Harry
I knew I shouldn’t be angry with Sarah, but I was. It was irresponsible of her to go out, get drunk, not get home until late at night, and then bring two strange men to her apartment with Gemma. Granted, she wasn’t by herself, which was only slightly better, but Gemma was a flirt and a bad influence on Sarah. Sarah never would have done this sort of thing before. She had always been my nerdy little best friend. She’d rather stay in and read history books and documentaries than go out, and she never got drunk. I’d never seen her drunk in her life, and I had tried to encourage her to drink many times. And why was she so upset that I didn’t care that she’d had her hair done? I mean, whoop de woo, she got some new hair and some new clothes. How different was she going to look? Not much, I was pretty sure. I stared at my phone and at my watch. Sarah was at home, safe and sound. I should just let her enjoy the evening with her friends and call the next morning, but even as I gathered my keys and put on my shoes, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. There was no way in hell Sarah was going to have a nice night flirting it up with some random men after she’d gotten me dumped from three relationships. I was about to bust her little party up as unceremoniously as she had busted up my relationships.
I grinned to myself as I held the huge box of condoms in my hand and a six-pack of beer. I was minutes away from Sarah’s building and she was in for the shock of her life. I walked into the building, nodded at the doorman, and made my way up in the elevator. When I reached her floor, I undid the top buttons of my shirt and then got her key out. As I opened the door, I could hear laughter coming from the living room. She wasn’t going to be laughing in a few seconds.
“Honey, I’m here,” I called out as I slammed the door shut behind me. “Sorry I’m late. I hope you didn’t get started before me, but I am horny as hell.” I walked toward the living room and opened one of the beers and started drinking. I stopped at the entrance of the room and narrowed my eyes.
There were four people staring at me incredulously and two whose eyes were shooting daggers at me, but all I could do was stare at Sarah. She looked absolutely beautiful and vibrant. Her hair was a honey-blonde color and her face was glowing. I’d never seen her so put together and I could feel my heart thudding. Who was this stunner and what had she done with my Sarah?
“Harry, what are you doing here?” Sarah stood up and walked toward me. “I told you I had company.”
“So you went ahead with it? You’re planning on cheating on me?” I said loudly and angrily. “Just because I didn’t want to make a baby with you this morning?” I looked over at the two guys sitting on the couch. Which one of these fuckers was trying to get into her pants? “Who are these men? Men you’re trying to trap into becoming fathers?”
“What?” Sarah’s jaw dropped as she stopped in front of me. “Harry, what the...”
“Sarah, did you tell them you’re on the pill and not to wear a condom?” I said loudly and sidestepped her. I held up the box of condoms. “Well, she’s not on the pill. Why do you think I have this box?”
“Harry.” She glared at me and grabbed my arm. “What are you...” She hiccupped and laughed. “Doing?”
“You’re seriously drunk, aren’t you?” I shook my head and then looked over at Gemma and glared. “How could you let her get this drunk?”
“She doesn’t need your permission to drink, King Harry.” Gemma rolled her eyes.
“Uhm, should we leave?” the bald guy on the couch said.
“Yes,” I growled.
“No.” Sarah shook her head and then looked back at me. “What are you doing?”
“What were those gifts?” I raised an eyebrow. “It’s called revenge, my dearest.” I leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips. I swallowed hard as she kissed me back for a few seconds. I wasn’t expecting that. Shit! I could feel myself hardening. What was going on? I took a step back. “Sarah, you need to get rid of these guys now.”
“Harry, I am entitled to have friends over. You’re not my man.”
“That’s not what you were saying last night when you were riding me.” I groaned at the thought of her on top of me. I blinked as I stared into her angry eyes. How would she look in the throes of passion? I stared at her hair. How hard could I pull her tresses before she begged me to take her? I shifted uncomfortably.
“Harry.” She licked her lips nervously. “Very funny, but you should leave.”
“Fine.” I glared at her. I was in over my head. I wasn’t sure what I was doing here. I was meant to be getting her back for the gifts, but instead, I was standing here feeling very confused. “It’s over.” I stepped back, threw my hands up in deuces and left. I would deal with Sarah in the morning. Tonight had been a mistake.
I looked at my watch. It was seven in the morning. I knew Sarah would most probably still be in bed, but I needed to talk to her, and I needed to tell her off. She needed to apologize to me for the gifts that she’d gotten. I wasn’t as angry as I’d been the evening before because I got it. It was a gag gift. It was funny, and I laughed. Those girls weren’t for me anyway, so I didn’t really care. She hadn’t ruined any real relationships, and I love that Sarah and I had the sort of friendship where she felt she could be a goof like that with me. But I did not appreciate the way that she didn’t return my phone calls. She didn’t return my text messages. And then when she finally did pick up the phone, she had the gall to be upset with me. With me, Harry Parker Huntington. Like really? After she was the one that had ruined my possibilities of going to the annual events with someone. Now I had no one and now I had to look for someone.
I mean, not that it would be hard for me to find a woman last minute. If I needed to, I had a list of a hundred different women that would be more than happy to accompany me to these events. But a lot of them I had a history with, and I really didn’t want to go there. Sarah owed me and she owed me big. I refused to think about what had happened last night when I’d gone to her apartment. And I refused to think about what had happened when I’d gotten back home. How it had been Sarah’s face in my head when I’d taken care of myself.
Fifteen minutes passed, and I jumped in the shower and got ready quickly. I didn’t care if it was early and she was still sleeping. She needed to talk to me. I got in a taxi and went over to her place and let myself into her building and then up into her apartment. It was dead quiet, and I could hear the light sound of her breathing as she snored in bed. Oh well, I grinned to myself. You’re about to wake up in a second, Sarah.
I walked into the bedroom and jumped on the bed. “Wakey-wakey, Sarah!” I said loudly into her ear.
“Ahhh,” she mumbled incoherently as her eyes flew open and she hit me in the shoulder. “Oh my god, Harry. Really? What are you doing? I thought you were a burglar or something,” she growled at me as she blinked. Her hair was a mess and she had black makeup smeared across her face. So much for the makeover.
“’Morning to you too, Sarah.”
“What are you doing here?” She put her hand to her head. “Oh my god. My head is pounding. I feel like I want to die or throw up.” She made a weird sound and I rolled over onto the other side.
“Please do not throw up on me, Sarah. Please.” I made a face.
“Harry, I’m not going to throw up on you,” she said through gritted teeth. “What are you doing here right now? Oh my gosh. I told you I would call you later when I woke up.”
“Well, I think you owe me, Sarah. So here I am.”
“Really? How’d you get here? What time is it?” She looked over at her clock. It was eight a.m. “Eight o’clock on a Saturday morning. Really, Harry?”
“Really. Wakey-wakey. Rise and shine.”
“Shut up, Harry.”
“Is that how you would speak to King Henry VIII if he were here?”
“You’re not King Henry VIII.”
“And you’re lucky you’re not Anne Boleyn, Sarah, or I would have said, ‘Off with her head.’”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Harry. Very funny.”
“Sarah, I’m so mad at you.” I grinned at her as I wiped a smudge of black makeup across her cheek. “And why do you look like a clown?”
“What are you talking about?” She glared.
“I thought you told me you had a makeover, not a makeunder.”
“Oh my god, Harry.” She grabbed a pillow and hit me in the shoulder. “You are so rude. You know I had a late night.” She paused and grinned. “A very late night. Even after you left.”
I frowned at her. “How late was this night, Sarah? Don’t make me regret leaving when I did.”
“I don’t kiss and tell.”
“What do you mean you don’t kiss and tell?” I snapped, all of a sudden feeling a little bit more angry. “You didn’t make out with that guy, did you?” I leaned forward and studied her lips. “Tell me you didn’t kiss that loser.”
“You haven’t even really met him, Harry. How do you know he’s a loser?”
“I can just imagine he’s a loser. He looked like a loser.”
“Why can you just imagine he’s a loser, Harry?”
“Because what man goes back to a lady’s apartment that he’s just met for an after-hours party?”
“Uh, every man in the world. Wouldn’t you do that?”
“I would never do such a thing. I’m a gentleman.”
“Harry, pour me another one.” She laughed slightly. “You’re such an idiot.” And then she paused. “And you know, you’re lucky that I made him leave before you got here this morning.”
I froze. What the hell did that mean, she made him leave? Had she lost her virginity to this scumbag?
“Oh my god, Harry. You should look at your face right now.” She burst out laughing. “Do you really think I lost my virginity to some guy I just met yesterday?”
“I don’t know. Sarah. You’ve been acting awfully strange. And well, that Gemma is a bad....”
“Oh god, here we go again. What do you have against her?”
“I don’t have anything against her, Sarah. I’m just saying she’s not the best influence on you. She’s a huge flirt, and I don’t think that’s the sort of—”
“Shut up, Harry. You’re not telling me who I can and can’t hang out with.”
“I’m not telling you you can’t hang out with Gemma. I’m just saying you’ve got to be careful of the things that you do with her. Because guys are going to see what she does and then see you and think you do the same thing.”
“Well, good.” She sat up and smiled. “Let them think I do the same thing. I’d be happy to, actually.”
“No, you wouldn’t, Sarah. You’re not that type of girl.”
“What type of girl am I then, Harry?”
I studied her face. Her big blue eyes. Her now blonde hair. “What did you do to your hair?” I reached out and touched the frizzy mess on top of her head. “Is it blonde now?”
“It’s called honey-blonde, thank you. And they’re just highlights complementing my natural hair color.”
“What?”
“Well, that’s what the hairstylist said to me.” She smiled. “Don’t you like it?”
“Uh, like this? Not really.” I lied. Last night she’d looked hot as hell.
“Oh, whatever, Harry. Anyway, I asked you a question. Who am I to you? What do you think I am? Who am I as a person?”
“Sarah, you’re not the sort of girl that just goes out and has casual sex with meaningless guys, right? You’re the sort of girl that’s waiting for the right guy, one right guy who she will marry and have kids with and have a wonderful, wonderful life.”
“Really, Harry?” She cocked her head to the side. “You really think that?”
“I know that, Sarah. I know that’s what you want,” I said softly, and I did. We’d been best friends for years. And we were like chalk and cheese. I never wanted to get married and I never wanted to have kids. And Sarah had wanted to be married and have kids since I’d known her. I could remember when we were teenagers and she would go on and on about it. And I just didn’t want to hear it. But now I had to remind her of the fact that’s who she was.
“Sarah, you need to wait for that right guy. He’s out there somewhere.”
“Where is he, Harry? How come I haven’t met him yet?”
“Sarah, you’re twenty-five years old. Let’s be real, I don’t think you’re going to meet him for quite some time.”
“What do you mean I’m not going to meet him for quite some time?”
“Well, I mean, I’m not ready for you to meet him,” I said honestly. “That would just ruin everything.”
“What would it ruin, Harry?”
“It would ruin the fact that you’re going to have to accompany me to these events this Christmas season.”
“No, no, no, no, no.” She shook her head. “There’s no way in hell. H-E-L-L. No way. I’m not going. You know I hate those events. You can’t make me.”
“Sarah, I had three potential women to accompany me to these dates and you made sure that every single one of them now hates me. Every single one of them, Sarah. Not one, not two, but all three. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking it would be really funny. What did they say?”
“Oh my gosh, you do not want to know. Let’s just say I’m lucky I didn’t get beat up in the middle of the restaurant.”
“Oh, Harry, you always overexaggerate.”
“I don’t overexaggerate. I’m telling you the truth. It was awful. I’d never seen three women look so angry, and I have no idea what you wrote in the cards. Because when they read them, they all looked very confused and even more pissed.”
She started laughing. “Oh my gosh, I wish I could have seen that. That sounds absolutely amazing.”
“Well, Sarah, I hope you enjoy that laughter right now because—”
“Because what?” she said in a resigned tone.
“I’m now dateless for all Christmas events. And I have no one to be in the charity runways to represent Huntington Enterprises. So you know what that means.”
“Oh no. What?” she groaned.
“That means, Sarah, you’re going to be my date to every single one of these events. And you have to be in the charity runway show for me.”
“I don’t want to be in a charity runway show. You yourself said I’m a hot mess.”
“Yeah, but there will be other models there. There always has to be a good one and at least one hot mess bad one.” I laughed as she socked me in the shoulder.
“What? I didn’t say you’re the good one or the bad one.”
“Harry, I know you’re not saying that I’m the good one. You’re so mean to me.”
“I’m not mean to you. You know I love you.” I kissed her on the forehead and then snuggled back down. “Now let’s think.”
“Think about what, Harry?”
“Let’s think about what we should do today.”
“What do you mean, what should we do today? Don’t you have plans?”
“Well no, I don’t have any plans. Did you not hear me when I said all three women dumped me?”
“Well, you know plenty of women, Harry. You can always find someone else.”
“I don’t want to find someone else. You know, let’s just have some fun. We haven’t spent a weekend together in a long time.”
“That’s true,” she sighed. “Well, what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. What do you want to do, girl?”
“Well, right now I’d like to go back to sleep for at least two to three hours. And then maybe we can get some brunch?” She looked at me hopefully. “The place with the French bread?”
“Lots of places have French bread, Sarah. You have to be more specific.”
“The place with the cotton candy French bread.”
“Oh no, that’s disgusting.”
“Well, you asked me what I wanted to do.” She pouted. “And if I’m going to be accompanying you to those events, I need to feel good about something in my life.”
“Oh my gosh, Sarah, you’re like a little kid.”
“I’m not like a little kid,” she said. “I’m all woman.” And as she said that, the sheet slipped down and I could see that she was wearing a white T-shirt with no bra. My eyes flew to her nipples and looked away. It was just not appropriate for me to look at her in that way. But I could feel myself stiffening slightly. I shook it off and then looked around the room.
“Okay then, so do you want me to come back in two to three hours and then we’ll go for breakfast?”
“Oh, you don’t want to stay?” She looked at me in surprise. “I thought you’d want to take a nap as well or something. It’s early.”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m okay. Maybe I’ll go for a jog or something.” I was still slightly tired. And normally I would have stayed in bed with her for a nap. But seeing her the way she was made me hesitant.
“Come on, Harry. You can stay.” She pulled the sheets down. “Get in. I’m sorry about the presents. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“I know.” I took off my shoes and then rolled in under the sheets. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Plus, I’m sure none of those girls were great anyway. You can find someone better.”
“I guess so,” I said. And then she lifted her leg and pushed it over mine. I realized at that moment that she had on no shorts. She was wearing only a T-shirt, no bra. I prayed to God that she was wearing underwear. My hand slid down her leg and then up again just to make sure. I let out a deep sigh of relief as I felt the cotton of her panties. “Sarah, what are you wearing?” I looked over at her as she cuddled into my chest.
“What? I’m just wearing my pj’s.”
“Well, you’re not wearing your pj’s. You’ve got on no shorts or pajama bottoms.”
“So. You got a problem with that?” she said in a teasing voice as she stroked my chest.
“No, I’ve got no problem with that. Go back to sleep.”
I stroked her frizzy hair and watched as she closed her eyes. Within seconds, she was snoring slightly. And as I lay there staring at her, I realized that for the first time in my life that maybe, just maybe, we were getting too old to have sleepovers like this. I didn’t mind, but a half-naked Sarah snuggling into me was suddenly giving me urges and feelings that I’d never had before.