"Hey, can I..." He began before instantly freezing when he was faced with a particular brunette that he had not seen in weeks. "Lottie... hi."
Lottie looked just as shocked to see his face, as her mouth fell slightly agape and she didn't say anything. The shock had knocked all words out of her and instead she just stood and stared at him.
"What are you doing here?" Harvey was the one to try and save the situation, yet even he knew that was such a stupid question.
"I um... shit, sorry. I didn't expect you to be here." Lottie stuttered, suddenly wishing she had decided to go elsewhere. "I didn't think you worked today."
"I'm just covering for someone. Did you book your car in or something?"
"Yeah, just for an MOT..."
Although it was petty and Harvey understood her reasons, he couldn't help but feel a little gutted that Lottie had decided to book an appointment in with someone else. Since Lottie had started driving, he had been the one to do any kind of work on her car. He had been the one keeping it up to scratch and ensuring that it was safe to drive, so she'd actually get on the roads.
It had taken a lot of persuading to get Lottie to learn to drive and Harvey had been the one to give her that confidence. However, once she did finally learn, she was constantly worried about the car not being capable of getting her from A to B without something going wrong.
Although Harvey knew her worries were a little over-exaggerated, he had done everything to ensure she was comfortable and confident, and one of those had been taking on the responsibility of looking after her car.
"Oh right, who with?" Harvey asked, trying to compose himself and not say what he was really thinking.
"Taj." Lottie replied quietly, as though she did feel guilty for not booking in with him.
At first, Harvey just responded by chuckling but when Lottie began to frown at him in question, he finally spoke up.
"That's who I'm covering for."
"Oh... sorry, don't worry about it then. I can do it another day or..." Lottie began stumbling on her words in a frantic panic yet Harvey just began shaking his head.
"No, I'll do it."
"You don't need to Harvey, really. This is weird."
"No it's not. I'm usually the one who does it anyway, so it makes more sense." He responded and Lottie could hear that tone to his voice that highlighted how offended he really had been.
Although she did feel a little guilty, she didn't want to. It was his fault that they were in this situation, so he didn't really have the right to be so petty over her car.
"But what if I'd rather Taj do it? That's why I booked him." Lottie remarked, with a sarcastic tone to her own voice, in an attempt to make him realise she wasn't taking his reaction lightly.
Harvey did look a little taken back to begin with before he quickly composed himself and flashed her a cheeky smile, that just made her even more frustrated.
"Taj is shit in comparison to me. Come on, where'd you park it?"
As Harvey began walking in the direction of the garage forecourt, Lottie just rolled her eyes before reluctantly following. She really wanted to stand her ground and tell him no but she also really needed this appointment.
"Was it just the MOT then, yeah? You didn't take my advice and want to change the colour?" Harvey asked with raised eyebrows, as he looked at Lottie with that all-famous teasing look across his face.
Lottie didn't know what he was doing. They hadn't exactly left things on the best terms yet now he was acting like nothing had changed. She was supposed to be angry at him right now but she couldn't and she didn't know why.
"I'm not changing the colour for the 100th time. I like white." Lottie bit, considering this was a conversation they had many times before.
"But it shows up all the dirt and you don't get it cleaned enough."
"and as I've always said, I don't know why this is your problem?"
"Because you let what should be a nice looking car, look like shit."
"It doesn't look like shit." Lottie retorted before throwing her arms over her chest. "I just don't fancy wasting my precious money just to get it cleaned when it'll get dirty again."
"and that dirt shows up because you have a white car. You wouldn't have to waste your money if you had a different colour." Harvey responded as he began to make his way over to her once again.
Lottie felt her heart beat picking up, mostly because this boy knew just how to push her buttons, but also because he was getting too close for comfort.
"Are we seriously going to stand here and argue about this? We've had this same conversation more times than I can count and you never win."
"Yeah because I know I'm right."
"No, you're not. You're wasting my time now and I'm paying for this." Lottie bit and she was keeping Harvey's gaze while trying to remain unfazed by how close he was getting.
He was now stood only a footstep away from being toe to toe and Lottie was so ready to take about ten steps back. However, at the same time she wanted to test him. She wanted to see if he would actually do it and close the gap, or if he'd hold back.
She could see he was getting just as affected by this exchange as she was, so she didn't believe he could handle it for much longer.
"Pass me your keys then babe." Harvey said as he reached for her hand and removed the keys from them.
That brief touch was enough to suck some of the air out of Lottie's lungs. However, it had happened so quickly that she was able to recollect herself.
She just stood back and watched as he made his way back towards her car before unlocking it and climbing in.
"I need to drive it to where you're standing, so you might want to watch out."
"Sure, just don't crash it or anything, or you might have to redo that white paint job." Lottie remarked, purposely making a dig to which he very quickly caught on with.
However, instead of trying to come back with a just as sarcastic comment, he just grinned at her instead. Lottie knew Harvey was trying to hold back from laughing. He didn't want to be the first of them to fully give in but he already had.
"You staying then? While I do it? I'll be about an hour." Harvey continued to call out of the window as he drove further up into the garage.
"I mean, I'd rather not sit here for an hour but I have no other way of getting home." Lottie responded while looking over to the reception area on the hunt for Mia. "Is you sister here?"
"She was but I think she's gone for a break or something." Harvey replied, secretly hoping that she had, as he knew the moment Mia returned, Lottie would go and spend the hour sat in the office catching up with her instead.
"Great." She sighed, considering that hadn't been the answer she'd been hoping for. Mia would have been her lucky escape from where this whole exchange could go but unfortunately that was not going to be the case.
"It's cool, we can catch up while I do this."
"Catch up? Really?"
"Yeah, why not? It's been weeks." Harvey responded so casually, as he began the checks on her car.
Lottie was just watching on in confusion as she was trying to understand whether he was being serious. A few seconds ago they had been weirdly arguing and flirting in their sarcastic comments, yet now he was all for being serious like they hadn't just gone through a break up with each other.
"I don't have anything to say to you."
"Come on, you must have. What have you been doing? This doesn't have to be weird and awkward, you know?
"Nothing. I've done nothing." Lottie shook her head, trying to end this conversation right here and now.
He may not think it had to be weird and awkward but that was exactly how she was feeling right now. Lottie had much rather they made sarcastic remarks at each other than act like friends again.
"That's a lie. What have you been doing?" Harvey asked the question once again, clearly not ready to give up.
"Why don't you just fill me in on your new single life? You seemed to have made that quite a quick thing."
Lottie's comment had taken Harvey completely off guard, as he suddenly stopped what he was doing to look at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Your social media doesn't make you look so single since like 2 weeks ago." Lottie explained before instantly regretting it.
She hated being that ex-girlfriend who even cared what their ex-boyfriend was doing. She'd much rather be able to pretend that she really didn't care all that much.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Grace Ellard give you any hints to what I'm talking about?"
It had. That name sparked all the hints that Harvey needed to know what Lottie was implying and it only caused him to freeze for a moment.
He didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't really know if anything he said would be the right thing.
So buying himself some time, Harvey made his way around to the front of her car and took a seat in the passenger side with his legs hanging outside the car.
He was now in the perfect position to capture Lottie's gaze as she sat opposite him, and to approach this in most sensitive way possible. However, he was also regretting it because not only did she look slightly uncomfortable but he felt it too.
How could two people who had spent 9 years together suddenly feel so weird in each other's presence?
"It's not what it looks like." Harvey began with what he even knew was the most cliche response to give.
"It looks fast to me."
"We're not together."
"No?" Lottie raised her brow as though she didn't believe that at all.
"No." Harvey shook his head, not wanting to say anything else and dig himself an even bigger hole.
"So you're what? Just sleeping with her, yeah? Like I've heard you've done with a lot of girls since we broke up."
Lottie hated herself for reacting this way. It was petty and she knew it but she was still so angry at him. She had loved him, heck she still did, so for him to do this hurt a lot.
"Slept with. We're not anymore." Harvey lied straight through his teeth in complete panic. "I was stupid. I shouldn't have slept around. I just..."
"You just felt like you needed to get it out of your system, yeah? Being with the same girl for 9 years is pretty boring."
"No, no. That's not it. It wasn't boring, at all. I was just, scared, I don't know. 9 years is a long time, Lottie. It was intense."
"Intense? It was too much then?"
"No. I didn't mean it like that."
Harvey was struggling to get out of the hole he was digging for himself here, especially as this girl knew him better than most people.
"I just mean, I was scared because we'd always been together. We'd always been us and I didn't want to end up resenting you because I didn't know what it was like to be on my own."
Lottie just nodded her head because that was all she could do. She knew what he was trying to say and she did understand it but that didn't mean it stopped it hurting.
"I'm sorry, I'm still so sorry and it doesn't mean I fell out of love with you. I just didn't want to ruin things for good but it ended up doing that anyway."
Standing up from the car, Harvey began making his way towards Lottie once again. Taking the seat beside her on the bench, his hand reached out for hers before giving it a gentle squeeze.
Feeling his hand in hers caused a wash of emotions to run through Lottie, all of which she didn't want to be feeling. It brought back way too many memories and made her want nothing more than to just be in Harvey's arms again.
She was supposed to be getting over him but being here right now was not helping that.
"I'll always love you."
Looking away from Harvey and biting down on her lip, Lottie didn't want to face him because she knew what would happen. The tears were threatening to fall and she wouldn't be able to control them. However, there was one thing she had to say and the only way she'd be able to say it was if she wasn't staring him in the eyes.
"I'll always love you too." Lottie muttered just as her voice broke.
It was clear that Harvey had heard it as well, and knew what was coming, as his arms wrapped around her body and urged her into a hug. At first she was reluctant before she allowed herself to be comforted by that warm and reassuring embrace she had become so accustomed to.
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