it had been about a week and a half since harlow had confessed her feelings to colby, and the two were constantly together. despite this, they were rarely ever alone. harlow had a tendency of going over to colby's house, because she felt she was outgrowing her tiny dorm, and it's extremely rare for his house to be empty.

so it usually ended up being whoever was around hanging out as a group. even when harlow and colby would sneak away, someone, somehow, would find them. this led to colby going on campus with harlow, especially when she needed to work on an assignment. but no matter how late the two went to the library or one of harlow's study spots, there was still always people around.

but this particular night was one of the rare moments that the two got to spend together, just the two of them. it had worked out that all of colby's roommates had plans that got them out of the house.

harlow was currently sat on the floor leaning against the couch in colby's room, watching as he ordered panda express for the two. "what are you getting?" harlow asked while playing with the string of her sweater.

"are you joking?" colby asked sarcastically without even looking up from his phone. "obviously orange chicken,"

harlow rolled her eyes, "such a basic move, but ok"

"watch me delete your food off this order,"

harlow laughed at the boy who was so easily annoyed. "someone's hangry. can you place this order for asap?"

harlow glanced over at colby, who was sprawled out on the bed. he held his middle finger up towards harlow, eliciting a laugh from the girl. "can we go watch netflix now?" harlow asked, moving to sit on the couch. "i'm ready to be spooked,"

colby laughed, "harley, normal people like to watch christmas movies during the holidays, not the haunting of hill house."

"sue me," harlow replied sarcastically.

after only a few minutes of whining and persuading, colby and harlow were sat downstairs ready to watch the haunting of hill house. colby was sat with his legs spread out in front of him, and harlow was sat with her feet tucked underneath his legs.

the house was perpetually hot, but harlow would never be caught sitting on a couch without a blanket. she pulled the blanket up to her chin, readying herself to hide behind it during any scary part. "i'm kinda regretting this decision," harlow admitted, inching herself closer to colby.

"well, we can watch something else you know,"

"yeah but we're gonna watch this," harlow stated as confidently as she could.

she wasn't typically one for anything horror related, but she had signed up for a horror english class. harlow would have rather taken children's lit, mostly because she heard the professor assigns harry potter as one of the readings, but of course, it had filled up before she had the chance to enroll. it was either horror lit, or a class dedicated to chaucer. out of those two options, horror lit seemed slightly better.

the first novel they had to read was shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house, so it seemed fitting that she watched the television show too. "it's technically school work,"

colby grinned at the girl who was much closer to him than when the two sat down, "or i could just tell you what happens and then you don't have to watch it,"

instead of answering him, harlow grabbed the controller from colby's hands and began playing the first episode. throughout the episode harlow held the blanket at her nose, using it as her shield. she was more so creeped out than scared until colby started pausing the episode so harlow could see the figures standing in the back of the shots.

by the time the chinese food arrived, harlow was ready to watch something less creepy. "okay, you win." she confessed, pausing to take a drink of water. "can we watch the office now?"

colby laughed, "how did i know this was coming?"

harlow rolled her eyes jokingly at the boy. "it's like you think you know me or something,"

she picked one of her favorite episodes before settling back onto the couch. although the couch was quite large, the two were pressed close together. it amazed harlow at how happy she was with colby, even when the two were doing the simplest of things, like eating chinese food and watching the office.

although harlow enjoyed spending her time with colby, she was still so unsure of what was going on between the two of them. they both admitted to having feelings for each other, but then they never revisited the topic again. harlow didn't want to overthink anything between the two, but she had to make sure that colby knew not to speak to elton about whatever it was that they were.

"colby," harlow started, sitting up and twisting to face the boy beside her. "that night at the beach, i mentioned how elton didn't want me to tell you how i feel about you. and i know i probably should've talked to you about this earlier, but he still thinks that i haven't told you anything. he doesn't know anything about this." she gestured between the two, not wanting to put a label on it.

colby was listening intently to the girl beside him. "so i guess i just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. elton can't know about whatever this is, because i promised him that nothing would happen between us. and before you say anything, i am going to tell him. probably. eventually. i don't know,"

colby nodded, "yeah i kinda figured as much."

harlow looked at colby, clearly confused. "wait, what? like you know not to say anything to him or you knew about elton not wanting anything to happen?"

"both, i guess."

harlow looked at the boy with a blank expression, trying to figure out if elton had talked to colby about how she felt. before she could even think of what she wanted to say, colby continued, "i mean the first is just common sense, i guess. his sister and his best friend? i just can't imagine him being cool with it. but also kat may have mentioned something to me about the second thing..." he trailed off, clearly debating whether or not he should have given up that information.

harlow's eyes widened, suddenly feeling very anxious. "wait like recently? or like before the beach?"

colby grinned, pulling the girl close to him. "harley, don't overthink it. she told me a few days after the beach, even though she knew i liked you." he paused, taking a drink of his red bull. "so yeah, she obviously knows. actually, the whole house kinda knows.."

now harlow was extremely panicked. she had to do some damage control immediately. she and colby had been hanging out with the rest of the house often, but she did her best to act as though nothing had changed between the two. if the whole house knew, harlow needed to make sure that they hadn't said anything to her older brother about the budding relationship.

"i can see your brain moving in hyperspeed, harlow. don't worry, i told them not to say anything to elton."

harlow sighed in relief, feeling less stressed almost instantly. "okay, but how did they know anything happened anyway?"

colby laughed, squeezing his arm around harlow. "i guess devyn and corey were still up and watched me leave. i'm gonna assume devyn told kat, 'cause she's the one who texted our group chat. and then after i told them what happened, kat texted me and told me about elton and what he said to you."

harlow buried her face into colby's chest, not wanting to think about how their friends have likely been analyzing the two's relationship the past few days. "i'm gonna kill kat."

harlow could hear colby chuckle, then felt him pull her face out of his chest. "just try not to worry about the roommates. i told them not to ask questions until we figured stuff out, so i think they're mostly off our backs,"

she dramatically flopped backward, laying on the couch and staring at the ceiling. "great," she replied, her voice dripping of sarcasm.

"but now that you know they know, they really wanted me to add you to our group chat.." he trailed off, waiting for harlow to interject.

harlow couldn't help but laugh. "yeah, okay. add me in. i can deflect the questions."

EMO #1 ADDED HARLZZTO

hello fuckers

welcome to hell 🤠🤠🤠

lowkey kinda hate this one

but also needed fillers for what's to come 😈😈😈😈

i've been drafting a lot of chaps so they should be a bit more reg now!!