Apotheosis- A TGWDLM Fanfic

Chapter Seven: I Think I Got You Beat

It had been two long minutes of walking down the streets. Total silence. The silence gnawed at Harriet's heart, for some reason. She felt... guilty. She didn't know why Emma was upset, but she evidently had something to do with it. Emma was her friend. Probably the closest thing to family she had left. Somehow she'd managed to fuck it all up, and worse than that, she was enough of an idiot to not know what the fuck she'd done. She felt like a total piece of shit. Emma was far ahead of her. So, being as conscious as she was, she ran a little to catch up with her friend.

"How did I fuck up?" Harriet asked. She watched as a smile cracked on Emma's formerly grumpy face and her friend started to cackle with laughter. Harriet quirked her eyebrows. She had no clue what was going on. "I'm confused."

"You didn't fuck up, Harry!" Emma assured her, chuckling. "Sorry, just the way you worded that..."

"Then why wouldn't you talk to me? And why were you so upset?" Harriet asked.

"Because I'm a dumb bitch." Emma sighed. "A dumb bitch who really should have learned her lesson the first time."

"Elaborate?" Harriet asked.

"Oh, it's really personal." Emma chuckled nervously, blushing. "Never mind. I'm sorry I snapped at you. Sometimes I'm not just a DUMB bitch."

"You're neither a bitch or a dumb bitch." Harriet soothed. "You know you can talk to me if I do or say anything to trigger you, right?"

"Oh, it's not that serious!" Emma assured her quickly. "No, it's fine... it's silly."

"If it got you that upset, it's not silly to me." She told her. She was making use of a few strategies her uncle had used with her in her more hormonal days.

"Look, stop being nosy." Emma sighed. "I'm not telling you."

"Okay." Harriet flushed. She didn't like being called nosy. Not at all. She still felt there was a tension between them, but she supposed Emma needed time.

"Sorry. That was..." Emma trailed.

"No, I deserved that." Harriet chuckled sadly. "I just... I know it sounds really immature, and kind of stupid given that I'm talking about ten minutes ago, but I miss the old times."

"You sound like your Uncle." Emma chuckled. "Please tell me I'm not gonna become YOUR working boy..."

"Well, it's inevi- shit, my bad. It's bound to happen." Harriet caught herself. "You're basically my only friend... ever..."

"What?" Emma started laughing. "I'm not!"

"You are!" Harriet chuckled awkwardly. "Kids always thought I was too weird, or too young..."

"Dude I would have befriended you and used the shit out of you." Emma admitted. "That would have been the smart thing."

"This is essentially the proof you need that you're not a dumb bitch." Harriet smirked, a cover for the stab of pain she felt thinking about her school days. "They were both dumb and bitches. You are neither."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Emma softened.

"It's fine. My schooling sucked ass. So I got it done as quickly as I could." Harriet sighed. She then remembered something and reached into her satchel. She pulled out a pack of cigars. "Aha!"

"You're a biologist... you know that shit isn't good for you, right?" Emma asked.

"Tell that to my anxiety." Harriet chuckled sarcastically, pulling out a lighter. Her cigars were pre-cut by her uncle... she could never quite figure out how to do it herself. She took the time to light the cigar and took a puff. "Aw, he left me the good ones!"