37
HARLEY
Harley picked up the first piece of clothing she could find, the purple dress, and put it on as Scarlett lounged back on the bed watching her.
They had been holed up in the room for hours.
She took in the room they had taken up residence in, admiring the paintings hung along one side of the pink walls, and then the other, where the wall itself had been turned into a canvas.
In the drawing, there was an amalgamation of different trees and flowers, including daisies, tulips, and more.
Around the image were some birds, in particular doves perched on branches where the flowers grew.
Green grass stretched alongside a flowing stream, with a pair of black swans floating side by side, giving the illusion that it spilled off the wall. It was magnificent.
“Whose room are we in? These are so well done.” She asked, entirely gobsmacked by the artwork. Her hand caressed the wall, her eyes gleaning with admiration.
“Mine. To the room and the wall,” Scar replied, the pride unmistakable in her voice.
“Have I mentioned you have a real gift?”
“You have and I do,” She sing-songed in return, grinning from ear to ear. She got off the bed, still topless and walked to Harley and wrapped her arms around her middle. “When I was younger, mum sometimes worked late so she dropped me off here a lot. Enough that I earned my own room.”
“Even when she wasn’t working I used to beg her to bring me, it was bigger than my room at home and Luke let me do whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t bother him when he was with…”
Harley nodded, understanding she meant the gang.
“Luke paints too, not as much as he used to but back then it was a shared enjoyment. When he sat in his art room, I was there with him too. He used to call me his favourite protegee.” Harley noted the wistfulness in her voice, her eyes remembering a lost time as she stared at the wall.
“Anyways, This house was the first to witness my first stroke of paint, so I figured why not? I was seventeen when I did it. The whole thing took me months but I’m really proud of how good it turned out. ”
“You should be,” Harley said and brazenly kissed her on the lips, softly and slowly. Her hands settled on her bum and squeezed it. Careful not to let it go too far, she lifted her head, “We should go before people start looking for us.”
Scar pouted then bit her jaw affectionately. “Let me get dressed.”
They walked down together, hands held, and the second they were within sight were met with whistles and jeers from their friends at the bottom of the stairs. Partygoers littered around were looking up at them in curiosity but scattered away from a single look from Lucas.
“Do they know they’re in each other’s clothes?” Bloss said, grinning widely.
“Considering how long they spent up there…” Annabel replied, a similar smirk on her face.
Posy and Amb had joined the group, the former shaking her head with no malice as she pulled her to the side. “You’re never going to listen to a word I say about staying away, are you?”
Harley shook her head in reply. “I don’t care what the old man thinks, I have seen first hand what letting him control you does. I won’t let him.”
She nodded, accepting that. “Good for you, it’s about fucking time someone did that.”
Scarlett and Bloss were whispering into each other's ears when Jeremiah asked the former, a playful smirk dangled over his lips. “Does this mean you’re no longer going to bite our heads off when we talk to you?”
She narrowed her eyes and gave a cute growl that was all teeth. “Fuck off.”
Then Amb looked to Harley, a cheeky glimmer in his eye “Harley, we can’t thank you enough for taming our grim reaper.” This led to Scarlett chasing them about, before the two boys tag teamed and carried her into the living room as she yelled at them both to put her down.
Harley laughed at their antics as Annabel came up to her, pulling her into a hug and whispered in her ear, “I’m happy for you, you deserve this.”
“Thank you,” she replied, and she meant it from the very depth of her heart, which she was coming to find out existed.
Lucas walked up to her as everyone else chattered away, his face the picture of stone.“Don’t fuck this up again or you’ll have me to deal with.”
“Not going to happen.” She stood her ground, looking him in the eye without blinking away.
He nodded, then a slow smile crept out, “Welcome to the family.”
Harley wasn't sure she’d ever truly feel comfortable around him considering what he did and represented but this felt like a truce, so she took it for what it was.
Later that night it was just the eight of them left, they cut the party short and they spent the rest of their time congregating in the living room, talking until the sun rose.
Scar sat on her lap on one of the small armchairs, while Jere and Ambrose each took a bean bag.
Bloss and Lucas sat on opposite ends of the couch, while Posy sat on the floor with Annabel beside her.
She was happy to see her beaming and getting along with everyone; their outing had helped her after all.
Harley couldn’t believe that mere months ago she had almost no one in her life and now she couldn’t picture it without the people in front of her.
???
Over the next couple weeks, she and Scarlett had spent their time even more attached at the hip than normal.
They had sex in any empty room they could find; TUL, the Cafe, her room, Luke’s place.
Annabel had been out of the house a lot because of the showcase, which was tonight. And where they were headed.
After that night, Scarlett and Annabel had called a truce and were willing to be copacetic for her sake but it didn't mean her girlfriend would want to attend a ballet recital. She laughed internally remembering their conversation earlier.
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” Harley begged leaning over the till desk at the empty cafe as Scar did idle work about.
“I hate ballet and your sister, why would I go?”
“Because you love me?”
“I only ever attended those other events because I wanted to see you and I needed a decent excuse.”
“Aw you really love me, does this mean you’ll go?”
She glared at her from across the room, and Harley knew she’d have to say something that’d swing the scale on her side. “No sex.” She watches as Scarlett's whole body froze then slowly turned around.
“What did you say to me?”
“No sex. If you won’t come, I won't have sex with you.”
“How the fuck is that even fair? This can be considered coercion, you know that right?”
Harley shrugged trying not to break by smiling, she could see she was wearing her down. Scarlett rolled her lips and sighed, “I’ll pick you up at eight.”
Harley jumped then slid over the counter and wrapped her arms around her pouting girlfriend.
She bit those pink lips before giving her a peck, “We’ll do whatever you want next, I'll even consider the gun range.” She’d been trying to get Harley to go to one for a while and she’d declined every time because what the hell would she need a gun for?
“Fuck, I’m holding you to this.” She pulled her down for a kiss.
“I was kidding about the no sex,” Harley said. “I could never resist you.”
“Damn fucking straight.” For another hour, they fucked in the back.
There were more people at this showcase than she could have imagined. She knew how popular Annabel was but seeing what looked like the whole school show up, with parents, astonished her.
In the back of her mind, she wondered if William and Eleanor would show up, this was a big event for their daughter and despite William’s disapproval it would only make sense to put on appearances.
They entered the hall where the dancers would be performing and the whole room was a marvel. There were snowflakes hanging with white lights wrapped around the room. The stage set was also well done.
Before going to find their seats she decided she’d sneak into the back and look for Annabel. She went round the back with Scarlett trailing behind her holding cakes that Bloss had made. They hit it off so she wanted to wish her good luck.
“Have you seen Annabel?” she asked the first girl she came across, a stage hand in normal clothes.
“Probably in her dressing room,” the girl replied, clearly in a rush as she dashed away.
“Come on, I have an idea where she might be,” Scarlett said, walking ahead. The place was bigger than she could have imagined, they walked round and round until Scar came to a halt. A door with Annabel’s name written on paper, plastered on it.
Harley simultaneously knocked as she opened the door, not awaiting an answer as it flung open. She was met with a screech from the girl next to her, she saw Annabel and Arden going at it, who only just noticed she was there.
“Ohmygodohmygod,” Annabel said in a rush as she hid behind Arden, who stood there brazenly, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Why didn't you knock?”
“I did!” Harley yelled as she slammed the door shut. She shot Scarlett a look, whose face had amusement written all over it, “Not a word.”
“Did you know about this?” Scar asked in hushed tones, and Harley nodded in reply, with a scoff she continued, “Of course, she’s a homewrecker as well as a stuck up bitch.”
Harley glared, “Be nice, you’re a bitch too.” She paced up and down the room as the other dancers, ignoring the weird looks from the other dancers.
“What are you shits looking at?” Scar hissed at them.
Harley couldn't help but laugh at her point being proven, then continues “There was barely a home to wreck.”
“Wrong. You haven’t been around them that long, but he and his actual girlfriend are treated like mini royalty in this place.
Their cringe magazine spreads are always plastered everywhere.
” Scarlett said in a rushed whisper, “This is chaos in a bottle, it’ll be an absolute mess when people find out. ”
Harley sharply turned, “You can’t tell anyone.” Protecting Annabel came first, “Promise me.”
“Calm down, I won’t say anything. I find the whole thing hilarious,” she said, laughing, as the door opened to reveal a flushed Annabel. Harley gave her girlfriend one last look to not say anything mean and they both walked inside and made certain to lock the door this time.
Arden stood there smug and bored, he gave her a nod in greeting. “Banjo.”
“Thorne. Have you both forgotten this,” she pointed back and forth between them both, “ is meant to be a secret? Are your hands incapable of locking a door properly?”
“We forgot.” Annabel pouted, and her other half said at the same time. “Got caught up.” Then they both grinned at each other.
I’m dealing with idiots. Idiots in love, she thought.
“What are you doing here anyway?” Annabel asked, walking back to her boyfriend, who embraced her in a side hug.
“I thought you’d be nervous, so I came to wish you luck but clearly it wasn't needed,” Harley sighed.
“You were right, I was but he calmed me down.”
“I’ll always be there to do so.” Arden said, kissing her forehead. Scarlett groaned in disgust.
He glared at her, “Argent, what are you doing here?”
“I have been asking myself the exact same thing,” she retorted. Then placed the tray of cakes into Annabel’s hands. “Bloss made them. She said good luck.”
Annabel cooed, then looked at them all seriously. “Surely you don’t expect me to eat these. Imagine the bloody calories.” Everyone in the room simultaneously frowned, but a smile peeked out. “Kidding! I’ll be sure to text her thank you.”
A knock on the door came and someone yelled, “Stage in five minutes.”
They said their goodbyes and proceeded to find their seats. By the time they reached there the whole room was brimming with people. Arden split away from them as he sat at the front with his friends.
The lights dimmed and the dance began. Harley had never seen Swan Lake so she wasn't sure what the story was but she was extremely excited to see Annabel dance.
It began with a group of men and some women clearly dressed as one too on stage and minutes later Annabel came out on stage and Harley couldn’t help but whistle and cheer in support.
The story was somewhat easy to follow; it started with the prince’s birthday where eligible women came to present themselves.
Then his mother, Annabel, showed up to gift him.
A while later, the prince went to hunt as the party continued and found himself at the shore of a lake where he met Odette, Devon.
She informed him she had been cursed by a sorcerer and could only take on human form at night.
Odette explained that only true love could break the enchantment and the prince swore his eternal love for her, without realising the wicked sorcerer had witnessed this take place and planned on separating them.
Odette and the prince said goodbye and Act I ended.
The whole room roared and cheered with vigour as the curtain closed.
Act II flowed by and the epilogue began which was when the first ping of a phone lights up but it's ignored, then another not too far from her which led to another.
Suddenly, everyone was reading something on their phones.
Harley had switched hers off because apparently she was the only one with any ballet etiquette, even for a beginner.
A nimble tap on her shoulder had her turning around to see Scarlett, her face twisted in an alarmed grimace. Harley was immediately apprehensive. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“Harl…” she trails off.
“Spit it out, what is it?” she simply handed her phone over to her to read. Her eyes widened at the contents of what she was reading. It was an expose article that revealed the secret of her birth. Her entire life laid bare for the whole world to see.
Every eye in the room was already on her, the dancers on stage were still twirling about, no knowledge of the world around them. Annabel was on stage too, and Harley refused to ruin one of the few things that made her happy in this moment.
“Let’s get out of here,” Scarlett whispered, tugging her arm. They slowly walked out the hall together whispers following their every step. Harley couldn't imagine the damage that this will cause and no doubt William will have words with her. Her life was about to get very exhausting.