The Next Day

Mal's POV

I wake up and immediately reach for Ben, only to be met by empty sheets. I open my eyes confusedly only to see I'm in an unfamilar bedroom, and that's when all the memories from last night come flooding back. The fight, running off in the rain, meeting Harry and him offering me a place to stay and a possible job. I rub my eyes tiredly as I sit up, and the smell of pancakes and bacon hit my nose. I climb out of the bed and pad my way into the living room.

"Mornin' Mal" Harry says with a grin as he looks over his shoulder from his spot in front of the stove.

"Morning" I yawn sleepily and he comes over to me with a plate and a glass of orange juice.

"Thank you" I say softly as I accept them.

"You're welcome" he says as I sit in the reclining chair and put the glass on the small table next to it.

"You didn't have to make all this on my account Harry, cereal would've been fine-" I begin to say as he takes a seat on the couch and puts his glass and plate on the coffee table.

"I wanted to, last night was rough for you" he cuts me off gently and I grin softly.

"I um...I found some clothes that you can wear today until we can go to the store later" he murmurs as he takes a pile of folded clothes off from the cushon next to him.

"Thank you" I say thankfully as I place them next to me. He smiles and we begin to eat our breakfast. Once we're both finished I take our dirty dishes to the sink and wash them.

"You didn't have to wash them" Harry tells me as I put the last glass on the dryimg rack.

"I wanted to" I say with a small smile. I like to feel useful.

"I have to go to work now but don't be shy to come down if you need anything" he says gently and I nod.

"Here's the TV remote, help yourself to anything in the kitchen" he says as he gives me the remote before giving me a side hug.

"Don't worry I'll be fine" I say with a small smile. He smiles back before going down the stairs. After a few minutes of watching TV I get off the couch, grab the clothes and go into the bathroom. I take a quick hot shower, towl dry my hair and get dressed. I slip on the socks and go back into the living room and curl up on the couch. The clothes Harry found me are black straight leg jeans, a purple shirt and a beat up teal leather jacket.

'I wonder where he got these' I muse. Maybe they belong to a sister, or maybe a ex girlfriend. I wave that thought out out of my mind as soon as it hits me. It's none of my buisiness where he got them anyway. After a few hours I hear quick footsteps coming up the stairs and turn my head to see Harry coming up while taking off an appron.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" he asks as he puts it on the back of the couch. I nod and stand up. I slip on my boots and notice they're completely dry, Harry must have put them in the dryer while I was asleep. We exit the building and he leads me through the town, pausing occasionally to point out certain shops. We make it to the mall and go into one of the clothes stores. After a few hours of shopping we managed to find me five outfits, a couple jackets and a few pairs of shoes. We also go to a hair salon and I get my hair dyed back to blonde with light purple ends.

"Thank you Harry, I swear I will pay you back" I say as we sit at one of the tables in the food court.

"Don't worry about it lass, it was no trouble at all" he says, waving his hand dismissively.

"No really, you've done souch for me in the past twenty four hours and you hardly know me" I insist.

"Alright you can pay me back" he gives in.

"But not with money, just be happy and help me out with a few chores in the apartment and we'll call it even. Deal?" he nogotiates.

"Deal" I chuckle softly as we shake hands. I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

A Few Hours Later

After talking to his dad it's official that I'm the new waitress of the Jolly Rodger and that I start work on Friday, today is Monday so I gace plenty of time to learn everytjing Harry has to teach me.

"Oi Gil! Come over here!" Harry calls and a waitor with dirty blonde hair tied back in a ponytail comes over.

"Gil this is Mal, our new waitress and my new housemate" Harry says with a grin.

"Hi" I say shyly, holding my hand out for a handshake.

"Hey" he says with a goofy grin before pulling me in for a hug. I giggle softly and hug him back. Harry and Gil give me a quick rundown of how to hold down the fort before they both have to go back to work. To get a better understanding I sit at the bar and listen to Harry talk and joke around with the customers as he mixes and serves them their drinks. By the end of the night I have dozens of stories swimming around in my head and a belly full of peanuts and virgin pina coladas. As soon as everyone's gone Harry closes up the building and orders us a pizza for a late dinner. Thirty minutes later we're settled on the couch in our pajamas with a meat lovers pizza watching The Office. Four episodes and one pizza later Harry is fast asleep curled up on one end of the couch and I'm curled up on the other end fighting to stay awake. I could get used to this, being here and hanging out with Harry and Gil every day. But I know that I csn't hide forever, that I'll have to go back and face Ben eventually. But I'm scared, what'll happen the next time I see him? If ever? That thought becomes more and more foggy as I give in to my body's demand to sleep.

I wake up being lifted uo and through slightly ooen blurry eyes I'm able to make out Harry as he carries me into his room. I close my eyes again and he lats me on the bed, gently tucking me in.

"Sweet dreams Mal" I hear him whisper before feeling lips lightly press against my forehead. The last thing I hear before I succumb to sleep again is his footsteps leaving the room and the soft click of the door as he leaves.

A Few Days Later

It's finally friday and Gil is explaining which tables are my responsibility and which are his. I listen intensely not wanting to miss anything and screw up on my first day. As the hours tick by I slowly becone less nervous and more animated with the people I'm serving. It's around dinner time and I'm just serving a family of four their meals when I faintly hear Harry arguing with someone at the bar.

"Here you go, I'll check on you guys in a few minutes" I tell the family with a smile before walking over to Gil who is just leaving the kitchen with a tray of food.

"Hey Gil what's going on? Who is that?" I ask quietly as we look towards the bar. Harry is working and looks a bit angry at the young woman that is yelling at him. She has dark cocoa skin and her hair is dyed teal and is tied in braids. She's wearing torn jeans, beat up sneakers and a teal long sleeve shirt. She must be the owner of the clothes Harry let me borrow on my first day here.

"That's Uma, Harry's ex girlfriend" he telks me and we both wince as she slams her fist on the bar angrily.

"I'll take care of this, go take care of your table" I say gently before starting to walk over.

"Is there a problem here? Babe what's going on?" I ask as I look between the two. 'Play along' I tell Harry with my eyes when he looks over at me with wide eyes. He winks when Uma looks at me angrily.

"And just who are you?!" she spits out.

"I'm Mal, Harry's girlfriend. And I'm afraid your causing a disterbance so I'm going to have to ask you to leave" I say hardly and she glares at me.

"No, now why don't you run along while I talk to my man" she hisses.

"I am not your man Uma, I haven't been that in over a year" Harry says harshly, keeping his voice down.

"Listen to me you ungrateful rat, I am the best thing that ever happened to you and I will get you back!" she hisses.

"That's it you're leaving, now" I growl and before she can get a word out I'm grabbing her arm and dragging her to the door before pushing her outside the building.

"If you come back I will call the cops and file a restrainimg order" I say before going back inside.

"Hey...you okay?" I ask Harry gently as I reach the bar. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck as he stares down at the counter.

"Yeah...thank you for getting her out of here, I'm sorry you had to see that" he mumbles.

"No worries, it's not the first time I've had to chase off a crazy ex" I joke, thinking about Ben's crazy ex Audrey. He chuckles lightly and gives me a small smile.

"You didn't have to say you were my girlfriend, she would've left eventually-" he begins to say apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, nothing scares off a girl faster than hearing the guy she's obsessed with already has a girlfriend. Besides that's what friends are for" I say with a grin and he smiles back.

"Now get back to work we still have customers" I scold before going back to the table I was tending to before the incident. They've finished eating and pay the bill I supply them. And I grin when I see I was left with a seven dollar tip. Work continues like normal and by the end of the night I'm left with about fifty dollars worth of tips in my pocket.

"Here, this is for when you took me shopping" I tell Harry as I attempt to give him the money once we're settled on the couch.

"No that's yours, I told you earlier I don't want your money" he says while shaking his head.

"But-" I begin to protest.

"No buts" he says stubbornly and I chuckle quietly.

"That's your money, you earned it" he says with a grin and I smile happily. Ben's always been the bread maker in the relationship, he didn't want me to work and alway gave me way more money than necessary. It feels good to finally be able to make my own money and know that I earned it instead of getting it for free.