Page 107 of Shortcake
I needed to walk away before I did something crazy, like crawling into this bed with her and whispering those three words in her ear after only a few weeks together. I’d already nearly spilled them to her before, even though nothing came from that awkward admission of mine.
Instead, I crossed the room to where Eleanor’s cage is and bent to peer in.
She gave a little squeak and charged at me, dancing in circles as though she knew the carrots in my hand were for her.
“Okay, okay,” I whispered. “Calm down.” I chuckled quietly as I dropped them in between the bars for her. Then, grabbing another tray of food, I headed upstairs to Harper’s room and knocked quietly on the door.
No answer.
Maybe she fell asleep too?
“Harper?”
“I’m reading,” she snapped.
I swallowed my sigh. That edgy attitude? That was the old Harper. Whatever breakthrough we’d had, I worried it was over.
“I have dinner for you. You don’t even need to eat with me,” I tried. “You just need to open the door.”
She was lucky she stillhada door. Once in high school, I had a fight with my mom and slammed my bedroom door… and woke up the next morning to my door being taken off its hinges. No more bedroom door.
As a teenage boy.
Jesus, I spent a lot of time in the shower that year.
On the other side of the door, I heard some noise just before the door clicked open. Harper stood to the side, letting me in.
She eyed me warily as I crossed the room, my bare toes pressing into the thick, soft carpet. I set the pizza and salad bowl onto her desk as well as a can of seltzer I brought up for her, too.
“Voila!” I presented her dinner with my palms out. “The salad is a little pathetic, and the pizza’s a little burnt. But overall, not the worst dinner I’ve ever served.”
She stared me down, her eyes unnervingly similar to my own. “I’m not in trouble?”
I blinked innocently back at her. “Shouldyou be in trouble?”
Letting loose a frustrated growl, she fell onto her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest. “Can you just tell me? I don’t want to play this game.”
Sighing, I took a seat next to her. “It’s not a game. I’m legitimately asking if you think you should be in trouble for today.”
“Great,” she muttered, picking some fuzz off her denim shorts. “Addydidtell you.”
“Don’t blame Addy,” I said, rushing to defend her. “She struggled with whether or not to tell me. She’s caught in a really weird position. She’s friends with meandyou. Either way, it was going to be a betrayal to one of us.”
Harper swallowed so hard that I could visibly see her throat move with it. “And she choseyou.”
“That’s not fair to her. And you know it.”
After another moment, Harper sighed. “I know. I’m not mad at her. So, what? Are we adding another week to my grounding?”
“Hmmmm. I was actually thinking of subtracting three weeks.”
It took a second for my words to sink in, and even then, Harper merely blinked at me in shock. “Wait… what?”
“I was thinking… school starts in about a month for you. And even though Idothink you should be grounded for the full six weeks for getting drunk underage, you’ve been really great these last few weeks while grounded. And I want you to have a good group of friends before school starts and it feels like the best way to ensure that is for you to actually be allowed to go out with them.”
“Seriously?” Her eyes welled up with tears.
“Seriously.”
