A Safe Bet

Things had changed and people had noticed.

Harlow no longer was solely known as the girl who got good grades, no, now kids just knew her. It was weird for her. Girls envied her because John paid so much attention to her and all of a sudden the kids she had never once spoken to were now trying to be her best friends.

She sat at the cool kid lunch table, rather than burying her face in books. She was invited to parties (although she usually politely declined, unless John begged her to be present), and people were just—nicer to her.

It may have been weird, and at first the adjustment was hard, but Harlow discovered that over time she slightly enjoyed the fact that she no longer blended in the crown. It wasn’t like she changed, she still got higher than average grades, her and Aimee were still inseparable…but she was different, and she liked it.

Not only was she different, but John was too. His psychology teacher had told her many times for the past few months of how changed he was. He was pulling an A in the class now and according to Ms. Hastings he had almost a one hundred percent chance of passing the test.

John was no longer just that boy she was tutoring for college applications, or the boy who annoyed her to no end with his immature antics. John had first off become her friend—and more recently, he began something more special.

Maybe that’s why Harlow almost wasn’t surprised that when he asked her to go on a double date with him and Jared she said yes almost instantly.

She trusted John.

She didn’t think he would hurt her anymore—he had changed.

He cared about her interests and her dreams. He brought her soup when she was sick and movies when Aimee was out of town with her family. He didn’t pressure her to drink at parties and somehow he had gotten his friends to accept her (she wasn’t sure if he had a hand in that or if they really did just like her—although she hoped for the latter).

“You’re excited,” Aimee sang, laying back on her best friend’s bed.

Harlow turned from where she was standing and gave Aimee a look annoyance, “No, I’m not!”

She peeled the blouse she was wearing from off of her shoulders and let it flutter to the floor where eight other shirts were lying. She groaned and put her hands on her hips and she stared at her closet.

“You wouldn’t have changed twenty times if you weren’t excited, Har,” her friend said with a smug smile on her lips. “You’re excited to go out with him. You can say it.”

Harlow closed her baby blue eyes as a small blush came on her cheeks, “Maybe.”

“A-ha!” Aimee cheered, raising her arms above her head.

She laughed and pouted, looking at her best friend sadly, “Will you help me find something to wear?”

“Of course, I will,” the brunette grinned. “Okay, so, you’re going go karting. So, you need to look cute but casual. So, how about…” Aimee made a ticking sound with her tongue as she fingered through her closet. Harlow chuckled as she threw a brown razor back tank top with a dream catcher design on the front into her arms, followed by a green cardigan, and blue skinny jeans. “Wear it with your green flower flats. You’ll look cute, but not too cute. You don’t want him to think you’re trying too hard.”

Harlow nodded her head and pulled the tank over her head, followed by the jeans and cardigan. She went into the bathroom to fix her loose curls and apply a small coat lip gloss to her nude lips. She fixed her eye shadow and liner that had smudged earlier in the day and put on more mascara to make her blue eyes shine.

“Are you wearing a push up bra?” Aimee laughed, examining her best friend’s chest.

“Yeah? So?” Harlow chuckled, lifting her eye brow.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Her friend mused, her lips in a small grin.

She shrugged and bit her lip gently, looking over herself in the mirror. She looked good—and she just hoped that John would think so too. “I—I just want to impress him you know?” Harlow said softly, nerves in her voice.

Aimee placed her hands on her friend’s shoulders, giving her an honest smile, “Har, you already impressed him, that’s why he asked you out. I don’t know what it is about you, but that boy is smitten with you.”

Harlow laughed and quoted one of her and Aimee’s favorite shows, “He’s the smitten kitten?”

Aimee joined in her laughs, “Okay Phoebe Buffay, let’s go down stairs before you realize what you’re about to do and freak out.”

The two girls walked down the stairs of the empty house and into the Peterson’s kitchen, grabbing Arizona iced tea from the fridge and setting out two glasses. They sat on the stools at the island and Harlow watched the ticking clock. John would be there any minute.

“Where’s your fam bam at anyways?” Aimee asked, looking around the quiet house.

Harlow sighed, “There’s this free vacation thing for all of the patients at Elena’s therapy. They went on a cruise to Mexico for the weekend.”

“Damn, why didn’t you go?”

“Well, as fun as it sounds to be on a vacation that is actually centered on Elena for the weekend, I would rather have the house to myself,” Harlow chuckled.

“It’s not like every vacation doesn’t end up about her anyways,” Aimee shrugged, knowing exactly how the Peterson family worked.

“Well yeah, but whatever. I have the house alone now, so that’ll be nice I guess,” Harlow said with a small grimace on her lips.

The truth was that she hated being alone in the house that was too big for one person. It scared her. What if someone broke in down stairs when she was upstairs? Or what if ghost stories were really true. Although her and Aimee joked that they were wizards they actually weren’t—meaning she couldn’t really fight of evil spirits. She knew it was a completely irrational thought ghosts would come out, but sometimes all the books she read made her wonder.

“Well, you could always ask John to stay over, you know,” Aimee said, aware that her friend hated being alone simply because she usually had to stay with her.

“That would be…inappropriate,” Harlow said, shaking her head. “He’d get the wrong idea, and that’s definitely not what’s going to happen tonight.”

Her friend shrugged, “It’s just an idea. Besides,” she started to smile, “I heard he’s great in bed.”

Harlow’s lips pulled down in a frown; that was always one thing she never liked about John. He gave himself away to so many people—sex didn’t seem to be special to him. Giving something that meant so much to her to a boy who had been with so many other girls would be hard for her. What if she didn’t match up?

“Oh my God, you’ve thought about how John is in the sack haven’t you?” Aimee squealed, a smirk on her thin pink lips.

Harlow felt her cheeks instantly blush, “I—I mean, we spend a lot of time together…your mind kind of wanders.”

Her friend laughed, “être sûr! No babies, no babies.”

“What am I going to do with you?” Harlow laughed, rolling her eyes.

The two girls looked at each other, Harlow in fear and Aimee with a large grin, as they heard a loud knocking on the door. She looked over to the clock that read 5:59. He was early by a minute which made her smile to no end.

The two walked to the door, making last minutes checks to make sure she looked okay. Aimee waited in the house’s foyer as Harlow opened the door, revealing a handsome looking boy. His hair was shorter (he had obviously gotten it cut), his chin was smooth, all the prickle gone, and his eyes were shining brighter than normal. He was wearing dark blue skinny jeans with a white and black baseball t-shirt with torn up converse. He looked adorable.

“Hey Har,” John smiled, his eyes moving from her feet all the way to her perfect curls.

“Hey John,” she grinned, biting her lip softly. She stepped into his arms, loving the smell of the mix of his cologne and aftershave.

“You look beautiful, as usual,” he said with a confident grin, looking down on her from his taller frame.

“You look beautiful yourself—I mean hot—I mean handsome,” she mumbled all at once, nerves gathering her thoughts. Why was she freaking out so much? This was just John…just her friend John.

He smiled at her, laughing gently, “Well thanks, you look hot too.”

Harlow cringed, before her lips broke out in an embarrassed smile, “Let me just lock up.”

She turned around to shut the door but groaned when Aimee stepped into the opening, clearing her throat. “Okay, since your dad isn’t here to do this, I will,” she began, looking at John who had an amused grin on his lips. “If you hurt her I’ll personally hunt you down and kick your ass.”

John laughed and stuck out his hand, “Sounds like a plan. I’m John by the way. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Aimee,” she smiled, taking his hand. “Harlow, I’m going to go eat all your food then go home. Have fun!”

Harlow laughed as Aimee shut the door in her face, and she turned to face John. “Shall we?” He asked. She nodded her head and followed him down the stairs to his truck, smiling as he opened her door for her.

John ran around to the driver side and they started their drive to meet Jared and his date for dinner. They made small talk, but they mostly listened to the soft hums of Death Cab coming from his speakers. They sang along softly, grins on both of their faces.

Within a few moments they had gotten to the restaurant where Jared and his date Lindsey were waiting in a booth. They joined the group and placed their orders, and Harlow was honestly surprised at how awkward it wasn’t. She and John were always the way they were acting now and the fact that they were now naming what they were doing didn’t change anything.

It was normal and she was comfortable, something that she would have never imagined not even five months ago.

*

“I think that Harlow is definitely going to kick your ass at go karting, not maybe, definitely,” Jared laughed, looking at John.

John looked back to where Harlow and Lindsey were talking, both of them laughing at something the beautiful blonde he was fortunate enough to call his date had said. “She’s kind of amazing at everything she does,” he chuckled, agreeing with Jared.

“Yeah,” the red head laughed, looking at the moving line in front of them. “So, do you like Lindsey?”

John nodded his head looking over at the short light haired girl that came with Jared, “She’s really down to earth, unlike a lot of girls we’ve both dated in the past,” he laughed.

“Dude right? I think Kara was your worst girlfriend, personally.”

“Bro no way, Casey was by far!” John laughed. “We dated for two days when she told me she loved me. Ridiculous.”

Jared shook his head, laughing with him. His eyes drifted over to the girls again, “Lindsey is a keeper man, I really like her.”

“Jared Monaco settling down? Never,” John laughed, moving forward to the ticket booth.

“I could say the same for you, O’Callaghan,” he replied with a smirk.

John silently bit his lip before glancing over his shoulder at Harlow. She was smiling at something Lindsey had said but as her eyes moved away from the girl next to her and met his own her smile widened a bit and her cheeks blushed. He gave her a small grin before facing forward trying to hide his own crimson cheeks.

John had never felt this way about a girl before. He would be the first to admit that on dates he made girls impress him, but with Harlow—he needed to impress her. He had this urge to always make her approve. She made him want to be a better man.

Jared looked at him knowingly, “You know John, it’s okay if you want out.”

“No, it’s not Jar. The guys will hold this over my head for forever,” John groaned softly, thinking back to the bet.

The red head sighed, stepping towards the open ticket window before looking at his friend again, “Yeah, but don’t you think she’s worth that?”

John stared at his friend’s back as he bought Lindsey and his own ticket for racing. He tried to ignore how much of a coward Jared’s words made him feel like, but it was hard. More and more everyday he felt guilty for what he was doing. Each and every time she smiled at his words he was reminded that she was supposed to be a game—and in the end she was going to get hurt.

And so was he—in many ways worse than her.

John bought their wristbands and walked back over to where the girls seemed to be getting along really well. He wrapped the yellow paper around Harlow’s thin wrist checking it multiple times to make sure ‘it would stay on’, when he really just loved the amount of contact.

Harlow smiled and pushed forward on her toes to where her plump pinks lips were nearing his. She smiled before whispering, “Are you ready to lose to a girl, O’Callaghan?”

He scoffed before lowering his eyes and getting closer to her, their lips only inches away, “Bring it, Peterson.”

Harlow smiled and turned away, spinning on her heel and walking towards the line where Jared and Lindsey had gone. He smiled and followed in her steps waiting patiently for the teenage worker to let them go choose cars to race. As the employee opened the gate he laughed as Harlow ran to a purple car with a blue 12 painted on the side. He walked to one next to her and buckled his seat belt. He looked at her with a smirk as she narrowed her eyes at him and put on a determined face.

“You’re going down, JohnO!” Harlow giggled, using his nickname.

“In your dreams,” he replied, with a smirk.

The two watched the stop light, revving their engines in anticipation. As the light turned green they both accelerated quickly and began racing around the track. They weaved through other competitors and John found the first place spot in no time, but as soon as he turned his head he noticed a smug blonde right on his heels. They pushed their gas pedals to the floor, trying to move the smartest ways as to block one another but as John made a left turn he watched as the girl pulled in front of him swiftly.

He could hear her laugh over the engine and it made him smile instantly. They raced under the checkered flag; one lap left. He accelerated as much as he could, moving from left to right on Harlow’s bumper trying to psych her out. She successfully blocked him and after five minutes of trying to find ways to get around her they found themselves back to the start.

Harlow jumped out of the kart with a large smile on her lips as she held her hands over her head, her shirt lifting and showing her bare tanned skin. John smiled as he ran over to her and lifted her in the air giving her a tight hug.

Harlow laughed and straightened out her shirt as he put her down. “I don’t know how to break it to you John, but for a lack of better words, I just kicked your booty,” she smiled.

John smirked and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“So, what do I get?” Harlow asked softly, her voice flirtatiously tempting him to lean forward and press his lips to hers. He had wanted to for so long now.

He cocked his eyebrow and smiled at her, pulling out the O’Callaghan charm. Harlow may not have been like any other girl, but she was still a girl—meaning this would work. “What do you want, Peterson?”

She smiled and shrugged, biting her lip gently, “Surprise me.”

John leaned forward slowly, his lips teasing her. “Maybe at the end of the date, depending how it goes,” he winked. Harlow’s jaw dropped a little as he stepped away. “Shall we race again?”

She smiled as she followed him back to the line. The group raced for another hour or so before playing arcade games, where John totally dominated Jared on Dance Dance Revolution. After two hours at the go kart rink the couples went their separate ways.

Harlow and John walked down the vacated streets of Tempe, smiling as they licked the ice cream cones that he had purchased for them.

“I cry every single time I watch Armageddon,” he admitted.

Harlow giggled softly, licking her vanilla ice cream, “I am addicted to chocolate chip cookie dough. I just can’t say no to it.”

“I collect picks.”

“I’m obsessed with criminal shows. I love murder.”

“Well that’s comforting,” John laughed. The two kept admitting silly facts about themselves as they walked hand in hand down the road, eventually finding their way back to John’s truck. The date had gone overwhelmingly well. They had fun, laughed, and they both were just comfortable. It was so nice to feel that way around a girl—so relaxed.

Harlow smiled at him as they pulled up to her house and he ran around the side of the truck to open her door. As they walked to her door he held her hand tightly in his, rubbing the soft skin of the backside of her hand with his thumb in intricate circles.

John smiled down at her as she gazed up at him with her baby blue eyes through her eyelashes. He chewed on the inside of his lip, nervous of what to do. Was he supposed to kiss her? Or would that be too much for her? God, he wanted to kiss her.

“I had a lot of fun tonight, Harlow,” he said sincerely, smiling down at her anxiously.

She smiled, squeezing his hand lightly, “I did too. You know, you’re not so bad, O’Callaghan.”

“Yeah?” John smiled.

Harlow blushed, nodding her head, “Yes, John.” They stared at each other for a moment, both with shy smiles on their lips and their cheeks turning red. “I—do you, do you want to come inside?”

John’s heart raced faster for a second as he listened to her invitation before reminding himself that this was Harlow, not just any other girl. She wasn’t going to sleep with him—and he wasn’t surprised as in a matter of seconds her face was as red as a cherry.

“I—I didn’t mean it like that…at all! Oh God,” she mumbled, running a hand through her blonde hair nervously. “I just mean…ugh.”

John felt himself laughing softly, “Harlow, I’d love to come in.”

He watched as her cheeks blushed violently before she turned to unlock her door. He followed her into her house, taking a seat at the kitchen island as she set down her purse and checked the messages.

“Hello Harlow, it’s your mother. I just wanted to call and remind you that tomorrow afternoon the bug man is coming, so don’t freak out if you wake up and someone is there. Be good, finish your homework, and your father and I love you.”

She sighed, before pressing delete, leaning her back against the counter behind her. She looked upset—or on edge and he didn’t know why.

“Your parents are out of town?” John asked, looking at her slumping frame.

Harlow nodded her head, her eyes on her feet, “Yeah. I’m house sitting...by myself. Alone.”

John felt a small smirk pulling at his lips, “Are you scared of being here alone, Peterson?”

The blonde’s voice was small as she replied, “Maybe.”

He laughed lightly and opened his arms for the girl. Her little feet carried her over softly and she buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed her forehead. She pulled away with a small pout on her lips.

John licked his lips before looking at her nervously, “I could uhm, stay tonight if you wanted me to.”

“Would that be okay with your parents?” Harlow asked, looking into his green eyes tentatively.

He smiled and nodded his head, “I don’t think they expect me home until the morning. It’s Friday night.”

Harlow rolled her eyes, a cute smile on her lips, “I forgot you’re Mr. Popular.”

John shrugged, “What can I say? ‘I’m kind of a big deal’. Now, what do you say? Why don’t you go upstairs and get changed into your pajamas and we’ll curl up and watch a movie.”

She nodded her head with a wide grin, pulling on his hand and leading him upstairs. She instructed him to wait outside her door while she changed, causing him to chuckle lightly. He waited patiently, looking at family pictures on the wall—beautiful portraits that any family would want to possess. John smiled as he looked at a picture of Elena and Harlow when they must’ve been around ten years old. Harlow had her face buried in ‘The Chamber of Secrets’ while Elena flaunted a pair of her mother’s heels. Not much had changed.

John turned as Harlow’s door opened, revealing the thin girl in a pair of short, extremely short, light blue boxer shorts and a darker blue Star Wars t-shirt. She had a pair of thick rimmed reading glasses on and her hair was falling into messy curls behind her back. She looked natural—and she looked beautiful.

Harlow smiled up at him, lacing their fingers and sitting him on the bed. She turned to a cabinet on her wall and picked up two movie cases: Mean Girls and Harry Potter. John laughed at the choices that he could have predicted before walking over to the shelf and scanning it. He pulled out a black cover and Harlow’s face instantly went pale.

“No John,” she frowned. “That’s scary!”

John looked at her with a grin as he leaned down and popped the DVD into the machine, “I’ll be right here. Come on, be a big girl, Peterson,” he teased.

He turned off her light and shut the hallway door before turning his attention to the girl who was getting cuddled in her sheets, her face in horror. “I don’t want to watch this, John,” she whined.

“Har, it’s not that bad. And, if you don’t like it why do you have it?” He laughed.

“It’s Elena’s,” she said simply, before looking at him sadly. “I just realized that you don’t have any pajamas. I don’t think my booty shorts would fit you,” she laughed softly.

John chuckled, “Uhm no, probably not, but uh, I have boxers on…if that’s not weird for you.”

He watched as she contemplated it in her mind for a second before nodding her head that it was okay. He pulled off his jeans nervously, letting them hit the floor, followed by his shirt. He didn’t know why he was so apprehensive. He had slept in the same bed as a girl many times before, but Harlow, she was different.

She made his heart race constantly—and right now it was worse than normal.

He was surprised when he turned around and she was looking at him, biting her lip softly. She looked nervous too, and that calmed him a bit. Harlow lifted up her blanket and allowed him to crawl in next to her, keeping a few inches between their legs and the rest of their bodies.

At first when John pressed play on The Blair Witch Project, Harlow seemed to contain herself. But once the actors stepped into the forest her hand instantly found his, grasping it tightly. And not even a half an hour later her small, warm body was pressed against him.

John’s hands were wrapped around her tiny shoulder’s as her hands wrapped around his waist tightly, her face buried into his chest. She squealed as the camera dropped to the ground, all that could be heard was the screaming of the kids.

John laughed and held her tighter, whispering soft words of encouragement in her ear. Through lots of screams and John trying to keep Harlow’s eyes open and make her watch the movie—they finally finished it.

“I hate you,” Harlow mumbled, her words falling onto his chest.

John laughed softly, “You haven’t said that for a while.”

He could feel her lips pull into a smile, “Yeah, well, I can resort to my old ways if you like.”

“Mmm, no thank you,” he replied, his own lips wearing an elated grin.

“Good,” she whispered. He could feel her eyelashes tickling his chest as she blinked, and he loved the way her breathing pattern fell into place with his.

“Harlow?” John asked tentatively.

“Yeah, John?” She asked, and he could hear in her voice that she was getting tired.

He had so many questions. He wanted to know why she was here alone—why her parents didn’t take her with them on their trip. He wanted to ask her why her and Elena weren’t friends anymore. He wanted to know what made her tick—what was really going on in her mind, but instead he settled with telling her ‘that he had an amazing night,’ as not to ruin the smile that had graced her lips the whole evening.

He still couldn’t get over the fact that a girl as special as her would enjoy being out with him; but without a doubt she did. And he was lucky.

These months of getting to know her John had been lucky.

Maybe she was his charm.

“Wait a second!” Harlow said suddenly, sitting up and looking at John. The T.V had flickered off when the movie had ended and now the only light on her face was from the moon.

“What?” John asked worriedly, scared that his luck was almost out.

A small smiled appeared on her mouth, and he swore her cheeks were pink once again, “You uh, you never gave me my prize for winning the race tonight,” she said in a shy tone.

John felt his heart begin to race as a new feeling entered his bones. He wanted to touch her, run his fingers through her hair that cascaded down her spine, kiss her plump lips that she had softly been biting on. But would she let him?

He decided to take his chances.

John laughed softly, feeling butterflies filling his chest. He couldn’t remember a time he had ever had this feeling. He moved to where he too was sitting, their thighs completely touching. He placed his hand gently on her cheek, running his fingertips over the soft skin.

“Tell me if you want me to stop,” he whispered, looking into her sea blue eyes. He pulled her slowly over to him, to where she was straddling his waist. She sat on his thighs, before looking down, obviously processing the position they were in that he was sure she had never experienced.

John smiled at her before moving his lips forward and guiding her own to meet his—and she wasn’t telling him to stop. Their lips pressed against one another, moving together so smoothly that it sent a fire on John’s skin.

He smiled into the kiss as her hands found the tips of his hair, gently running through it. Their tongues flickered sweetly as he deepened the kiss, pulling her closer to him as he had wanted to do for so long now.

John’s hands slid down her sides, before landing on her rear, testing the waters, and he wasn’t surprised when she placed her hand on his chest, stopping him. He smiled softly, before chuckling, “Sorry, Peterson.”

Harlow giggled lightly, bighting her lip, “It’s okay, John.” They stared into each other’s eyes intently, before she kissed him softly, and then moved to lie on her side. She wrapped her arm around his stomach, nuzzling her head into his chest. “Thank you, for everything today,” she whispered, leaning up to press a soft kiss on his jaw. “I-I’m proud of you…goodnight, John.”

John felt his chest tighten as he whispered those four words. She was proud of him?

He took a deep breath as he felt his cheeks flush with blood as he soaked in the sweetest words anyone had ever said to him. He pushed the bet to the back of his mind and held the girl in his arms tighter to him, as if at any given minute he would lose her.

Because the truth of the matter was that if things went as they were planned to, he would.