Together

Costume Party

I hate Monday's and I hate ear infections but I love posting updates for you all, on the bright side. This one gets very minorly (is that a word?) intense, just a warning. Most of it is fun, though, so enjoy, comment, vote. I love you all!
-ab

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November 23, 2025

Harper

As I surf through my phone on the tube, heading to meet Nessa and Katherine, I realize that it is exactly a month until Patrick and I make everything official. That makes me feel completely giddy. I'm going to be a wife. I'm going to be Patrick's wife.

I don't know yet if I'm going to take his name. If I'm going to become Harper Alwyn. I know that it is a discussion which we need to have, soon, but we haven't gotten to that point yet.

I find myself lost in thought as I think about the upcoming changes in my life, and snap out of my fantasies just in time to hop off at the Hampstead stop.

I decide to make a quick stop at the tea room down the street from the tube to pick up some drinks before I cut through a little side alley and make it back onto the main street and walk towards my friends' apartment.

Katherine answers the door and quickly lets me inside. "Hey! How have you been?"

"Good," I tell her. "How about you?"

"I'm good too. I'm getting ready to open Nutcracker."

"When do you open?"

"The first of December."

"Get me a ticket. I think I'll let my standby make her debut that evening."

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" Kath exclaims. "I'll make sure to reserve you a seat."

"Get Patrick one, too. He can go on a date with his fiancee that night. It won't kill him."

Kath laughs.

"So, where's Nessa?" I ask her.

"She's in her room, taking a phone call."

"Oh, alright," I laugh.

"But we can get started on these outfits. Especially the tutus. I picked up the three colours of tulle last night for us."

"Perfect," I exclaim. "What do we do?"

"We fold the tulle in half, then sew along the folded side with about five centimeters of room for elastic, then we will bunch it up and put the elastic in there, then sew it shut."

"Sounds perfect," I remark. "Where did you find that idea? It's so easy."

"Pinterest."

"Figures."

As we start to work on our tutus, pink for me, yellow for Nessa, and burgundy for Kath, all of our favourite colours, we hear Nessa coming out of her room.

"Guess who just got dumped?"

Both of us immediately look up from our work and turn to Nessa.

"Hon, I'm sorry," Katherine says, jumping up and running to give Nessa a hug, with me closely following.

As the three of us stand there with our arms around each other, I'm slightly surprised that Nessa isn't crying. She's just standing there, stoical.

"Is everything alright?" I ask her.

"It's fine," Nessa assures me. "I sort of saw it coming."

"Hon... isn't this your second breakup in the last, like... six months?"

"Less than that," she rolls her eyes, "but it's fine. I'm fine. I promise. Can we please just work on these costumes?"

Katherine and I exchange a glance. "Sure..." I say, quietly. I head back to my tutu, and Kath starts to show Nessa what to do.

It's not too long before I'm done sewing the tutu. I slip it on over my leggings and spin around.

"Oh my god, you look fabulous!" Katherine squeals, before sitting down at the sewing machine to finish up her own tutu.

Once Kath is finished, Nessa starts whining, "I can't use a sewing machine."

"Give it. I'll do it for you," I state, snatching the fabric from between her fingers.

As soon as I'm done sewing, though, I hear a sound from behind me that is either laughing or crying. The sound of the machine masked it until now.

Scared, I turn around, and see Nessa sitting with her face buried in her palms. Kath is nowhere to be found, and I realize that she doesn't know that I'm watching her. I'm not sure if I should say anything or not. I don't want to embarrass my friend, but she's clearly hurting, so I decide to go help her.

"Ness..."

Immediately, she looks up and rubs her eyes. "I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"He was the best thing that ever happened to me, Harper. He made me so happy. I can't believe that he's gone."

"Hold up. I thought you said that you saw it coming..."

"Well, sort of," she admits. "If I tell you something, can you promise not to tell anyone? Not even Katherine, or Patrick?"

"Um... I guess so..."

She tentatively lifts up the hem of her shirt and turns her side to me. I see a large bruise.

"Nessa-"

"It just happened once. A few days ago. We had a row, and he just did it in the heat of the moment. I deserved it, really."

"No. I don't care what you did. You didn't deserve that, love."

"I haven't seen him since the row, so I guess that he just thought about this for a few days, and then broke up with me."

"Hon, that's a major problem. He hit you. That's never okay."

"No, it's fine. Plus, what could I do about it, anyway? We are broken up now. I never have to... see him..."

She can't finish off her sentence as she is overcome with tears. I don't know what to do, as my eyes scan the room for where Katherine may have vanished to. Still no sight of her, so I simply pull Nessa into my arms and rub her back.

"Shh. It's alright. It was for the better that your broke up, if he was going to treat you that way."

"But it was only once," she sobs.

"That once could, and probably would, have led to something more. And being in an unhealthy relationship is way worse than being single. I promise. There's a guy out there somewhere who is going to love you for who you are, and he's going to treat you like the most precious object in the world. You've seen how Patrick treats me. That's how guys are supposed to treat you, love."

"But he made me so happy."

"I don't care. If he was going to abuse you, then it's for the best that you broke up, alright, love? Try to think of that. Remember, the best people in life are free."

That gets a little bit of a smile out of Nessa. She rubs her eyes and manages to stop crying.

"Now, go splash some water on your face, and see if you can find Katherine in the meantime. She's the one who has the vision for these tee shirts, so we need her."

Nessa nods and runs out. A few minutes later, she comes back in with Katherine, looking fairly recovered from her breakdown.

"Let's get these costumes going. The concert is getting closer and closer," she says, causing Kath and I to smile and let out a cheer, before Kath starts to explain her vision to decorate and cut the tees.