."
We walked back round to the others together but split up so I could go talk to Miles but then he went to talk to Tabitha so I went over to Habbs.
After people started to leave, I went to find Harry and he was arguing with Sam.
"Aren't you just the Angel mate." Sam snapped at him.
"I would never do that to my girlfriend mate." Harry said and then noticed I was stood next to him.
"Oh poor little girlfriend." Sam rolled his eyes. "When you go up to Habbs... yeah, put your arm round her back." Sam huffed as Harry briefly put his hand on my back.
"Shall we address this?" Harry calmed down a little. "Apparently, I was trying it on with the same girl that he hooked up with."
"She told me you tried to grab her hand and that you said: if I wasn't in a relationship would you get with me?"
"You're meant to be my best mate and you're saying this to my girlfriend who is also your best mate."
"Oh my god, I just don't believe that for a second." I couldn't help but smirk in disbelief.
"Why are you so convinced it's not true?" Sam asked me.
"Because I just know, I just know that he wouldn't do that. I just know he wouldn't."
Sam started laughing. "Come on! Do you know him? What are you doing?"
"Sam, you're an idiot. You're meant to be my best friend-"
"I know how he is in our relationship and so do you." I said.
"Come on, Belles. He's a fucking liar."
"I've never done that and I'm not a liar." Harry defended himself. "The only liar here is you Sam. You fucked you with Habbs, ok-"
"And you fucked up with Arabella!"
"No I haven't, dude."
"You've just got her on lockdown, that's the best thing about you, you've manipulated the shit out of her, and she believes every word you say."
"Fuck you!" I snapped. "Fuck off!"
"I like that about you." Sam pointed at Harry as he walked off. "That's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna learn from you actually."
Harry shook his head. "Fucking piece."