Eleven

It has been five days and I have had the same dream, about the woman in white, asking me to stop Harper from 'making the mistake of his life by marking another female'. I felt like I was watching a video play, again and again.

It was Thursday today and the dream had plagued all my waking thoughts, the image of the white woman practically begging me to stop Harper.

At first, I simply thought that it was just a dream but as the days passed and I saw the same dream every night, my gut told me that I had to follow the white lady's instructions. Something in my being wanted to follow her directions. I didn't have a reasonable explanation for this feeling but it has created a dominating presence in my life these days.

Ironically, it seemed Harper was too close and yet too far.

He had gone back to making out with girls in full force. Whenever I saw him, he had a girl on his arm and was thus unapproachable.

I was quite hesitant about approaching him in the first place. I didn't want him to think that I was nagging him, because whatever I wanted to tell him didn't even sound sane to me. And I certainly didn't want him to think of me as some crazy girl who would come up with anything to just talk to him.

The desperate need inside me to tell him was getting stronger day by day. It was like an insatiable itch.

As I sat in the cafeteria, I couldn't help but look at Harper who was sitting in the middle of the room amongst the popular crowd with Amanda Byrnes sitting on her lap. I had seen him with Amanda too many times these last few days and I had even heard rumors that they were in a committed relationship.

He was talking to Aiden and other guys on the table who I noticed had come to the bakery the other day. At least, he wasn't making out with Amanda. Yet.

As if he could feel his eyes on me and hear my thoughts, he abruptly turned in the direction of our table and our eyes met. I blushed because now, he knew I was staring at him. Before I could look away, he turned his eyes away and carried on whatever conversation he had with Aiden. Just like that.

I sighed. What the hell was happening to me? My mind was messing with me.  All this while, I had been thinking about what Natalie suggested too, about the possibility of me liking Harper. With everything that was going on, I hadn't concluded yet and I was not sure if I would like the result.

"You are looking like a creep staring at Harper that way!" Natalie's voice brought me back to the present.

Our debates about Harper's questionable character had stopped indefinitely after our sleepover as if the three of us had made a pact not to talk about him. I didn't know how much Sam knew, but Natalie knew all about the turmoil of emotions within me. We just avoided the topic altogether.

I didn't tell my best friends about the dreams I had been continuously having. I didn't want them to freak out and declare that I had finally lost my marbles.

"I am not!" I retorted immediately. Wow, that was the best I could come up with?! We both knew I had been staring at Harper.

Samantha rolled her eyes. "You know that we know you like the back of our hands, right?"

"One could just look at you for a few seconds and they would notice you that you were staring at Harper. It's no rocket science." Natalie said.

"It's just I have been thinking about what you said the other night, about me being attracted to him," I said softly, afraid someone would hear me.

"And?" Samantha piped up.

"I don't know. I mean, I don't feel jealous at all when I see him with other girls. I am so confused." I groaned.

Well, it was not a total lie. It was just not the real reason I was looking at Harper, right then.

"Well, relax. It doesn't matter anyway. What matters is that there's a party tonight." That's what matters?!

"Oh God. No. I am not going." Whatever happened at the last party, had made me hate parties altogether. I plan to avoid them, for now, at least.

I steered clear of the last two parties that had happened early in the week and I had no plans to attend this one too.

Look at the effect Harper had on my life and he didn't even know about it. I simply hated it.

"Look, we know what happened at Harper's party, but that doesn't mean you won't go to parties at all. You are wasting your senior year." Only Natalie could say I was wasting my senior year by not going to parties. I rolled my eyes.

"You should come, you know. What's the worst thing that could happen." Samantha said.

"Look guys, I can't come. As it is, I have a double shift at Monique's today. Amy can't come today so I have to share my shift with Stephanie."

"Oh, god. You hate her." Samantha scrunched her nose.

"And she has a good reason too." Natalie snorted.

I stopped my thoughts from going towards Stephanie. What she did was simply unforgivable and I didn't want to think about it, ever.

The bell rang signaling the end of the lunch period. I gathered my stuff, waved to both my friends, and walked towards the class I shared with Harper. I needed all the courage I could get.

***

I had been mentally preparing myself to gather my confidence and tell Harper what the lady in white had been telling me in my dreams. I felt a burning need in me to tell him as soon as I could manage. It was as if a supernatural force was acting on my being and forcing me to go to Harper.

But when I entered the class, Amanda was sitting on his lap again and they were making out like it was the end of the world.

I lost all my courage to go up to him and tell him the words that had been pestering me all these days.

The crowd at Monique's Bakery was slow too. I was left with my thoughts which was not a good thing these days. Earlier, I had no problem with being alone. I loved to think about trivial things, but that was just one more thing Harper had an impact on.

Stephanie sneered at me as soon as I came in and I expected that. We maintained a distance of a few feet between us, which was way better than us trying to gouge each other's eyes out all the time.

The bell rang, signaling the arrival of a customer. The sound of the bell chime shook me out of my thoughts and I turned my head to look at the customer who had entered. And it was Harper. 

Thank God, he was alone. This could be my chance to talk to him.

He walked in like he owned the place. Not sparing me a glance, he went to sit in one of the booths in the corner of the bakery. Where I didn't serve.

I sighed in disappointment. I thought this would be my chance. Wow, I never thought I would see the day when I would look forward to any sort of interaction with Harper.

Stephanie straightened her apron and her waitress uniform. She pulled her top down, so her cleavage was visible and hitched her skirt higher so her shapely long legs were in full view.

I had seen her eyeing Harper from the corner of my eye. I understood it, Harper was a catch. A jerk, but still attractive. That didn't stop me from snorting at her desperate actions, though. She must have heard it because she glared at me before turning around.

Sashaying and swaying her hips, she somehow made her way to the booth Harper was sitting in. How did she even manage to walk like that? I was pretty sure I would be lying face-first on the floor if I ever tried such a thing.

The bakery was pretty empty today, except for Harper and a teenage couple.

I went back to the English homework I had planned to do while doing my shift at the bakery. 

"He asked for you." I looked up to find Stephanie glaring at me like I stole some valuables from a museum and pinned the blame on her. 

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and in an impatient tone said," The guy sitting in the booth asked you to serve him." After shooting a murderous glare at me, she went in the back, clearly disregarding Monique's instructions that when one of us would wait tables, the other would have to be the cashier.

When did she ever follow the rules?! I scoffed at the thought.

Harper wanted me to serve him?!

Guess this was it, then. Maybe this was my chance.

Squaring my shoulders and taking a deep breath, I grabbed the notepad and walked toward the table where Harper was sitting.

He looked at ease in the booth, his legs stretched under the table while he leaned back against the padded wall of the booth. He had his eyes closed and his hands rested on the table.

"Hi, what can I get for you?" I said in a fake chipper voice.

He opened his eyes at the sound of my voice and stared at me. He leaned forward and gave me a once-over. I fidgeted under his stare and shifted nervously from one foot to another. His green eyes held some sort of power over me, they made me so damn nervous and fidgety.

"A cold coffee and two dark chocolate cupcakes." He gave me a small smile and closed his eyes once again, relaxing in the laid-back position he was in before I had disturbed him.

Go on. He is right in front of you. Tell him.

I just nodded even though he couldn't see it, because his eyes were already closed. I turned around and walked back to the counter and handed his order over to Antony.

Antony looked over the order and went to prepare the cold coffee, while I took out two muffins from the showcase.

My subconscious was screaming at me to go back to Harper and tell him what the white lady had told me and get rid of the burning that had been inside me these last few days. 

I was trying to convince myself to take a plunge because I knew I wasn't going to get another chance like this anytime soon, or ever again.

I placed the cold coffee and muffins on the tray and walked slowly in Harper's direction. I placed the order on his table. He was in the same position I had left him and I envied him for his laid-back attitude.

He didn't acknowledge my presence and I didn't expect him to. I was tempted to just turn around and never look at him again. I tried to ignore the itch but it won the end. I sighed inwardly. It was a losing battle from the start.

"How did you know these cupcakes were my favorite?" I blurted. That was not what I wanted to talk to him about, but it was a good conversation opener.

He opened his eyes as if he just realized I was still standing there and looked at me intensely. I resisted the urge to fidget again but a blush still crept up my cheeks.

He looked wistful. "I thought I would tell you when the right time comes," he sighed, “but I guess now you will never know." His expression became dark and dangerous in the end and all I wanted to do was run away.

I had no idea what that meant. Why was he talking in riddles?!

He brought the coffee closer to his mouth, silently dismissing me.

"He is going to think I am mad," I muttered under my breath. But I have to do this.

He stopped and turned to look at me. He arched an eyebrow as if to ask me why the hell I was still here.

"Um, Harper. I don't know what I am going to say but I know that I have to say it." God, I was blabbering now. And what did I even say right now? Did that even make sense?

"What?" His brows furrowed and he looked genuinely confused. Any normal person would be. I don't blame you.

I took a deep breath. "I just wanted to say that you are going to make the biggest mistake of your life if you mark the girl, you have been planning to. The goddess forbids it." There, done. I felt immediate relief seep into my body, as soon as the words left my mouth and I felt like I could breathe again.

His eyes widened in shock and disbelief at what I said. He was momentarily stunned. His mouth opened and closed again as if he had no idea what to say.

I don't blame him. It sounded absolute gibberish to me. 

Before he could gather his bearings, I turned around and briskly walked towards the counter, eager to get out of his bubble and back to the safety of the counter.

Shit. What was that?!

At least the itch was no longer there.