"You'll never get this done, you know?" The satisfaction was evident in his voice.
"You could leave me alone so I can actually get this finished. Or pick up a brush." I gestured to the abundance of supplies I had purchased.
"Mmm, no thanks. Don't re...
The week flew by rather quickly. I ended up having the day off work on Wednesday because I was exhausted, but returning on Thursday wasn't as daunting after I was rested. On Tuesday night, Harry had noticed how tired I was already and insisted I have Wednesday off. We watched movies on Tuesday night until late, he didn't think I noticed but I knew it was to distract me.
It had been a week since I had fled Will and he knew that. I was incredibly appreciative that he didn't make a big deal about it but it didn't go unnoticed the effort he put into making Tuesday night enjoyable.
Thursday, he sat next to me during the staff meeting and cut a lot of long discussions short by answering any questions with, "I'll pass on any information via email regarding that sometime next week. Next question?" In doing this, he was able to cut the meeting down by almost a half hour.
Clem and I sat in her room getting ready to go out. I would be lying if I said that the thought of being surrounded by possibly drunk men tonight wasn't absolutely terrifying. I hadn't been around a group of people drinking that wasn't Will's friends since University and even then, he was there.
My dress was black with a high neck and gorgeous flared ¾ sleeves that fell to my mid thigh. I felt pretty, but it was missing something. I had decided to come and sit with Clem while she did her hair for inspiration and while she looked absolutely gorgeous, nothing was sticking out to me really.
Until I saw her makeup bag on the vanity in front of her.
"Clem, do you mind if I steal some of your makeup for tonight? I have my own foundation, mascara and things like that but I can see you have some really stunning shadow palettes. I used to love doing makeup in university and I haven't really done anything like that since then."
She slid the bag towards me and gestured towards her ample supply of brushes, "of course, what's mine is yours. If you're any good, I might get you to do my makeup from now on because I am not the best with fancy eyeshadow."
There was one bag of shadows and one bag of brushes and sponges. I carted them all towards the bathroom and began working on my face. The colours made my heart sing in nostalgia, I used to spend many hours doing my makeup to not even go anywhere, I would just wipe it off and start on the next look.
It took me around 40 minutes to finish my entire face and I was incredibly proud of myself. My skin looked the best it had in a while, the concealer and foundation worked to hide the fading bruises still present. I was quite partial to blues and silvers, I always loved the way they looked so it was only right to use those colours.
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Clem was out in the kitchen when I left the bathroom, I could hear the clinking together of glasses and light chatter. There were voices I hadn't heard before and my stomach flipped. Oh god, what if they didn't like me? If Harry's friends didn't like me, that would be it. I would be out, homeless, with nothing and no one. They had to like me.
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As soon as I entered the room, their eyes were on me. I was immediately drawn to meet the green ones sitting at the kitchen table before looking to the rest of the people. I put on the biggest smile I could muster before approaching the first one.
He matched my smile and gave me a hug, rubbing my back in the process. I was still rather nervous around men, with reason, but he just gave off immediate comfort.
"I'm Adrian, I've heard a little about you but not a lot. Giving little to no details is Harry's strong suit. It's great to finally meet you, Jo. Josephine? Phine?" His words were light and carefree, and honestly a huge relief.
"Jo is fine, it's lovely to meet you too. Can't say I've heard much about you either." I laughed along with him at Harry's expense. But it was the truth, other than saying he had some friends he occasionally hung out with, I knew nothing.
"I'm Michael." Another spoke from the table. He was sitting opposite Harry with his arms crossed. He didn't look particularly impressed with my attendance and that made me feel sick straight away.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Jo."
Clem grabbed my arm, making me jump slightly which I hope went unnoticed by the three extra bodies in the room. She pulled me towards the final new face in the room. She was leaning back against the kitchen bench with a glass in her hand. She wasn't really giving off a lot so that made me nervous as well.
"This is Ella. Ella, this is Jo. Unlike Harry, I have actually told Ella about you. Right, El?" Clem was excited, or buzzed, I couldn't tell just yet.
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"Uh, of course. Nice to meet you, Jolene." Her eyes looked me up and down and in that moment I could have been sick on the floor.
"It's Jo, dickhead. Has the courtroom made you deaf or something? I swear I'm the smartest one here and I'm supposed to be getting taken care of by you guys." Clem hit Ella's arm, her declaration confirming that she was in fact buzzed.
Ella must have seen the confusion on my face, well how could she miss it? She hadn't looked away from me yet, "I'm a lawyer, in case you missed that."
"Gathered that actually." I deadpanned.
A chair scraped and soon a presence was behind me, "Taxis are out front, lets go."
The sky was cloudy but I was thankful it wasn't raining. I felt really good about my appearance for the first time in a long time, the weather was not going to ruin this for me. There were two taxis parked outside and six of us to divide between them. Michael and Adrian made their way to one and Clem and Ella made their way to the other.
"Are you gonna be ok if I go with the guys? You'll have Clem, and Ella's really sweet but if you need me, just text me ok? It'll only be like a twenty minute or so drive." Harry's hand rested on my shoulder, eyes looking for any discomfort hiding in mine.
"It's ok, you don't have to ruin your night by looking after me. Clem is there and I'm sure Ella can deal with me being near her for twenty minutes. Go, seriously. I'll be fine."
I could tell he was excited to have a night out after acting as my own personal babysitter, also confused that I didn't see Ella as the 'sweetheart' he made her out to be, but nonetheless he headed to the guys car and I headed to the girls.
Clem was sitting in the middle seat which eased my nerves slightly. I opened the door and got in the seat behind the driver before pulling the door shut.
Ella sighed in relief, "thank god, I didn't know if we were all going to fit."
Bitch?
"What does that mean?" I snapped, is she seriously fat shaming me after knowing me for 0.6 seconds?
"You know, the seats are quite narrow. It would have been a shame if the three of us didn't fit back here and one of us had to stay behind."
"But we all fit, so there's no need for you to get out and stay behind Emma." I smirked, knowing any chance of us getting along was gone.
"It's Ella."
"That's what I said, Erin."
"Guys, imagine if we all go out tonight and it doesn't rain the entire night! How sick would that be?" Clem babbled, eyes fixed on the front windscreen.
"That would be so cool, Clem." Ella replied before looking out her window and away from me.