Baby, you don't have to be alone

-Harper-

It all made sense at the time.

It started off with cute hand holding, and sultry smiles as he looked down at me. It all started building until it finally all exploded on that one night. He put his hands on my waist, his warm breath in my ear as he told me I was beautiful, all while he was leading me upstairs.

It all made sense.

I was foolish. I was naïve. I was 15 and desperately trying to fit in. And he was 16. He was older, and wiser, and he was in. He was smack dab in the center of everything.

The girls all talked about him. Chattering loudly in the bathroom, the privacy protecting their secrets and desires. They whispered to each other by the lockers, glancing at him and hoping he stared back.

He usually did. He usually threw in a smirk or a wink too, just to solidify, in his own mind, that he was wanted.

And I fell into the hype; I crashed and burned. He took my heart without a single word. All he had to do was look at me. I spun farther and farther down, becoming so dizzy that I didn’t know which way was up.

My friends tried to pull me out after it all happened. After I had hit the bottom. But it was too dark and I couldn’t see their hands. His dark, almost black, eyes were blinding me. His low, sultry voice was deafening me. He blocked out all my senses. I couldn’t see or hear anything but him.

The only way I thought I could survive, the only way to escape this all, was to leave. I needed to get out, I needed a change.

So I packed my bags, said goodbye to my friends, and went across the country for the summer. My aunt Lacy took me in and I slowly started to heal.

I met new people, did new things, ate different food. Everything was different, and I loved it.

But now I was back. Sitting in my living room with Indy and Summer, the two most amazing people I know, as they caught me up on everything I missed.

Summer had a fling with two boys, both of them 18. Trevor was really sweet, but complained way too much. Garrett was fit as hell, but dumb as a rock. She learned things that are never taught in school. She was always the one giving us advice on how to kiss a boy or how to tease one to get what you want. She's been through it all.

Indy worked at the library and met a nice boy named Henry. He was here for the summer visiting his grandparents. Their short relationship was cute, sweet and very innocent. Everything that she was.

“He asked me about you.”

I looked up from the magazine I was reading, something about Taylor Lautner and his muscles.

“Who?” I was proud of myself for sounding so nonchalant about it all. I was even more proud that the usual roar of butterflies that rumble in my stomach every time he’s mentioned was silenced to a gentle wave. Barely there at all.

Summer rolled her eyes, “Ryker. I was at a party with Garrett and I saw him there. He came up and asked me where you were. I wanted to kick him in the nuts but instead I just told him ‘it was none of his business.’”

I smiled, “You always know exactly what to say Summer.”

So he asked about me?

I checked and the butterflies were still calm, still softly fluttering. Good. That’s how it should be.

That’s how it was going to be this year. I wasn’t Harper Withers, the shy, naïve little girl. I was going to be Harper Withers, the mysterious, cool girl. I had changed.

And I was going to make sure Ryker Hayden damn well knew it.