Chapter 13

Noah

Harper's hands were sweaty as I slid my hand into hers, leading her away from the car.

"Why are you nervous?" I whispered, pulling her close to my side.

"Your friends low-key scare me." Harper whispered back. "They're all football and tough shit and the girls are gorgeous and confident."

I let out a laugh.

"But you're Harper Lawrence." I whispered in her ear, pressing a soft kiss to the skin above her ear.

Harper let out a sigh, leaning against me.

I inhaled softly, closing my eyes for a moment.

I missed her smell...

"Shit hang on." I sighed, feeling my phone start to buzz with an incoming phone call.

Harper stepped away from me as I pulled my phone out of the pocket.

"It's your dad." I said quietly.

"Give it." Harper said, snatching my phone from my hand and dancing away before I could protest.

"Dad, hey." She answered the phone, walking faster as I tried to follow her.

"Yes I am with Noah." Harper said, glancing back at me with a grin. "We're on a date."

Her eyes widened with a laugh as she saw my shocked face.

"Yes." Harper nodded. "Uh huh."

I tried to get the phone from her hand but she swatted my arm away, ducking under the other one to walk away from me.

"Yes, absolutely." Harper said into the phone. "Of course." She laughed.

"Okay bye." Harper hung up the phone and then handed it to me.

"What did he say?" I sighed, putting the phone back into my pocket.

"He told me that I could stay out until midnight and that when I got home, you were to go in and talk to him."

"My curfew is eleven." I said softly.

"Well then I'll have to be home by a quarter to eleven." Harper shrugged, linking her arm with mine.

"What else did he say?" I asked curiously as we walked towards the bonfire pit.

"That I should be careful and that he's glad I found someone." Harper snorted.

I quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek, unable to keep my hands off of her.

"Noah Keller, I love you." She said softly, looking up at me.

My stomach flipped but my response was drowned out by the sounds of the bonfire as we approached.

"He lives!" Liam called with a laugh as I entered the circle.

"Very funny." I rolled my eyes, sitting down on one of the benches.

Harper raised her eyebrows at me, silently pointing out that there were no more spots for her to sit.

With a smirk, I grabbed her waist and pulled her down on my lap.

Harper's eyes widened slightly as she let out a soft gasp.

Someone across the circle whistled and Harper's eyes narrowed at me.

"I see what you did there." Harper whispered, adjusting her seat so she was better pressed against me.

My stomach tightened briefly but Harper stopped moving her hips, wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and turned to look out at the circle.

"Hey Harper." Kelly said happily.

"Hey." Harper smiled.

Kelly raised her eyebrows and Harper's face broke into a smile.

"You know, from the moment you two got put next to each other in Chemistry, I knew something was going to happen." Kelly said honestly.

"Science classes just have a way of bringing people together." I laughed, squeezing Harper's hip.

"Don't be weird." She whispered back, resting her head against mine. "Want to make me a s'more?" She asked softly.

"Not a chance. I'm not having you puke in my car on the way home." I replied, shaking my head.

Harper's face broke into a frown.

"I won't!" She protested.

Harper had a sensitivity to sugar and junk food never sat well.

"Fine." Harper whined, the frown still etched on her face.

"So you two got over your shit?" Mick asked, leaning forwards from a seat on the other side of the large bonfire.

"Yes we did." I nodded, clasping my fingers as I rested my arms around Harper's waist. "Sort of."

Harper bumped my shoulder with hers.

"Yes we did, don't listen to this goon." Harper laughed, crossing her legs and leaning towards me again.

"Coach isn't going to be thrilled." Mick pointed out.

"He was okay with it actually." Harper said instantly. "Although your boy should make sure he doesn't do anything stupid or else he'll be riding the bench for the rest of the season." Harper teased, glancing down at me.

Mick let out a laugh, shaking his head.

"Dig your own grave, mate." Mick said in amusement.

Harper let out a soft sigh, pressing herself closer to me.

"It's cold." She whispered.

"Here." I said, reaching to grab one of the unused blankets from the ground.

I shook it out and draped it over Harper's lap.

She gave me a smile of thanks and placed a soft kiss to my cheek.

"I've been waiting two years for this." Harper whispered in my ear.

"Yeah?" I laughed, resting my hand on her knee. "Me too, Harper."

Harper laughed, her lips resting against my ear.

"So Harper, you're totally cool with the shit Noah's gone through?" Roy asked.

"What the fuck?" I asked in shock.

"Well I mean, rumor has it this guy had a pretty serious girlfriend before he moved here." Roy gave Harper a look. "Who knows, she might come back and-"

"I dunno." Harper glanced down at me. "We've all got baggage, right? Whatever Noah went through before I moved here and met him... It's in the past."

"Damn right." I laughed, squeezing Harper's hip again.

~*~*~

"So like, if we stick to the story, we'll be totally fine." Harper said seriously, her slightly wide with nerves as we stood outside of her dad's house.

"We sort of knew each other back home, but different crowds. When we found each other here we thought it was cool that we were from the same place and instantly hit it off." I repeated the story we'd come up with in the car.

"Good." Harper whispered, giving my hand a squeeze before pushing open the door.

Her dad was waiting at the kitchen table and I'd never been more nervous to see the guy in my entire life.

"How was the party?" Coach asked happily.

"It was alright. Kinda lame." Harper shrugged, sitting down at the table without letting go of my hand.

"Well, Noah, I'll admit this is a little odd and new territory but you're a cool guy and I'm not about to be an over-protective dad..." Coach said seriously. "But we've got to lay some ground rules."

"Of course, sir."

"We're not going to treat each other any differently." Coach gave me a look. "None of that 'sir' shit, understand?"

I nodded, nervously glancing at Harper.

"And absolutely no talk about my daughter in my presence. This goes for the rest of the team too. When we are in a football atmosphere, Harper doesn't exist."

I nodded again, meeting Coach's eyes.

"When you're here, by all means, appropriately, it's alright." Coach said quietly. "Now. I really wish I didn't know this but I do know about what happened two weeks ago." Coach said. "Now I don't want a definite answer but that girl you were with, if it wasn't my daughter, you sure do turn around quickly and you better not look at another woman while dating Harper. If it was my daughter, there will be absolutely none of that behavior in this house. Open door policy one hundred percent of the time and she won't be allowed over at your house if your aunt and uncle aren't home."

All I could do was nod.

"I'm sure you're aware of Harper's history." Coach said quietly. "You will not pressure her into something she's not comfortable with nor will you bug her about her past involving other guys, understood?"

"One hundred percent." I said confidently. "Coach I respect your daughter one hundred percent and-"

"She was pretty serious with this last guy. I never met him and he's lucky about that, but don't expect her to be anything just because what you've heard about him, understood."

I slowly nodded. If he wasn't so terrifying right now, I'd be laughing at the irony of this whole situation.

"Good." Coach nodded, clapping his hands together. "That's all I have to say. Midnight is your curfew when you're together but if I push it earlier that's the rule. You're welcome to stay until then, I'm watching some football in the living room if you care to join."

"I uh, I actually have to go home, I've got an earlier curfew." I told him, glancing at Harper. "But actually... Coach if you don't mind can I borrow Harper? I kind of want to introduce her to my aunt and uncle before they hear talk."

Harper's eyes widened slightly, realizing what I knew.

My aunt and uncle knew about our history and we had to figure out what we were doing about that.

"Absolutely, be home by midnight." Coach told us.

Harper was silent as we walked out to the car and I was worried she was freaking out.

"Fuck!" Harper exclaimed as I was about to get into the driver's side.

"Well I didn't realize we'd end up doing this!" I protested, knowing where her annoyance was coming from.

"But you had to go and fucking tell them!" Harper groaned, pushing her hair back from her face. "Oh my God we didn't think his through at all... Holy shit what if they aren't okay with this? What if they blow our cover?" 
"Harper..." I sighed, resting my hands on her shoulders. "They're cool people, I promise."

Harper just shook her head. "I'll see you there." She muttered, holding up the keys to her bike. "This way you don't have to break curfew to bring me home."

We got to the house around the same time but Harper was adamant about not going in.

I pulled her along behind me. In another situation it would be adorable how she was practically digging her heels in.

"Hey guys, can you pause the TV?" I said to my aunt and uncle as we walked through the kitchen towards the living room.

"Yeah but what's up?" Uncle Ryan replied.

"Well... I kind of have someone I want you to meet." I said nervously, my heart pounding as I pulled Harper out from behind me where she was trying to hide.

"Harper, this is Aunt Josie and Uncle Ryan. Guys, this is uh, my girlfriend, Harper Lawrence." I said, tightly squeezing Harper's hand.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Kaplan it's really nice to meet you." Harper said quietly, her voice faint and timid.

"This is Harper?" Uncle Ryan asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Yes, this is Harper." I nodded, glancing at my terrified girlfriend. "Before uh, before you say anything I want you to know that this is what I want, this is what we want, and I know you want to be protective or whatever but I-"

"Welcome back to the family." Aunt Josie said happily, her face lighting up. "We've heard lots about you over the years, I'm glad to finally meet you."

Harper relaxed, squeezing my hand back.

"Likewise." Harper laughed, glancing up at me. She gave me a positively radiant smile and I felt my heart melt.

"But listen..." I sighed, turning away from Harper to look at my aunt and uncle. "I need your help with something."

Both of them instantly looked shocked.

"Don't tell me..." Aunt Josie whispered, her face going pale.

"No! No not at all!" I said quickly. "That mistake will not be made again, gosh."

"Oh boy." Harper whispered, scrunching up her nose. "That's all people are going to associate us with if they find out."

"Listen her dad doesn't really know our history..." I explained. "I never met the guy as someone other than my football coach. He knows about Harper but he doesn't know I was the guy..."

My aunt and uncle exchanged glances.

"We already agreed last night that we weren't going to discuss this with anybody. We weren't going to tell your parents that you're talking to Harper again and we'll extend the same to her. Coach Norman won't know your history." Uncle Ryan said seriously.

"Oh my gosh thank you so much." Harper breathed, leaning against me. "I just... I want to give him time to adjust before we drop the bombshell."

"Understandable." Aunt Josie smiled.

"Now Harper doesn't have to be home until twelve so we're going to go watch a movie or something upstairs." I told him, nudging Harper towards the stairs.

"Alright, well Lewis is already asleep so you should probably keep the door shut. We'll be watching TV down here so we won't be bothered by your movie." Uncle Ryan said, not looking at us.

"Thanks!" I laughed, nudging Harper towards the stairs with more force this time.

She let out a laugh as we jogged upstairs.

"They practically told us to shut the door, yikes." Harper whispered as I pushed open my bedroom door.

"They're chill people." I told her with a laugh, quickly shutting the door behind us.

She barely even noticed that I locked it, she was staring around the room in shock.

"It's almost identical to your old room..." Harper said in shock.

"I'm a creature of habit." I shrugged, wrapping my arms around her from behind.

"Does this desk creak like your old one did though?" Harper asked, turning around to look at me.

"Not that I know of." I whispered, pressing my lips to her neck.

"Want to give it a shot?" Harper breathed, already pushing my shirt up.

"Might as well."