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“Why must you always be so mean?” Harper said while walking towards Brian.
“I am not mean. There is no need to point out the obvious. Which Michael—”
“No, you are mean.” Harper had been face-to-face with Brian, watching the muscles in his face take on a nervous tone to them. “You make everyone feel bad. Like chasing Connor up the tree. But you only do that because you are scared that people will be mean to you first. So, you must always beat them to it, right?”
“Harper, it is okay,” Michael said.
“No. It is not. It is not fair when you make us feel bad. You need to be friendlier or not be our friend at all.”
Brian did not say anything. Instead, his lower lip puffed out and his eyebrows descended. It was the first time that Harper felt she figured a little bit out about Brian. More than he wanted anyone to know.
Harper was stolen from her memory by the grasp of Michael. He had pulled her in closer and said, “Confirm it to me, Harper. Confirm it to me that you aren’t the one with love for me and Leah is. Look into my eyes and say it to me so that I know you’re not lying.”
Harper was caught off guard by Michael’s forwardness, but it was also refreshing to be able to have a chance to just say what she needed to say and mean it. “Leah loves you. She loves you more than she loves anything else from what I believe.”
It was then that Michael pulled her in for a tight hug. After everything that had happened, that felt good to her. She needed that. Everything around her had felt like it had a level of confrontation to it. If she wasn’t fighting her own internal battles towards life, she was fighting one that had to do with Brian. A hug helped in more ways than one. Even the kiss with Brian left her frustrated and wanting more.
“You know,” Michael began while still hugging Harper. “There were times where I believed Leah had no interest in me whatsoever. It was a hard feeling to judge. I never wanted to be rude. So, I never pursued her.”
“That shows how much you care about people’s feelings, Michael. You don’t think about your interests first. That is the type of man that Leah needs.” She then couldn’t help but ask, “Did you ever find yourself having those feelings for her?”
“Yes. Yes, I did. More than a lot.”
Harper enjoyed hearing that, for Leah’s sake. She would be thrilled to hear that herself, for Harper knew that she was probably filled with doubts over whether or not Michael held the same feelings as she did for him. It was so ironic to Harper that someone so near perfect as Leah could be so insecure.
Harper hugged Michael tight in return, out of happiness for Leah. But as she did, she heard an audible gasp in the distance. It came from the doorway of the party. She only had enough time to think,now what?
When she looked over in the direction of where the gasp came from, she spotted Marianne standing in the doorway. Her look was unreadable, but somehow Harper could read what she was thinking. It did not look good. Even though she and Michael had only hugged, it looked scandalous to any outsider. That was when her stomach dropped. The implications for being spotted were endless. It would have been one thing if it had just been Marianne standing there, but right beside her was a group of women. Some that she did not even know.
Harper out of instinct rushed away from Michael, knowing that the damage had already been done.
She wondered if she should have said something, but what? What could have undone what they saw or thought they saw?
As she searched her mind for a solution to her newfound problem, a few of the women ran from the doorway giggling back into the ballroom. It angered Harper more than anything. She could not deal with any more dramatics. But there they were anyway. How would she explain it to Leah? In a way, she wanted Brian to think that it happened. To show him that she had moved on. That would make her laugh. But that was the only upside. The rest was all the downside. All of it.
Marianne left them both without saying a word. She didn’t need to say anything for Harper to know what she had perceived. With them gone, she exchanged a quick look with Michael who looked equally bothered. He surely was thinking about the implications with Leah. He had just found out potential good news and that was all in limbo thanks to their loose behaviour. She should have known better. There were always eyes around.
“It will be alright. Words are words. It is theirs against ours,” Michael said to Harper.
“Is my concern that visible?”
“Yes. You look as though you are shaking.”
Harper looked down at her hands and they were. “It is just all so much.”
“But not too much for you to handle. Remember that. You can handle anything.”
She thought about Brian after he said that, although she could not understand why.
They both took deep breaths and then made their way back to the ballroom. Her heart sped up the second that her feet crossed through the door. She did not know what to expect. She tried to keep Michael’s words in mind. How bad could it all be that she wouldn’t be able to handle it?
Immediately, the eyes turned in her direction. Michael had gone in first so that it did not look as though they were coming in together. Judging from the eyes, no one believed that.
There were only a handful of people who had either not heard about what had happened or who just chose to be above it. Those were the people that Harper tried to hang around for some of the party. It had soon become evident that the majority were not people like that though. Their eyes and whispers were just too obvious. The more that Harper paid attention to those people, the more her hands shook, and her heart raced. The situation was far beyond her control at that point.
Michael must have felt the same way because he pulled her aside in haste. The look on his face was all frustration. “These people have run with the story. Although our actions were innocent, no one is going to believe it. I think that we need to handle it differently.”
Nothing came to Harper’s mind.
