Shine On

Harper could feel rage boiling up inside of her. The closer she got to her dorm room, the more her mind raced and the angrier she felt. The minute she reached her small and cozy dorm she occupied alone, she slammed the door shut and threw her books to the floor. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.

“Any reason that woman could find to hate me more, I swear she would grab at in a second!” Harper yelled to herself. She was about to stomp to her bed when she stepped on a sheet of paper, slid across the floor and fell to the ground. She groaned loudly and pounded her fists on the ground. Two pieces of paper with a handful of red marks and a red F printed on each one of them lay directly in front of Harper. This only made her more mad. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she stared at the failing papers on her floor; the same papers that her professors told her lacked substance and creativity, the same papers Harper worked on all week long, the same papers that broke her printer an hour before her class started.

“What are you doing on the floor, love?” She jumped and squealed when she heard the sound of Rupert’s voice behind her suddenly. He kneeled down beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Harper jerked his hand off of her and groaned. “You have to stop startling me like that, Rupe! Haven’t you heard of knocking?!” She yelled, quickly picking herself and her things off the floor.

“I’m...I’m sorry.” She heard him apologize softly.

Her books made a loud bang as she threw them onto her desk. “And I thought I told you I wanted to be alone tonight!” She yelled once again, her voice cracking after every word. Finally glancing over at him, she noticed he was now standing in the middle of her dorm room, looking down at the floor with his hands in his pockets. It felt as if a sharp knife stabbed her stomach; she felt horrible for lashing out at him. He did nothing wrong, he didn’t even yell back at her like she deserved. It was her stupid professor who put her in this mood, not her boyfriend. Seeing how badly he felt only made her feel worse.

“I’m really sorry.” He began to apologize once again. His eyes remained fixed on the floor, his voice was barely louder than a whisper. “It’s just you seemed kind of upset when you phoned, I wanted to see if you were all right...”

Harper cleared her throat and sniffled, trying to hold in her tears. “Take that back.” She ordered. Rupert looked up at her; he raised his eyebrows in shock, but he still had a remorseful expression on his face. Harper continued,“You have nothing to apologize for. It’s me who should be apologizing. I’m so stressed and I had a really bad day and this bitch of a teacher hates me and...” Holding her anger and tears in was getting harder as she proceeded to explain herself. Thankfully, the minute her voice started to crack again, Rupert pulled her into that perfect embrace that completed her puzzle, the one she loved so much. She nuzzled herself into his chest, the nook that seemed to have been made just for her and moments like these. Magically, her tears went away and she felt calm for the first time that day.

“Please don’t cry, I hate it when you cry.” Rupert said, his chest vibrated against Harper’s ear. His soothing voice made Harper’s mouth curve into a small smile.

“I’m all right now.” She replied wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a squeeze. “I’m so sorry, babe.”

He squeezed Harper in return and pressed his lips against her head for more than a couple of seconds. She knew that was his way of forgiving her. “You should come home with me tonight, yeah? You’ll feel better.” He offered. Harper nodded. She grabbed her things, leaving all school related stuff in her dorm, and followed Rupert out of the room.

+++

“Rupe, I really am sorry for the way I treated you before. I feel horrible about it still.” Harper apologized again when they arrived at Rupert’s house. She plopped herself on a couch in the living room, tossing her things aside.

Rupert chuckled as he made his way to the refrigerator. “Love, don’t worry about it. You’re all right.” He walked into the living room with a tub of ice cream in one hand and two spoons in the other. He joined Harper on the couch and handed her one of the spoons. “Thankfully I was a convincing rapper when I was a kid, I don’t think I could handle college like you can.”

Harper laughed as she licked a bit of ice cream off of her spoon. “I can barely handle college myself.”

“I think you’re doing a lovely job.” He replied giving her a smile. Her eyes remained on him for a while. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. She couldn’t believe how good everything was going. She expected her life to go downhill when she moved to England on a whim. However, everything was moving along so wonderfully. It was so hard for Harper to believe. She took his spoon out of his hand and placed both of their spoons on the table. She sat on his lap and faced him, taking his face in her hands and pressing her lips hard against his. She felt him grab her hips and pull her closer to him. His lips curved into a smile against her lips. Opening her mouth a bit, she felt his tongue slowly slide beside hers. Her heart began to race along with the butterflies in her stomach. His hands slipped underneath her t-shirt to the small of her back. His touch felt warm and electrifying on her cool skin. With each minute, Harper felt his hands inch up her back and her heartbeat grow louder. Her hands moved slowly from the back of his neck to the collar of his t-shirt, gently tugging on it every time he bit her lip. Finally she felt his fingers reach the back of her bra. To her surprise and disappointment, instead of unhooking her bra, their kiss came to an abrupt stop and Rupert’s hands quickly went from her back to rest on top of her thighs. She gave him a quizzical look.

“W-what’s wrong?” She asked nervously, wondering if there was something wrong with her.

“I’m...” He breathed in deeply catching his breath, then swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

He brushed his bangs away from his face nervously. “I guess I kind of get so caught up in you, that I forget what I’m doing and I go too far.”

Harper looked down and played with the hem of her shirt. “You don’t want to go that far?” She asked self-consciously.

Rupert lifted her chin with his pointer finger. He had a crooked smile on his face. “Why would you think such a thing? Of course I do.”

The corner of Harper’s mouth went up slightly, she still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know.” She answered, playing with the hem of her shirt still. “I don’t know why anyone would want to do anything with me...”

“Because...” He intertwined his fingers with hers and softly kissed her forehead. “you’re beautiful and I adore you.”

A full and bright smile appeared on Harper’s face. She wrapped her arms around Rupert’s neck and pulled him close to her. His arms folded around her waist tightly in return, pulling her even closer to his body. She could feel his heart beating rapidly against her chest. She broke apart from him and gave him a quick kiss. “Just don’t hurt me, okay?”

His green blue eyes looked intently into hers, he had a smile was still planted on his face. “That’s the last thing I want to do, love.”