The New Face of Failure

Willow: [spots Oz] Ooh, boyfriend! It's my on campus boyfriend!
Buffy: Oh no, I forgot to pick mine up, the line's probably really long now too. – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Patrick grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl in the middle of his parents’ kitchen table. He was still fuming over the fact that his mom ruined a perfectly good moment between him and Harper that he was desperately wanting since he almost ruined his chances with her the night before. He kept trying to remember how it happened, but all he could get were flashes; a half empty bottle of whiskey, Avalyn grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the crowd of people, pouty lips and seductive whispers, Harper’s face and the look of anguish that she had on it. Although he had trouble remembering all of it, these were the parts that stuck out in his mind and refused to go away.

He started biting into his apple, as he watched his mom and his stepdad, Robert, in the backyard. Robert wasn’t like his father, he was bigger, stronger and wasn’t quick to catch onto things. But, he was exactly the kind of man his mother wanted, not very ambitious and content with being a family man and nothing more. Patrick couldn’t complain too much though because he treated his mom well and him and Megan too. His brother was already gone, had left the house after graduation and never looked back. Now he was a third chair violinist for the New York Symphony. His father had left and went to Chicago to pursue his dream of being a jazz musician there. He influenced Patrick in ways that made his mother scared, which was why she was so determined to make Patrick into Robert and not into his own father; and this was why she forced him to go to college. ‘If you’re going to do music, at least have a degree, at least do it the way Kevin did it,” she said, although Kevin never came home anymore or wanted anything to do with them.

Patrick remembered the last thing Kevin told him before he left. “Hey Patrick, you have to follow your dreams, but with no strings attached. If you have strings, they will only hold you back, and sometimes, and I know this is hard to understand, but family can be a long chord that won’t ever let you go, so you have to cut it yourself.”

It made Patrick a little bitter toward his mother ever since, even though he hated himself for feeling that way. He watched her as she got up from her crouched position next to Robert, turned and walked into the house. Patrick glanced down at the pile of mail he was near so as to not appear like he was spying on them.

“Patrick, dear,” she sighed as she came inside the house.

He looked up and pretended to just notice her. “Oh, hey mom, how’s the gardening going?”

She gave him a relieved smile. “It’s great. Robert really has this winterizing thing down this year. I’m sure we’ll be seeing some nice blooms come next spring.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I am sorry about interrupting you earlier.”

“Mom,” Patrick whined, moving away from her. The last thing he wanted to talk about with his own mother was about a girl. It was just weird. “We don’t need to talk about this.”

“Oh, I know, but let me just say this, okay?” Patrick gestured for her to continue. “If she isn’t on birth control, always use protection okay?”

“Oh my God, mom you cannot be serious right now!” Patrick exclaimed, covering his ears.

“Well, I just want you to be safe, and I know it will be your first time…”

“How do you know that? Mom, God, stop, just stop,” Patrick cried out.

“Oh sweetie, I’ve been around enough teenage boys to know how they act before and after they have had sex for the first time. And I am so proud of you for waiting, but just in case this is the girl…”

“Okay, this conversation is over,” Patrick stated and he turned and started walking away from her.

“Well, then, can we please talk about this Chicago thing?”

Patrick stopped in his tracks. “There’s nothing to talk about. You already said I could go and dad said I could stay with him.”

“I know, but I’ve been having second thoughts. I mean, you really need to be focusing on school work…”

“It’s fall break! No one is going to give homework over fall break. They know that everyone, especially freshman are going home to hang out with their friends and family.”

“Well, I just don’t want this trip to make you rethink your priorities,” she further explained.

Patrick groaned. “Mom, you have always known my priorities. I went to college close to home, just like you asked, but you promised me that I could at least try to make this band thing work. I’m not Kevin and I’m not dad. I am not going to abandon you.” He then immediately regretted saying that. His mother had a strict rule about talking about Kevin or his dad in the house, and that rule was that they were never brought up.

His mother looked stricken with shock. “Patrick Martin Vaughn Stump.”

“I’m sorry, mom, I didn’t mean to, I just…”

She looked about ready to scream at him, but her face suddenly changed into a pleasant smile. “Oh those fit you nicely dear.”

Patrick turned around and saw Harper walking toward them hesitantly. Her legs looked nice and smooth and the tank top hung low on the sides to reveal her bright pink bra underneath. Patrick tried to forget the fact that she was wearing his own sister’s clothing because then he would have felt dirty.

“Thank you, Mrs. Stump and thank you for the clothes and shower, I appreciate it.”

“Oh call me Patricia dear. I’m not Mrs. Stump anymore,” his mom said quickly, making Patrick flinch.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Harper replied, biting her lip. Patrick wished she would stop doing that because it made him way too excited for his own good. He walked over to Harper and grabbed her hand again. He felt her jump a little in surprise, but she didn’t pull away.

“We have to go now mom,” he said.

“Oh!? Well I thought it would be nice for us all to have some lunch together,” she said glancing at both of them with a pleading look.

Patrick would have wanted to stay, but he was so angry with his mom that he just didn’t want to be in the same room with her at the moment, fearing that she may try to start another argument with him about Chicago in front of Harper. “Sorry, practice.” He could see his mother’s lips turn into a frown and he pulled Harper out of the house before she could retort.

“Bye, Patricia! It was nice to meet you!” Harper called out as she stumbled behind him out the door and into his car.

The drive over to Pete and Andy’s house was quiet. Patrick had a lot on his mind and it made it hard for him to figure out what to say to Harper. Not only was he thinking about kissing her and the fact that his chance to kiss her was foiled yet again, but also that his mom was trying to sabotage his trip to Chicago, his band’s chance to record their first full length album and become something. And because he wasn’t able to make up a conversation with Harper, he felt like a complete jerk.

“So, your mom is not a fan of the band I take it,” Harper suddenly said, ripping Patrick out of his thoughts.

So she did hear our argument, he thought with a grimace.

“Um, yeah, no, I mean, I think she’s more worried about what the band means for me rather than the band itself.” he sighed. “It’s just, my dad and my older brother both kind of ditched us to pursue their dreams, which revolved around music, so like, my mom is not too happy about me wanting to be in a band.”

Harper gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry. If she knew how good you were, maybe it’d be different.”

Hearing her compliment him made him feel all warm inside. “Thanks, but I think it wouldn’t matter either way. My dad and brother are phenomenal. I think it’s, like the fact that he abandoned us. I mean, I still see my dad once in a while, he’s who we’re staying with when we are recording in Chicago, but he left.”

“And your brother?”

“As soon as Kevin turned 18, he had gotten accepted to play for the New York City symphony. He is like a prodigy or something on the violin. Mom didn’t want him to go, but he went anyway and we haven’t heard from him in three years.”

Then Harper did something that he did not expect: she grabbed his hand, which was propped up on the center console, and curled her fingers in his. “Patrick, you’re not like that though. I mean, okay, we haven’t known each other for that long, but I see how loyal and caring you can be. I don’t think you’ll turn your back on your mom or sister, even when you’re famous.”

“If I become famous, you mean,” Patrick corrected her, smiling at her heartfelt words.

“No, when because there’s no way you guys won’t. There is just something about the four of you, that I don’t know, you were meant to be together playing music. I can’t wait to be sitting in my dorm watching MTV and saying, ‘Yeah I know those guys, I was right all along.’”

Patrick pulled up in front of Pete and Andy’s house and parked. Her words flowed through him and filled him with a courage that he had never felt before. He turned to her and looked straight into her eyes. “Who said you’d be at your dorm? You’d be right there with me,” he said softly, and she blushed and bit her lip again, tempting him to finish earlier what he had started before his mom barged in.

Slowly he leaned forward and met her lips with his, gently at first. She kissed him back, hesitantly at first, but then with more fervor that intensified his desire for her. He slipped his tongue between her now half-open lips, feeling the need to devour all of her, his hands grabbing at her hair. She let out a sigh and dug her nails into the back of his neck. It was everything that he had hoped it would be. Unfortunately it didn’t last as long as he wanted it to.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

“Dude, my neighbor’s kids are staring at you.”

Patrick jumped and pulled away from Harper, his hands immediately covering his lap. He looked to see Pete leaning against his car, his head sticking inside his opened window. Harper hurriedly fixed her hair and her tank top, whose strap had fallen off her shoulder and exposed her pink bra. Pete was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes volleying between Patrick and Harper. Patrick then looked out beyond him and saw a bunch of middle school boys all clamoring around behind Pete trying to get a view of them.

“Heathens,” Pete said, as he turned to shoo them away. He turned back to them and said, “Sorry about that. I think their parents get drunk on Saturdays and just let them run around like the Lost Boys.”

Patrick tried to slow his breathing. “Yeah, right.” He glanced at Harper who was staring down at her lap, trying to avoid eye contact with Pete.

“So, we got some Chinese food,” Pete started, and Patrick gave him a look that made him back off. “Right, well, when you’re ready then.” He gave them another amused grin and jogged back into the house.

They both sat there in the car silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, Harper started giggling and then the giggling turned into full fledge laughter, almost hysterical. Patrick could help but laugh as well because the whole scenario just seemed ridiculous. When their laughter died down, Patrick realized that they were still holding hands. “Harper,” he said, taking a deep breath to stop his laughter. She looked at him and what he saw in her eyes was happiness. “I’m sorry that people in my life have no understanding of the word privacy.”

“You haven’t met my mother yet, so no need to apologize,” she replied.

“Do you want to go inside?” he asked her. The middle school boys were back, and Patrick knew that they wouldn’t have any privacy any time soon.

“Sure, I could use some of that Chinese food that Pete mentioned,” she replied, smiling at him.

They both got out of the car and Patrick ran up to her to walk by her side. He reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. She looked up at him and smiled shyly, giving his hand a squeeze. He felt like a ball of energy ready to explode and her touch, her kiss would be the detonator.

Surprisingly, hwen they walked into the house, the loud jubilation he expected from the guys didn’t come. They were sitting in front of the TV chowing down on their Chinese food and playing a game of Call of Duty.

“Oh good, you’re all done then,” Pete said, looking their way with a smile. “Food’s on the island. Help yourselves.”

Patrick led her back into the kitchen and started making them a plate of food. “I hope you like lo mein,” he said.

“Yeah, of course, it’s Chinese food, there isn’t much I don’t love… except like duck.” She made a face and he cracked a smile.

“Good for you because we don’t like it either.” He shoveled some noodles onto a plate and handed it to her. She thanked him and then after he made himself a plate. They sat at the island, eating in silence. Patrick wondered if he should ask her about the kiss; whether she was still thinking about it as much as he was thinking about it, and if she enjoyed it like he did. She certainly wasn’t against holding his hand afterward and that was a good sign. When they had finished their lunch, they headed back into the living room where the other guys were.

Patrick sat down on the small two-person couch that sat cattycorner from the larger couch that Pete, Andy and Joe were sitting on and he motioned for Harper to follow. Joe and Pete were arguing over strategy and Andy was intently staring at the screen, his thumbs and fingers moving at lightening speed as he dodged enemies.

“Come on guys, I can’t hold these guys off forever,” Andy said to them.

“I thought that they were wanting to practice,” Harper murmured to him. She had curled her feet up under her and leaned against his shoulder. He could feel her hand rest on his upper leg, and it made him start to tap his other leg nervously. Oh God, Patrick, keep it together man, he scolded himself.

“Yeah, we do,” Pete answered her, “but this game must end in a win. It is never good to start practicing after losing three consecutive rounds of CoD,” he explained.

“Oh, well that makes sense,” Harper said sarcastically. Pete stuck out his tongue at her playfully and she mimicked his facial expression.

“Well, Harper, I can show you our practice space, if you want,” Patrick offered, hoping that he might get a little bit of alone time with her.

She nodded. “That’d be cool.”

“Dude, it’s a garage, there’s nothing cool about that,” Joe piped up, looking at them weirdly.

Pete pinched him and Joe made a noise. “It’s cool, go show her Patrick, we will be there in a bit, after we win this thing.” He winked at Patrick and Patrick reddened. He should have known that he and Pete would be on the same wavelength.

Patrick got up and Harper followed him out into the garage. He turned the light on and when they were inside, he shut the door. “So, yeah, this is it.”

Harper, smiling, started walking toward the equipment, running her hand over the microphone stands, the drum set and stopped on Patrick’s guitar. “I like your guitar, it’s very pretty.” She picked it up and put the strap over her shoulder and held the guitar. “How do I look?” She started playing air guitar with it, swinging her head back and forth. “Welcome to Iowa!! Motherfuckers!!!!” she shouted.

Patrick laughed. “What the hell was that?”

She stopped and stared at him, mouth open. “Um, Slipknot?”

“Slipknot. Really?”

“Yeah, there was this MTV special a long, long, long time ago and they were doing an interview with them and they showed a clip of their concert and I guess they were in Iowa, so…” she trailed off.
“Sorry, I’m rambling.”

He didn’t mind though; hearing her talk about her memories, seeing her smile and holding his guitar, it all turned him on. He walked up to her and took her hand. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

She blushed. “So, crazy thing, but I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but my parents would never buy me one or take me to lessons. They wanted me to focus on things that would get me INTO college.”

He walked around behind her and placed his hands over hers. “So your parents and my mom would probably get along great,” he said jokingly.

“No kidding.”

“Okay, so let’s teach you a basic chord, G, that’s like a standard one to learn.” He took her small fingers and placed her ring, middle and pinky fingers on their proper frets. “Press down on the strings.”

“Ouch, I bet you had a lot of callouses when you first started playing,” she noted, her face scrunching up in pain.

“Yeah, but eventually they go away and your hands get used to it.”

“Like high heels.”

“Um, I guess, yeah, I’ve never worn them before,” Patrick said awkwardly.

“Good, that was a test,” she teased.

He laughed. “Okay, take the pick and go ahead and strum down like this,” he mimicked the motion in the air and she followed suit, a nice round G chord coming out of the amplifiers his guitar was connected to.

“Oh wow,” she breathed. “That’s pretty cool.” She turned her head so that she could look at him, an excited grin on her face.

Her face was so close to him that he couldn’t help but lean in and kiss her. This time there was no hesitation on either part.

“Um, Patrick, you should really find a more private place, like my bedroom or something to do that,” Pete said, stepping into the garage and interrupting yet another moment between them. Joe and Andy were behind him, both looking extremely entertained by what they were witnessing.

Harper pulled away, embarrassed and quickly removed the guitar from her body. She handed it to Patrick and moved away from him, her eyes setting on a small black folding chair in the far corner of the garage. Patrick slipped the guitar over his shoulder and glared at his three friends.

“You know someone invented the gesture called knocking, right? It’s been around for a couple hundred years. It’s like a way to be polite and announce yourself to someone,” Patrick jeered.

“Do we look like we are polite boys?” Joe asked him, grabbing his guitar and plugging it into his amplifier. “But if it helps,” he looked at Harper with a wolfish grin. “Sorry, Harper for barging in on you and Patrick.”

She blushed and shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said softly, glancing down into her lap.

Joe looked at Patrick satisfied. “See? All is forgiven.”

“Uh-huh, wait till we get back to the dorms,” Patrick replied.

“Okay, okay, girls, stop arguing. We really have to get those last few songs for our album down. They sounded like shit last night,” Pete said, breaking up Joe and Patrick’s heated argument.

“Don’t we have another show Thursday?” Andy asked him.

“Yeah, and we’ll have another chance to get it right,” Pete replied. He looked at Harper. “Okay, I want you to be honest with us. Call it like it is, okay? If it sounds like shit, say so. Can you do that?”

Harper looked surprised. “You really want my honest opinion?”

“Yeah, we do, we’re not fucking sorority sisters, we’re dudes, we can take it,” Pete answered.

She smiled. “Okay, I’ll try my best. I mean, I’m not like a music critic or anything.”

“We don’t need a music critic, we need someone who may potentially buy our record,” Andy said.

“Oh, well, gosh, you’re out of luck, because I don’t think I’d ever buy your record,” she said, stone-faced.

The four guys all looked at each other in shock. “Really?” Patrick asked her, looking at her curiously.

“Well that’s shit,” Joe muttered.

Then Harper burst out laughing, and the guys all looked at her weirdly. “Seriously? I’m just kidding guys.”

“Ohh,” they all said in unison, looking at each other relieved.

Practice finished about four hours later and the guys were exhausted. Patrick looked down at his phone and was shocked to see that it was after seven. He looked over at Harper, who had walked back to Andy’s drum set and was asking him about some standard drum rhythms and he was showing her a few basics.

“So, now that you guys have had your first kiss, what do you think of her?” Pete whispered to him as he approached Patrick.

Patrick leaned his head toward Pete, but kept his eyes on Harper. “That she is going to be the death of me,” he whispered back.

Pete grinned and clapped his back. “The woman you love always is, man. Welcome to the wonderful world of women.”

When Harper noticed Patrick looking at her, she excused herself from Andy and walked over to him. “So you sweat even when you practice huh?”

He glanced at Pete who was chuckling. “Well, in my defense, there’s no air conditioning in this garage.”

“How’d you think he lost all that weight?” Joe chimed in, and Patrick shot him another glare.

He looked back at Harper. “Joe is in rare form today,” he said. “Um, so did you want to go back to campus? Joe’s apparently staying here tonight…”

“Late night Call of Duty marathon. We have to up our scores,” Joe explained.

Harper looked at Joe then at Patrick. “Well, yeah, I would like to change into my own clothes at some point,” she said, the left side of her lip curling up into a smile.

Patrick glanced at Pete. “See you Tuesday?”

“Dude, you know it. Maybe I’ll come to campus and we can write there. I don’t think I’ve actually ever been on Temple’s campus. Drexel, yes, even Penn, but Temple would be new for me,” Pete replied.

Patrick hugged him and then Andy. “Joe, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

They clasped their hands together and went in for a half hug. “Yeah, late. Mom’s gonna want me to go to synagogue with them and you know how long that crap takes.” He glanced at Harper and then back at Patrick. Lowering his voice he said, “maybe then you’ll get some alone time to, you know,” he made a bed-squeaking noise with his mouth and Patrick grimaced.

“I’m leaving now,” he said, walking away from Joe and to Harper. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” she said, then she turned to Pete and Andy and said, “It was really nice to meet you guys. Thanks for letting me stay the night and throwing up all over your kitchen.”

“Our casa es tu casa,” Andy replied in a friendly manner.

“Hopefully, we will see you at the gig Thursday. We’re playing in Fishtown, should be exciting,” Pete added.

“I would like that a lot.”

The car ride home was – not surprisingly – quiet. For whatever reason, being alone in a car with someone always seemed more awkward to Patrick than it should. For some reason, the small interior of the car and the fact that it drowned out so much of the outside noise, made the silence almost deafening. The only way Patrick knew how to fix it was to blast his music. He handed his phone to Harper, who was staring out the window. She looked down at it and then looked at him, puzzled.

“Go ahead, play something,” he said, smiling at her.

“Oh okay,” she said, opening up his iTunes library and scrolling through his artists. She smiled at one and pressed play. Suddenly, the beginning to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” started playing and she started singing along.

Patrick looked over at her a little surprised. “I didn’t know you knew Marvin Gaye.”

She stopped singing and smiled at him. “There is a lot you do not know about me Patrick Stump.” Then she started singing again and, excited, Patrick joined in.

They spent the rest of the car ride home singing together to various songs that they took turns picking out. When they got back to the dorms, Patrick walked her all the way down to her room. There, she stopped, her hand on the doorknob, and leaned in. Patrick did the same and he could hear the TV going.

“Guessing your roommate is home?” he asked.

Harper nodded. “Yeah, which means her boyfriend is too.”

Patrick took a quick peek down the hall toward his room. He really was thanking fate for all the cards it was dealing him at the moment. “Well, if you don’t want to hang out with them all night, why don’t you come hang out in my room. We could watch movies and stuff.”

“And stuff?” she repeated, her face reddening.

Patrick’s eyes widened, realizing how she must have had taken that. “I mean, um, crap. Just hanging out, promise.”

Harper started chewing on her lip, looking deep in thought. “Okay, that does sound like fun. Let me just change quickly.”

She turned her key in the door and pushed it open.

“Finally!” He heard Cassidy shout exasperatedly. An extremely good-looking boy popped his head up over Harper’s roommate’s bed.

“Hey there Harper! It’s good to see you!” The boy said in an almost jubilant way. Patrick stepped in behind her and when the guy noticed him, he jumped up excitedly. “Hey man, what is up?” He made his way over to them, and Patrick tried to keep his smile on his face, but when he saw the size and shape of the guy, it intimidated him a bit. “Derrick,” he said, grabbing Patrick’s hand and giving it a good, hard shake.

“Hey man, Patrick. Good to meet you, Derrick.”

Harper’s roommate, Cassidy, left her bed, begrudgingly and hung back, staring at Patrick with what he could only describe as pure annoyance. “Harper, are you guys planning on hanging out here or something?” Patrick was amazed that even when she was just lounging around on her bed with her boyfriend, she looked like she was heading out to a party.

Harper seemed to close up when Cassidy spoke to her. “Um, uh, well,”

“We’re going to watch a movie in my room,” Patrick cut in, glancing at Harper with concern.

Cassidy glowered at him, and he was taken back by her direct animosity toward him. “Well that sounds lovely.”

Harper pushed forward. “I just have to change into something a little more comfortable,” she said quickly, walking into their bedroom and shutting the door, leaving Patrick in the small hallway with Derrick and Cassidy.

“Dude, so I love that hat of yours,” Derrick said, breaking the awkward silence.

“Okay, I’m going to help Harper,” Cassidy spoke up and she went back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Derrick just shrugged. “She’s the best, always so helpful.” He put on another big grin.

“Oh yeah,” Patrick replied, shoving his hands down his back pockets and glancing around the small foyer of the girls’ dorm room. “Wow, so it looks just like mine minus another room and bathroom.”

“Oh you have suitemates in yours?” Derrick asked. Patrick nodded. “Yeah my buddy, Tanner, he was on the second floor last year. These places are way nicer than Johns and Hardwick, but let me tell you what man, off campus housing, THAT’S where it is at.”

Patrick nodded, trying to reign in his sarcasm. “Oh yeah?”

“Totally! No crazy RAs or security guards, parties all of the time, man it’s the life.”

“Yeah, my friends Pete and Andy have their own place,” Patrick commented.

“Oh yeah? They go here too?”

“Er, no, they don’t go to school, actually. They’re in a band with me.”

Derrick gasped. “Oh man, you’re in a band? That’s really cool. Are you like in one of those cool folky bands like Mumford & Sons?”

“No, more like punk rock,” he replied. “Though we’re not into labels.”

“Yeah totally,” Derrick said shaking his head earnestly.

Wow this guy’s the most weirdly optimistic guy I have ever met, Patrick thought.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Harper exited out of it, dressed in a pair of tight yoga pants and an oversized T-shirt with a panther on it. Patrick made a mental note to not be caught staring at her from behind. “Let’s go Patrick,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of her room.

“Oh hey nice talkin’ to you man!” Derrick shouted behind them.

Harper seemed determined to get to Patrick’s room, and although he wasn’t really complaining about it, he was confused by her sudden urgency.

When he opened up the door to his dorm, he nearly ran into his suitemates Chad and Avery. He could smell alcohol on their breath and knew that they had just pre-gamed before heading out to a party.
“Whoa Peter,” Chad said, stumbling back into Avery.

Patrick felt his ears burn. “Um, Patrick,” he corrected him.

“Oh yeah, whatever, we’re about the head out to a Kappa Sig party,” Avery said, “So you…” he trailed off when his eyes locked onto Harper. “Oh hey there.”

Chad noticed her too and he grinned. “You live down the hall don’t you?”

Harper blushed and nodded slightly. “Um yeah.”

Chad looked at Patrick and nodded approvingly. “Nice, Patrick.” He grabbed Avery by the arm. “We will give you two some alone time.” He winked at Patrick.

“Have fun you two crazy kids!” Avery shouted as Chad pulled him out of the room. The door shut behind them and left Patrick and Harper alone in the small foyer.

“Well, that was awkward,” Patrick said with a small laugh.

“Yeah, those guys were um interesting.” Harper said.

“So, um, movie?”

“Yes, that would be awesome,” she replied.

He led her into his and Joe’s room, glad that it wasn’t a mess yet. “Um, that’s my bed. You can um, sit on it.” Did that sound gross? He thought worriedly. Luckily, she seemed okay with sitting on it because she hopped right on it. Patrick looked through his movie collection. “So, what are you in the mood for?”

She shrugged. “Anything is fine with me.”

He perused through his movies and stopped at the original Star Wars. He held it up. “Feel like taking a trip down memory lane?”

Her face said it all. He grinned and slipped the Blu-ray disc into Joe’s Playstation 3. The menu popped up.

“Um, do you mind turning off the light?” Harper asked him.

Uh, what? Of course I don’t mind! Patrick through excitedly. “Er, no, let me just…” he walked over and flipped the switch, placing him and Harper in almost complete darkness minus the bright television screen. He walked over to the bed and sat down toward the head of it and propped himself up against the wall, while Harper sat slightly forward toward the edge of the bed. As the movie started Patrick kept watching Harper’s back, wishing he had the courage to start kissing her again.

About 15 minutes into the film (Patrick was keeping count on his phone), Harper looked back at him. “Um, do you mind if I…” she gestured toward the empty spot next to him.

“Oh! Yeah, no come sit back here,” he said, making sure there was room for her. She slid back toward him, her body pressed right up against his. Patrick couldn’t tell then if he was getting warm from her body being so close to him and radiating heat, or if it was because he was getting turned on.

“Look your worshipfulness, let’s get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person: me,” Patrick muttered along with Han Solo.

He could feel Harper’s eyes on him and then he heard her mutter back, “It’s a wonder you’re still alive.”

Patrick laughed. “Good, so I’m not the only person who has this movie memorized.”

“No way, this is a great movie. I love it,” she replied, nestling her head into his shoulder.

As if he was used to doing it all of the time, Patrick reached up and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer against his body. He had always enjoyed watching Star Wars, but at that moment, he enjoyed it even more.

By the time the movie was over, Patrick looked down at Harper to find her sleeping on him. He thought about waking her completely up, but instead slowly moved her body into a sleeping position. He started to climb off the bed and over to Joe’s, but he felt Harper’s fingers lightly graze his arm. He turned around and saw her barely open her eyes.

“You can sleep here with me,” she whispered and closed her eyes again.

Patrick nodded. “Right,” he breathed and slowly climbed into his bed next to her. As he laid down on his back, she turned over and rested her head on his chest and wrapped one of her legs around his. Patrick had never slept in the same bed as a girl before so all of this was scarily new to him, however it felt so right. He slowly closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, even though his whole body was jittering with excitement.