Callum & Harper (4 page)

Forgetting my towel and my bag, I leaned against the door jamb just watching her dancing around, singing Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’
.
I couldn’t believe how remarkably entertaining it was to see her shuffling over the floor like she was, her hair falling over her shoulders and in her face. I can tell it was probably the most free she had felt in quite awhile making her face flushed and excited and her body swaying to each beat. I wondered if the words meant anything in particular to her and suddenly didn’t know if I was intruding. If this was some sort of therapeutic ritual for her, I’d feel like an ass if she knew I was watching. I leaned forward and grabbed my bag just as she turned and saw me standing there.

long have you been standing there?” She asked, her chest heaving from the effort of her song. Her eyes followed the lines of my body until they stop at the towel. “Why aren’t you dressed?”

“
Uh, I didn’t mean to intrude,” I said, the heat of a blush creeping up my neck. “I forgot my bag with my stuff and came back for it and, um, I accidentally saw you and...”

She looked like she was about to cry, her hands flew to her mouth and I reached for her, “I’m so sorry, Harper. I didn’t think. I’m sorry.”

But she burst out laughing, the tears streaming down her face her obvious attempt at holding it in and not from humiliation. I breathed a sigh of relief and my smile began to match hers. She sucked in air harshly and started laughing harder.

    “
Oh my Lord, Callum. This is so embarrassing!”
    “You’re embarrassed! Look at me! I’m in a towel, dripping water all over the effing floor.”
She snorted, making her laugh even harder. My laughter harmonized with hers, tears streaming down both our faces now.
    Harper sobered suddenly and we stared at each other for at least a minute. I made a cautious step toward her, my face inching toward hers. She laid a hand on my damp shoulder but instead of meeting my kiss, her eyes brightened and she turned her head in embarrassment.

“
You have to get dressed, Callum.”

    “
I’m so sorry, I forgot,” I said, as I grabbed my bag and headed for the common room one more time. When I returned, dressed and slightly flustered, I found Harper playing an acoustic guitar in one of Charlie’s recliners.
    “Wow. You can play guitar too?” I asked.
    “Nah, I just dabble.”
    “I noticed you didn’t have a towel and although mine’s a bit wet, I wouldn’t care if you used it, if you want.”
    She set the guitar aside and stood, smoothing her wrinkled jeans down her legs and stood before me.
    “Thanks,” she whispered, grabbing her bag and throwing the towel over her shoulders.
    She returned a few minutes later, her coppery hair wet and hanging at the middle of her back, already starting to dry in soft waves. Her eyes were brightened by the shower and her lips were plump and red.
What I wouldn’t give to kiss those lips.
Chapter Two
Dream On
   

Harper
    “How long have you been on your own?” I asked Callum, as we walked to the laundromat three blocks down from his friend Charlie’s studio.
    “Probably three months or so.”
    “How did you manage to finish school?”
    “Well, I’d shower in the locker room. I’m ashamed to say, I was forced to get the free luncheons and I’d take as much food as possible from there for dinner that night as well. I slept pretty much anywhere.”
    “Keep your grades up, doc?”
    That made him smile. “Hell yes I did.”
    “Wow, Callum, that is simultaneously alarming
and
extraordinary.”
    “Nah, I did what I wanted most of the time. It wasn’t as bad as I think I’m making it sound.”
    “You’re an awful liar, Tate.” I said, using his last name, sending a secret thrill up my arms from the familiarity of it.
    “What about you?” He asked.
    “Well, I didn’t turn eighteen until after I graduated so my foster mom pretty much had no choice but to feed me my senior year.”
    “I meant your grades but I’m happy to hear you ate, even though it doesn’t look like you do,” he teased, inspecting my body and heating my cheeks to a bright red.
    “I’m gonna’ ignore that,” I squeaked out. “My grades were decent enough, nothing lower than a B but I didn’t really care all that much because my teachers hated me regardless.”
    That clearly intrigued him. “And why would they hate you?”
    “I suppose you could say, I was a
troublemaker
.”
    “What kind of trouble could you possibly make, Harper Bailey?” He asked, with a raised brow.
    “The kind that changes your opinion of someone, therefore, you’ll never find out.” I laughed out.
    We arrived at the beat up laundromat. Its sign flickered neon green and buzzed throughout the electric summer air. Random insects crashed into the lights and spiraled to their deaths. Callum opened the door for me.
    “Don’t think for a second that I won’t get you tell me what kind of hell you stirred up.”

I eyed him carefully, a twist of a smile tickled the corner of my mouth.

He started to unload our clothes into a washer and I couldn’t help but notice that he slid mine in with his. My stomach stirred with butterflies.
Seriously, Harper? It’s not that he feels comfortable with you, he’s just trying to save money.
I scolded myself for thinking that this stranger was starting to think of me as a friend rather than the acquaintance we’d really end up being. He  filled my palm with a few quarters and pointed to the wall machines selling detergent. As I walked away, I couldn’t help but revel at the tingle his fingers gave me when he dropped the coins against my palm. I bring back the detergent and placed the leftover quarters back in his hand. His hand lingered on mine then and gave me a flirtatious smile.

    “
What are you doing?” I asked, fighting a giggle.
    “I’m doing
our
laundry, miss.” The way he emphasizes the word
our
heated my chest and the blaze met my cheeks, betraying me bitterly. He looked way too satisfied with that, so I turned and pretended to examine my surroundings but I could still feel his eyes on my body.

“
How about we make a deal,” he pipes up.

I paused for a moment, deciding whether or not I should even hear his terms, before answering with an obvious, “What kind of deal?”

“
You ask me one question, however embarrassing you’d like it to be, and I’ll answer honestly.”

“
And you?”

“
I’ll be informed of one trouble making incident for every answer.”

He dropped the steel lid to the washer and slid over the top of the churning machine. I slid onto the lid beside him. We were utterly alone, no one even manned the service desk.

“
So, Callum, have you ever bought a Creed album?”

“
Damn. You’re good and yes, unfortunately, in a fifteen year old haze, I apparently bought their first album but everyone bought that album, Harper!”

“
Hey, no need to make excuses.”

“
Very funny, miss. Alright,” he rubs his hands together in preparation. “Tell me one.”

“
Oh alright,” I huff. “Alright, in ninth I photocopied my principal’s cell phone number and passed it around to all my classmates.”

“
Oh Lord, Harper. Why?” He asked in disbelief.

Jeez, this is one of the tame things I did. I’m scared to reveal the naughtier ones.
   
“Well, he suspended me for three days for something that wasn’t my fault.”
    “Harper?”
    “I mean, I am a troublemaker but it truly wasn’t my fault that time.” I sniffed.
    “Well, what happened?”
    “I was using the restroom and there were two girls in the handicap stall smoking cigarettes. I didn’t think much of it because it was a common thing in my school but when my principal walked in, she saw me and just assumed it was all my fault. You know, reputation and all.” I sighed out loud. “Anyway, I tried to explain that it was two girls in the handicap stall but she refused to check and dragged me to her office. When I sat down, she explained to me they had a no tolerance policy for smoking and didn’t even give me a chance to speak in my own defense. She just waved her hand in my face and picked up her phone to ring my foster mother.

“
That was the last straw for that camel, so to speak, and I was placed in a new home the next week. I suppose it was easy for her to assume it was me but you don’t do that to kids, ya’ know? Always give them the benefit of the doubt. She had no idea the headache she caused me just for jumping to the wrong conclusion.”

He blushed and attempted to fight a smile. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
He
is the cutest thing I had ever seen.
    “Um,” he struggled, “her name was Keiko Nguyen.”
I think I hate Keiko Nguyen.

I cleared my throat, “Oh, that’s cool. Was she, like, your girlfriend or whatever?”
Smooth.

    “
No, it was eighth grade and we were all playing spin the bottle.”
Whew! Alright, Keiko’s cool now.
   
“But I purposely spun the bottle so it’d land on her. I liked her, I guess,” he said, shuffling his feet back and forth, his heels bouncing against the machine in uncomfortable nervousness.
   
Nope, officially hate Keiko now.
I inwardly sighed.
Harper, you’re an idiot.
    He peered his head over his shoulder and smiled at me. I smiled back like an idiot.
    “My turn,” he said, waggling his brows.
    I rolled my eyes, fighting to hide my giddiness at his slightly flirtatious behavior.
He’s only charming, Harper. He probably does this to all the girls. Don’t be a fool.
    “I purposely set off the indoor sprinklers with a match and a crumpled ball of paper my sophomore year.”
    “Holy crap, Harper!”
    “I know!” I said, burying my crimson face in my hands. “I was an idiot.”
    He shook his head. “Again,
why
, Harper?”
    “Well, you see, I had this friend. His name was Chris.” Callum narrows his eyes at me, in dare I say,
jealousy
? I continued trying to stifle the butterflies that gives me. “Chris couldn’t use his legs and was bound to a wheelchair. Well, our stupid basketball coach got it in his head that Chris was gonna compete in a friendly scrap between the basketball team and a team everyone jokingly deems ‘the incompetent misfits’.

“
It’s a scrimmage my school put together every year at the beginning of the year. They usually get the chess club or something to compete and they do this at a pep rally in front of the
entire
school. Chris didn’t want to be treated any differently then he already was, which was totally lame because Chris was cool as shit, so when coach asked him to play, he agreed.

“
So, fifteen minutes before the game was scheduled to start, while the bleachers were starting to fill up, I filed in behind the lemmings and caught Chris’ eyes. He looked so distraught, I
had
to do something.

“
I plunged my hands into my pockets and pulled out the detention slip I’d gotten that day in one hand and a lighter in the other. It was all I could think of.”

When I finished, I noticed Callum stare at me with wide eyes.
    “I know it was wrong...,” but before I can finish Callum grabs me and hugs me tightly to him.
    “You did that for him?” He whispered into my hair.
    “Anybody would have,” I said into his rock hard chest.
    “But nobody else did, Harper.”
    “Yeah, technically but...”
    “No, you’re amazing.”
    “I am not!” I scoffed, pushing him off me, but he only pulls me tighter against him. “I’m a heathen according to everyone I know.”
    “No, you’re not. You’re all hard shell, bad ass on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside. You’re a freakin’ Tootsie Pop!”
I snort but can’t think of an argument.
You cry during Charmin commercials, Harper Bailey. You’re positively lame.
   
I subtly breathe in the scent of his shirt and have to stop myself from burying my face into his neck. He pulled away and I felt a loss from it, wishing he’d just hold me a little bit longer.
It’s been years since someone hugged you, Harper.
Callum cupped my cheek with his hand and rubbed his thumb against my jaw bone, smiling in my face like a massive goof. I laughed out loud.
Just looking at him makes me laugh.
   
The washer stopped chugging and we both reluctantly turned to open the lid. Callum reached in and removed the wet clothes, setting them on the edge of the washer. I take pile after pile to the dryer and toss them in. We work in silence and unison as if we’ve done this hundreds of times before together, yet another reason I need to check myself.
Already getting attached.
   
    Callum