as it is || harry styles au

thirty

i v o r y

"Okay, Em. You and Will. Spill it."

     Despite the scare Christmas evening and our Boston family being in town, Jamie's excitement to show Bobby all that he got for Christmas superseded it all.

It was honestly a relief. Jamie would be distracted at Bobby's house, and I could get some alone time with Em, Jenna, and Mickie. Granted, that alone time was shared with dozens of other diner-goers during my six hour shift, but because it was a slow afternoon, we got enough updates in.

Em rolled their eyes, casting their glance away. "Girl, go bring table twelve some drink refills."

Em could be as sarcastic as they wanted, but they couldn't hide the blush forming on their cheeks at the mention of Will's name.

"Table twelve doesn't exist," I snapped, quickly switching to a whisper, "bitch." Then I got up from the booth and walked over to table twenty to refill their cups.

The table asked for boxes and the check, and once they left, I officially had no other tables.

"Em," I groaned. "I need to know if those heart eyes you two have been sending each other are just in my head or not."

"I've tried to get it out of them," Mickie sighed, twirling his straw around his water. "I'm this close to setting the place on fire to have Will's ass show up and swoop Em off their feet."

"What the fuck?"

Jenna patted Mickie's shoulder. "Maybe let's not."

Em's eyes finally lifted up from the table. "Will is...too young for me."

Mick rolled his eyes dramatically and scoffed, "Yeah, young compared to the thirty-year-olds you've dated."

"Hey, I've dipped my toes in that water," Jenna defended. "They aren't so bad."

Mick's jaw tightened and nostrils flared. He blinked rapidly as if disgusted, and he was trying to shoo away that information. "Jenna...just...no."

"You're twenty-six. Will's twenty-two. He's got a big-boy job, benefits, retirement plan...the whole nine-yards. In a small town like this, he should be married by now," I explained.

Jenna leaned forward. "Talk to us, Emmie. You always keep your relationships to yourself, and, no offense, none of them have turned out well. Probably because you need our expert opinions."

"But only if you want," I added. "No pressure." But kind of pressure.

"Will has only dated straight white girls," Em blurted out, eyes going flighty again, looking anywhere except us.

A couple beats of silence passed in recognition of the fact that Em was finally opening up.

"Have you seen this town?" Mick asked.

Jenna shot him a glare. It wasn't that he was wrong, but...that wasn't necessarily validating Em.

"So, you've talked about relationships," I gathered.