another two weeks had passed and now harlow had finished up her first semester of university. she had been busy for those two weeks studying for her finals, so she had successfully avoided having the conversation with colby that she was dreading.

but she knew that she couldn't put it off forever. especially now that she had no more excuses as to why she couldn't meet up with the boy. so harlow managed to muster up the courage to recite the speech that she had been rehearsing in her bedroom to colby. she had been practicing what she was going to say to him because she didn't want to leave something important out. it was probably going to be the last time that harlow was with colby, at least for a while, so what she said mattered even more.

harlow knew she didn't want to beat around the bush either - because she had been for the past few weeks and she was dead tired of it. so she intended on saying what needed to be said the minute she entered colby's apartment.

but it didn't end up working like that at all.

harlow was on her way up to colby's apartment when she first heard the noise. it was pretty loud in the hallway and initially, harlow assumed that sam had people over at his place next door. but the sound wasn't coming from sam's apartment. as harlow got closer to the door, she realized the music and chatter was coming from behind colby's door.

she was confused, and her stomach was quite literally churning at the thought of people in colby's apartment. it was just meant to be a night in for harlow and colby. if there were people there with them, she wouldn't be able to talk to colby until after they had all left. ultimately putting off the conversation that she desperately wanted to have.

as harlow continued down the hall, her phone lit up indicating she had a new message.

🐝

🐝

hey are u almost here?

i need cuddles 🥺

walking down the hall now

by this point, harlow was a mere thirty steps away from the door. she could hear a very loud shush, and then suddenly the hall was quiet. great, harlow thought. he's throwing me a fucking surprise party.

she stood outside the door to colby's apartment, debating on if she should just knock or go in unannounced. either way, she had a strong feeling of what was going to be waiting for her on the other side.

harlow decided against knocking, twisting the handle and pushing the door open. the minute she stepped inside, her friends jumped out from behind corners and counters, shouting "surprise bitch!"

the situation was anything but funny. harlow had been planning on breaking up with colby that night, and their surprise was kind of ruined by how loud they had been as harlow was walking through the hall. despite all this, harlow couldn't help but laugh. and she was glad she laughed because most of her friends had their phones trained on her.

although she was laughing, she was still incredibly confused as to why her friends were shouting surprise in the first place. last she checked, she hadn't done anything incredible and it wasn't her birthday. "what's going on?" she asked, confusion laced in her voice.

colby came out from around the corner with a grin on his face. "i thought it'd be fun to celebrate you finishing the first year of your degree,"

harlow couldn't help but smile at the boy before her. for a split second, she debated canning the entire break up speech simply based on the endearing action. colby was there, celebrating harlow and her accomplishments in front of the people that mattered most to her. so why wasn't that enough?

all she knew was that at that moment, she was happy - so happy.

she covered her face with her free hand, laughing at colby's answer. "i don't deserve you. i don't deserve any of y'all."

katrina, who was holding a red plastic cup and standing beside sam, booed loudly. "don't be a fucking sap!"

harlow rolled her eyes at her friend. "i mean let's celebrate, bitches!"

her friends made sounds of celebration, lifting the bottles and plastic cups in their hands in agreement with the girl, then went back to the conversations they were having before harlow came through the door. all except for colby, who was leaning against the side of the couch, staring at harlow with a small smile on his face.

despite the confusing battle she was having mentally, she walked over to colby and engulfed him in a warm embrace. his arms snaked around her shoulders and he placed a gentle kiss on her temple.

"thanks, colbs." harlow whispered into the boy's chest. "i really don't deserve you."

even though harlow wasn't looking at the boy, she knew that he was rolling his eyes at her comment. "not to be a fucking sap, as kat would say, but you deserve this and a whole lot more."

harlow couldn't help but feel butterflies at colby's response. she gave him one final squeeze, then pulled away far enough to be able to see him. "where's kat when ya need her?" harlow asked jokingly before leaning up to press her lips to colby's.

it was meant to be a quick kiss, but colby placed one hand on harlow's cheek, holding her face to his. the other was placed on her hip, keeping her glued to the spot. the couple stayed like that for at least a minute and a half before jake yelled from the kitchen, "get a room, you two!"

this made both colby and harlow laugh into their kiss, ultimately forcing the two to break apart. "it's not a bad idea," colby said lowly, winking at the brunette.

harlow swatted the boy playfully. "it would be incredibly rude not to say hi to the guests at my own surprise party,"

"fuck that,"

"and fuck you instead?" harlow asked sarcastically as she pulled away from the boy's grip. the separation made colby pout like a child. "i'm gonna go talk to kat now. i'll come find you in a bit."

she reached up to kiss colby once more before sliding past the boy to find her blue-haired best friend. katrina was stood with devyn and tara, and all three had their eyes heavily trained on harlow and most likely the interaction she just had with colby.

all three girls knew about harlow's intentions. after harlow snapped at devyn over facetime, she felt incredibly guilty for projecting her emotions onto her innocent friend. so she apologized a few hours later, and devyn accepted the apology immediately. this led to another girls' night in, and harlow ended up venting the entire time about her situation with colby to her friends. they listened, and kat and tara even tried to give harlow advice, but devyn stayed quiet. she didn't want harlow to be mad at her again.

so when harlow realized the three girls were watching colby and harlow, she knew that they were analyzing the situation. "oh, mind your own business," harlow whispered as she approached the girls.

"well you did kind of bring us into said business," tara sassed.

harlow sighed, knowing she was right. "okay, true. it's just really complicated, now."

"it didn't look very complicated when you two were quite literally sucking face a few minutes ago." katrina piped in.

this made harlow roll her eyes at the girl, "oh, shut up."

devyn took a sip from the plastic cup in her hand. "y'know, you have to admit that this is a really cute gesture, though."

"yeah, jake would never throw me a cute surprise party like this." tara pouted, glancing over at jake who was being obnoxiously loud as per usual.

harlow hummed, "yeah,"

"out of curiosity, does it change anything?" kat asked innocently.

harlow shrugged, picking at her nails nervously. "i dunno, kat."

before any of the girls could poke any further, sam walked over to the group, placing his chin on katrina's. "so were ya surprised harley?"

harlow laughed at the question, "yes and no. i could totally hear you guys when i was walking down the hall but i was still surprised anyway."

the five stood around for another twenty minutes laughing and talking. eventually, the four even forced sam to take pictures of the girls together before harlow continued to make her rounds. and before she knew it, a few hours had passed and about three vodka sevens had been consumed.

harlow had been effectively avoiding being alone with colby all night. he would come and join her in conversations occasionally, but because she was a little bit tipsy and slightly confused about their relationship, she didn't want to be alone with just him. at least until the place cleared out.

harlow was standing by herself in the kitchen mixing herself a fourth vodka seven when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. "hi harls." colby whispered, hot breath fanning over harlow's shoulder, making her shudder.

she placed the plastic cup on the counter before spinning around to greet her boyfriend. "hi drunky poo," harlow giggled.

"'m not drunk." colby argued with a slight pout. "just wanted to hug my girlfriend, so sue me."

harlow leaned into colby's arms, "how much do you think i could get, brock?"

"don't be mean," harlow chuckled at her intoxicated boyfriend and placed her hand over his. "let's go for a smoke."

it wasn't a question, more so a request. so harlow obliged with a nod of her head and an, "okay, colby."

she grabbed his hand and laced her fingers with his with the intention of leading the boy to his balcony. colby stayed still in his spot, making harlow turn around and raise an eyebrow at the boy, "did you forget how to walk?" she teased.

colby stuck out his tongue playfully, eliciting an eye roll from harlow. "let's go to the roof."

harlow looked at the boy, confusion clearly written in her features. colby had been living in his apartment for a few months and the two had still not figured out how they could get onto the roof. "unless you found a key, i don't know how-"

harlow was cut off by colby pulling out a key from his back pocket and holding it in front of her face. "well would you look at that,"

"i'm so confused." harlow managed to get out after a few seconds of silence. "do i want to know how?"

"nope." colby replied with a grin. "to the roof!"

important shit: this isn't the end!!

i wrote the final chapter and

it ended up being over 5000

words, so i split it in two!

this is part one of two.

the second part is done as

well - let me know if you want

me to post it!