Furthest Thing

Chapter 15

Harmony
Our last day in Arkansas was today and needless to say, I wasn't really ready to go back home to be alone with Aubrey.
"You gotta come visit more often babygirl." Ma said, putting my bag in the trunk.
"I know Ma. I'll try to, I promise." I responded, closing the trunk and turning to her.
She pulled me into a hug. "I'll miss you. Make sure you call me."
I giggled. "I will ma."
Lauren came out the house in her pajamas, carrying a box with a red bow.
I smiled and took it from her. "What's this, Lo?"
"Open it." She cheesed.
I opened it to see a picture frame with a collage of pictures of me and her from the past few days.
"Lo, this is so gorgeous." I embraced her.
"Thanks. You can put it in your office at home or at work. It's just until I come visit in the summer."
"Thank you baby girl. I love it. & I love you." I said, kissing her cheek.
After saying our goodbyes, Me and Aubrey were on our way to the airport. I was checking my email when Aubrey's phone started ringing.
"Hello?...Yeah...I won't be back in town for another couple of hours...Probably seven tonight?...That Italian place again?" He chuckled. "Alright, see you tonight...Bye." He hung up.
"Who is that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and turning my attention to him.
"Nobody." He simply stated.
"It was clearly somebody."
"Nobody you need to worry about."
"Let me guess, it was your 'manager' again."
He chuckled and looked at me before redirecting his attention back to the road.
I wanted to continue to argue with him but it wasn't going to get anywhere so I gave up. I put in my headphones and played my music.
Five hours later, I was just arriving home. I left my bags downstairs and went upstairs to shower. When I got out the shower, I noticed Aubrey was gone. I rolled my eyes and began to unpack. As I was unpacking, Tiffany called me.
"Hey Tiff."
"Hey girl. You back yet?" She asked.
"Yeah, I just made it back about a hour ago. What's up?"
"Well, I've been keeping in touch with Arabella like you said," She started. "And we're going to dinner tonight; girl's night out. So I told her I would invite you if you're up to it."
I smiled. "Of course. I haven't been out with you guys in a while."
"Good. It's this new restaurant downtown. I'll text you the address. See you at 7."
"Alright. See you tonight." I ended the call.
I noticed it was 3 o' clock, so I decided to go ahead and find an outfit. I wasn't going to be worried about Aubrey and his foolishness tonight.
Aubrey
I walked in the restaurant to see her sitting there sipping on a glass of white wine.
"Aubrey." She smiled. "It's so nice to see you again."
"You too." I smirked as I took my seat. "You took my order?"
"Of course." She grinned at me.
A few minutes later, I looked up as she was just staring at me. "What?"
She shook her head as she looked down. "Nothing at all."
I pulled her head up by her chin. "Tell me."
"I just don't wanna be seen as a homewrecker, Aubrey."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"I read this blog yesterday. All your fans love Harmony. They say she's gorgeous and she's smart and I can't compete with her. Not just her, but your whole fan base."
I sighed, not wanting to get into this conversation again. I just drank some of my soda before answering her. "Can we not do this right now?"
"Not now, not the other day, not when we first started messing around; when are we gone 'do this' then? You put this conversation off everytime!"
"Aye, quiet down okay? Don't attract attention with all that yelling." I said through gritted teeth.
"I just can't do this too much longer, Aubrey." She said, reaching across the table and grabbing my hand.
I just nodded as the waiter brung our food.
About 30 minutes passed and we had ate our dinner. I looked across the restaurant to see none than her. Harmony. Having dinner with Tiffany and Arabella. I clenched my teeth as I tried to think my way out of this.
"You alright, baby?" She asked, touching my knee.
"Yeah. You ready to go?" I said, standing up, my back to Harmony's table.
"Um, yeah sure." She said, standing up. "Why we leaving so early? We didn't even eat dessert."
"We'll grab ice cream on the way." I reached in my wallet and threw three hundred-dollar bills on the table.
She grabbed my hand and tried to walk to the front door.
"No!" I said, without making too much noise. "Um, the paparazzi is in the front. We gotta go through the kitchen."
To get through the front door, you had to pass Harmony's table and I don't know how to explain this just yet.
"The kitchen?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, let's go." I pulled her towards the kitchen.
I gotta get out this restaurant and fast.
Harmony
I was listening to Tiffany tell us a story about her son. Something told me to look across the restaurant so I looked up. I didn't notice anything out the ordinary except this woman being pulled into the kitchen by a man who I didn't seem to catch a glimpse of. I just shook it off and went back to listening to Tiffany.
"So he's starting to hold on the railing and trying to walk up the stairs." She smiled. She frowned when she noticed my facial expression.
"You okay, Harms?" she asked with worry in her face.
Arabella looked over at me. "Yeah, you okay? Why are you looking like that?"
I blinked a few times before redirected my attention to them. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's eat." I said, noticing our waitress walking towards our table.
20 minutes later, we had finished dinner and ordered a monster brownie to split.
"Y'all I heard this brownie is so good." Arabella claimed, as she imagined eating it.
"I heard that too." Tiff said.
I stood up. "I'll be right back you guys."
"Alright." Arabella looked up at me. "Hey?"
I looked as I pulled my dress down a bit and grabbed my purse. "Yeah?"
"You sure you're alright?"
I took a deep breath. "I'll be back." I walked to the side door of the restaurant.
I silently cursed at myself for not grabbing my jacket seeing as though it was 58 degrees right now. I looked both ways before walking across the parking lot and located my car. I unlocked the door and got in. I sighed as I gathered my thoughts. I thought long and hard about Aubrey. How can I let him make me like this? Even my friends are asking me if I'm okay when normally I'm the life of the party. I grabbed my phone out my purse and called someone who understands me and always gives me amazing advice.
"Hello?" he answered groggily.
"Hey. Did I interrupt your sleep?" I asked.
"Um, yeah just a little bit." There was a little shuffling about so I figured he was sitting up in bed. "I'm up now, what's up?"
"I was just calling to check up on you. How are you?"
He chuckled in my ear. "I'm good. I'm just in the UK on some business, I'll be back in Toronto tomorrow."
"The UK? Wait, what time is it there?"
"It's 1 in the morning."
"Oh dammit. I'm so sorry Brandon, I thought you were just going to sleep early."
"It's fine, Harmony." He reassured me. "My flight isn't until 12 tomorrow. What's going on? What's the real reason you called?"
"I just...I think..." I couldn't continue because of the tears swelling up in my eyes.
"Harmony? You good? What's wrong?" Brandon asked.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hands. "Nothing. It was stupid of me to call you."
"No Harms, wait.." I ended the call before he could finish.
I grabbed a napkin from my console and dabbed my eyes. I reapplied my mascara and eyeliner. I took another deep breath before getting out the car and heading back in the restaurant before Tiffany and Arabella got worried.
***
I woke up the next morning, realizing I was alone and it was Sunday. I took a minute to stretch and wake up fully. I looked over at my alarm clock and noticed it was 10. So I got up and did my daily routine; brushing my teeth, washing my face. I was walking downstairs when I heard loud music playing. So I followed the music into the den where I noticed Aubrey, Chris and August gathered around a stereo.
"This hot right here. This beat is sick!" Chris exclaimed bobbing his head to the music.
"Maybe this beat could go with those lyrics you were rapping the other day." August said to Aubrey.
I cleared my throat. All their heads turned around.
"What's up, Harmony?" Chris grinned. "Kae been asking about you. She said call her."
"I will." I looked at August. "Hey August."
He nodded up at me and smiled. "What's going on?"
Aubrey side-eyed him and slapped the back of his head. "Nigga, quit looking at my girl like that."
"Damn nigga, don't slap my head. I wasn't looking at her like anything."
I chuckled and walked to the kitchen. I was grabbing a protein bar when Aubrey entered the kitchen.
"Hey." He was leaning on the counter.
I looked at him. "Hey."
"Look," he started. "I'm sorry about yesterday, okay? It wasn't you. It was me."
"I just wanted to know who you were on the phone with. Didn't know it would be that type of reaction."
"I know, I know." He walked over to me. "Let me make it up to you."
The doorbell rang as he started kissing on my neck.
"Aubrey, the door." I said weakly.
"They'll go away."
The doorbell rang again.
I lightly pushed him off me as I walked to the door. I opened the door to see a woman standing there playing with her nails.
"Hello? How may I help you?" I asked her.
She just stood looking at me.
"Hello? Can I help you?" I asked again.
"Who's at the do-" Aubrey stopped mid-sentence.

The girl Aubrey was having dinner with to the side.