"Ha! I knew it!" Bea bursts in as soon as the call disconnects, rubbing her ear subtly where she's probably had it pressed against the door for the past hour.

"Knew what?" Henry turns to face her wearily. Bea has a huge, wicked grin painted over her face, and he thinks- uh oh. Whenever Bea gets a smile like that, chaos usually follows in its wake.

"I knew it was him! That's why you've been so...different lately."

"What? Oh come on Bea, I thought you'd dropped that."

"Why on earth would you think that?" She dimples innocently, the picture of a perfect little princess once more, and Henry sighs, then turns into a bitter, half-strangled laugh.

"You've worked it out?"

"I have," Her face turns grim, "And, Hen, I've seen how happy you are when you're with him- or when you're texting him. And you deserve to be happy- you should be happy. You know that." Henry exhales slowly, staring down at his hands.

"I just...I know he's never going to love me back. I'm not sure I'm ready to...deal with that. Not yet."

"Right." She makes a face. "But I want you to know that I'm with you, Hen. Always. No matter what you decide to do."

Henry cringes. Always. It's such a big word; it means forever. It's yet another promise to be broken. Yet another heart to be shattered.

***

"Henry! Get your ass out of bed and look at this!" Henry blinks sleep from his eyes and stifles a sigh as his vision clicks into place and he finds himself staring wide-eyed up at Pez- who himself is practically dancing around at the foot of Henry's bed, waving a letter over his head and grinning gleefully.

"Pez? Christ, what time is it?"

"Almost midday- and it's Christmas and look at this!"

"Fine. Give it here." He extends his hand, and, reluctantly, Pez passes the letter over. Henry turns it in his hands, reading the address and scowling half-heartedly at Pez.

"How the hell did you get this?"

"I bribed your mailman."

"Of course you did."

"Read it. I already have." Sure enough, Henry spies a messy slit along the top of the envelope, and he fixes Pez with another frown- one that slides right off his face when he reads the message.

"He-I- they... wait- 'Balls out Bananas' what?" Henry stutters, heart skipping a beat in his chest. Pez shrugs, waving a hand eloquently.

"The New Year's Eve Youth Gala or something. I assume your friend Alex wrote the invites."

Yes. It sounds exactly like Alex. Henry smiles at the thought of him- leaning over his desk, eyes crinkling at the corners in concentration, scrawling away diligently at the invitations, while Zahra hounds him about them from the other side of the door. Pez seems to notice this, and grins slyly.

"Also, when were you gonna tell me?"

"About what?" Henry sighs his guard instantly up.

"About you. And Alex. And-"

"I was going to." Henry cuts in sharply, resigned, "But just...not yet. Not for a while."

"Yeah. Right." Pez narrows his eyes slightly, then straightens up and plows on.

"So...are we going?"

"Do you really need to ask? Of course we are."

***

And that's how, hours later, Henry finds himself on a private flight to Washington D.C, feet propped up on a seat, an open packet of Jaffa Cakes in his lap, and an excitable Pez almost squealing with delight to his left. Pez snaps a picture of them, and posts it, typing in a caption and whooping, one fist punching the air.

But Bea's words still ring in Henry's ears:

Always.

Forever.