The Long Day Is Over

“You applied here… here as in Nashville?” Roman asked her curiously, both brows raised just slightly as she nodded her head.

“I applied way before I even met you, it’s wasn’t my top choice even still, but really, applications went in months before I met you and then I didn’t say anything because it felt kind of weird to say anything and then Bristol went and got in my head and now I feel guilty for not saying anything and I just… I should have told you before.” Roman couldn’t help but chuckle at her actual word vomit.

“So… what you’re saying is that there’s a chance that you could match here?” Roman asked her, making sure that he was understanding what she was spewing out at him.

Nodding her head she told him, “You apply for three programs, you rank them in the order you want and then if they think you’d be a good match a program at one of your choices that’s where you go.”

“So what’s first for you? New York or Philly?” Roman asked her, and she was, admittedly, a little surprised that he remembered that.

“New York, and then Nashville and then Philly.” Harper told him, adding in, “I’m sorry if I made things weird.”

He let out a chuckle and assured her, “You didn’t make things weird. I get it, but I also don’t…”

“What do you mean?” She asked him curiously.

“Well… I get where you were coming from with not telling me but also… Harper what was the big deal? Did really think that I would have found it weird that you had chosen a good program that happened to be in the same city as me?”

She sighed, tucked her hair behind her ears and told him softly, “No it’s not that at all, really.”

“So what is it?” He asked her curiously, he took the silence between them as a chance to guide her into the kitchen where he sat her down at the kitchen island and moved around at the counter to fill two glasses with a bottle of wine he hadn’t even been aware he had.

Once Roman was seated next to her Harper told him, “I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“What?” He asked her, trying not to sound too confused.

She explained to him, “I was afraid that if I even thought about the possibility of me matching here that it would never happen and I would just end up disappointed. When I applied for matches I knew exactly where I wanted to go which was the hospital in New York, because it’s got one of the best residency programs in the country. I knew it was just as unlikely as it was a possibility. When I picked my other two I chose Philly because it’s home and it’s close to John and Bristol, and I chose here because it’s a good program. It was never a big deal… until I met you and everything changed and suddenly I realized I wanted to match here and I’ve just been… kind of freaking out over it.”

“What’s the worst that happens if you don’t match here Harper?” Roman asked her, and before she could answer he did for her, “The worst that could happen is we keep doing things the way that they are now.”

“Doesn’t that bother you?” Harper asked him curiously, it bothered her so much.

Shrugging his shoulders Roman told her honestly, “Of course it does. It sucks not being able to see you whenever I want, but it is what it is and we’re in the situation we are. I would much rather have to hop on a plane to spend twenty-four hours with you every week or so and FaceTime every night than the alternative… wouldn’t you?”

She sighed, “I don’t know. I want to say yes but… is that really realistic?”

“It’s our reality, we’ll figure it out when the time comes.” He told her, reaching out to take her hands in his before he said, “Let’s not get upset over it, or stress about it until the time comes. I want to enjoy what time I have with you before you have to leave.”

“Okay.” She told him, nodding her head before she added, “I’m sorry for… all of this.”

“It’s okay, I figured things have been a little too smooth sailing between us, we were due for something a little rocky.” Roman told her with a smile on his face, and she let out a laugh. He couldn’t help but then joke, “Hey, there’s a plus side to this whole long distance thing; we don’t see each other enough to fight and get annoyed with each other.”

“Shh.” Harper told him, leaning forward to kiss his lips quickly.

"Alright so... I'm thinking you, me, ordered in food, my bed and some Netflix. What do you think?" Roman asked her, trying to decide what they would be doing for the night. Originally, before Harper had shown up, his plans included dinner with some of the guys and then going home to FaceTime her, and maybe catch up on TV shows and crash.

"I think that sounds great, but I need to shower first." Harper told him, getting up from her seat.

As she headed down the hallway Roman called out to tell her, "I'll order pizza, I'm in the mood for it... is that okay?"

She gave him the thumbs up as she headed into the bathroom and once he heard the shower turn on he ordered their dinner and then grabbed an extra blanket and two pillows from the guest room and brought them into his room. He set up the bed so that it was extra comfortable, he dropped the heat down and opened the window just the slightest because he knew that Harper liked to be cold at night.

He was rooting around in the pantry when Harper came into the kitchen and she told him, "I stole a shirt, I hope that's okay."

Roman glanced over his shoulder to look at her in one of his Pred's shirts and a pair of sleep shorts, her wet hair was braided down her back with a few strands that weren't quite long enough hanging loose around her face. He hadn't really realized, until now, just how many freckles she had.

He smiled as he told her, "Looks better on you than it ever could on me."

Harper rolled her eyes but she still smiled, and when he went back to digging around in the pantry that to her looked as if it was over flowing, she asked him curiously, "What are you doing in there anyway?"

"I went shopping last weekend and I grabbed some stuff because I knew at some point you would be here and now I can't find where I put them." Roman told her, and her eyebrow lifted but she didn't get the chance to ask him what he was talking about because he let out a triumphant yell and then he came out of the closet holding a can of diet coke and a box of Ho Ho's. As he looked at the box in his hand, inspecting it curiously, he noted out loud, "I've never actually had one of these."

"What? You've never had a Ho Ho?! Give me that." She told him, pulling the box from his grasp. She opened it, and pulled one out, ripping it from the plastic packaging before she held it out to him, waiting patiently. He sighed dramatically but then leaned over and bit into it, and Harper waited until he was done chewing and swallowing before she asked, "So?"

His response was grabbing the Ho Ho from her hand and biting into it again, which made her giggle. She had noted, over the time that they had been getting to know each other, that while Roman wasn't a very strict person when it came to what he put into his body Harper was sure she hadn't ever seen him eat something like a Ho Ho. He didn't even put it down when he went to pay for the pizza when it arrived with a knock on the door.

Harper poured her diet soda into a cup with some ice from the freezer, and then she filled a second glass with orange juice for Roman, carrying them and the box of Ho Ho's down the hall and into his bedroom. She put everything on the nightstand and then went back into the kitchen for napkins, that was when she noticed Roman had two small pizza boxes in his hands and she asked him, "Two?"

"We like very different pizza. I didn't feel like forcing you to be healthy and eating mine." Roman told her.

She asked him, "So... pepperoni and red peppers?"

"Pepperoni, red peppers and extra cheese. I remembered." Roman told her with a smile as he balanced the pizza in one hand while he locked up the apartment.

They made their way back to his bedroom together, and once they were seating next to each other with their backs against the headboard and a box of pizza in their laps Harper handed him a handful of napkins. Roman watched her in amusement and she laid napkins around them both, and when she looked up to find him watching her she explained, "Pizza can be greasy, I'm just taking precaution."

"Whatever you say, neat freak." Roman joked, laughing when she grabbed the plastic fork sitting in her pizza box and poked him in the arm with it. He asked her, "What are we gonna watch?"

"Freaks and Geeks, of course." Harper told him.

Roman mimicked her, "Of course."

- - -

"So... how are things?" Harper asked James, they had been sitting across from each other at a little cafe style restaurant for lunch for nearly ten minutes without a single word spoken between them. Roman had dropped her off on his way to pick up his suits from the dry cleaners and he had done nothing more than kiss her cheek and tell her to have fun before letting her get out of the car and it reminded Harper of all the reasons he loved him. He didn't get jealous of her male friends, at least not any more.

James shrugged and he told her, "They're okay. Honestly... I just don't know anymore."

"What do you mean?" Harper asked him curiously. She took a drink of her milkshake as he contemplated what to say back to her.

Eventually, he explained, "I guess this weekend put the whole Savi thing into perspective for me and now I kind of don't know how I'm supposed to feel about it all."

"How so?"

"Like... I spent years waiting around, hoping and praying that finally she would say yes instead of no to coming here. That she would want what I wanted, you know? Like a real relationship, someone to come home to, someone to have in my life. Every time I asked it was always the same thing, she just kept saying that she wasn't ready and I just kept waiting around for her to be ready so I guess, really, jokes on me." James told her softly, and Harper couldn't help but reach out and give his hand a squeeze. He let out a laugh, at himself, and continued, "I can't be mad at her for finding someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and I'm glad she has but I guess I just feel like she made me waste all this time on her thinking she would say yes one day instead of being honest with me and saying it was never gonna happen."

"I don't want to sound insensitive but... James you really didn't know that it wasn't gonna happen?" Harper asked him curiously. She knew that, everyone knew that and she had always been under the impression that he had known that too. At least he acted like he had.

Shrugging again James said, "We talked about it, every single summer and she kept telling me that she was working on it and that someday she would say yes but someday wasn't now."

Harper frowned, "I'm sorry James."

Nodding he continued, "I guess it's my own fault. I shouldn't have stuck around waiting for years and years for her. I should have moved on with my life, it would have been easier than this. I just can't stop thinking about where I could be in my life if I had just moved on when I first got that gut feeling that she wasn't ever going to say yes despite what she kept saying. I kind of feel like I had wool pulled over my eyes all this time, you know?"

"I know. I'm sorry she did that to you." Harper told him softly.

He was quick to tell her, "She didn't do anything Harper. I just read too much into it, as usual."

Harper was equally as quick to shake her head and say to him, "No, you don't take any blame for this. What she did was wrong. You don't string someone along like that, especially for as long as she did, and then decide one day to up and move on. That's not right, please don't think you should have done something different."

James nodded his head slowly, and he asked her softly, "So how are things with Roman?"

Harper couldn't have stopped the corners of her lips from turning up into a smile if she had tried as she told him, "Things are really great. I don't ever remember being this happy."

"I'm glad he makes you happy, really." James told her, and when she smiled again he asked her, "So... are you gonna have a plus one for our vacation this year?"

"It's possible. That vacation might have to be wherever I am though, with my residency." Harper told him, and then she added in, "Which might be here."

"Wait... what?" James asked, watching her in surprise.

"Yeah, might as well tell you too, seems like everyone already knows. I put the program here down for a match, with New York and Philly. It's probably a long shot, and knowing my luck it won't even happen, but... I guess it might." Harper told him, she was feeling a little better about the situation after talking to Roman, and it seemed a lot easier to tell people now.

"So... when would you find out?" James asked her.

"March."

"That's so far away!" James groaned, making Harper laugh. He informed her, "You and me, in the same city? Sign me up Harpoon."

Harper this time groaned, and she said, "God... maybe I need to rethink this."

"Ha ha ha."

An hour later, when James dropped Harper back off at Roman's apartment and she made her way up to his place all she could think about was how different the James that she had lunch with was from the James that she was used to. In fact, it was weighing so heavily on her mind that when she walked into the apartment and dropped onto the couch next to Roman he asked her immediately, "What's wrong?"

Harper rested her head in his lap, and she smiled gently when he ran his fingers through her hair softly. She told him, "Savi's getting married."

"Who?" He asked her, brow quirked. It clicked a second later and he asked her, "Like the girl in Nealer's life?"

Harper nodded and she said, "At the risk of betraying his confidence... Roman you should have heard him at lunch. I've never seem him that sad."

"He'll be okay Harp, he's a tough guy." Roman assured her, even despite knowing that wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"I know but... I guess I'm just worried about him."

"Why would you be worried?" Roman asked her curiously. James was his friend too after all.

She sighed and told him, "He's taking all of the blame, when he doesn't deserve any of it. Like... for years she's been stringing him along with the hope and idea that someday she would leave Toronto for him and that they could start a life together and James is... he's a lot more... he's just not the kind of person everyone assumes he is. You know? He believed her, and he thought... and now that the truth is out he still thinks it's his fault."

"I think he's just gonna have to come to terms with things on his own time, you know?" Roman asked her.

"But that means I'm gonna have to worry about him until then, and God only knows when that will be with him. He's a runner, he runs away from his problems Roman, I've learned that about him and it scares me a little with this one." Harper told him honestly. She added in, "I guess I'll just have to text him every day, and maybe I'll send him those stupid ecards he says he doesn't like but secretly enjoys, the one's with lots of swears... maybe I'll buy him a new tie."

"You're a pretty good friend Harper, I hope you know that." Roman told her softly, brushing her hair from her face again.

She smiled gently and she told him, "I try really hard not to treat people the way I've been treated."

"And, on top of being a really good friend, you're also a really great girlfriend." Roman told her, and she let out a small chuckle.

She nudged his stomach with her elbow and told him, "Get out of here, I'm never around."

"No, but you always text me after a game, even if I'm moody. You always know the right meme to send me a screenshot of to cheer me up, and let's not forget the time you roasted the entire Blackhawks roster based off your assumptions of them after they beat us. You also have tried really hard to embrace my life, and my friends into yours and I know that's hard so I appreciate it. This whole serious, long term relationship thing really is pretty great when you're with the right person."

"And I'm the right person?" She asked him curiously.

Roman leaned down to kiss her quickly and then he told her, "You're the absolute best person."