Harmony awoke with a start to the sound of her phone ringing. She wanted to groan at the cheerful melody it was playing and the way it contrasted with her mood. She rolled over only to realize she was tangled up in her sheets and her phone was somewhere in the bed. She hastily ripped the blankets off of her, searching until she finally found it underneath her pillow.
It was Leah.
"Hello?" she croaked, her voice thick and raspy.
"Hey, girl," Leah replied, concern instantly dropping into her tone, "what's up? You okay? You sound awful."
Harmony heaved a long sigh, rubbing her sore, swollen eyes with a fist. She must have cried herself to sleep at some point. "I'm okay," she mumbled.
"No, you're not."
"Bad day." Her voice caught and she grimaced, feeling emotions stir up again at the thought of how exactly her day had been.
"Oh no. How bad? Sounds bad. Sounds worse than the last time we talked."
Harmony tried. She really did try. She tried so hard not to cry again, but the tears came flowing anyway. "Mark..." she tried to begin.
"Oh no, what did Mark do?" Leah cut in anxiously.
"Today... he introduced me to... to his girlfriend." She took in a shuttering breath. "He invited me out to lunch... and... 'surprised' me by inviting her, too."
"His girlfriend?!" Leah cried. She sputtered for a few seconds before she could form words again. "What? Are you serious? Since when?!"
"I guess since he got back in town." She wiped away tears from her sore eyes. "I guess they've sort of been seeing each other for like, a month."
"A month!" was Leah's outraged response. "Who does that guy think he is?!"
"Leah, he didn't know-"
"No, screw that! With the way he acted around you... How dare he treat you that way! He practically led you on!"
"No, he didn't," Harmony defended her best friend. "We've always been that way with each other since the beginning... before anyone had feelings for anyone. It's not... It's not his fault I fell in love with him while he was going after another girl."
Leah was silent for a while, until eventually she gave a long sigh. "You're right, girl, I'm sorry. I just... wanna be mad at someone. I'm sorry I pushed you to go after him."
"It's not your fault, either," Harmony told her friend. "You couldn't have known. No one knew except... for him, I guess."
"Well, I already know I don't like whoever this girl is. I'm still sorry."
"I know. I'm sorry, too."
"Well, I'm coming over tonight. I hope that's okay. I've already left."
A smile managed to make a brief appearance on Harmony's face, despite the tear streaks on her reddened cheeks. "That sounds great."
"Good. I wasn't gonna give you a choice anyway now that I know how your day has been. You're in no shape to be alone tonight."
"Thanks, Leah," Harmony murmured.
"Did you have anything planned tonight?" asked Leah. "Any videos or anything?"
"I finished my videos for the weekend last night." And boy was she ever thankful for that. There was no way she could record right now in her current state. She also did not forget that Mark had invited her over tonight, but there was no way she could handle that right now, either.
"Good, you're all mine tonight then. I'm about 30 minutes out, and I'm bringing dinner 'cause I bet you haven't eaten."
"Thank you," Harmony said again.
"Of course. You know I got you."
And she did. Harmony had only been working with Leah for a few weeks when her boyfriend at the time broke up with her. She had been dating him for several months, but after she moved to LA he had decided he didn't want to deal with long distance and ended their relationship through a text. It had shaken Harmony up quite a bit, especially because he had been so supportive of her move down here. But Leah wasted no time inviting her to her place for movies, ice cream and serious girl time. Both Leah and Mark had helped take out a bit of the sting of breakups. And although this was no breakup, in some ways it felt similar.
They said their goodbyes and Harmony laid back on her pillow for a while, staring blankly up at the ceiling as the silence of her apartment enveloped her. Immediately her thoughts jumped to her best friend, although she didn't think he had ever really left her mind; Leah's phone call had only been a temporary distraction from him. She wanted to go over there. She wanted to see him and talk to him, but not with her there. She had only met Sasha once and already she was ready for her to leave. She wondered what they were up to right now. They were probably in the middle of a game, laughing and having a great time, and Mark was probably winning at whatever it was they were playing. Or maybe he was letting Sasha win. Maybe his arm was around Sasha like it often was around Harmony, but with her it had a different meaning. She doubted Matt and Ryan were teasing either of them about Girliplier. She wondered if they liked Sasha. Sasha was probably all over Mark. She couldn't stop touching him while they were at Panera Bread. Maybe they were in their own stupid world, cuddling or making out somewhere. Whatever they were doing, Harmony knew that Sasha was at the center of his attention. That was just the way he was.
Harmony curled up onto her side and screwed her eyes shut. She was torturing herself with this train of thought. But she couldn't help it. She just wanted to be there so badly in Sasha's place. She wanted him to look at her the way he looked at Sasha.
It made her heart hurt so much.
She laid there, feeling sorry for herself all the way up until she heard her doorbell ring. With a long sigh she emerged from her bed, feeling slow and stiff as she shuffled down the hallway.
Today had had so much potential, too.
She was greeted by her brunette friend on the other side of the door, arms full of both plastic and paper grocery sacks, along with a duffel bag and a laptop bag. Leah shouted a quick hello and made a bee-line to empty her arms onto the table.
"Wow, Leah," Harmony commented as she glanced over all of the things her friend had brought. "I totally would've helped you carry some of this in."
Leah waved a dismissive hand. "Nonsense," she proclaimed. "Tonight is all about you taking it easy. I got this." She motioned to the table. "I brought ice cream and cookies, a few video games and a lot of movies that I'm pretty sure you don't have here. Dinner is from Chili's because I knew you'd like that. And-" She stepped away from the table and indicated her clothing choice. "I knew you'd be in pajamas or sweats so I thought it was only fitting to dress accordingly." She was wearing dark blue pajamas bottoms that were spotted with yellow stars, and a black teeshirt with Harmony's YouTube logo on it that she had given her before she moved to Santa Ana.
"You're so good to me, Leah," Harmony said with a smile, but all of this care and attention to detail on her friend's part was so overwhelming for her over sensitive emotions that her smile almost looked sad, and her lips and chin wanted to quiver.
Leah frowned in sympathy. "Come here, darling." She stepped forward and embraced the blonde in a comforting hug.
Harmony hugged Leah tightly and let a few tears fall, but she tried to focus on calming down. She had cried more today than she had in a very long time.
"Come on," Leah encouraged after a few moments of silence, "I know what'll help. Food will help." She broke off the embrace to flash Harmony a smile. "Dinner and a movie. We're eating on the couch."
Harmony raised a brow in amusement as Leah turned to unpack one of the paper bags full of to-go containers. "I do have a table to use for eating."
Leah paused to scoff at Harmony's remark. "Oh please, that's for everyday and that's boring. Tonight is different. Throw the regular rules out the window. We can even eat dessert first if you want."
Harmony couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's dedication to cheering her up as she watched Leah separate the containers into two stacks. Suddenly one of the stacks was shoved into her hands and she was ordered to go sit on the couch. Harmony did as told and soon Leah joined her with two giant bottles of Smart Water, handing the blonde one of them.
"I'm sure you've cried buckets today and I don't blame you," Leah said, "but you'll feel even worse in a while if you don't hydrate."
Harmony smiled and thanked her as she took it and attempted to make an effort in eating her dinner. Her appetite hadn't really returned, but she knew she needed to eat. She hadn't had anything at all since her coffee and toast this morning before she had left to run her errands... and then meet with Mark for lunch who gave her one of the worst surprises he could have ever possibly-
"Hello?"
Leah's hand was waving in front of her face and her head shot up in surprise as she stopped picking at her chicken.
"What's going on in that brain of yours?" asked Leah.
"Oh," Harmony mumbled, "sorry."
"No zoning out tonight," Leah admonished her, emphasizing her request as she pointed her plastic fork at her. "Thinking gets us into trouble in moods like this because we think and overthink." She nodded to the TV. "This'll help distract us."
Harmony realized that Leah had already started one of her movies at some point. She watched a few seconds of the opening before she started grinning and she raised an eyebrow.
"This is Finding Nemo."
Leah was smirking from ear to ear. "You bet it is. This is how to start a girls night."
Despite how sad she felt, she couldn't stop the laughter that came tumbling from her lips. It felt good to do that.
She owed Leah big time.
Harmony was able to eat half of her meal as they watched the movie together, quoting some of the lines in unison. The end of the movie found them giggling with each other as they told each other random stories while they shared a box of cookies. At some point in the evening they started up Harmony's Wii U to take turns on Super Mario Maker, which mostly resulted in fits of both rage and laughter. Eventually they left the game on the Pause Screen to get up for ice cream and when they came back they got sucked into watching YouTube videos on Leah's laptop (they were both very careful to avoid Markiplier's channel).
Harmony felt good. Her face was still sore and she knew the shadow of her new reality between herself and her best friend still loomed over her, but at least for now she was able to push it aside. Maybe she could think about it later, when she was in a better mindset.
That was, until she realized Leah was staring at her pensively from the opposite end of the couch.
"What?" asked Harmony.
"So I was thinking... and I just wanna say one thing about this new situation we have on our hands now with your other best friend."
Harmony nodded and prepared herself to breach this topic once again.
"All of this just means one thing," Leah said. She stopped to watch her friend as mild confusion passed across her rosy face.
"What do you mean?" Harmony wanted to know.
"You just have some competition, that's all."
"Competition?" Harmony echoed.
"Yeah. You just have to be way more awesome than this broad that's distracting your man from you. You know, maybe he'll see what he's missing out on and kick her butt outta here." She shrugged. "Not a bad way to look at it, right?"
Harmony let her gaze wander idly around the room as she quietly considered Leah's suggestion.
"I mean, I'm not saying seduce him or anything," the brunette went on. "You don't wanna cross any lines. Just... Maybe don't run from this quite yet. Just be you and be around him as much as you're allowed to. I'm not saying it's a guarantee to make any certain thing happen one way or the other. But don't you think it's worth a shot?"
Several moments passed before Harmony started to nod hesitantly. "I can see what you mean," she replied slowly, still turning things over in her mind. "Maybe there's still a chance?"
"Yeah. A small one maybe. I mean he's just dating her right now. He's not marrying her yet." She leaned forward and fished out two cookies from the box they had left at the foot of the couch, handing her friend one of them. "It might not be easy, either. It might be really hard. But maybe worth it?" She shrugged. "Or it might not. I just think it's too soon to give up completely on the man you love. That's just my thought, though. I want you to do whatever you think is best for you. I just want you to be happy."
Harmony smiled softly. "Thanks, Leah. That does give me something to think about."
Leah nodded and picked up the Wii U gamepad. "Enough of that stuff now," she told the blonde, "let's annihilate this stupid level once and for all."
Harmony giggled as she turned her attention to the TV just in time to watch her friend die almost immediately. But before Leah could even restart the level, they both heard the sound of a key sliding into the lock of Harmony's front door.
The game was paused once again and Leah was on her feet in an instant, taking charge of the situation like she always liked to. She bolted for the front door even though this wasn't even her home, but Harmony let her. She stayed right where she was on the couch, her brown eyes fixed on the door.
A/N: Holy crap. Thank you SO MUCH for all of the reviews, favorites and follows! I am so blessed! The reviews you guys left me are honestly the exact reviews that every writer hopes to receive someday... and after feeling pretty discouraged for a while, they were just the thing to lift my spirits! I am so floored! It is a joy to write for you guys, I truly hope you all continue to enjoy this... sorry for the delay... I was working hard to finish making a cosplay for a convention this past weekend! But I'm back now!
