I HAD ALWAYS thought that true friendship could overcome everything. I knew that a lot of people were meant to just go by, be a temporary friendship in a certain period of time, but then, there would always be a few that would stick around for a long, long time. I considered myself lucky enough to have crossed the path of true friendship twice.
The first time was with Harry. Although, when I first met him, I didn't know that our friendship would last so long, nor that it would evolve into a relationship. Especially when you consider that barely five minutes after meeting him for the first time, I ended up with a broken arm. Yet, as the years went on, it became clear that it would be a friendship that was meant to last.
The second time was with Wendy. With her it was a little different. The second we met we immediately clicked. We shared all the same interests, we understood each other, and for the first time since I had met Harry, I thought that I had finally made another friend for life.
But then, the second I stepped into my apartment after my date with Harry, I wasn't so sure about that statement anymore. The place felt cold, unfamiliar and the usual greeting wasn't heard. I was usually welcomed by a simple hi or hello, instead, I heard noises coming from the kitchen, dishes clinking together indicating that Wendy was either washing the dishes or putting them away. So I took out my shoes and put away my coat before slowly making my way to the kitchen.
"Hey," I said as I leaned against the doorframe.
"Hey," she replied, barely turning her head to greet me, and kept scrubbing the plates.
I took in a deep breath, and crossed my arms over my chest, nervous of what was to come. It bothered me to think that she was still upset about Harry. I couldn't really figure out why she was so angry with me for that. With everything that had happened between me and Harry, she had never reacted that strongly before. She made sure that I knew that she didn't approve, but she never got mad at me for it.
So I slowly walked towards her, hoping that we could fix this. I just couldn't stand knowing that she was mad at me, especially for this. I knew that she had never really liked him, but I thought that our friendship was important enough for her to at least pretend that she was fine with it.
"Wen?" I mumbled as I stood next to her and leaned against the counter. "Don't be mad at me," I pleaded.
She looked up, her eyes filled with culpability. "I'm not mad at you," she replied.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You're not being subtle about it. I know that something is upsetting you and you've been that way since I told you about Harry and I, so obviously it has to be related."
She looked away, fixing the dish that she had been washing for the past 2 minutes. Still, I waited for her to reply.
"You've got it wrong, Emy. I'm not mad," she insisted, scrubbing even harder, making me worry that she might break the plate.
"Look, you're not fooling me," I said as I grabbed her arm so that she would just stop washing. "I know you don't think very highly of Harry, but you just have to get to know him. He's an amazing guy and he makes me happy."
"Emy, it's not that... I just," she sighed. "You know what, it's fine, don't worry about it."
She slowly yanked on her arm so that I would release her. I looked at her with wide eyes, not quite used to the fact that she was really mad at me. We had never really fought about anything before, sure we had had moments when we didn't agree on everything, but we would always easily move on from that. Although there was no yelling, this was the strongest disagreement we'd had.
"I can't do this, Wen. I need your support in this, you're my friend and I don't want to have to chose who I spend time with all the time. I want to be able to hang out with my boyfriend and my best friend at the same time," I explained, taking her hands in mine.
"You're my best friend Emy, but I really can't do this. I just can't stand him," she admitted while avoiding my eyes and looking down.
"You just don't know him well enough," I said again, trying to change her mind.
She laughed sarcastically. "I've known him for a few years now, I think I know him enough."
"No, but you've never really hung out with him," I responded, desperate to make this work. "Look, we're going out tonight, just come with us, get to know him in another context," I suggested, suddenly excited about the idea.
It seemed like a great way to solve this problem that we were having. Harry had been super sweet lately which made it a great timing for Wendy to spend time with him and finally appreciate him.
Wendy seemed reticent to the idea, but I held her hands tighter, silently pleading her to come with us tonight so that maybe she could see that Harry was actually a pretty amazing guy and that there was no need to be mad at us for being together.
"Come on, Wendy," I pleaded. "For me."
"I really don't think it's a good idea," she resisted while biting her lower lip.
"It is! We'll drink some beer and talk and have fun," I tried to convince her.
Suddenly, Wendy let the sponge fall in the sponge in the sink. I took a step back, surprised by the sudden outburst. She sighed and grabbed the edge of the counter. I stared at her but she avoided my eyes, looking down.
"Could you just," she sighed loudly. "Why is this so important to you? You don't need me to date him, Emy."
"No I don't," I agreed. "But you are both my best friends and things would just be so much better if we could all get along."
She looked at me for a second before shaking her head and looking back down to the sink. She grabbed the sponge again and stood up, rolling her shoulders.
"Fine," she finally agreed.
I jumped into her arm and hugged her tight. "Yeah! Thank you, this means the world to me."
She smiled weakly before hugging me back. "I know," she whispered. "I have to finish to wash the dishes. What time do you want to leave?"
"We said we'd meet at 9, so let's say 8:30?"
"Good," she said. "I'll be ready by then."
I smiled, getting the hint that she wanted to keep doing the dishes alone. I had pushed it enough for now so I let her be alone and headed into the shower to get myself clean and ready for tonight.
As I stripped and stepped into the warm water, relief flooded through me. It was nice to be alone for a second. Not that I didn't enjoy spending time with Harry, but it just felt nice to be on my own. It seemed like in the past week or so I hadn't had a minute to myself to think properly about everything that had happened.
Although it wasn't such a long period of time, so much had been going on. Harry and I being serious about our relationship was obviously the biggest thing that had happened and quite frankly if someone had told me a month ago that Harry and I would be where we are today, I wouldn't have believed it, especially after the dinner at my parents. It seemed to have happen years ago when in reality it had only been two weeks and yet, I felt that everything shifted that day. I could still remember Gemma accidentally telling me about Harry while talking about the...
I gasped, dropping the bottle of shampoo that I was holding. I had been so focused on the adoption that I had totally forgotten about Gemma's invitation to her wedding.
I couldn't believe I had forgotten about that. I had been focusing so hard on the adoption that I had completely forgotten abut everything else. Now this was something that I would have to add to the list of problems we had. Although this wasn't so much a problem than an uncomfortable discussion that I would have to have with Harry.
Apart from the night that I had told him that I knew about his adoption, Harry and I hadn't really talked about it. It was a sensitive subject and I preferred to let Harry talk about it in more details when he would be ready. His family fell under the same category. I didn't really want to bring up the subject although I wish he would talk to me about it. But Gemma's wedding was different, I had to find a way to bring it up, since it was a time-sensitive situation.
Grunts escaped my lips as I bent down to pick up the bottle I had dropped and thought about what I was supposed to do, or rather how I was supposed to do it.
Evidently, tonight wasn't the right time to tackle the subject. I already had to deal with Wendy's attitude towards Harry, but it would've been a great time considering that he had been in an awfully good mood lately.
By the time I finished washing my hair and body, I had figured that the sooner I told him about the wedding, the better it would be. I didn't exactly know how I was going to bring it up, but I still had some time to think about that.
I went into my room and got ready and soon enough it was around 8:30. Before going to the living room, I gave Harry a call to make sure that he was still coming.
"Hey babe," he answered after the first ring.
I smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hi Harry," I replied, knowing that I sounded like a love-sick puppy but not caring at all. "Are you still coming tonight?"
"Yes," he assured. "I just finished getting ready. I had to take a quick shower after work."
"Good. Would you mind picking us up?" I asked.
There was a brief pause. "Us?"
"I invited Wendy," I said biting my lower lip.
"Oh... Oh! Yeah sure!" he answered quickly. "I thought you were talking about you and Niall."
"Oh? Would that have been a bad thing?" I teased, suddenly catching up to his reaction.
He laughed nervously. "No, of course not. I'll see you in five," he countered hurriedly.
I chuckled, enjoying it more than I thought I would. "See you in five," I said before hanging up.
For a second, I stood in my room with a stupid smile on my face. I loved having this kind of conversation with Harry. Although this one was short, it had been long enough for me to find a way to tease him.
Once I had taken a moment to enjoy that short phone call, I grabbed my wallet and went into the living room. Wendy was sitting on the couch, checking her phone, waiting for me to come along.
"Harry will be there in five," I said as I sat down next to her.
She looked up from her phone and watched me sit. She smiled softly, but I could tell that she was forcing it. She seemed nervous, but before I could ask, she turned her head and looked back at her phone.
It was weird, it almost felt as if I was sitting next to a stranger. We would usually be laughing our asses off before a night out, we always found something to talk about. I couldn't believe that this was one of my best friend sitting next to me, I couldn't believe that me dating Harry had put such a wedge between the two of us and I hoped that tonight would change that, because as bad as it sounded, if it came down to it, I would have to chose Harry.
As he crossed my mind, I received a text from Harry, saying that he was waiting for us downstairs. I told Wendy and we both got up. With the corner of my eye, I saw her adjust her hair and her shirt before grabbing her bag and her coat. I smiled, grabbing her arm as I felt that she was getting nervous.
"It's going to be ok," I assured her.
She let out a nervous laugh, before running her hand through her hair and turning us so that we could head out the door.
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Hope you enjoyed that ! The next chapter will probably make you react a bit more ;)
Are you guys on Christmas vacation ? My notifications have been blowing up lately so I assume that you have a lot more time on your hands haha.
I'm already on the next chapter, hopefully I can post between Christmas and the New Year, because I'm going away on vacation on the 2nd of January and don't know how much I'll be able to write.
About that, I'm sorry I'm being so sloppy with updates, but life just gets busier. I am trying my best I promise ! I want to finish that story, bring it to where I want it. There is still a lot to come, please bear with me <3
Also, just a quick reminder that my twitter is K_xrry and I love to talk *hint*
Love you loads guys, as always, a massive thank you for your support <3 <3,
Karry xx.