Contagious Chemistry

Harper was woken by the shrill ringing and vibrating of her cell phone. When she opened her eyes light was practically flooding into the room, making her squint. It took her a minute to pull together what happened the night before, and when she did it made her heart ache. Not recognizing the number Harper pressed answer and cleared her throat. “Hello?”

“Good morning Harper! It’s Mrs. Franceschi, I hope I didn’t wake you.” Harper didn’t say a word, waiting to see if Mrs. F. would say anything else. “Anyway, I was wondering if you made a decision on going to England with us. Your mother called me last night and told me that both your dad and she were okay with it.” After all the fussing her father made about her not going, he finally decided to let her go?! Typical. He always made a scene or fussed over the little things.

“I um…I think I’m going to need more time to think about this” Harper stated, rubbing her face and frowning at the make-up that became smudged on her hand. “Josh and I had a…disagreement and I guess misunderstanding, and I don’t know if he wants to talk to me.” Harper felt weird for telling his mom what happened, worried she might yell at him or punish him in some way. “When do you need to know?”

“Now, pardon my directness. Josh and I are leaving in four days, and we need to book our tickets today.” There was a pause, followed by Josh’s voice and the jingling of car keys. Harper bit her lip, her mind starting to run on a hamster wheel. She had to decide now? She felt like she was in one of those now-or-never scenes of a crappy chick flick. How would her decision affect Josh if she decided to go? What if she didn’t go? Would their “relationship” be over? Was there even a relationship?
“Harper, sweetheart are you there?” Chloe’s voice snapped the teen out of her thoughts. “S-Sorry. I’m going to decline your invitation. I’m really sorry, but thank you for even thinking of inviting me. Maybe next time.” She heard Josh’s voice again and was startled when his voice echoed into the speaker. “I’m not going to yell at you for not coming with us, but I do want to talk. Can you be ready in ten?”

“What the—where are we going? What if I don’t want to talk?” That was a lie. Harper did want to talk to him—badly even—she just wasn’t sure what she’d say. She let out a sigh and answered, “I’ll be outside in a few” before hanging up.

During the ten minutes Josh had allotted her, Harper didn’t really get ready. She brushed her hair and teeth, put some deodorant on, then just sat on her bed. She didn’t really care about how she looked (considering she was going in her pajamas), because she knew she didn’t look well; her eyes were beyond swollen and tinted a light pink. When Harper lifted her sleeve the cut looked a little better. It would definitely leave a scar, but it wasn’t as bloody and gory looking. Once she got bored of the comforter she slipped into her Vans and descended the stairs, grabbing a granola bar and water before briefly telling her parents she was going out. Josh’s car was already waiting in her driveway, which didn’t help to calm Harper’s nerves.

“Hey.” Harper greeted, making brief eye contact with him. He smiled and returned the hello as he backed out of her driveway. “Where are we going?”

“Just out. You’ll see when we get there.”

“If this is a date…” I feel extremely under dressed she thought.
“No, it’s not. Not after what you said yesterday.” Harper furrowed her brows at him, a little hurt by his words. “Well you didn’t answer any of the questions I’d asked you…”

“Because you didn’t give me time to answer them. Hell you didn’t give me time to breathe.” The atmosphere in the car grew stiff and quiet as Josh drove. Harper tried to turn the radio on, but there was nothing good playing. She rolled down the window and was met with cold air, causing her to roll it back up. She took a bite of the bar she grabbed and made a face at its staleness. Josh laughed at the face she made, making Harper more irritated than she already was. “Can you not?”

“What? It’s not my fault things are going to shit.”

“Actually it kind of is…considering you only started seeing me because you felt bad for me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong because I actually do have feelings for you.” Harper rolled her eyes. “Was this before or after Trisha bashed me?”

“Before.” His answer caught Harper off guard and she turned to look at him—like, really look at him. “When I walked into class on my first day you were the first one I saw. It’s kind of hard to not notice you with red hair.” Harper pulled at her ends and smiled softly.

“I won’t forget the look on your face when you looked up at me. Priceless.” Harper tried to cover up her embarrassment. “Shut up. I thought you were someone I knew!” She lied. Josh quirked a brow, clearly not believing her lie. “You sure it wasn’t my attractiveness that caught your eye?” Harper didn’t say a word and tried to hide a smile (which she couldn’t. She couldn’t hide anything from Josh).

When “battlefield land” came into view Harper shook her head. She should have known he’d bring her here. She wouldn’t exactly call the place her home, but since very few people visited the fields, it felt like it was theirs. Once Josh parked he took off his seatbelt and reclined the chair back. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before he began to speak.

“So, about last night…you didn’t let me tell you what I wanted to. You also didn’t listen to me. Kind of like you are right now.” Harper opened her mouth in protest but he spoke over her. “No. You can talk after I’ve said what I wanted to. You got to yell at me and say what you wanted, now it’s my turn.” She closed her mouth and leaned against the car door, mentally preparing for whatever he was going to spill.
“I’m just going to say this bluntly; I have feelings for you, and I’m not going to deny them. I came to your rescue when Trisha was bashing you not only because I felt bad, but because I felt something…like we could be something. We started hanging out, getting closer to each other, and went on a date. Then…yesterday happened.” He sat back up and leaned in, staring intently into Harper’s eyes. “I’m not a player. You’re not my trophy girl either. I want to treat you right, I want to be there for you whenever you need me.” He rubbed the back of his neck, which was something Harper noticed he always did when he felt nervous or awkward. “I uh…I can’t say I love you but…I-I want to.” Harper stared back in shock for a few moments, trying to gather everything Josh said. He looked at her with a worried expression, wondering if he’d gone too far. “W-was that too much?”

“No! No, no, no you’re fine Josh. That was um…” Harper pushed her hair back and let out an anxious laugh. “I’ve never heard a guy say that to me. Ever. I…don’t really know what to say—but that’s not because it’s bad. I just…I just really don’t know.” Harper continued to laugh, which made Josh smile. He leaned over the center console and put his hands on either side of Harper’s legs. She sat up and beamed at him, feeling better than she had in the past few hours. He gently pressed his forehead to hers, their lips just inches away from each other.

“I really like you,” Josh murmured, as a substitution for ‘I love you’. Harper gave him a crooked grin and shrugged. “I…” she trailed off, giggling softly. Josh raised his eyebrows in a taunting manner. “You what?” Harper shrugged again. “I dunno.”

“You gonna say it back, Hopper?” A smile crept onto Harper’s face as she pushed him away. “Fuck you! Stop calling me that!” She threw a few playful punches at him. “I thought we were over that!”

“You thought wrong Hopper!” he said in between laughs, catching her last few throws and holding her hands tight. “Say it back you dickhead.”

“Stop being such a girl! Shouldn't I be the one asking you to say it back?” As she struggled against him, Josh brought her closer and closer. Harper’s giggling fit returned and soon they were forehead-to-forehead again. Josh kept as straight a face as possible, hoping it’d get her to say it. “Come on, say it!” Harper shook her head and Josh sighed. “Fine. Don’t then.” He let go of her fists and softly pushed her away to pout. Harper rolled her eyes and stared at him, crossing her arms.

“Don’t be such a cry baby, I was just teasing.” She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. “I really like you too. But I have a question.” Josh turned his head in the slightest, trying to act like he wasn’t interested.

“I wasn’t clear on what we were…you told my dad you were my boyfriend. But you never really asked me.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Are you my boyfriend or are you not?” She looked down at her lap and played with her shoe laces. “I would like you to be,” she mumbled. “But I don’t want there to be any more fighting like this.”

“Our relationship isn’t going to be perfect, I hope you realize that.” Josh’s tone became serious as he turned back around to face her. “I can’t promise we won’t fight because I’m sure we will. But I will tell you this” he paused for dramatic effect, which Harper quickly picked up on.

“I am your boyfriend, and you are my girlfriend. I care about you and want to be with you.” Harper felt like a thousand pounds were lifted from her shoulders. “Is that cool?” She nodded and let out a deep sigh. “You don’t know how much better I feel.”

The two teens sat in the car at the battlefield for a couple hours, talking about anything and everything. The drama about Harper going to England with him was a thing of the past. She tried to talk about serious matters, but Josh always found a way around. They could never be 100% serious with each other, because they didn’t believe in needing to be dead serious. What’d they know? They were just teenagers. It’s not like they were going to become serious. As far as Harper knew, things right now were temporary.

Too bad she didn’t know that temporary was quickly going to become permanent.