mutuality | wroetoshaw

thirty three

Around an hour after the initial surprise, the interrogation begins.

It's Georgie who pulls me aside first, and naturally I'm not surprised.

"There is absolutely no way you are convincing me that you and Harry are just friends, I know that you -" she starts, but I cut her off.

"I'm not. We aren't just friends," I tell her, and for a second it doesn't seem to register because she continues off on her rant until my words finally sink in, and she gasps, her eyes widening.

"Shut the fuck up! When? How? You absolute slag for not telling me!" She whisper shouts, Eliza only a few feet away from us both, dancing with JJ and Simon, Charlotte recording the whole thing on her phone.

"Uh, not too long ago. I genuinely just got so wrapped up in it I forgot to mention. We only just told our friends," I admit, because ever since our first kiss, time had flown by. It had been a blur, and my thoughts had consisted of him, and only him. It sounded bad, and it probably was, but I hadn't even thought about telling my family.

"I knew you two weren't just friends. It was so obvious at Christmas. We literally took bets on when it was going to happen," she laughs, and I'm actually not shocked that they did that. It's predictable from my family.

"Who won the bet if I told you it happened second week of March?" I ask, and she thinks for a second, pulling out her phone. I groan. "You made a note of it?"

She grins, nodding her head. "Course we did. We all knew it was coming sooner or later. We put money on the line - oh!" She says, scouring the note. "Mum won. I said your birthday, Charlotte said Valentine's, Dad said Easter, Archie said the summer holidays - that man is clueless, and Ella said May. At least I was second, although now Mum is like twenty five quid up."

"You all put a fiver on it?! Jesus Christ," I laugh, and it attracts Harry's attention, and he cocks his head as if to ask if he could come over and join the conversation. As an invitation, I smile and motion for him to join, and he walks over, wrapping an arm around my waist as I lean into him ever so slightly.

"What're we talking about?" He asks, and I pointedly look at Georgie, because there's no way I'm explaining this to him.

"Everyone in the family put a bet on when you two would get together. Mum won, she said March tenth which, sadly, is closer to what you told me than your birthday. So upsetting," she explains, and Harry looks very amused.

"That woman is incredible. She knows everything, it's kinda terrifying," he says, and there's so much truth to it.

"Tell me about it. I used to be convinced she could predict the future. Turns out she's just got a mother's instinct."

"So, how did you two make it official? Tell me all the details," Georgie asks, and we both look at each other because - well, technically we aren't official.

"We aren't exactly...official. We're exclusive, just taking it one step at a time at the minute," I explain, with Harry nodding along.

"Oh! Right! Sorry, I just assumed..." she says, looking between the both of us.

"Don't be. And don't worry, I have the perfect plan in my head. It's just a matter of time," Harry says, and this comes as a surprise to me too.

"Oh, you do?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"I do. You're gonna love it," he smirks.

"Okay, gross, I'm third wheeling and going to throw up from how sickeningly cute you two are. If you have any single male friends, send them my way. I will be by the food," she grins, blowing me a kiss goodbye before leaving us for the kitchen.