Shine On

When Harper entered the house, all of her friends and her family jumped up and yelled, “Surprise!” She remembered why she didn’t feel overjoyed being back home, the only face she wanted to see in the room was Rupert’s and it wasn’t there. Even though the relationship only lasted a month, it was the greatest relationship she ever imagined. She put on her best happy mask and spent time with everyone and told them stories of London. She was relieved when night came and she was able to go back to her apartment she shared with Melody. She told Mel she had jet lag in hopes she would be left alone. As she laid in bed, she thumbed through all the pictures of their adventures together on her iPhone. She didn’t feel right without him.

Months past, Harper buried herself in school work to keep her mind off of things it shouldn’t be on. One cold January night, Harper decided to take a break from school and go out with Mel and some of their friends. She was up for anything to keep herself occupied.

“Harp, I’m so glad you decided to stick your nose somewhere else other than a book.” Mel exclaimed loudly so the table of friends could hear.

Harper rolled her eyes. “What? I actually want to do something with my life.” Her friends laughed and clapped, except for Mel who shook her head jokingly.

“Mel is doing something...” Their friend Kaylee answered defensively. “Guys!” The whole table laughed, including Harper.

“Oh! Harp! This is your song!” Mel cried out when she heard Super Bass come on. She was borderline buzzed. Harper gave her a quizzical look. “You can totally rap this better than Nicki Minaj!”

Harper laughed and shook her head. She remembered one day when she was really bored, her and Mel tried teaching themselves the words to Super Bass. Harper was surprisingly more successful than Mel. In response to the many prodding sounds coming from her friends, she started rapping. When the first verse ended, everyone was cheering.

Mel started punching Harper’s arm repeatedly. “What the fuck, Mel? You seriously need to lay off the drinks.”

“No!” Mel cried. “I need to tell you that some fucking hot guy was staring at you during that whole song.” Harper’s face felt hot, she knew it was turning red by the second. She wasn’t use to guys looking at her or maybe she never cared to noticed. She was sure it was the first reason though. Mel kept punching her arm and pointing in the direction of the door with her other hand.

There he was. Harper’s heart jumped into her throat. She had forgotten how to breathe or talk. Her face felt like it was on fire. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, but she wasn’t. He was there, in New York, leaning against the bar. He was wearing jeans and a Sex Pistols t-shirt, of course. He must have felt her gawking at him, because he turned and their eyes met. They immediately grinned simultaneously. Harper’s heart slowly returned back to her chest and was beating rapidly. Ignoring the rowdy drunken squeals coming from her table, she walked over to him. It felt like her and Rupert were the only ones in the room, everyone else was a blur, all the sounds were muffled. When she reached him, he abruptly pulled her close to him. Being enveloped in his arms again was surreal. She never thought she would be able to feel this again.

When they broke apart, he was still smiling at her. “That was really impressive over there.”

Harper laughed nervously. “Oh, that? Thanks!” Her face felt like it was going to break from her smile. “What are you doing here?”

“Erm...” Rupert cleared his throat nervously. She felt his fingers playing with hers lightly. “I’m here doing press.”

Harper didn’t reply. Rupert didn’t seem to mind. They stood in front of the bar staring at each other, smiling. Harper was sure her friends were trying to get her attention or someone was trying to get by them, but she didn’t even care to notice.

Unfortunately, they were rudely interrupt by someone running into Harper who lost her balance and fell into Rupert. He wrapped his arms around hers to stop her fall. That was probably the only time she had ever liked falling. She gathered herself and stood up straight. “Thanks.” She said shyly. He smirked back at her, his arm remained around her waist.

“Harp! I didn’t know that was you. I am so sorry!” Mel exclaimed loudly. She grabbed Harper’s hand and started to pull her towards their table when she noticed Harper wasn’t alone. Her jaw dropped. Harper looked behind her to see that Mel was gawking at Rupert.