Shine On

“What’s the weather like in LA?” Harper asked Melody holding a handful of clothing in her arms. Rupert finished his press and interviews two days ago and stayed in New York for the remainder of the week with Harper. On Sunday, which was tomorrow, he had to go to LA. All week she had been dreading that day. To her surprise, he invited her to come along. Of course she couldn’t turn him down.

“Hold on. Let’s me consult my personal weatherman.” Melody replied sarcastically. She pretending to dial a number into her blackberry. “I don’t fucking know, Harp. Sunny? Why don’t you wear bikinis the entire time. I’m sure Rupe wouldn’t mind.”

“You have the mind of a teenage boy going through puberty.” Harper groaned. She threw her clothes down on the floor and took a break from packing. She hated packing, it always made her frustrated within the first few minutes of doing so. She joined Melody on the couch, she was watching Jersey Shore on mute. “Why is this on mute?”

“Because it’s t-shirt time and it annoys me. It’s just funny to watch the orange oompa-loompa run in her slippers.” She replied casually. Harper chuckled to herself. “Did you take classes while you were in London?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I was thinking, maybe you could finish school over there.” Melody suggested still keeping her eyes on the TV. She laughed when Snooki slid through the house in her slippers, just like she was waiting for.

Harper looked at her in surprised. “Are you trying to get rid of me? I’m not that bad of a roommate am I?” She joked.

A commercial came on and Melody turned her attention to Harper. She chuckled. “No! Of course not. I love living with you. But I love seeing you happy even more.”

Harper gasped at her comment. She was offended that Melody would think she was unhappy here. “I am happy here, Mel.”

“You won’t be when Rupert leaves, honey.”

Harper hadn’t thought about Rupert going back to England since her mother had mentioned it during their fight. She hadn’t talked about or even thought about that fight since that day. She hated facing reality. She knew he had to go back. But she tried not to think about it and enjoy her time with him while she had it. She brushed off Melody’s comment not wanting to think about it yet. “I’ll be fine.”

Melody gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know you will be. But I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time. Why throw that away? I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think it would be worth it. I’ll still be here whenever you come back.”

Harper let the idea sink in a little bit. Melody was right. Thinking about the possibility of being able to see Rupert almost everyday made her feel really happy. Then reality set in yet again. “I can’t just move to London without Rupert’s permission. I mean, that would kind of be like barging in on his life or something. I don’t know.”

“You need his permission to go to school in London?” Melody’s face looked confused.

“Well yeah. He would know I’m not moving to London just for school. He needs to be okay with it. What if he doesn’t want me there?” Harper said.

Melody chuckled. “Why wouldn’t he want you there? He wanted you in his hotel room with him. He wants you in LA with him. What makes England any different?”

Harper shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s his home. I would be living there. Maybe I’m just a girl he likes to be with when he’s away from home.”

Melody laughed again as she rolled her eyes. “Oh, Harper. I don’t know what you think is going on between you two, but you’re definitely together.” She sang as she turned her attention back to the TV. “If you don’t talk to him today, then I will.”

Harper gasped. She never trusted Melody’s way of talking to guys. “Don’t do that!”

“You better talk to him then.” She replied cunningly raising one eyebrow.

“Talk to who?”

Both Harper and Melody jumped at the sound of Rupert’s voice behind them. Even though they had told him to come in without knocking, they still weren’t use to it. They simultaneously sighed when they realized it was him.

“Every time.” He said chuckling a bit. He sat down next to Harper and kissed her cheek. She turned her heads towards him, smiled, then kissed him on the lips in return. “So who do you need to talk to?”

“Uh...” Harper usually could think of a witty comeback or a good lie, but this time, she had nothing.

“Her professors.” Melody chimed in, just what Harper hoped wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t ready to tell him about Melody’s idea. She wasn’t even sure if she was going to tell him. “I was telling her that she should finish school in London, since she liked it so much there.”

Harper sat in the middle of Melody and Rupert, but felt as if she was stuck between a rock and hard place. She could feel her face turning red. She didn’t know what to say, so she kept her attention towards the TV. They were fist pumping about some nonsense on Jersey Shore.

“I think that would be brilliant.” Rupert replied. Harper looked at him, her eyes were wide. She didn’t expect that answer from him. “What? You don’t think so?”

“Uh...yes! I mean, yes, I do think so.” She replied enthusiastically. “I just didn’t think you would think so...”

Rupert gave her a confusing look, raising one of his eyebrows. “Why?”

“I asked her the same thing, Rupert!” Melody joined in. Harper flashed Melody a searing look before taking Rupert into her bedroom. “There’s condoms in the bathroom!” They heard her yell from the living. Rupert rolled his eyes and laughed. Harper looked down to hide her blushed cheeks as she laughed as well.

She jumped onto her bed and sat indian style in the middle while Rupert sat on her computer chair next to her bed. Her floor was barely visible, clothes were thrown everywhere. A half empty suitcase lay opened in the middle of the room.

“I really think you should continue school in London.” Rupert said casually. He was admiring various objects that were scattered around Harper’s desk.

“Why?” She replied. She wasn’t searching for compliments, she was genuinely curious. Sure, they spent the summer together. They became really close while she was in London. He was her best friend. He had only been in New York for a week and it had been an amazing week for her. But she still was unsure as to what she was to him. She was even unsure as to what he was to her. She wasn’t keen on labels, but she still wanted to know what was going on between them.

He put a bottle of perfume he just sprayed into the air back on her desk and spun around to face her. He stared at her with a smile. She half smiled back at him unsure of what he was thinking. “I really missed you when you went back home. It was quite weird since no one’s really had that effect on me. I really...really like having you around.”

A grin spread across Harper’s face. She couldn’t smile wide enough. “Really?” She squealed.

Rupert joined her on the bed, sitting next to her. “Um...yeah. I thought that was quite obvious.”

She couldn’t stop smiling. Butterflies were attacking her insides. She tugged on his t-shirt making him lean closer to her. She kissed him, still not being able to stop smiling. The kiss didn’t last long since Rupert was smiling as well. She had a feeling her smile wouldn’t be able to leave her face for a few days.

+++

Harper chose not to accompany Rupert on his trip to LA, so she could sort things out at school and get ready to go back to London. She was going back. She was beyond excited. And Rupert wanted her to go back. She was even more excited about that.

Knowing that he had an early flight the next day, earlier than Harper liked being awake, she decided she would stay at her apartment and say her goodbyes to Rupert that night.

“I lo...” She caught herself before saying those three significant words. What was she thinking? How could she be thinking of them this early? It was probably just her adrenaline talking. She shook the thought out of her head before continuing, “I...um...like you, but not enough to wake up at 4 in the morning.”

Rupert chuckled as they stood near the front door. “I completely understand.” He wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. He laid a kiss on Harper’s forehead. The feel of his lips lingered on her forehead after he pulled away. She wished that feeling could stay forever since she knew she wouldn’t be feeling it for at least a week.

They heard a door shut then saw Melody skipping towards them. Harper pulled away from Rupert’s grasp and stood next to him.

“Are you leaving?” Melody groaned.

“Yeah, I have an early flight in the morning.” He replied. He turned his head towards Harper even though he was still speaking to Melody. “But I’ll be back soon.” Melody grinned at him.

After multiple ‘goodbyes’ and kisses, they finally figured it was time for him to leave or Harper knew it would never happen. Saying goodbye was loads easier than the first time they had to leave each other. This time, she knew she’d be seeing him again.

He gave her one last soft kiss on the lips before turning his attention to Melody. “You’ll take care of my girlfriend, ‘right?”

Harper gasped. It was the first time he referred to her as ‘his girlfriend’. His girlfriend. The two words danced in her head as he stared at him in awe. She felt a smile slowly creep onto her face. Somehow he managed to turn a sad moment into one of the happiest moments for her. He felt her gaze on him and looked down at her. He too had a smile on his face. They stared at each other for a while as if soaking in the fact that they were together.

“Of course.” Melody replied happily. They both turned their heads towards her. Melody glanced over at Harper and her grinned widened. Harper had a feeling she was silently telling her how happy she was for her.

Rupert thanked Melody kindly and kissed Harper’s forehead one last time. His lips stayed pressed against her skin longer than usual. When he pulled away, they shared one last gaze. He stared at her intently. She studied his blue green eyes knowing she wouldn’t see them the next day or the one after that. Suddenly, the gaze broke when he looked down. “I’ll see you soon.” He whispered and then he was gone. Harper felt a pang in her heart when she heard the door close. He hadn’t even been gone for a minute and she missed him terribly.

“So I’m guessing you’re going back to London?” She heard Melody’s voice right next to her. Thinking of going back to London erased her sad thoughts for the time being. She nodded and a smile had returned to her face. Melody smiled back and nudged her shoulder. “Can I call you Mrs. Weasley now?”

Harper chuckled and walked towards the kitchen. “Let me think about that...uh...no!”

“Oh c’mon!”