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The door slams shut, echoing through the hotel lobby. Everyone is looking at each other; everyone is staring at Urbain. He hasn’t done anything wrong, nothing that he’s aware of at least. He was just being his normal self, talking to his friends when Harmony decided to storm out. He was just being his normal friendly self, laughing at a joke with everyone else.
“What was—”
Lida doesn’t have time to finish her sentence; Urbain is running to the door, running after Harmony. He’s swinging it open, his heart already pounding as his eyes search the darkness outside. His legs are carrying him through the downpour, every step splashing as he calls out to Harmony. He needs to know what happened; he needs to know what he did to make her run off like that.
“Harmony!”
Urbain is already soaked to the bone; the storm is violently hammering down on his head. His hair is uncomfortably sticking to his cheeks, water blinding him. He knows he looks like a mess, dye probably running down his neck, but that won’t stop him. He won’t let anything stop him. He won’t stop until he catches up with Harmony who is nowhere to be seen.
He curses the winding and twisting of all the alleyways around the hotel. She really could be anywhere at this point; the city is never ending and Harmony is fast. Has she already made it onto Vert Street? Or maybe even South Boulevard? Or maybe she already made it passed the canal and is close to Vert Plaza. There’s really no way for Urbain to know; he has to trust his gut as he moves forward. He has to trust his heart to lead him to her.
“Harmony?” The rain muffles his shouts; he’s already winded, his pace slowing unlike the thunderstorm that seems to have grown stronger, the sky now growling and sparking. “Harmony!” Urbain doesn’t want to give up, he never wants to give up on Harmony, but if she’s not around here, there’s no use in him wasting his breath. The city is impossibly big; she could be absolutely anywhere at this point. “Please, Harmony!”
“Go away!”
It’s stupid, the flip of his heart. It stupid, the bout of energy that flares up in Urbain as he runs towards the broken voice. And he knows she just told him to go away, but he can’t just leave. He can’t leave her in the rain, leave her after she ran off without an explanation. He can’t leave her, not now, not ever.
Urbain should have known he’d find her right around the corner. This should have been the first place he should have look; Harmony always finds solace under the Oran berry tree right by the hotel. That little nook became somewhat of a safe-space for the girl; he should have known he’d find her there, her back pressed against the trunk of the thin tree, her knees pressed against her chest.
“Harmony!”
Her eyes are downcast. Her hair is just as soaked as his, the elastic struggling to keep the weight from falling apart. She looks a mess; the little makeup she had on has since melted, streaks of mascara or eyeliner running down her cheeks. But it’s her eyes that have Urbain’s heart sinking; they’re usually so bright, not this dull gray color that seems devoid of everything.
“Harmony,” Urbain takes a tentative step towards her, “what happened?”
“Why do you care?”
She’s snappy; he’s still taking a seat next to her under the tree that offers no relief.
“Because you ran out without a word. And I got worried about you.”
“You should be worried about your girlfriend instead. What’s she gonna think about you running after some other girl even if she’s just some pathetic loser?”
Urbain furrows his brow. Harmony isn’t one to normally talk nonsense, but this time, nothing coming out of her mouth makes sense. Urbain is most certain that he does not have a girlfriend, and he most certainly isn’t worrying about what this mystery girl is thinking. Anyone who keeps him from worrying about Harmony isn’t someone worth his while. And anyone might even insinuate that she’s a loser is most definitely not someone Urbain wants to associate himself with.
“What are you talking about? What girlfriend? And you’re not a—”
“Her.”
The rain is doing a good job at hiding the fact that Harmony is crying, but it’s not enough to keep it from Urbain. There’s too much venom in her voice for him to not realize; her eyes are too red for him to be clueless. Tears and raindrops cling to her lashes as she lashes out at him; her fists are balled up as she stares him down, tears still streaming down her face.
“Harmony,” she shakes him off as Urbain tries to touch her arm, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who—”
“Korrina!” Harmony’s voice cracks as her nails dig into the dirt around the truck of her favorite tree. “She’s so into you, it’s almost sickening! And you’re both always flirting and—”
“I’m not flirting with her!”
“Yes you are! You’re always flirting with her! You’re flirting with her like I’m not even there! Like I don’t exist! And I’m not stupid, Urbain! I’m not blind! And it’s fine! It’s totally fine that you like her, because you obviously do and—”
“I don’t like her, Harms!” He didn’t mean to shout, but she’s screaming at him and his voice just matched her tone. “At least, not like that. I’m not into her, if that’s what you think.”
The tears choke Harmony; her agitation only gets worse. She’s hiccupping and digging her nails deeper into the dirt. Her head is hung low as she tries to swallow her sobs, but every time Urbain goes to touch her, she’s pushing him away. She’s shaking him off violently, frenzy only reinvigorated.
“It’s fine! It’s totally fine if you are! Really! I mean, why wouldn’t you be? She pretty and blond and strong. She’s literally the ideal girl for you! You guys can…” Another sob chokes the girl. “And you’re always joking with her and staring at her like she’s the most beautiful girl in the world and… and you just… You’re always smiling around her, and it’s, it’s fine! It’s so fine! You can like her! It’s totally okay if you like her more!”
Like her more? Like her more than what? Than who? Harmony can’t possibly mean that he likes Korrina more than he likes her; there’s no one that Urbain likes more than Harmony. Harmony is his very best friend; Harmony is… And Korrina, she truly is just a friend to him. He has quite literally never thought of her as anything other than another member of Team MZ. And sure, she is a very strong and competent trainer, and she’s got funny jokes, but Urbain doesn’t treat her any differently from how he treats Lida and Naveen. Everyone in Team MZ are his friends, but Harmony has never reacted this way to any of his corny jokes back when it was just the four of them.
“Harmony, are you jealous of Korrina?”
“No! Why would I be jealous of a pretty, tall, strong, cool, older girl that you stare at like she’s some divine being gracing you with her presence? Why would I care that you clearly like her more than me? We’re just friends and I should be so happy for you.” Harmony has managed to dig a whole in the mud from how much she’s opening and closing her hand around the tree’s trunk. “I should be so happy that you like someone and that she likes you back, given how she’s always smiling so big around you!” A broken smile hangs on Harmony’s lips as her chest heaves and she sniffles. “And you’d be so cute together. You’d be cute and I should be so fucking happy for you and I—!” Another sob; Urbain doesn’t take touch her as she fists the mud and throws it back against the tree. “I hope you get married one day and I hope I’m invited because I want to see you so happy, but I’d get it if I’m not because who would want the girl hund up on the groom to be—”
Urbain will never say that he’s good a picking up cues. If anything, he’s probably the worst at it. He let moments pass time and time again because he’s overthought them until they slipped away, always afraid of misunderstanding the situation and ruining something good. He’s lost countless opportunities, but this time, he doesn’t think. This time, he can’t be wrong. Please, don’t let him be wrong.
It’s wet. It’s sloppy. It’s so far from how he imagined his first kiss would happen. Perhaps it’s stupid, but he always thought his first kiss would happen after a nice first date. He thought it would be something almost picturesque and cliché, but he wouldn’t trade this first kiss for the world. If Harmony is the one who gets to have his first kiss, then that’s all he can ask for. If Harmony is the one who gets to keep his first kiss, all Urbain can ask for is that the Universe allows her to also have his last kiss.
Harmony’s chest heaves as Urbain pulls away. Her lips are still parted, her eyes flickering between his face and her knees. Maybe he shouldn’t have grabbed her face, forced a kiss onto her. Maybe he should have asked her, but impulse got the best of him. He couldn’t bare hearing her talk about a hypothetical relationship he’d have with another girl. He couldn’t continue to watch hot tears pour from her eyes as she took a metaphorical step away from him. He couldn’t let her get away just because he smiled at someone else.
“Why’d you—”
“I don’t like Korrina. Not like that. Never like that. Never anything like I like you, Harmony.”
Finally, those gray eyes find their sparkle again as Urbain traces soothing circles into Harmony’s cheek. It’s always been her; it will always be her. Urbain might be a fool, he might be stupid, but he’s known this for longer than he’d like to admit to himself. He’s known that his heart beats for Harmony for longer than he can remember. Maybe it started the moment he laid eyes on her; maybe he’s always known he was waiting for her. Or maybe it just happened slowly; maybe he’s been slowly falling in love with her with every passing day they spend together, laughing and being themselves. Regardless of how it happened, they’re here now, staring at each other as the rain continues to beat down around them.
“Harmony, trust me when I say that I never thought of Korrina, or anyone else for that matter, as anything other than a friend. It never once crossed my mind that she could be anything more than another member of Team MZ. And she most definitely is not the one that keeps me up at night, keeps me staring at my ceiling, wondering if I messed everything up because I said something stupid. She’s not the one that I can’t shut up about, even when Lida tells me to. She barely crosses my mind other than when she happens to be in the same room as me. You, however…”
The kiss is slower this time around. It’s less frantic, less desperate. This time, they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. This time, Harmony’s hands are warm against Urbain’s cheek as she pulls him in. Her hair is still a tangled mess as Urbain shifts, treading his fingers through it; her poor elastic finally gave in, letting her locks fall loose over her shoulders, but this is what Urbain imagined a kiss would feel like. The burst of butterflies in his chest is even more dizzying than he envisioned it. The softness of Harmony’s lips is beyond what his mind had conjured up in the dead of night. This, this reality, it is exactly what Urbain has dreamed of. And despite the rain still pounding on their heads, he has never felt light. He’s never felt brighter. Happier.
Harmony rests her forehead against Urbain’s as they both catch their breaths. He can feel the mud clinging to his cheek as her hand falls away, but that doesn’t matter. If there’s mud on his face, that means that the kiss really did happen. If there’s mud on his face, that means Harmony really did pull him back in for another. If there’s mud on his face, that means Urbain didn’t imagine the whole thing; it means he can continue to spill his heart out to the prettiest girl he’s ever laid eyes on.
“I basically forget there’s anyone else the moment you walk into a room. My eyes search for you in every corner of the world, because I want you to be there. I want you next me, always. There’s not a better moment in my day than when you’re there, Harms. I’m stupidly into you. And only you. It’s always been you. Never anyone else.” Another soft kiss is pressed to his lips, a kiss Urbain melts into. How has he gone this long without kissing her? He can never go back to that time. “I’m stupidly in love with you, Harmony. And I think I have been for a long while now.”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Because I was stupid. Because I was scared you didn’t feel the same way. Because I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”
Another kiss, long and slow. Another type of kiss he can get used. “Well, I like you too, stupid. For a long time, now.”
A grin breaks across Urbain’s face as he pulls the girl in for a hug. He holds her tight as laughter falls from his lips, laughter he can’t control. It’s been a very long time since the last time he has felt this happy. There’s just so much happiness, it’s bubbling out of his as he buries his face into her shoulder. He’s nervous and happy and giddy, a mix of emotions he’s never felt before. He feels stupid; is this what being in love feels like?
“I’m sorry for running off like that.”
“Don’t be. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I’m sorry for hurting you.”
Harmony’s arms wrap around Urbain’s neck, holding him just as tightly as he is holding her. He knows she won’t slip away, but the very thought of loosening his grip on her is sickening. And he also knows they should probably go back inside, change out of their wet clothes before they catch a cold, but he needs just another moment with just Harmony. He needs one more moment before he has to face the real world again.
“Please let me take you out on a date. Let me treat you. Let me show you how much I like you.”
A grin is pressed to his lips. “Only if you’ll let me take you out on a second date.”