The Curse-Breaker

'Sorry' Can Be The Hardest Word

I took the rest of the week off, Bill stopping in every lunchtime and after he'd finished work, just checking up and making sure I was ok. Even when I'd told him he was overreacting and I was fine, he'd brought me flowers every day anyway. Harli and Fred had been arguing all week and I'd stayed out of the way, it was just easier like that. By Friday I had gotten sick of the apartment and decided to go into work, as I walked through the door George ran over to me. "You can still be off if you want. You don't have to be in." He said, resting his hand on my shoulder. "No I'm fine, there's only so many times I can clean the apartment." I said, shrugging my shoulders. As I finished my sentence, George nodded and I saw Fred walk past in the back. "Fred. A word." I shouted over. He gulped and walked over, George squeezed my shoulder before walking off towards the counter. "Do you want to go to my office?" He said, his voice shaky and his nerves apparent. I nodded and walked over to his office, walking in and letting him follow.

"Riles I'm so-" He started as I took a seat. "No, I'll talk." I said, he snapped his mouth shut and sat behind his desk, his face even paler than usual. " Listen, I know you didn't mean what you said. But you've gotta watch yourself. Someone who doesn't know your temper could be really affected by it, you've been so supportive. Don't fuck it up now Freddie." I said, maintaining my eye contact with him. He nodded silently, we stared for a few seconds before I gestured over to him, "Now you apologise." I said, tilting my head to the side. "Shit, yeah. I'm sorry Riles." He said, I'd never seen him so genuine, his eyes soft. I could tell he meant it. I smiled and nodded and turned to walk out of the office. "Hug it out?" He said, his usual grin plastered on his face. "Don't push it pretty boy." I said winking at him before closing the door and sauntering over to the register.

The day dragged by. I hated to admit it but I missed Bill, I missed watching him continuously fuck up when baking or cooking, the piggyback rides he gave me whilst vacuuming the apartment, dancing to the radio in the kitchen. I even felt my heart skip when he walked into the building at lunch. "Hey you." I said as he walked over, setting down a brown paper bag on the desk in front of me. "Hey." He said, leaning down to kiss my forehead. "No flowers today? Disappointing honestly." I said, sarcastically raising my eyebrow at him. "I thought pumpkin pasties and a walk round the alley would suffice today." He said, his eyebrow mimicking mine as he spoke. "Come on." He said, taking my hand and pulling me through the door.

He was right, a walk round the alley and eating pumpkin pasties did suffice. The weather was nice, cold but not too cold, the sun was hiding behind grey clouds but it was nice to browse the antiques. We lapped the alley, Bill pretending to be interested in my choice of lamps, until we came back round to the cafe. I pulled Bill behind a piano in front of the antiques shop. "Bloody hell Riley, you almo-" He said. "shh" I cut him off, pointing at the cafe window. His eyes widened as he saw George leant over the counter, talking to the girl working there. "Is he.." Bill furrowed his eyebrows, "flirting. Watch, any minute he'll.." I trailed off as George leant back up and brushed the side of his head with his hand. "That." I finished. We watched as she handed him a takeaway cup and smiled at him. He nodded before leaving the cafe and heading to the shop. I turned to look at Bill with a huge grin on my face, "George Weasley? Flirting? I'm already excited to buy a hat." I giggled, Bill smiled widely and put his arm around me. "Let's get you back to work shall we?" I nodded and took his hand as he lead me back to the shop.

"You're gonna have to fill me in with everything" He said as he stopped just outside the shop door. "Don't worry, I got you." I said, pulling him down to peck him on the lips before wandering back into the shop. It wasn't long before I bumped into Fred again, still acting sheepishly. "Riles I forgot to apologise-" he started, I rolled my eyes and cocked my head to the side. "No I think we covered it." I said as I grabbed a box to take over to my counter. "I meant about you and Bill." He said, following me over to the counter. I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, gesturing for him to continue. "I overreacted, you actually looked sweet together today." He spoke, not making eye contact with me and looking through the box. "We're not.. you know.. we've just been on a couple dates. It's not serious." I cleared my throat. "Tell him that, the way he looks at you is something i've never seen before. From Bill anyway." He said, smiling weakly at me before walking away to his office.

The rest of the day blurred by, Harli stopping by the counter and checking in on me countless times. I didn't even see George till closing time to pry about the barista girl. "How's the.. love life Georgie?" My question must have taken him by surprise as he fumbled over his words. "Don't worry, you can tell me about it when you're ready." I said, smirking at him before linking my arms with Harli and taking off down the street towards home, leaving George open mouthed and awkwardly trying to get back into the shop Fred had locked him out of as some kind of joke.

"Did he apologise?" Harli asked timidly as she stirred the spoon around the pot of soup. "Yeah, properly too." I called to her as I flicked through a magazine on the couch. "Good." She nodded as she turned back to making dinner. "Has he apologised to you yet?" I said, looking over at her. "I can't count how many times." She said, I could hear the smile on her face through her words. "I will forgive him, i'm just leaving it a little longer. I like the effort he's putting in." She said as she gestured towards a box of chocolates on the countertop. I smiled and went back to reading about some new band that had broken world records.

Everything felt okay again.