the moon [h.s.] - EDITING

seventy.

The first week of January went by slow and dreadful for Harry. For Luna, too. She has yet to receive her results from all the lab work she had done the day after New Year's Day. The doctor should be calling any day now.

Luna has told him not to worry several times. She has been feeling better, after all. She no longer wakes up in pain, according to her. Then again, he hasn't seen for himself since he's been sleeping in his own bed over the past week.

He sits at his cubicle and he's waiting for Beth to come for his neck. He did something without her permission and he's only waiting for the ticking time bomb to go off.

À La Mode's February issue has hit the shelves and Harry's piece has been printed without her approval.

Before he went to visit his mum during Christmas, Beth had made it clear to Harry to not write about lupus. After not being able to snag an interview with A-List celebrity and lupus patient, Sienna Davis, she decided the autoimmune disease had not been worth an À La Mode issue.

He wrote about it anyway. He swears, he's never been proud of such a piece before. It was informative and he has a feeling awareness will be spread.

Getting it passed by Beth was easier than he thought. He had written an entirely different, fashion-and-lifestyle filled, piece only to serve as a placeholder for Beth to approve on. Then, that's where his favorite intern stepped in. Harry isn't sure how Nolan was able to access Beth's computer and replace the fashion spread with the awareness spread. He's pretty sure he and Nolan have committed a crime together. It doesn't matter though. The magazine is out.

New Year, New Harry. Fuck it.

He's had an entirely different mindset ever since the New Year has set in. It's gone pretty well, he thinks.

"Styles! Office... Now!"

There it is.

The bomb has gone off and Harry gets up from his chair at the sound of Beth's angry voice. He smiles at the stares of his colleagues as he heads towards Beth's office.

"Yes?" Harry steps in.

Beth walks over to her desk with hands on her hips. She then lifts up the latest magazine issue from off her desk. "How in the hell did this get printed?!" She flips through the pages until she finds his piece. She then drops the open magazine onto her desk again to have him look.

Harry steps closer. He's already gone over what to say. All he has to do is open his mouth and say it. "Uh," he starts."You approved it, Beth. There's no other way it would have been printed..."

"No, Harry! I did not approve of this. You tell me exactly how this got printed or-"

"Or what?" Harry spikes an eyebrow then lets out a small laugh when he crosses his arms. "With all due respect, Beth, people buy your magazine because of me. I deserve to write about what I want. You're not the only magazine editor in New York who wants me."

Part of him thinks he sounds stuck up, or maybe a little ungrateful since Beth is the one who had first seen potential in him. Still, he wants what he wants. He wants to be heard and this may be the only way to do it.

Beth is quiet.

"This is what I want to write about. Next issue, I might want to write about how fucked the healthcare system is. Give me the same freedom to write in my printed column as I have with the online column. Or, I walk."

"You walk?" Beth repeats and then scoffs. She has her hands on her hips again and then turns around to look out of her window.

"Amelia Winters. She wants the real man behind 'H'. Her offer sounds really damn appealing right now," he keeps talking. He's tweaking the truth a little. Beth's competitor has not reached out to Harry at all, but he knows it'll drive her crazy. It's the new mindset, he blames.