Separately Together

Chapter Five: 2/2

Week after week began to fly by. Finnic and I still haven't talked to mama and it almost seemed like she wasn't even going to try to win us over. He had only been in her life for a few months, and he had already turned her into a mother I didn't recognize.

The wedding was only three months away and not much was left to do about it. Liz had found her dress and Finnic his tuxedo. They had agreed on a venue called Winters Hall. It was a beautiful spot that fit the couples' aesthetic.

There was no more trouble out of him, so far. No break-ins or busted windows like he used to do.

My job was going well as always and things had become a little less awkward between me and Tom. The money I'd been saving up was getting hefty and I was growing excited about the possibilities of what I could do in my bakery.

I had planned out the bachelorette party, but I didn't have Harley's number to ask about him paying for it. So, I decided that I would call Finnic and ask for it.

For a few weeks with no contact with Harley, the tingles do feel like they have faded, some of which I was thankful for. The feeling was foolish, to begin with.

"Hey, Finnic. What's Harley's number?"

It didn't help that he had moved back to his house so I couldn't just ride to Finnic's to talk to him about the wedding.

"Was Liz, right?" My heart stuttered in my chest. No, she did not. Liz had done the unthinkable and told my brother.

"Right about what?" I asked nervously.

"About you liking Harley?" My heart stopped in my chest, why didn't he sound mad? This was his best friend he was talking about.

"I never said that." I finally force at least that to come from my tight throat.

"Liz said you didn't have to. Listen, Maddie." Oh, here it comes, this is where the anger is about to make its appearance. He was so levelheaded it had to be a bad one. "Harley is a good guy. He works a lot, but he is a really good guy. I wouldn't be mad about you two getting together if it would make you happy. I can't be as hard on you as old Finnic would have because your grown and you've been through a lot that makes me proud you can even feel that way about a man again."

Was he still worried about me? I mean he is Finnic; he worries about everything it wouldn't surprise me if this was one of the things he thought about regularly.

"Maybe one day I can open myself to someone like that but now isn't the time Finnic. I just need his number to plan the bachelorette party." I hear him chuckle.

"You couldn't have said that halfway through my speech?" I laughed loudly genuinely finding this funny.

"It sounded well-rehearsed." I joke and he tells me the number quickly probably tired of my mess.

Once the line ends, I let the shakes leave my hands. Finnic knew about the tingles I felt for Harley, and he wasn't even mad about it. He encouraged the whole situation. If anything had been certain in my head it was that these feelings I pushed away as hard as I could, would feel like a betrayal to my brother. I don't even know what to think anymore.

My mother has disappeared, my brother is oddly understanding, and my own emotions betray me now. Can everything just go back to normal, please?

I type the number he gave me into the phone before I have the chance to forget it. It rings so long that I think it's going to send me to voicemail. He picks up on what I'm sure would have been the last ring.

"Hello?" His voice was deeper than I have ever heard before clearly riddled with sleep. I had woken him up. It wasn't too early but it was seven AM. It could be considered early for some people.

"Hey, it's Maddie. I didn't mean to wake you up." I tell him honestly, it would have been a better idea to call in the afternoon, but I had to work, and I wouldn't be off until late.

"It's fine. I needed to be up anyways." He sounded grumpy; it was a bad idea calling. I couldn't afford the bachelorette party without breaking into my bakery money though. This was the only choice I was left with.

I gulp in a big breath, "I have the bachelorette party planned out, you said you would cover it?" I ask a little nervous, thinking that he might have changed his mind and I would have to come up with the money somehow. I didn't have time to get a second job because of classes at the local college and not to mention some of the things I have planned needed a reservation.

"What's the amount?" I could hear him rustling covers around as he stood up.

"It ended up being around fifteen hundred. If that's too much, I can ..." He cuts my doubts off quickly.

"Meet me at The Pine for breakfast and you can get my card." My mind went haywire with the thought of seeing him again, and the idea that he was missing me just as much as I was missing him because surely, he knew he could have just given me the card numbers over the phone.

"Okay. I'll be there in twenty." Then the line goes dead, and I jump up from my couch in a rush to get ready. I had to wear my work clothes because after I ate breakfast, I was going to have to work a shift. I did take shame in the fact that I put on some light makeup when I normally don't. How pathetic. Already changing up my everyday routine for a guy that had no romantic feelings for me, for a guy I shouldn't be having thoughts about.

When I got to Pine's his truck, nor was his bike there, so I assume that I beat him there. He did live in the town over so it would take him about thirty minutes to get here, along with the amount of time it took him to get ready considering I woke him up.

The server comes by and asks me what I want to drink and although I was thirsty my mouth wouldn't form the words, I wanted them to. "N-no thanks. I-I'm waiting on s-someone." The stammer was something that happened when I talked to people, I had never met before, which doesn't happen often living in a town like Trickett.

Shortly after the server walked off, I heard the front doorbell ring. I glanced up and my eyes locked on Harley's.

Everything didn't register at that moment, the only thing that I could focus on was his murky river-green eyes. All the air leaving my lungs made me a little lightheaded. Suddenly the part in the romance movies that always confused me made so much sense. When the two-love interests look at each other and everything else fades. It always confused me how that could happen, how one presence could consume the other so fully until now. Maybe he didn't feel it, but I did.

We were the only two that mattered.

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