ꜱᴇʀᴇɴɪᴛʏ, ᴡʀᴏᴇᴛᴏꜱʜᴀᴡ

39

I bolt down the pavement as my eyes lock onto my target, my hand gripping the present tightly as it threatens to fall from my hands. As soon as I burst in the door I know I'm late, the busy restaurant almost deafening my ears due to the chatter and the occasional clashing sounds of pots and pans from the kitchen. Struggling to keep up with the waiter, I attempt to freshen up and fix my hair on the way to the special events room at the back of this, might I add, fancy establishment.

"Ayyy, there she is!" JJ's voice booms throughout the room, alerting everybody, heads turning towards the door where I'm stood, face flushed from running and out of breath. Cheers come from the Sidemen and friends as I make my way over to Tobi at the head of the table, giving him a brief hug and wishing him a 'happy birthday' as I hand him his present. I hand my coat to a waiter as I catch up with Tobi, the rest of the table too involved with their own conversations to even notice the issue that is about to arise.

My eyes drift across the table as I locate any available seats, preferably next to Emma or Talia. However the only available seat is at the opposite end of the long table, next to the dirty blonde man that broke my heart - literally shattered it like glass. I huff quietly as I trudge along the floor, trying to delay this, no doubt, awkward encounter as long as possible.

"Hey," A familiar voice speaks from my left.

"Hi," We awkwardly exchange brief smiles before we both look away, unsure of how to approach the conversation.

"Have you recovered then?" I ask, pointing to the pint sat at Harry's place setting.

"What?" His eyes follow my finger, "Oh, yeah, yeah, thank you for that," His eyes refuse to meet mine as he picks up his pint like a lego man for a sip.

"It's alright," I smile, accepting Harry's offer of a sip of his drink, "You would've done the same."

"Not sure your girlfriend would exactly approve though," I mutter, before sitting Harry's pint back down on the table. Harry goes silent, his lips parting as his eyes burn into mine.

"I- I don't have a girlfriend?" He confesses, bowing his head as he fidgets with the cutlery.

"Oh," I chuckle sarcastically, "What happened with Emily?" I ask, gritting my teeth.

"She...she wasn't who I wanted," Harry admits, not breaking eye contact which is rather out of character for Harry.

"I fucked up, I know that," Finally breaking eye contact, massaging the back of his neck in his typical Harry way, but before I get a chance to respond I'm stopped by Ethan.

"I'd like to make a toast," Ethan stands as we all raise our glasses, "I'd like to toast to Tobi and wish him a very happy birthday. You're growing up, lad, and it's been an honour to see you become the person you are today. Here's to more years of the sidemen, and hopefully getting you drunk, in fact, next round's on me!" Everyone at the table cheers as Tobi shakes his head, no doubt disagreeing at the threat to make him try alcohol. 

-------

A/N: The support on Serenity has been mad recently, thank you! Also, for anyone that actually reads these notes, I think I may have a cute storyline for another project in the works!