The Way Things Were

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley sat on the floor beside Harley with a paintbrush in her hand and paints spread out between them, making illicit public art together just like they used to. It was good to spend time with her best friend again, just chatting contentedly. She had missed this. Things had changed between them so much last year, it was a great relief to Hayley to get back to something akin to what they had had before. But there was still a space between them, an unspoken discontentment, and after her talk with Odette Hayley was beginning to feel that perhaps she had been a little unfair.

She couldn't admit the full extent of her feelings, not now, but when there was a lull in the conversation, when they were both concentrating for a quiet moment on their brushstrokes, Hayley abruptly resolved that she had to say something. She didn't want this to break their still-fragile peace, but wouldn't apologising make things better? She had to believe so. "Hey, Harley . . ." Hayley spoke slowly, awkwardly, without looking at her friend. Her eyes were still on the sunglasses she was painting onto the cool deer they had drawn. "I . . . I guess I wanted to . . . apologise. For. How I behaved about you and Odette. I . . . actually had a couple civil conversations with her - and. I think you're right. She's changed." Finally, she turned to look at Harley, dreading her reaction but needing to see it. "I'm sorry."

 

[Harley Tsuji]

At the beginning of the year, for the first time everything had been going right for Harley. Her friends were busier than usual, but other than that everything had been great. She finally wasn't struggling constantly against Odette and her cronies, she had... more than made peace, she had actually gotten to see Odette's friends as people for the first time, and as for Odette herself... things were mostly good. Things were good. Harley was actually happy. As averse as she had been to the idea of dating when all her friends started doing it, Harley was finding that she actually enjoyed having a girlfriend, even a secret one. It felt kind of silly now, to tease her friends about dating when she was doing the same things, but it would be suspicious if her view changed overnight for seemingly no reason.

The only thing missing in Harley's life lately had been time with her friends, and having a regular afternoon of public art with Hayley like they used to was just the thing she needed. Things were beginning to feel less stilted between them at last, and it was a huge relief. Harley had realised over the last few months just how much she needed Hayley by her side. Hayley just got her, the way other people didn't always, and with everything changing in her life it had been difficult not to have her best friend to talk to. Idly adding splotches of paint to the grass around the deer they had been painting together, Harley glanced over when Hayley spoke, not sure what the other girl wanted to bring up. "Yeah?" She asked, listening as Hayley went on. It was surprising, but a huge relief to hear. Harley had been yearning to be able to talk to Hayley about everything going on but she didn't want to anger the other girl again. Hearing that she had actually talked with Odette was a huge relief and Harley dropped her paintbrush, throwing her arms quickly around Hayley. "Thank you." She mumbled, before quickly letting her friend go, a little embarrassed by the gesture. "I... yeah. It's just, like, sucked not being able to talk to anyone about any of this. But she's so different now. We spent, like, the whole holiday together, it was so great. I like her so much." Harley blushed, turning her attention to the painting again as she picked up her brush. "How, uh, how's your girlfriend?" She asked quickly, embarrassed to have expressed so much all at once.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

It was hard, doing this. It was right, and Hayley felt she had to, but it was hard. It was good to feel Harley's arms around her, even as an awkward gesture with Hayley trying to avoid splodging Harley's back with the paintbrush still in her hand. But it hurt to hear Harley gush about how much she liked Odette, a sharp stab of pain in the face of Hayley's own feelings. If this was how talking about this was going to go, Hayley wished she'd never brought it up. And yet, wasn't that cruel of her, when all through this mess she'd been able to talk to Ainsley about it? Ainsley had been there for her, and she was supposed to be here for Harley, despite everything she felt. "Yeah. I guess . . . I should’ve trusted you more about this, and I. Feel bad about that. I was just so worried for you. I’m glad it’s going well." The words came out in a tumbling rush, and even the last part wasn’t exactly a lie.

It was a relief to have Harley ask about Lizzie instead, even though that carried its own awkwardness with it. At least she could be completely honest with Harley about Lizzie. "She’s good. It’s . . . good. She’s been pretty busy with quidditch lately, though . . ." Hayley trailed off, then chuckled abruptly. "I guess we share a type, don’t we? We’re both dating beaters. Hey, we should go to the Gryffindor vs Slytherin match together. You can cheer for Odette and I can cheer for Lizzie and we’ll confuse everyone by apparently supporting the wrong teams." Hayley washed her brush and dipped it in a new colour, adding shading to the side of the deer.

 

[Harley Tsuji]

Harley nodded, mixing a fresh shade of green as she listened to Hayley. "I... get it, it makes sense, after everything Odette's put us through. Especially you and me. I totally get why you were spooked at first. I'm glad you see what I mean though." She smiled slightly, returning to her field of grass while she talked. "It's... been really good. She's changed so much." Listening as Hayley talked, Harley reflected that it was nice to hear her friend so happy too. She laughed softly. "Oh man, that's true, they totally do play the same position. That sounds fun, let's do that." She smiled, leaning closer to the wall a little as she worked on the field. "I'll have to borrow your Slytherin scarf or something."

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley sighed softly, concentrating on the painting for a moment, the soothing movement of her brushstrokes. "Yeah. I . . . don't think I could, like, forgive her the way you have." Hayley had always held grudges, partly as a defence mechanism. She was reluctantly impressed by Harley's apparent ability to let go of all the bad blood between her and Odette. "But it's nice to be able to go to bed without steeling myself for a fight."

For the first time, Hayley wondered about Lizzie's opinion of Odette. They both played the same position, they were rivals on the quidditch pitch - had they ever met outside of that? Did Lizzie know about the things Odette had done? "Great," she said, smiling. "You can definitely borrow my scarf. Lizzie already offered me hers to borrow . . . but I could borrow yours as well and then I'd have two." She giggled. "Could you borrow Odette's too? Then we'd both have two, that'd be funny." It was good to laugh with Harley again over such inconsequential things, to be silly together like they used to.