"If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it." - Marcus Tullius Cicero


Harry's POV


"I'm telling you, Lou. She's different from any girl I've ever been with," I told him on our way out of the pharmacy.

Louis had just purchased another box of condoms for the upcoming week ahead and some lubricant he saw in a commercial on television. We've never discussed the exact details of his sex life with Anya, but judging by how many times that boy seems to run out of protection, it's no mystery that they're pretty active.

"Yeah?" he asked, seemingly interested, though most of his attention was directed towards the messenger app on his phone.

"Everything she does is so adorable. Like, when she's flustered, she sticks out her bottom lip, and it's as if she's pouting, but really--" My rambling was cut short by the sound of another man laughing. "Hey, mate. Are you even listening to me, at all?"

"God, look at what Anya just texted me. She's fucking hilarious." Louis chuckled while sharing his phone screen with me.

(A/N: I found this online and thought it was quite comical, but for some reason this site won't let me insert the screenshot I took of it so I wrote it out in text).

Me: What are you doing? sent at 10:24 am
Anya: laying in bed. sent at 10:25 am
Me: Mmm...Just laying in bed? Nothing else..? sent at 10:27 am
Anya: im eating cereal. sent at 10:30 am
Me: Haha nice. sent at 10:32 am
Me: What would you do if I was in bed next to you? ;) sent at 10:32 am
Anya: eat my cereal... sent at 10:35 am
Me: Lol I mean if the cereal wasn't there. sent at 10:35 am
Anya: then id get out of bed and go get cereal. sent at 10:37 am


"Yeah, I guess that's pretty funny. Anyway, don't you want to know how things went last night?"

"Sure, I do." He sighed in a dramatic fashion. "Tell me all about your little dinner date and how you finally asked Lucy to be your girlfriend."

"Well." I shrugged, ignoring his apparent annoyance, "if you must know, she ended up saying yes. Truth be told, I couldn't believe it myself. And then we kissed...and, uh, one thing led to another, and we--"

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I knew it all along. You fucked her, didn't you Harry?" Louis wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. I laughed loudly at his bluntness before biting my lip to withhold a smirk.

"Holy shit, mate. You did. On a scale of one to ten, how good is she?"

---

Lucy's POV


The cool air sent chills up and down my spine as I left the bathroom and scurried into my room after taking a hot shower. I used the towel hanging off the bedroom door to dry off my body. Once my skin was free from anymore traces of moisture, I began putting on the outfit I had picked out for the day.

A navy blue skirt tightly hugged the curves of my waist, covering the splotch of skin that would surely have been exposed by my striped crop top. I decided to wear my hair down today with black shades there to keep the dark waves from pestering my vision.

"Hey, Luce. Are you ready to go?!" I heard my roommate call.

"Give me five minutes!" I yelled back in response.

Anya and I were going to have lunch at this new restaurant that had opened up by the pier called Joe's. It was both of our days off, and we decided to spend time with each other. No boyfriends, just us two girls. I scanned my closet for some comfortable footwear and decided to stay casual in a pair of black flip flops.

I shut the bedroom door behind me as I walked into the hallway where I found Anya fixing up her hair in the mirror. A warm smile lifted the corners of my lips as I shook my head back and forth. I never understood why she spent so much time looking into that mirror when I've never seen her have a bad hair day in her life.

"Anya, come on. You know your hair looks flawless. Let's go."

"Okay, okay." She huffed in defeat before grabbing her purse and opening the door, being the first to walk out.

I followed in her footsteps shortly afterwards but made sure to lock the door behind me once it was closed.


Because of the nice weather, Anya and I reserved a table that was located outdoors next to the water. Our waiter kindly escorted us to our seats and gave us menus to read before leaving our table to tend to an elderly couple inside. Anya sent me a sweet smile as she picked up her menu and began looking at the meal selections.

"So, how's the art apprenticeship going?" she asked in her effort to make small talk.

"It's nice. I've learned a lot more than I expected to. I can't thank you enough for setting that up for me," I sincerely stated.

Taking that apprenticeship was one of the best decisions I've ever made career wise. A general favorite would have to be saying yes to Harry the other night, my rosy cheeks flushing from just thinking about it.

"Hey, what are friends for, right?" Anya giggled before placing her menu back onto the table. The grin on my face stretched wider as I surveyed the vegetarian food selections.

When our waiter returned, he was carrying a pitcher filled with ice cold water and emptied some of the contents into our glasses. To start us off he asked what we would like to drink before jotting down the rest of our orders. I decided to go with the traditional veggie burger and lemonade ice tea while Anya picked the homemade sweet potato french fries and diet coke.

"Alright, ladies. I'll be right back with your drinks," The waiter assured us while collecting our menus.

"Thank you," Anya said to the man before he left our table.

"So, how are things going between you and Louis?" I asked her, suddenly curious about their relationship.

"Well, he's been absolutely great. I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend. My life has just been a whole lot happier with him in it, you know?" she gushed, that smile of hers never leaving her face, "This may sound a bit cliche, but I really think he could be the one."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." I hummed along, nodding my head in agreement. I couldn't deny the fact that I was already beginning to feel the same way about Harry.

"I'm really glad things seem to be working out for the best. I mean, look at us. Could you imagine being this happy a year ago?" Anya asked as if the answer wasn't completely obvious.

I felt a slight pang in my chest as the painful memories from a year ago resurfaced and faltered my smile. I cleared my throat with a cough before bringing the cup of water to my mouth and taking a sip. Anya's blue eyes flashed back in my direction with concern as she studied my face.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just had a little something in the back of my throat. No need to worry," I reassured her with a false smile.

---

Harry's POV


"That's a bit too much, don't you think?" I said in response to his question.

"Oh, I get it. She was shy about the whole thing, wasn't she?" He pressed further, hoping to get something out of me, but I could see right through him.

"Sorry, Lou, but I don't openly disclose information about my sex life to anyone."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say Harry." Louis scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, when have you ever seen me talking to--"

The next word to leave my mouth came out in a ragged breath due to someone accidentally elbowing me in the gut. I clutched my stomach and groaned in pain, looking up at the arse who almost knocked the wind out of me.

"Sorry mate. I should've been more careful and paid attention to where I was heading. You alright?" A thick British accent rasped, but I was too shocked to say anything so Louis did all of the talking for me.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. But you...you look oddly familiar. Have the two of us met somewhere before?"

"Yeah, I think we might've." A smirk finding its way onto his lips, the guy held out his hand for Louis to shake. "The name's Connor. Connor Meade."

Notes

Short filler chapter, but I wanted to get some things out in the open. It should be really clear how Lucy and Harry feel about each other, same with Anya and Louis. Sorry I've taken a century to update, but I keep having to remind myself to work on Picture Perfect instead of Ink.

Anyway, if you guys want to see more of Connor in the next chapter, here is what you can do. Vote & Subscribe if you haven't already, but more importantly comment :) I miss receiving notifications on this story.

Thoughts on the chapter? I'm sorry if it was boring. I tried my best.

Love
-M