The Long Day Is Over

By the time Harper arrived at John and Bristol's condo she was exhausted. When Google maps told her it was only a ten minute walk she had expected fifteen, twenty minutes maximum not nearly forty. This was why she hated New York.

She knocked not once but four times loudly on the door before using her key to walk in, making sure that if Bristol and John were doing anything remotely close to something that she most certainly did not want to see they would know she was coming. Harper was relieved to find Bristol in the kitchen cooking and John was nowhere to be found.

Bristol turned to Harper and asked, "How was your night slash morning?"

"Fine. What are you doing?" Harper asked her curiously.

"John has some team event tonight so we have to eat early, so I'm prepping now." Bristol informed her, before she added, "I know, I suck I totally forgot all about it when I invited you here."

Harper shrugged her shoulders and dragged one of the chairs from the island over to the counter beside Bristol before she dropped into it. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and connected to their Wi-Fi before she told Bristol, "It's fine. You go do your girlfriendly duties, I'll just hang out and watch movies because honestly I don't get to do that very often now anyway."

Bristol nodded slowly and Harper tapped twice against her phone screen to turn it on when it beeped to tell her she had a new text message. It was from an unknown number, but upon seeing two Chinese food emoji's waiting for her Harper let out a small laugh and smiled down at the screen as she sent two of her own Chinese food emoji's back.

Bristol, noting the smile on Harper's face, asked her, "What's going on here?"

"What? Nothing." Harper knew she was a little too quick to say that because before she could grab her phone from the counter Bristol scooped it up and read her message.

"What's this? Who are you sharing emoji's with?" Bristol asked her with a grin, and Harper reached out to snatch her phone back.

"No one." Harper muttered.

When John walked into the kitchen Bristol told him with a grin, "John, Harper has a secret crush."

"I do not. Shut up. It's just... James." Harper lied, but before she could stuff her phone into her pocket again John walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder at the number displayed at the top of the screen.

He informed both Harper and Bristol, "That's not Nealer's number."

Bristol turned to her and said, "I cannot believe you just tried to lie to me."

"I can't believe I just tried to say it was James... like what the hell is wrong with me? Like you guys would ever believe that." Harper muttered, slamming her head against the counter for good measure.

When John laughed at her Harper stuffed her phone in her pocket and got up off of her chair. She wandered into the living room and took a seat on the couch as John dropped into the spot next to her and told her, "Is it a new thing?"

"Why do you guys even care?" Harper asked him.

"Because we care about you and we just want to make sure that you're not gonna get hurt." John told her softly.

Harper rolled her eyes at him, "I'm not talking about this with you."

He shrugged as he turned the TV on and flicked through channels, "Suit yourself."

Harper looked down at her phone as it buzzed again, finding a message from Roman waiting for her. 'So what does your schedule look like on the 28th?'

She bit down on her lip as she stared at her phone which was resting on her leg. She picked at her nails, and then glanced at John who was watching the TV intently, before she finally reached over and tapped his shoulder. He turned to her and she asked, cheeks slightly flushed, "So... what's the deal with this Roman guy?"

"Josi?" John asked in surprise with a raised eyebrow.

Harper nodded her head but before she could say anything Bristol walked into the living room with a wide grin on her face and asked Harper, "Did you just say Roman Josi?"

John raised his eyebrow at Bristol, "What the hell do you know about Roman Josi?"

She rolled her eyes at him and dropped onto the couch on the other side of Harper and she told him, "He's cute, that's what I know."

John rolled his eyes, scoffed and stated, "He's not that good looking."

"Get your eyes checked babe, dude is straight up gorgeous, like ten out of ten." Bristol stated with a grin as John crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl on his face. Bristol then turned to Harper and asked with a smile on her face, "Is he emoji dude? I knew I saw you two looking at each other last night!"

Harper sighed and tucked her phone into her pocket before she said, "We went for breakfast this morning. I mean... James and two of their teammates crashed it so I guess it's not really that big of a deal."

"Who asked who to breakfast?" Bristol asked her, trying, and failing, to keep her excitement at bay.

"He asked me." Harper stated.

Bristol damn near squealed, she grabbed Harper's arm, squeezed it tightly and said, "Roman Josi asked you out for breakfast!"

John muttered, "Women."

"He wants me to go to San Jose for their game on the twenty-eighth." Harper couldn't help but tell them. When Bristol squealed Harper stated, "It is so not a thing."

Bristol told her, "Oh it is so a thing."

"Is this like a typical day between girls? Because if so, my god." John mumbled and Harper let out a laugh at his question.

Bristol simply rolled her eyes and told him, "Hush."

John looked down at his phone and told Harper, "James says he's a good guy, super nice and really friendly."

"You told James?" Harper exclaimed, reaching out to shove his shoulder hard.

John recovered from her shove and turned to her in surprise, "What the heck? I don't really know the guy, James does. What's the big deal?"

Harper groaned and put her head in her hands, elbows on her knees as Bristol informed John, "The big deal is that now James is gonna open his big mouth and Roman is gonna know that Harper asked about him."

"So?" John asked, wincing when Bristol slapped his shoulder, "Okay, what the heck is with the hitting, do I look like a punching bag? Will someone please explain to me what the big deal is?"

Bristol rolled her eyes and muttered, "Men."

After a few minutes of silence John asked Harper, "So... are you gonna go to San Jose?"

Bristol glared at him and Harper leaned back against the couch and mumbled, "I don't know."

"I think you should." Bristol told her, and when Harper looked over at her in surprise she explained, "What's the harm in going? It's like an hour long drive."

"Yeah, and if it all works out we play in Nashville in March and you could visit both of us when we're there." John said with a grin, laughing when Harper narrowed her eyes at him.

"I hate you." She mumbled.

John wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side, telling her, "No you don't."

"No... I don't." She said sadly, and he chuckled.

"But just so you know, if he breaks your heart I'll kick his ass." John stated.

"No you won't." Harper told him.

"I swear dude I will." John told her with a wide grin that made her laugh.

"It's not even a thing." Harper reminded them.

John nodded, "Sure. It's not a thing."

- - -

John had dropped Harper off at her hotel while Bristol finished getting ready, her intent was to grab her bag from her room, check out and head back to John and Bristol's for the night. She took a quick glance around the room and the bathroom once she was sure she had everything packed before she slung the duffle bag over her shoulder and left the room. The elevator stopped two floors below hers and the doors opened to reveal a group of men, one of which was Roman.

"Hey... you're leaving?" He asked as he stepped into the spot next to her, the elevator was uncomfortably packed so he was practically touching her as he spoke.

Harper noted the fact that his company were eyeing her and their teammate with odd and curious looks. She looked up at Roman and nodded, "Yeah, I'm staying with Bristol and John tonight."

Roman nodded slowly and the rest of their elevator ride between the two of them was silent, his teammates made small talk amongst themselves and when the elevator came to a stop and the door opened to the lobby they all let Harper step out first. She was on her way to the lobby door when Roman caught up to her and asked her with a smile, "Share a cab?"

Harper laughed but she asked him, "Don't you have plans?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "We were just gonna get dinner, I'll just order room service or something when I get back. You shouldn't have to take a cab by yourself."

She stopped walking when they arrived at the glass doors and she turned to him, eyebrow raised and asked him, "You'd take a cab through Brooklyn with me just so that I didn't have to be by myself?"

He nodded, "Why not?"

She shook her head in amusement and as he followed her outside to hail a cab she told him, "You sure are something else."

"Thank you." He told her with a smile as they both climbed into the back seat of the cab and Harper told the driver the address of where she was going.

Once he started driving and she and Roman sat side by side in silence Harper realized she hadn't answered his text message from earlier that day. She turned to him and said, "I forgot to tell you that barring any unforeseen issues it is entirely possible that I could make it to San Jose on the twenty-eighth."

Roman smiled, "Yeah?"

"Mhmm." She said, leaning her head back against the seat.

"Good. I'll leave you two tickets." Roman told her with a grin, and Harper couldn't help but chuckle. He looked over at her, and he asked her, "Unless you only want one? I just thought you'd want to bring a friend or something."

Harper giggled, literally giggled, at his nervous rambling and when Roman's eyebrow raised she explained to him, still trying not to laugh, "Is that what I sound like when I go on a nervous ramble?"

He let out a laugh, and nodded his head, "Pretty much."

"God help us." Harper stated, making them both laugh.

The cab pulled to a stop in front of a high rise building and Harper pulled her wallet out and handed the driver a few crumpled up bills before Roman got out of the cab to let her out. He paused before getting back into the cab and told her with a smile, "I'll see you in two weeks."

She glanced up at the building in front of them before she turned back to Roman and asked him, "Did you want to come up? John and Bristol are gone and I don't really feel like hanging out by myself."

He straightened up and closed the cab door, and before either of them knew it the cab went speeding off. Roman laughed and said, "I guess so."

Harper smiled and as they walked toward the building she told him, "I know you probably have curfew so feel free to leave whenever you want."

He nodded and followed her to the elevator, where she pulled a keycard from her wallet and swiped it through a card reader under the section of floor buttons. When the light went green she pressed the button for the eleventh floor and the doors closed and took them up.

As the elevator came to a stop on their destined floor Harper was slow to walk down the hall as she dug through her bag for what Roman assumed was a key and he was surprised when he heard her mumble, "Fuck."

He was sure it was the first profanity he had heard come out of her mouth and he wasn't sure why but it caught him off guard. He watched her in confusion as she dragged a potted fake plant toward one of the apartment doors and she held onto the frame outside of the door as she stepped on one side of the pot and then carefully lifted her other foot up.

As she lifted her arms to try to grab something from the top of the door frame she said quietly, "Please don't break."

Roman smiled and stepped forward, he wrapped both of his arms around her middle and lifted her up and off of the plant pot. Harper squealed quietly as he did so, and she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow as he set her down and reached up with his right hand, dragging his fingers across the top of the piece of wooden framing until they knocked a metal key into his palm.

He handed it to her and Harper smiled, her cheeks flushed, "Thanks."

"Isn't that what tall people are for?" Roman joked and she laughed as she unlocked the apartment door and they stepped inside.

He stood in the foyer, averting his eyes as he typed in an alarm code, before she closed the door and turned the lock again. He followed her lead; leaving his shoes by the coat closet and hanging a his light jacket next to hers on the row of hooks on the wall and then Roman followed her into the living room. John's apartment was similar to what he had back in Nashville; sleek and modern with dark wood flooring and silver framing on the windows, but this apartment had a lot more decor and a very obvious feminine touch in it which his apartment was definitely lacking.

Harper took a seat on the couch and asked him, "I'm starving, are you hungry? We could order Chinese or something."

"Is that gonna be our thing now? Chinese food?" Roman asked her with a smirk, and Harper let out a laugh, nodding her head. So he told her, "Chinese sounds amazing."

"Cool." She stated, disappearing into the kitchen for a moment before she came back with a handful of paper. She handed them to him and asked, "Pick a place."

He took the papers and looked through them, asking her, "Did you just bring a handful of Chinese takeout menu's from the kitchen?"

"Bristol has a drawer, literally an entire drawer, in the kitchen filled with take out menu's that she uses when John is on the road because she doesn't see the point in cooking for one person." Harper explained to him, taking the one he handed to her and after marking down what he wanted she disappeared into the kitchen again with all of the menu's to place the order. She came back a few minutes later and informed him, "Should be here in about half an hour."

She took a seat beside him and turned the TV, and that was when Roman asked her, "So, why California?"

"It was a good program and the one furthest away from home." Harper told him honestly, chuckling when his brow raised.

Curiously he asked her, "You're not close with your family?"

"Oh no, we're extremely close... that's the problem." Harper told him with a smile. He still looked confused so she explained, "I went to university in my hometown, sure not having to pay for residence was extremely helpful money wise but it also meant that I was a college kid who's parents were around 24/7. So when I started applying to med schools I made sure to pick ones that were a little further away, I wanted to be able to experience life and be on my own for a change... at least until my younger brother moved in with me last year."

"Your brother lives with you?" He asked her.

"Yeah, he got a job in Oakland and rents definitely better when you can share it." Harper told him, and when he nodded his head she asked him, "What about you? I feel like thanks to me and my blabber mouth problem you know a lot more about me than I do about you."

Roman chuckled, "I like listening to you talk, don't worry. I don't think it would be possible for you to talk too much around me."

"The things you say." Harper said with a smile. Roman chuckled and she asked him, "Tell me things about you. Like where you're from, what your family is like."

"I'm from Switzerland." Was the only thing he told her.

Harper smiled and asked him excitedly, "Really?"

"Yeah."

"My dad worked there for a few years when I was in university." She told him, and Roman's brow raised.

"Really? Small world I guess." When she nodded her head at him he then told her, "I have an older brother, so we have that in common."

Out of curiosity Harper asked him, "Did you always want to play hockey?"

"I think so. That or tennis but I think I'm probably a little better at hockey than I am tennis." Roman told her honestly, and Harper smiled gently. He then asked her, "Did you always want to be a doctor?"

She nodded her head, "Pretty much my whole life. For my fourth grade project I got to go with my dad to work for a day and write about it, and he was so adamant about me not seeing anything that I would liken to a horror movie so when he was called into surgery he made me wait in the doctors lounge but I got bored and snuck into the OR gallery and watched his whole surgery. He was an orthopaedic surgeon so we got home and of course I had to tell my mom all about how I got to watch him break bones for four hours."

Roman let out a laugh and he asked, "How did she feel about that?"

"Oh she was furious, but I always wanted to do that when I grew up." Harper told him with a small smile.

Curiously Roman asked her, "So why did you choose the ER?"

"Because when I was in med school and we were doing rotations and my very first one was in the ER, and on my second day some teenager came in with a fence post through his stomach and I got to be in the room while they treated him."

"And it was love at first sight?" Roman asked her with a smile.

She nodded her head, "Pretty much."