the moon [h.s.] - EDITING

twenty-three.

He hates himself. He's tried calling Luna a few times, but it goes straight to voicemail. He messed up. He can't sleep. He makes it an entire night without sleeping because he can't stop thinking about what happened.

He didn't go there to kiss Kristen. He didn't expect to blame himself and try to make up her own mistake to her either.

Luna was right, she was letting her guard down and he saw it. He saw it go back up the moment she lied and said it was just sex. She had to be lying. She's only protecting herself from him, he's convinced. She's also right about not knowing her. He doesn't know why she was so reserved, so hard to open up. If he doesn't know her, why does he feel so strongly for her? He can't leave her alone.

But dammit, he has work to go to. He groans. He just knows it'll be a bad day.

Harry changes into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He doesn't put much effort into getting dressed for the day, unlike Levi. He's always dressed so well for a school counselor.

"Harry, hey... Are you alright?" He asks.

Harry sighs. He looks at him and shakes his head slowly. "No. I haven't slept. Luna's mad at me and now I have to go to work." He tells him. "I'll see you later."

His roommate doesn't say much. Harry is sure Levi had overheard what went down. He hopes he didn't make him feel uncomfortable from it.

On his way to work, Harry decides to stop by his favorite coffee shop to energize himself. He has a feeling Beth would be unbearable, so he needs his favorite coffee.

He leaves the place with the biggest cup they had to offer. He's sipping it down and he feels jittery by the time he makes it to his office building.

"Mr. Styles! How are you today?" Nolan greets the moment Harry walks onto his floor after what felt like a long lift ride.

"Uh, I'm alright... You?" He asks, walking fast to his cubicle alongside Nolan. Nolan is trying to catch up to Harry.

"Great! Beth, actually, wanted me to find you. She wants you in her office," Nolan tells him. He then smiles. He's always smiling. It must be nice, Harry thinks.

"Oh... She can wait. How was your weekend?" Harry asks as he takes a seat in his chair. He logs into his computer and drinks more coffee.

Nolan leans against the top of his cubicle wall. The wall stops at his chest and he's looking down at Harry. "It was great! I moved in with my boyfriend. It feels good to wake up next to someone you love, you know?" Nolan's smiling even bigger and Harry looks at him. He wants to barf.

Harry puts on a smile when he realizes he hasn't responded. "That's good news, Nolan."

His smile fades the moment he hears Beth. "Harry! I've been waiting for you. I told Nolan, here, to get you to stop by my office as soon as possible." She eyes Nolan.

"He did," Harry speaks up. He looks up at Beth, standing by his cubicle. "I was just telling him that I'd go to your office soon. How are you?"

Beth pushes her hair back and then adjusts her tight blazer. "Very well, then. Fetch me some coffee?" She asks Nolan. The poor boy nods and goes do what he is told. "I'm wonderful! I wanted to speak to you over a marvelous idea."

Harry leans back in his chair. He sways a little and raises an eyebrow. "What kind of idea?"

"What do you think of an online advice column? Readers will get to ask you for advice!" She leans herself back against his desk with a smile on her face. She sounds so proud of her idea.

"You want me to have two columns?" Harry then asks.

"Yeah, printed and the other online."

Normally, Harry would be excited, too. Any chance to write and now have the chance to give advice to the readers who made him successful sounds like a dream. A dream he isn't sure he wants anymore. "Um, how would it work?"

"Well, we'll have an email set up where anyone can write with what they want advice on. My team will handpick which emails you could respond to... We go from there! It could be a weekly kind of thing." Beth explains to him.

"I want to handpick the emails," Harry then says. He remembers what Luna had told him about not letting Beth take control. This could be his chance to not let her. "I want to give real and useful advice. I don't want to give only fashion tips. I want to help someone through real problems since we're not only a fashion magazine."

Beth looks hesitant. She looks like she didn't expect Harry to give her conditions. "How about we try it out?" She then suggests. "You handpick them the first week, you give advice to whatever you want... but if people aren't interested, then we're doing it my way."

He knew Beth wouldn't agree to it all the way, but at least he got something. He has creative control for just a week, but it's more than he has ever gotten with his most popular column. He takes it. "Deal." He reaches out to shake her hand.

Beth shakes his hand then leans off his desk. "I'll have my assistant send you all the details about the site. We will talk about numbers soon. Oh, and resubmit your last piece to me mentioning the advice column as soon as possible. We publish our next issue soon."

Harry listens to Beth then looks at his computer screen once she walks away. He grabs his coffee and drinks the rest.

If it wasn't for Luna, he might've never spoken up. He sits for a minute when he realizes she's mad at him again. He would love to tell her about his new column and how he only got what he wanted because of her.

He shakes his head and tries to focus. He edits his piece and begins to type out the announcement. He has a busy month ahead of him. Christmas gets a separate Á La Mode issue from the month of December, so he needs to write another piece soon. He doesn't know of what yet. He's not really in a jolly or Christmas mood. It's only November.

He tries to get through his day. He really tries.