Need I remind you—the only reason I am even in this garage is because I am being threatened into going to prom with her.
Extorted.I am basically a hostage.
I stop staring at her smooth legs.
“Hey.” Harper’s voice is hesitant as she closes the door to the laundry room.
“Hey.” I feel like a complete dumbass. “Thanks for, you know—coming down.”
“No problem.” She smiles. “I live here.”
I huff a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of my neck.Idiot.
“Right. That was dumb,” I admit, fidgeting. “Can we pretend I didn’t say that?”
“Sure.”
Harper is giving me nothing.
“So…” Yeah.Get to the point, Westermann. Tell her why you’rehere.
I clear my throat, forcing myself to meet her steely gaze. “Look, I didn’t come here to be an idiot. Or, like,moreof an idiot than usual.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
I lick my lips, hyperaware of the fact that I don’t have a solid plan for what to say. All I know is I need to be here. With her. To fix my fuckup from earlier.
I could make up a reason for knocking on her door: Say I was in the neighborhood. Say I wanted to talk about prom night. Say I had a question about a class at school.
But none of that is true.
So instead, I do the scariest thing imaginable—I tell Harper the truth.
“I—” I clear my throat. “I wanted to apologize.”
Behind me the sun is setting over the rise, the last streaks of light stretching across the sky, painting everything in shades of gold and pink. It should feel peaceful. However, the weight in my chest is anything but…
“For what?” She doesn’t move. Doesn’t let me in. Her fingers tighten around the edge of the door.
“For the way I acted at the rink.”
Harper shifts on her heels. “How did you act at the rink?”
Ugh, she’s going to make me say it. Admit out loud that I skated past like I didn’t know she was there.
“Like I didn’t see you.”
Damn. Saying that out loud somehow makes it so much worse.
Harper’s face doesn’t change, but something in hermooddoes. I see it in the slight movement of her shoulders, the way her fingers twitch against the doorframe, tapping on the wood as if she’s suddenly grown impatient.
I rub the back of my neck. “I should have skated over to you,” I admit. “Like Marcus did. I should’ve said hi.”
Harper tilts her head. “So why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head. “I guess I was being an asshole.”
She exhales sharply through her nose. “Being an asshole.”
