Shine On

One Sunday, they were having one of their lazy days. A little more than a month ago, Harper moved into her college dorm and started art school. Being the super nerd that she was, her weeks were always filled with projects, homework, and extracurricular activities. Luckily, Rupert loved this about her and didn’t mind her busy schedule. However, Harper knew he loved the fact she set aside the weekends to stay at his place. Harper loved it as well; usually neither of them had anything to do, so Harper would spend Friday through Monday morning at his house with him.

Harper was curled up on Rupert’s bed reading a book for one of her classes when she caught him leaning against the doorway. He had a half smile on his face and his hands in his pockets. She felt her stomach flip at the sight of him. She wondered how long he had been standing there. She moved her head to the side so the book wasn’t blocking her face. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and put her book down on her stomach. His smile grew as he walked over to her side of the bed.

“May I help you, kind sir?” She asked suspiciously still watching him with a confused expression.

“The expressions you make while you’re reading are quite...adorable.” He replied. He sat down on the bed in front of her.

Harper felt her face turning red. “I make expressions?”

Rupert chuckled lightly. “Yeah, little ones. I like them.”

She slouched down. “I had no idea...How long were you standing there?”

He moved so he was sitting next to her, then took her book and folded a corner down before putting it on the end table next to him. “Oh I don’t know. A short while? I quite enjoyed watching you.” He frowned realizing what he said. “That sounded really mental.”

She bursted into laughter with Rupert following. “Wait...what kind of faces do I make?” She asked suddenly worrying about it.

“Erm...” He raised his eyebrows and looked up while he thought. “Something like this...” He scrunched his nose and brushed it against hers making her squirm and giggle. He pulled away and smiled.

“No way!” She squealed. He nodded in return still smiling. This time she was the one who scrunched her nose at him and attempted to wiggle it.

He chuckled and leaned down, placing a small kiss on the tip of her nose. “You’re amazing.”

“You’re pretty charming yourself, Mr. Grint.” She chimed back.

He stared down at her without saying a word. His blue-green eyes watched her face intently, occasionally moving from her eyes to her lips. A few times, his lips would part as if to say something, then close without a word. Harper noticed these moments were happening more and more these days. She had so much to say; there were times she had to stop herself from telling him every little effect he had on her and how much he meant to her. In all honesty, she was afraid of saying how she felt. She was afraid of being vulnerable. She was afraid of losing him. Deep inside, she had a feeling that he was having the same problem. He brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her softly.

He then laid on his side next to her, propping himself up with one elbow. For a while, he continued to stare at her with a faint smile on his face. Harper stared in return, gazing into those beautiful blue green eyes of his. She could feel her heart thumping hard inside of her chest. Curious as to what he was thinking, she finally spoke up. “What are you thinking about?”

“About two months ago, we became official I guess you could say.” He answered.

Harper grinned. “You remember that kind of stuff?” She never kept tracked of anniversaries monthly, but she loved that he did. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She cooed playfully nudging him in the arm.

“I wanted to wait until a little while after.”

“Why?” Harper chuckled.

He grinned at the sound of her laugh. He inched closer to her, lifted the hem of her t-shirt a little bit higher than her belly button, then placed his hand on her bare stomach, occasionally drawing circles around her belly button with his thumb. “So now...uh...I could say that you’re my longest relationship. I mean, we’ve really been involved for much longer than two months. So...erm...yeah.” He laughed nervously when he finished.

Harper clashed her hands together behind his neck and pulled his face closer to hers. She touched her lips ever so slightly to his, giving him a sweet but short kiss. When she broke it, she smiled up at him. “And how does it feel?”

A grinned spread across his face. “Brilliant.” He replied before leaning down kissing her once again, this time with more force. Butterflies started fluttering rapidly inside Harper’s stomach. As the kiss grew more intense, Harper’s nails pressed into Rupert’s neck deeper. Not long after, they both smiled and broke the kiss once again. Once again, they gazed at each other for what seemed to be the longest time.

Those three words that Harper had been longing to say continued to run through her mind. It was all she could think of, how much she loved him. She really did love him. Before, she was scared of those words. In fact, a small part of her still was. But at that moment, looking up at his kind and handsome face, those three words was all that consumed her mind. She took a deep breath mustering up all of her courage knowing how badly she wanted to tell him. She counted to three silently in her head.

“I love you.” She whispered. To her surprised, her voice wasn’t the only one she heard say those three words. Rupert’s entire face smiled the instant he figured out she said the same thing he did. That’s when Harper figured it out as well. “Wait! Really?” She cooed shyly.

Love. It was a word Harper tried very hard to stay away from. Of course she loved certain family members and she loved her friends, but she wasn’t too fond of the word love in a romantic sense. She had seen nothing but bad things happen when it came to falling in love. The older she got, the more she didn’t believe that it was any good. But the thought of loving Rupert made her feel oddly different; it comforted her more than scared her. In fact, it excited her as well.

Rupert laughed. “Yeah!” He replied confidently. “I love you, I really do.”

She thought her face was going to break in half from all the smiling she was doing. She couldn’t stop smiling and neither could her boyfriend; the guy hovering above her, the guy who just told her that he loved her.