Page 58 of House of Bass

I point to her new blonde highlights, “When did you have the time to get your hair dyed?”

“It's a wig,” she says plainly, inspecting her freshly done black and silver nails. She has put a lot of effort into this and it makes me smile. Our relationship had been strained for reasons that’s always been beyond our control but if I told the Harley from two months ago that she was doing this, she would’ve spat in my face.

“Who are you meant to be?” I ask, walking around the room ensuring everything needed for tonight was intact, trying to decipher her costume. She kinda looked like a fairy but she was wearing no wings, so I already ruled that out.

“God, you’re so uncultured.” she says in response, shaking her head.

Excuse me, I am the least uncultured person on this planet. I have a bookshelf just for my comic books and I religiously watch every award show. “What the fuck? Take that back. You’re the one who has never seen a play!”

“I thought you said people were here already. My skirt is starting to ride and I'm about two seconds away from changing it.” She keeps fiddling with the hem, tugging at it, and I’ll admit a small part of me took some satisfaction in it. She always seems so confident. It’s nice to see that Harley Bass is just like the rest of us.

The bell rings the moment she says it.

“No, you don't. Let’s start,” I say, nudging her forwards, my hands on her shoulders, in the direction of the door.

“Just so you know,” she looks back at me, a warning incoming, “if at any point your friends start any crap I’m leaving and locking myself in my room.”

“Everyone likes you.” I reassure her, despite not being sure about the validity of my statement. Dan is the person she has spent the most amount of time with, but I know she is looking for an excuse. “Trust me, if they didn't, you wouldn’t have been invited.”

“You invited me,” she cuts in, her arms folded. I’d honestly forgotten that. Then, I think about it for a second longer, “Fine. Just… steer clear of Devon. You know she's a little prickly about, well, most things.”

“Kinda like you.” I throw in jokingly, before I open the door I remember what is still playing over in my mind. “Are you going to tell me who you’re dressed up as now?”

The house is packed in record time and I’m thankful Harley helped carry my art pieces upstairs, the music is loud enough to knock it off the walls.

When Daniel walks in the whole room cheers, every person in the room greets him with a happy birthday. He looks absolutely brilliant. The extravagance of his outfit every year is one thing I look forward to. He is covered in black mesh from head to toe, and the dark wings on his back are huge and hug his skin like they are really his own. And that is without mentioning the horns on his head. The Devil.

He immediately spots Harley and I and waves, unlatching himself from Chloe York who has been caressing his arm and pressing herself a little too close. Ugh, what a sket .

“Happy birthday! You look fucking fabulous,” I say as he lifts and scoops me into a hug, his brown eyes glint with glee at the compliment.

“As always,” he replies, giving us a turn to show it all off.

“It looks really good,” Harley compliments.

“So do you, Beyonce,” Dan says as he takes in what Harley is wearing, giving her a once over as she gives me a look that says, See?

Honestly, how the hell was I supposed to know this?

“Happy birthday,” Harley says awkwardly as she hands over a bag.

“You didn't have to get me anything,” he says, grinning as he accepts it regardless. “Unlike this one, you are not yet contractually obliged.” He nods towards me as he opens it to reveal a vinyl.

“Figured it was the polite thing to do. And last time you said it was one of the few you didn’t own.” A small smile on her face.

“You remembered. I’d almost given up on looking for it. Thank you.” He puts an arm around her in a side hug. She peels his arms off, cringing at the physical contact, and he just laughs. Dan is the easiest person to win over, impossible to offend and far too easy to like. The fact that he feels comfortable enough to wind her up means she has officially taken the first step to being stuck with us.

“I invited a friend by the way if that’s okay with you…” she drags out the ‘you’ and my head snaps up the mention of this. Surprised, surely she doesn’t mean…

“It is your house but anyone is welcome” Dan replies, instantly like the social butterfly he was, not minding company whatsoever.

“Are you talking about Scarlett?” I butt in quickly, racking my head to figure out when this happened. I know what happened on comet day was weird. Harley narrows her eyes, giving me a flat look.

“Please, no. Scarlett Argent and I can’t be in the same room,” I add in. I continue to interrogate her on this but she refuses to release any information to me. And here I thought we were getting somewhere.

Harley rolls her eyes and lifts one shoulder in shrug, pretending to be nonchalant as she tells me, “Mind your business, and don't be weird when she gets here.” This is important to her, I can tell from the way she has gotten rigid at the thought of my prodding.

“I’m not being weird,” I say defensively, but she is right. Although I am well aware Harley can take care of herself it doesn’t stop the worry in the back of my head that there is something else to it.