the moral of the story

chapter twenty-seven: the cat's outta the bag

the good continued after that morning, actually.

james had to attend to some royal shit, so i had to leave without the afternoon he had planned. but it was okay, because i left the palace feeling all warm and loved. i had never been that happy in my life, i realized. james being the source of all my purest happiness with something i was forever grateful for.

i ended up at hallie's somehow, watching her apply some winged eyeliner onto her eyelids. she was off to some royal event tonight with the whole gang. i wanted to ask why james had neglected to invite me, i wasn't leaving for a few more days. but i bit my tongue. that was a conversation that needed to happen with james, not hallie.

"you look hot, by the way." i commented, watching as she rose and strided over to her body-length mirror.

"you think so?" hallie asked, pressing her palms down against her skin-tight orange cocktail dress. "because you know there's this girl—"

"this girl who will be an absolute idiot if she doesn't see how gorgeous my best friend is." i told her with sincerity.

"we should watch a movie tonight. yeah, a movie. how about clueless? i know you love that one. oh, and i can paint your nails like you've been asking for weeks." hallie word vomited, pressing her lips together.

"sure, i mean, i had plans with james later but he cancelled. so i'm available."

hallie turned to me suddenly, the same look upon her face that james had worn that morning. the same parted lips and wide eyes and furred brows. i knitted my eyebrows together, giving her all of my attention. "what is it, hals?"

"i love you, you know that right?" she said suddenly, breaking eye contact with me and striding over to her purse. "seriously, florence, you're the best friend a girl could ask for. you've done soe many things for me, and i would never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

"okay, you're scaring me." i told her, crossing my arms over my chest. "you and james."

"james?"

"yeah, he got all weird this morning when we woke up together—"

"woke up together? what? what? florence, oh my god!" hallie's entire mood shifted at my words, her eyes widening as she grabbed both my hands. "did you have sex with him? i thought we agreed you would tell me before you two—"

"and i will!" i cut her off, feeling my warm heat up. "no, hallie. i haven't had sex with him. i mean, not yet—" hallie squealed at this. "but i think, you know, i might be, um, i guess, ready or something."

an inhuman erupted erupts from hallie's throat as her hands gripped mine so tight i was pretty sure i would lose feeling soon. "florence! oh my god! oh my god! okay, okay. so tell me what you have planned for it? oh, what am i talking about. james needs to plan it himself, you know. sort of like a memory for a virginity type thing. oh, it doesn't matter. it will be perfect. florence, you have to tell me when it'll happen, so i can bake a cake—"

"would you chill?" i felt myself laugh. "it's like, totally not a big deal. people have sex all the time. i mean, you've done it with both genders."

hallie chuckled, glancing down. "yeah, i have. but for my first time, it was someone i really cared about. i loved her. i just want you to be mindful about this. because florence, having sex for the first time is a really big deal. and it's not just something you can take back once it's over."

i knitted my eyebrows together, feeling her grip on my hands lighten. "so are you saying you don't think i should do it?"

hallie sighed, dropping my hands and placing them on my shoulders, meeting my green with her brown eyes. "i think you should do what you feel is right. if you wanna sleep with james, then i'm absolutely all for it. but if there's even a small part of you that has your doubts about him, then i would wait."