Parking on her street, Wednesday turned the car engine off with a glazed over stare. It had felt like she'd been on autopilot the whole drive back, not fully in control of her body. Her hands had turned white from gripping the steering wheel so hard, so much so that her fingertips felt cold, like the blood had been sucked away from them. Her teeth chattered slightly, and her limbs shook as the adrenaline and anxiety coursed through her veins. Too many thoughts and feelings were circling in her brain; it was so overwhelming that she'd gone blank, shutting down. She ignored the buzzing of her phone, knowing it was Harry wanting to talk, to explain.

Had that just happened? Had she actually just seen what she thought she'd seen? Ridiculously, she pinched herself, hoping it was a dream. But it wasn't. It was real. She felt unsteady on her feet as she eventually got out of the car, comically thinking to herself that she now understood why people described it as 'having the rug pulled from under you'. Nausea settled in her stomach as she fiddled with her keys, fully aware of the gnawing feeling of betrayal. Her eyes were starting to fill up and she got inside just in time for the first tear to spill over.

She looked around her hallway, unsure of what to do or say or think when she felt like this. Why did she feel like this? Was this normal? No, it was normal. Of course, it was. She'd caught her best friend—her boss—sleeping with another employee. That warranted her confusion and anger. It was reckless and stupid and selfish. They'd not thought of the others, of the upcoming tour. Of Wednesday

She walked to her sofa idly, sitting down and placing her head in her hands as she tried to make sense of what she'd seen. They'd had sex. They were naked and there were empty condom packets. Plus, if that hadn't been enough confirmation for her, Harry's face had certainly sealed the deal when she'd walked in, a mixture of guilt and shock tainting his features.

Thinking back to the night previously, she tried to recall even seeing Harry and Daisy together. They'd chatted a few times, but not ever enough to make Wednesday suspicious. Had it just happened quickly after she'd left? Some sort of drunken hook up? She knew that if that was the case, despite her own shock, she'd have to understand and hear them out. She'd had enough herself to know that they were always heat of the moment and always brought on by alcohol.

A thought then sprung to her mind, that made her even more queasy; was last night the first time? Or had it happened before? It couldn't have. She'd have known, surely. Harry was her best friend, they spent all of their time around each other. No, she was overthinking, making herself even more anxious for nothing.

Her phone buzzed again, and she looked over to it on the coffee table, seeing Harry's messages.

She picked up the phone, her fingers hovering over the keypad before locking it and chucking it back onto the sofa. More than anything, she felt angry. Angry that she'd had to see him and her and angry that it had happened. Angry that she felt hurt. She was in no right state of mind to talk to him when she felt like this. She knew if she did, she'd say something she'd regret out of pure rage.

Leaving her phone in the living room, she marched upstairs, wanting to do something, anything, to take the image of them in bed out of her mind. Going into her bedroom, she began pulling items from her wardrobe and drawers, organising what she would be taking home with her for Christmas. Her hands were shaking as she folded items into her opened up suitcase, anxiety still rife throughout her.

After a while, as she placed the last item into the suitcase, somewhat calmer but still hurt, she heard the heavy knock on her front door, standing still and holding her breath to listen for a sign of who was at her door. Not like she didn't already know.

"Wednesday, I know you're in there. Please just open the door so I can talk to you," Harry's voice faintly echoed through the front door, travelling up to where she stood.

Swallowing, she stayed put, hoping he'd go away if she just resisted.

More knocking, this time louder.

"I'm not going anywhere until you open the door. I'll sit outside here all day if I have to."

Rolling her eyes and feeling the anger returning, she threw her sweater down onto her bed and walked out of her bedroom, padding down the stairs as her hands started to become clammy and her heart started beating faster.

She could see through the door window his dark hair and tall frame.

Unlocking the door, she opened it up, not able to quite look him in the eyes.

"Congratulations, you're finally wearing some clothes today," she dryly said, turning around and walking to the kitchen, hearing him close the door behind him.

"Wednesday..." he replied, sighing at her tone and already knowing it wasn't going to be an easy conversation.

If there was one thing Wednesday excelled at, it was being argumentative—another wonderful Aries trait. She knew how to use sarcasm to her advantage and make comments that would hurt the most, all while keeping an air of cool and unaffectedness about her; even if that wasn't how she was feeling, as was evidently the case right now.

"I'm actually quite busy this afternoon, so if you just get on with whatever you want to say so I can get back to my chores, that would be great," she replied curtly, her back towards him as she looked out of the window.

"I'm sorry Wednesday," Harry sighed, and she didn't need to be looking at him to know he was running his hands through his hair out of stress. "Can you just—can you look at me?"

She stiffened up, waiting a few seconds before removing any hint of sadness on her face, looking as expressionless and disinterested as possible. Turning around, she looked to his face for the first time, ignoring his sad gaze and crossing her arm across her chest.

"Well?" she pushed, seeing his mouth open and close as he searched for the right words to say.

She knew she was being nasty, but truthfully, she didn't care. At least, not when she felt like this.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. It shouldn't have...it shouldn't have happened."

She let out a small laugh devoid of humour. "You think so?"

"I know it was stupid and reckless, Wednesday. Trust me, I know."

She remained silent, her eyes dropping to the fruit bowl on her kitchen counter as her arms remained tightly crossed.

"I didn't," he began, muttering an expletive under his breath as his voice came out shaky. "I didn't want you to find out that way."

Wednesday's eyebrows pinched together, forgoing some of the nonchalant expression she'd worked hard to retain up until that point.

"What do you mean 'find out'?" she asked, her heart starting to beat faster.

Harry looked down to his hands and she saw his jaw clenching as he stayed silent.

"Harry..." she pushed with a more stern, demanding tone. "Was last night the only time?"

She waited with increasing nerves, watching as he lifted his head up and looked at her directly. In that moment, Wednesday didn't need him to say anything. His eyes, full of remorse and shame, answered her question clearly.

She laughed again, harsher and more cutting. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Wednesday, just let me-"

"How long?" she interjected, not caring for his pleading.

"Please..."

"How LONG?" she repeated, not intending to yell the last word out, as he flinched at her tone.

Harry shuffled on his feet, looking to her guiltily.

"Two months. Since the middle of October."

Wednesday closed her eyes as she tried to process what she was hearing. Two months. Two months of them sleeping with each other.

"So, for two months, you've been sneaking around behind everyone's backs and shagging?" she asked, Harry squirming at her choice of words.

"It didn't—I didn't mean for it to go on for this long," he replied defensively, trying to claw back any sort of excuse, but Wednesday wasn't having it.

"All the times we were away travelling," she began, feeling her cheeks and ears burn with increasing anger. "You were just...sneaking off to each other's rooms at night?"

He swallowed, having nothing to say, unable to look into her eyes. She was sure if he did, he'd see them black with rage.

Wednesday ran through the past two months in her mind, trying to come up with any hint, any moments where they'd been alone, trying to pinpoint a time where it could have possibly been going on without her knowledge. She thought back to the hotels in New York, when Harry had said he just wanted to go straight to bed, as did Daisy. She remembered feeling someone's leg travelling up her own when they went to dinner, realising now it was Daisy, mistaking her for Harry. Running through every situation they'd all been in, her stomach flipped as she remembered Halloween and what Niall had said as she'd been looking to say bye to Harry.

"Saw him earlier going into the bathroom with a brunette girl. Looked cosy."

Daisy had dressed as Mia Wallace and worn a brunette wig.

"At Halloween...Niall said you were getting with a random girl. Was that Daisy too?"

He leaned back on the counter, looking back at Wednesday with his lip caught between his teeth. Sighing, he nodded solemnly.

She felt lightheaded and sick and grabbed onto the counter behind her. How stupid could she be? It had been so obvious now in hindsight. The heat of tears started in her eyes, but she was determined to not let them show, not betray how she felt.

"So, for two whole months, when you've been ignoring my calls or going off the radar and saying you were busy or were relaxing, you were actually just lying to me," she stated, matter of factly.

"No. I mean, sometimes, but-" Harry replied, stumbling over his own words.

"And you had me believing instead that I was the one overthinking it, that I shouldn't bother you when I was lonely because you were busy," she said, putting her hand up to her forehead. "Yeah, well now I know just how busy you've been."

"Wednesday, I didn't want to lie to you. It just sort of happened one night, and then it just kept on happening-"

"Clearly."

"I just didn't know how to tell you about it the longer it went on for!" he finished desperately, his expression almost appealing for her to understand.

"Oh, please. Did you even try to tell me about it?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at him.

"I-I didn't know how to bring it up to you. There was never a good moment," he replied quietly.

Wednesday's jaw hurt from clenching it so hard. Looking to the wall over her breakfast table and seeing an art print she'd bought a few years ago, she opened her mouth.

"The Matterhorn art print Daisy got me...you said when she asked you, it just slipped out. Where were you when she asked?"

"Wednesday, don't do this-"

"Where were you?" she pressed again, more quietly this time, signalling to Harry that she wasn't to be trifled with.

He cleared his throat, sighing.

"In bed."

She nodded, breathing out a laugh that held zero humour. Her head pounded under the stress of the morning.

"I kept it from you because I knew...I knew you'd get upset by it and-"

"Oh what, so it's my fault now?" she asked, her eyebrows drawn together incredulously.

"No, that's not what I'm saying" Harry huffed, starting to get frustrated. "I just mean, you never ever like anyone I see or hang out with in that way, and that's okay, but I didn't want to cause a rift between you at work!"

She laughed out loud, turning to him with a cold sarcastic smile. "Maybe you should have thought about that before fucking her! Did you ever consider that?"

He closed his eyes, bringing up his hand to his head. "I know, I know! I fucked up and I'm sorry."

"There are so many women Harry, so many others who would literally sleep with you in a heartbeat," Wednesday stated, her voice rising. "Why did you have to go for the one we all work with? It's hardly like we're a big fucking team—we're gonna be living with each other for the majority of next year!"

"I told you, it just happened. I didn't think."

"No. You didn't," Wednesday fumed, looking into his face. "What was the plan going to be? Like, how did you picture this going? Because I'm truly curious at how you thought you'd get away with it. What, were you planning on sneaking away mid performance for quickies in the toilets?"

"No, I-"

"Were you interested in how long you could keep it going behind everyone's back? Did it give you a buzz, lying to us all?"

"Wednesday, I've told you, I didn't want to lie to you!"

"But you did!" she yelled, her lip quivering slightly, and she looked away, finding her composure once more.

Silence fell between them as she looked out of her kitchen window, seeing the entirety of the London skyline covered in a grey, horrible mist.

"I think you should go," Wednesday muttered quietly, not bothering to turn back to him.

"Please, Wednesday-"

"Go."

She didn't hear any sign of movement for a few seconds, gearing herself up to tell him to leave once more, until she heard his quiet footsteps walking out of the kitchen and down the hall, the door shutting a few moments after.

Letting the tear fall that she'd been holding back, her lip quivered as angry, shaky breaths left her lungs. Her head felt like it was going to explode as she looked at the clock, wondering how it was only midday. Gripping onto the counter, she closed her eyes as she tried to stop the fall of silent tears, feeling her breathing become even more ragged and desperate.

Feeling the rage within her coming to a head, she kicked the washing machine in front of her a few times, biting her lip as she put all of her force into them.

"WANKER!" she yelled out frustratedly, half about Harry and the other half about how painful those kicks had actually been to her toes.

She could still feel the simmering anger inside of her as she tried to think it all over. Harry and Daisy. Daisy and Harry. Of fucking course, it had happened. Harry, the boy obsessed with girls who were quirky and cool, the boy who never went for the sensible option. Wednesday felt like kicking herself; she knew she should have trusted her gut instinct about Daisy in the first place. She'd been right to be wary of her.

Grabbing a bottle of wine from the shelf, she climbed out on the ledge outside her kitchen and unscrewed it once she'd sat down, taking a big gulp and not giving a fuck if the neighbours saw. She needed something to take the edge off.

In a day, she was going to be back in Holmes Chapel, and so would Harry. Both of them, a street away from each other. Not to mention Anne's annual Christmas Eve party that they attended every year. How would she be able to avoid him when their families were so close? She took another drink, thinking about how fucked the whole situation was, all thanks to Harry and his uncontrollable horniness.

A sadness soon overtook the anger though, once she'd consumed enough wine. The one person she trusted more than anyone else had been lying to her. Not just not telling her about him and Daisy, but actively lying. Telling her he was tired or busy when she asked him to hang out, when really, he'd been sleeping with Daisy. Wednesday thought back to all the moments she'd just wanted him near to be a friend and to offer some comfort in his presence and he'd turned her down. How sad she felt in those moments and then how guilty she felt for being sad about it.

She thought about all the things they'd talked about over the last few months, wondering if he'd been telling them to Daisy too. He'd told her about Matterhorn, what else had he said? Did they talk about her, laugh about her, bitch about her? Wednesday didn't know what scenario was worse; getting talked about or not getting mentioned at all. She thought back to the times he'd slept in her bed, in New York and Berlin, remembering waking up to an empty room each time and wondering where he'd gone so early. She wondered with a frown if it was because he felt guilty, if the lie was too hard to hide in those moments.

She sat out on the ledge for an hour, pondering every possibility and overthinking to the point that she was tired. The bottle of wine had been finished within half an hour and she could feel the drink running through her as she stood back into the kitchen tipsily. Walking to the living room, she lay down, closing her eyes.

It wasn't until a few hours later, when the outside was dark and the streets were silent that she awoke, feeling all kinds of awful. Whether this was due to the wine or the day's events she didn't know, but it was bad enough that she swallowed two painkillers and an entire glass of water in one go.

Picking up her phone, she ignored the messages from Harry and frowned dramatically at the one that had popped up from Daisy, scrolling through her timeline numbly, not really looking at the posts.

Getting up, she walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge and cracking it open, swigging it down in three gulps. She went back to scrolling through her phone as she leant on the kitchen counter, sadly staring at the images of people hanging out with their friends and feeling desperately lonely. The person she went to for comfort was the person she was now avoiding, and she could hardly go to his sister to vent. It was too late where Zara was to call, and she didn't want to be the one to explain the situation to Sarah and Mitch. None of her other friends were close enough, either location or friendship wise, to be able to call at this time.

With a nervy look and still feeling the effects of the alcohol, she unlocked her phone and opened up the settings, going to her blocked contacts. There, she saw a familiar number and after a minute of hesitation, she chose to unblock it. Going back to her contacts list, she found it instantly, having another minute of hesitation before thinking fuck it and pressing the call button.

She lifted the phone to her ear, biting her nails as she heard the dials, her heart beating fast and her stomach swirling with nausea. After 4 rings, the phone was picked up.

"Weds?" Patrick answered, confusion in his voice.

"Hi," she said weakly, comforted by his familiar voice.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sensing her shaky tone.

Wednesday didn't reply for a few seconds, realisation hitting her at what she was doing. She debated hanging up, but then realised that would mean she would be left alone in the house, with no-one except her thoughts to accompany her.

With a croaky voice, she quietly replied.

"Can I come over to yours?"

/

........YIKES lol. so...how's everyone feeling?