He had gotten to know the people he worked with and also been introduced to their wider circle as well. Their nights out and evenings spent eating in the pub gardens by the river cam, had become something he could get used to. However, even though that was the case, he was still absolutely buzzing to get home to see everyone. He had missed his family, missed his friends, and he had also missed Grace like crazy.
...
As everyone sat down at the beach front bar excited to be reunited with their friend, Grace felt incredibly uncomfortable and like she really didn't want to be there. She had considered not showing up, but knew that if she did that, Harvey would instantly know that something was up. Therefore, for now she was having to play it cool while trying to act completely normal in the presence of Max.
"That's gotta be him!" Reece jumped to his feet, as he heard the roar of a car coming down the road. "I can't believe the little shit gets to drive a car like that."
"It's fucking beautiful!" Taj replied as he also stood to get a better look and Reece had been right, the red car could not be missed as it drove down the streets of Brighton.
Grace suddenly felt her heart begin to pound against her chest, with excitement but also nerves. She wanted to get up and rush straight to him. She wanted to claim a few seconds for just the two of them before the guys all pounced on him like animals. However, at the same time, she felt completely awkward by this whole situation and incredibly guilty too.
"Ay, Harvey Lawrence has returned!" Taj called out, unfazed by the attention he was drawing to himself from strangers.
As he began heading over to the car to get a closer look, the rest of the guys followed suit. They were like little puppies, all jumping for joy in excitement over this vehicle that meant absolutely nothing to most.
Grace watched on from the distance with Lila, as Harvey shared his friend's enthusiasm and began showing them around. Just seeing his face, seeing his warm smile made her heart race. She had missed him more than she wanted to admit and was doing everything to prevent herself from pushing past all of the guys to be in his arms.
"Happy?" Lila nudged Grace's side, with a knowing look on her face.
"Very." Grace nodded, glimpsing at her friend before back in the direction of the group, who were now making their way towards the bar.
In that moment, as Harvey got closer, Grace couldn't contain her excitement any longer. As Harvey caught her gaze and that cheeky smile spread across his lips, she immediately stood to her feet and headed over to him.
Grace had always prided herself in her ability to remain composed in any given situation. However right now, she was most certainly letting her years of practice down.
"Hey baby." Were the soft words that left Harvey's lips, before Grace felt like she did a head dive into his chest. Wrapping her arms tightly around his body, he reacted by doing the same to her.
"God, I missed you."
Placing a kiss to Grace's head, Harvey was appreciating this small hint of desperation from Grace, as it did not happen often. She liked everyone to know she didn't need a single person to look out for her, as she was perfectly fine to do that herself. Therefore, her showing this was very rare.
"I missed you too."
"It's been two weeks but it's felt so much longer." Grace replied, while running her hand up the side of Harvey's neck and guiding him that little bit closer. When he looked down at her with a smile on his face, Grace leaned up slightly so she could press her lips to his.
That moment caused her head to spin, as she felt her body fill with so many emotions for this boy. She wanted nothing more in this moment, than for it to just be the two of them but unfortunately the voices of Harvey's friends reminded her that it wasn't quite the case.
"I'll get us a drink. What do you want?" Grace asked, as the guys were already trying to drag Harvey's attention away. However, his eyes remained on her the whole time, barely even glimpsing away.
Taking hold of Grace's hands, he then gave them a quick squeeze, while leaning forward to press his lips to her forehead once again.
"No, my treat. What do you want?"
Before Grace was given any chance to reply to Harvey's question, a familiar voice was heard that made her stomach drop. She already felt awkward enough but she didn't understand why he didn't.
"Nope, actually it's my treat!" Max announced as he threw an arm over Harvey's shoulder. "What do you two want?"
Grace found herself glaring at Max at this point and feeling like she wanted to scream "what the hell are you doing?" She didn't know if he was trying to make the best impression in front of Harvey before it all went downhill, but she felt like he was only making it worse.
"Fuck man, we need a real catch up. How was it?" Harvey immediately asked and seeing the excitement in Harvey's face broke Grace's heart a little. She knew how well he got on with Max and was now worried that this messy situation was going to ruin that for him.
"Fucking amazing! You planned it well for us." Max responded, while still avoiding Grace's gaze. "Let's get some drinks and then I'll tell you all about it."
Nodding his head, Harvey soon turned his attention back to Grace, who quickly tried to compose herself.
"What do you want, babe?"
"Er... I'll just have any kind of cocktail. Surprise me." Grace forced a smile in return when in actual fact, she just wanted to escape their presence. She wasn't doing a great job of hiding her discomfort and she was already convinced that Harvey had picked up on it.
As him and Max made their way over to the bar, Grace finally let out a much needed breath. This whole situation felt suffocating and she was beginning to regret even showing up.
She had wanted to see Harvey so desperately that she'd just put on a brave face and put up with Max being here. However, now Grace had wished she'd waited, so that she could have had the conversation with him without feeling like she was lying to his face.
"Are you okay?" Francesca asked as she hooked an arm through Grace's. "I know he's hot to look at but you've got all weekend to do that."
Francesca's comment suddenly knocked Grace out of the trance she had found herself in. She hadn't realised she had been staring at the back of Harvey while blocking everyone else out around her.
"I'm just taking him all in. It's been two weeks, that's a long time." Grace teased back, not wanting to give anything away.
"Mmm." Francesca rolled her eyes before leading them over to the benches where everyone was taking their seats.
Just as Grace took hers, she looked up to see both Max and Harvey now making their way back over. While Harvey was carrying a tray full of drinks that she assumed were for the guys, Max was carrying one with three cosmopolitans on, which Grace only assumed were for her, Francesca and Lila.
She knew it was petty but in that moment Grace felt awkward and angry. She couldn't help but feel like he was doing this on purpose and she didn't understand why.
"Thanks." Grace quipped as Max passed her a glass and she barely even looked his way. Instead, she immediately turned her focus on Harvey, as he took the space beside her and just appreciated him being here.
"You alright?" Harvey asked as she reached out to run her thumb along the stubble on his cheeks. Just getting to touch him felt amazing, after two weeks of being teased by the screen of her iphone.
"Mm, yeah. I'm good." Grace replied simply, wishing she didn't have to sit here and pretend.
It was obvious he knew that something was up, so it was very difficult to keep hiding it.
"Are you sure?"
Nodding her head, Grace leaned forward so she could press her lips to his, before leaning into his side and closing her eyes. Harvey wrapped his arm around her in response and even though he still didn't believe her, it was clear to him that she didn't want to talk about it right now.
He had learned a lot from growing up in a house full females and one of those lessons had been to pick and choose your battles when the time was right. Therefore, Harvey decided that now was not the time.
Instead both him and Grace just appreciated being back together, while Harvey was bombarded with questions from his friends.
Grace had already expected that coming here tonight would create a competitiveness for Harvey's time. She knew his friends would not hold back from fully taking over and she really didn't have the effort in her to voice her own opinions too. Therefore, for once, she just sat in silence while rested against Harvey's chest, planning how she was going to tell him about Max.
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