The Long Day Is Over

Whatever nerves Harper had when arriving at the restaurant to surprise Roman dissipated when he practically jumped out of his chair, threw his arms around her and asked her, "What are you doing here?"

When he finally let go of her she smiled up at him and said, "Well you've surprised me several times, I thought it was time to return the favor."

Roman glanced at James and asked him, "And you knew about this?"

He nodded his head, "Since like... eight o'clock this morning."

"That's impressive." Roman stated, making James and the rest of the guys at the table laugh.

James made the laughter even louder when he stated, "Mostly I was afraid Harpoon would finish me if I breathed a word of it."

She nodded her head, "Oh, I would have."

"Oh, I know." James fired back with a wide grin on his face that made her roll her eyes.

Seats were shuffled around, much to Harper's displeasure at not wanting to inconvenience anyone, before a seat next to Roman opened up and she was able to sit down. Roman couldn't help but look at her sweater and let out a laugh as he told her, "It's a good thing this was a casual dinner, I know you hate sticking out."

She rolled her eyes and stated, "Please, James wouldn't have dressed up so I wouldn't have been the only one in a sweater and jeans."

"Hey!" James exclaimed, and when she turned to face him he said, "I dress up!"

"Dude, you wore cargo shorts and a zip up hoodie to a five-star restaurant this summer." Harper reminded him.

As their company chuckled he reminded Harper back, "You wore jeans and a t-shirt."

"Yeah, fancy jeans and an expensive t-shirt." She stated, rolling her eyes as he did the same to her.

Pekka, from the other end of their table, stated, "I think you need to move here... this is the most fun I've had watching a conversation in my life."

Harper chuckled and told him, "I don't know... having to deal with him all the time... I think I'd go clinically insane."

James rolled his eyes and stated, "At least you could treat yourself for that insanity."

She fired back with, "Yeah, or treat you for whatever you've obviously got wrong with you."

"You two fight like siblings, you know." Shea pointed out to them.

James muttered, "That's an insult."

And Harper couldn't resist one last lick, "My genes are clearly superior."

Their conversation was cut short when their waitress came by to take their orders, and then after that everyone seemed to be pulled into their own conversations. Harper knew everyone at the table except for the woman sitting between Shea and Pekka, so Roman introduced her, "Right. Amelia this is Harper, Harper this is Amelia."

Roman had talked about her before, and the ring on her finger told Harper that she was the fiance he spoke about when he talked about Shea.

"It's nice to meet you." Harper said with a smile. She seemed, once again, thrown out of her element now that she didn't have James to make fun of. Meeting new people was never Harper's specialty.

Still, Amelia seemed to pay no mind to that, because she smiled and asked, "Are you gonna be sitting with us tomorrow?"

"I have no idea. I have to admit... most of the planning beyond getting here and getting home was done by someone else." Harper said, her cheeks pinking up just the slightest.

Roman smiled and asked, "Bristol?"

"Yeah, I didn't have to do anything. Bristol is a planner, more than I am, so you give her the necessary information and she'll just do all the work for you." Harper explained to him.

James interrupted to say, "Yeah, she's weird that one."

Harper rolled her eyes and said, "Says the guy who doesn't even know what he's doing in five minutes let alone the next day."

"Keeps life interesting Harpoon, you should try it." James told her with a grin.

Roman smiled as he asked them, "Do I need to separate you two?"

Harper grinned up at him and said, "Yes, please. I would be forever grateful."

Dinner had gone smoothly, Harper stayed fairly quiet, as usual, but she engaged in conversations all night with all of Roman's teammates and Amelia, not just James which she was, admittedly, a little proud of herself for. They were sitting around, absorbed in conversation when Harper's phone buzzed about thirty times in the pocket of her sweater.

James grinned at her, "Jeez, you'd think you were actually popular."

"I know... I pay like seventy bucks a month to text like two people." Roman cleared his throat when she stated that and her cheeks flushed as she corrected herself, "Okay, three people."

James cleared his throat and told her, "Five people."

"Yeah, you know, you and your damn web of hockey players you felt the need to introduce me to. I was fine just texting the same little group of people every day and then you all had to go and make it so complicated." Harper joked with a smile.

"So... who's bugging you?" James asked her with a smile and she narrowed her eyes at him before pulling her phone from her pocket to find about twenty texts from Bristol, a few from John, and one from Steven that she hadn't bothered even opening from earlier.

She opened John's first, since it was the least to read through.

'So I asked.

She said yes.

Duh.'

She sent him back 'duh' as a response, before moving onto Bristol's plethora of texts that she skimmed, reading the important ones.

'Uhm, okay, if you knew about this I'm going to kill you.

Just kidding, I won't... maybe.

Kidding, I promise.

GOD.

What just happened?

Is this even real life?

HOLY FUCK BALLS HARP.'

Roman laughed, his eyes had been caught by the last message, and James' brow quirked.

Harper opened the picture of the ring and tossed her phone to James, who looked down at her phone, choked on air it seemed, and exclaimed, "Holy fuck."

This seemed to catch the rest of the table's attention, everyone looking over from their conversations or up from their own phones. Shea asked him, "You gonna live?"

"That thing must have cost a fortune. Women and rings, I'm telling you." James stated, tilting the screen of Harper's phone so that Shea could see what he was talking about.

Shea shrugged and Harper told him, "It was actually on sale. I know how to shop."

James looked over at her briefly before looking back at the ring and asking, "So... she said yes?"

"No shit sherlock." Harper stated.

He rolled his eyes and then handed her phone back with a smile and said, "Aw... the besties are getting married."

"You are damaged beyond repair." Harper told him, reminding herself to send a nice long message to both John and Bristol once they left the restaurant.

"Don't lie to yourself Harpoon, you know you're excited." James informed her.

She couldn't help but grin and tell him, "Well duh, the besties are getting married!"

"Why is it acceptable when you say it but not me?" He asked her as everyone at the table laughed.

The laughter got louder when Harper informed him, "Because when I say it, it's cute. When a grown man says besties it's weird."

When they were in Roman's vehicle on the way back to his apartment he asked Harper, "So... are you excited for tomorrow?"

"Excited... so nervous I could vomit... same thing." She told him with a smile.

His brow quirked and he asked her in amusement, "You're nervous about a skills comp?"

"No... it's just... this is the first time you're meeting my three best friends as my boyfriend... John and Steven are probably gonna interrogate the fuck out of you and I'm apologizing now." Harper told him and he chuckled.

"I'll be fine, really."

"At least you won't be the only new significant other being introduced." Harper muttered, adding in, "Steven brought a girl... but I'm only slightly bitter that he didn't tell me beforehand."

Roman smiled and told her, "You'll be fine."

"I always get nervous meeting his girlfriends... none of them ever like me." Harper stated, adding in to clarify, "I think it's mostly because I'm female and apparently women take issue with their boyfriend having a female friend."

"But this time you won't be single so there's really nothing for her to worry about." Roman pointed out as he stopped at a stop sign on his street, a few buildings down from his apartment complex.

Harper grinned over at him and said, "Yeah but you're so hot she might get jealous of that."

He let out a laugh and then pulled into his parking space in the parkade of his building. He grabbed Harper's bag from the back and slipped his hand into hers as he lead her to the elevator. He dug through his pocket for his keys, swiping the fob over the reader before he pushed the button for the eighth floor and the elevator started moving.

He told Harper, "Place might be a little messy, I didn't have the heads up to clean before you got here."

She chuckled and told him, "It's okay... honestly if I lived at my place more than I do it would be a lot more lived in too."

He held her hand as he lead her down a hallway to his apartment and she waited patiently while he unlocked it and disarmed the alarm. Then he lead her inside and he told her, "So... this is me."

Harper looked around at the apartment with floor to ceiling windows overlooking downtown with a smile. It was decorated with the basics; a large couch with a bench that appeared to fit with it, a TV and a movie collection. There were frames on the wall with the stock photos still in them that nearly made her laugh. The kitchen was practically empty and looked unused save for the recycle bin filled with various bottles of water, Gatorade, milk jugs, and the occasional food box. The fridge had two pictures stuck on it with magnets; one of he and who she assumed was his family, the other was of the two of them from the last time he had come to visit her.

She wondered for a moment if she should put a picture of them on her fridge.

"It reminds of-"

He finished for her with a smile, "John's place. Yeah, I thought of that when I was there."

Harper stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his middle and he wrapped one around her shoulders and the other around her waist as he asked her, "So, they're engaged?"

Harper nodded her head with a large smile on her face, "Mhmm. I've been waiting forever for him to finally ask and selfishly I'm a little glad he chose to do it when I get to see them so soon after."

"How long has he been waiting?" Roman asked her curiously.

"Well... we picked out the ring in September." Nearly six months ago, but Harper wasn't keeping track or anything.

"Are you excited to see her tomorrow?" Roman asked her as he lead her down the hallway to his bedroom, carrying her bag for her.

As he placed her bag on the bed Harper told him, "Extremely. Although my ears are not ready for the beating they're gonna take for keeping it a secret."

Harper watched in amusement as Roman dug through her bag and put things away both in the bathroom and hanging things up in the closet for her. When her bag was empty and he moved to set it on the dresser next to where she was standing he caught her eyes and his brow raised as he asked, "What?"

"Nothing... that was just cute... how you unpacked for me." Harper told him with a grin. He rolled his eyes and she was sure to tell him, "Really, I wasn't being sarcastic."

"I just figured you're here for a few days so why live out of a duffle bag when you don't have to." Roman explained to her, he then lead her back out of the bedroom and into the living room where they dropped onto the couch side by side.

As Roman flicked through the channels on TV trying to find them something to watch Harper's phone buzzed at least another six times. She unlocked her phone and found all six of those notifications were from her mother and she figured she better read them.

She nearly snorted when she did read them.

There was a screenshot of a picture of John and Bristol followed by five texts.

'Did they get engaged?

Is that an engagement ring?

I think it's an engagement ring.

HARPER IS THAT AN ENGAGEMENT RING?!?!?!?!

I still have the power to ground you.'

She couldn't help but tilt her phone so that Roman could read the messages as she said, "I think my moms more excited than Bristol."

Roman read through the messages and laughed, telling her, "You'd better get to answering. I'd like for you to be allowed to stick around for the weekend."

"Please. I do what I want. That old bat doesn't scare me." Harper stated and Roman let out a loud laugh when her phone buzzed again and Harper made a face of terror before typing furiously back to her mother. Once she hit send she looked up to find Roman watching her in amusement she admitted, "Okay... so maybe she scares me just a little bit."

He let out a laugh and told her, "My mom scares the shit out of me. Mom's are scary."

"Yeah well, Maureen is like a whole new species of crazy." Harper told him. She smiled and added, "I guess meeting John and Steven tomorrow will prepare you for the crazy train that is my family... some day."

"I'd really like to meet your family just so you know... some day." Roman told her, mimicking her ending. It was true, he did want to meet them, but he wanted it to be at Harper's speed and when she was ready. Same for his own family he couldn't wait to introduce her to them when she was ready for that.

Harper leaned into his side as they both got comfortable on the couch and she asked him softly, "Are you excited for this weekend?"

"Even more now that you're here and I have someone to share it with." Roman told her honestly. He had, up until earlier that evening, been a little bummed that while everyone else this weekend would have their family, friends and or significant others with them he would be alone. Sure, there was James, but that didn't count for much in Roman's book.

"You think Shea's gonna beat the hardest shot record?" Harper asked him curiously.

"He might, but do we really have to talk about my captain right now?" Roman asked her with a raised eyebrow.

Harper tilted her head to better see him and she smiled as she leaned up close to him. Before connecting their lips she told him, "Alright, from now on I'll only talk about my All-Star."