A Chance At A Time

Chance XIII : Don't Kiss and Tell

"Come on!" Clair exclaimed on top of her lungs as she pushed Harper towards Freddie's Pub where the students spent their weekend. "It'll be fun! I mean when was the last time you actually went out for fun, Harper?" She asked her.

Harper sighed and allowed Clair to drag her inside the warm cavern. This was after she threatened Max into giving Harper some time out to recollect herself. Harper had never seen that side of Clair before and Max was thoroughly scared of her when she threatened to cut him off s*x for the month!

Harper didn't really see what the big issue was, especially now that she was getting the hang of working. It was just a few days to go before she got her first paycheck and she was excited to get it so that she could get some basic necessities that she was running out of. Harper also enjoyed her work at the orphanage. They were done with repainting the walls and now they were fixing the broken wooden planks on the floors and covering them with a brand new coat of polish before they brought in the new furniture. 

Just thinking about the orphanage and Harper's mind was suddenly taken to Kristofer. He was acting weirdly towards her. He greeted her as usual but he tried his best to ignore her for that entire week. At first, Harper thought it was normal because Kristofer was always moody and he didn't smile all that much, though when he did, his face transformed into a boyish character. As the days passed, Harper found it strange that he no longer teased her like the way he had started doing so with Stefan. He spent a lot of his hours out of class and Harper accidentally discovered that he would disappear into the laboratories and would spend hours there.

She found out accidentally because there was an assignment that she went to seek for advice from the professor who issued it and that was when she found Kristofer at the same laboratory as the professor. Fortunately, Kris was too wrapped up in his work to pay attention to her. He had earphones over his ears and his back was towards the professor's office when Harper entered so he didn't see her. She watched him for a while as his lithe fingers typed effortlessly on his computer keyboard, his eyebrows coming down his forehead in deep concentration and one of his feet tapping lightly against the resin floor to the beat of the music. 

'Miss Scott.' She recalled how the professor jolted her mind off Kristofer and back to him. 

Clair grabbed Harper's hand and pulled her through the sea of people towards the bar area. The music was loud and the buzzing of people talking was even louder it sounded like a swarm of bees trying to communicate together. Harper warily took a seat on one of the tall stools as Clair settled next to her and ordered two beers.

Harper had never had a beer before. She was a wine and champagne kind of girl. She indulged in the good stuff and relished every tiny drop of it. She always thought beer tasted funny and very few people in her circle enjoyed the beer. 

When the bottles were settled in front of them, Harper scrunched her forehead and took the bottle before she read the label.

"To super fun weekends!" Clair held up her bottle.

Harper gave her a smile and nodded. "To super fun weekends." Their bottles clanged together and Clair took a swig of hers before she turned her attention towards Harper curiously. "Don't tell me this is the first time you are in a pub, Harper?"

Harper took a mouthful of her beer and struggled to swallow it. It had a funny after-taste that she just couldn't take. "Do I look that obvious?"

"Sweetheart, you look like you are about to lay eggs! Listen, no one is going to rob you here and no one is going to approach you unless you give them a sign that you want attention. So relax and enjoy yourself." She chuckled.

Harper looked down at how hard she was clutching her handbag and the way she hunched forward on the bar counter to avoid people brushing against her from behind as they moved around to order their drinks. She tried to relax her shoulders and sat up straight then frowned at the bottle. "There is just one thing I can't change though...my hate for beer." She turned to the bartender and called out for him.

"Yes?" He came looking all hot and dazzling, with one side of his mouth arched up intently. 

"Can I have a glass of red wine?" She asked.

"Sweet or dry?" The bartender asked as he got a wine glass out. 

"Dry--"

"And get us the Wild Card!" Clair suddenly added and Harper dreaded what that meant because of the way the bartender's eyebrows snapped up.

A wicked smile appeared on his face as he nodded at Clair. "The Wild Card coming right at you, sweet lady!" He turned to his friend and exclaimed. "Hey, Hank! Prepare the Wild Card for these two beautiful ladies."

"Uhm--Clair, what the f**k is the Wild Card?" She asked cautiously.

Clair clapped her hands together happily and giggled giddily. "Something that will make this night a whole lot more interesting."

"Where do you get the energy to stay positive all the time? I mean if I could have just an ounce of your positivity, my life in this college would have been a breeze." Harper was very envious of her. It seemed nothing fazed her. She was always rushing out of the room singing to herself as she went to spend the entire night at the library preparing for a presentation and after that, she would jump into her bed with a smile on her face, sleep for a few hours before she would happily hop out, take a shower and go away to do some errand. 

Harper could never master the kind of good vibes Clair always had. She was always too tired to even try smiling and when she was tired, she became grumpy to the point that anything would trigger her vulgarity and get her into trouble. 

"The secret is in the moment." Clair wiggled her eyebrows at Harper and added. "See, I always try to find the good side to everything I do. I don't just think of everything I do as tasks. I try to enjoy every moment of it because you never know what you can actually achieve by enjoying what you are doing."

"I always give my best to everything I do but whenever I am done I feel exhausted and thoroughly f****d. I don't even have the energy to conjure happy thoughts!" Harper said as the bartender returned with her glass of wine. 

"It's because you are trying too hard!" Clair assured her. "You should take it easy and you will see just how fun everything can be. Once you start having fun in what you do, you become more productive and you will be surprised at the results." 

"Are you sure that is all that you do to get your mood high? You sure you are not taking anything else; pills, smokes?" Harper asked.

Clair shook her head. "It's not like you've never tried recreational drugs before?"

Harper cleared her throat lightly and turned to her glass of wine.

"Oh wow!" Clair exclaimed. "Aren't you the saint? I need to corrupt you." She looked around and her eyes suddenly brightened as she squealed and clapped her hands together as Hank, the other bartender approached them with what looked like thirty shot glasses that had a clear liquid in them. "Here comes the Wild Card." 

Harper felt that the moment she undertook that journey with Clair that evening, she was going to regret it along the way. 

Hank took the jar from the tray and placed it in front of Clair then lined up the shots in front of the girls. "You each have twelve shot glasses that have an unknown liquid in them but out of the twenty-four shots, one has water. The goal of the Wild Card is to find the water glass. If you manage to find the water shot before your opponent and before finishing all your shots, you can challenge your opponent to finish all the remaining shots including yours. If you finish all your twelve glasses without getting the water shot, you are obliged to order a new dozen of shots for yourself and it goes on until the water shot is drunk. Are you ready?" 

"Yes!" Clair exclaimed but Harper wasn't.

                                                                                    ***********

"She's going to fall on her face." A girl by the door chuckled wickedly as she and her friend watched the bar counter with intrigue.

Jace patted Kristofer on his shoulder and pointed to the corner table that they loved sitting on whenever they went to Freddie's. Kristofer soon dismissed the girl and followed Jace, Stefan, and Cash to the table. It had been a very tedious week so they all needed to unwind.

The good thing was that things were turning up for Kristofer. He replied to the company that wanted him to go and do his internship with them and told them that he was ready to go and work at their laboratory in order to get the data that he was looking for his research. Unfortunately, the company headquarters were out of town which meant he was going to have to ask for a week's leave so that he could go and start setting everything up there. 

"By the way, I saw Ellie the other day with some guy--you two broke up again, Cash?" Jace asked Cash just as the waitress came to them.

Kris rolled his eyes. That wasn't news to him because Cash and Ellie were always on and off. They had a very physical relationship where they got what they wanted from each other physically then after that they pretended like they didn't know each other in public. 

Kris didn't know why Cash would agree to such an arrangement because it was not his style but whenever Ellie called, Cash would go running back to her even if it was in the middle of the night. Afterward, she would discard him out like an old toy and Cash never learned that he was just being used by her. 

"I don't want to talk about it." Cash muttered as he quickly took out his phone and started to blankly go through it.

The waitress got their orders and went away.

"You don't want to talk about it until you two get back together." Jace pointed out and looked contemplatively at his friend. "What sort of relationship do you two even have? What was the agreement--that you two are just f**k buddies?"

"Just lay off my case, Jace." Cash warned his friend. "Well, I am sorry that I don't have a sparkly clean relationship like the one you have with Susan."

Jace sighed softly and said. "Look, I am just trying to look out for you. I know girls like Ellie and we all knew she was bad news from the beginning. We just can't sit here and watch you get hurt over and over again."

Cash gritted his teeth and it looked like he wanted to answer but then the waitress came back with their drinks. Kristofer eyed his irritated friend and said.

"It's toxic and you know it." 

Cash's hard eyes landed on Kristofer. "And what about you and that freshman? Everyone here knows that you have a thing for her yet to sulk, you get moody and growl at everyone when she pisses you off but pretend there is nothing. Why don't you tell her exactly what you feel about her, maybe that will keep you busy enough to lay off my case."

Kristofer's eyebrows snapped up his forehead. Now, where did that come from? He turned to Stefan who was busy with his beer and Kristofer groaned. "There is nothing going on between me and Harper."

"Yeah right." Cash scoffed then looked over Kris' shoulder towards the bar counter and he grinned maliciously. "Then you wouldn't mind that she is at the bar counter, surrounded by hungry wolves while she is drowning herself in the Wild Card, would you?"

Kristofer spun around and true enough, there she was with Clair and they were downing their shots while several guys surrounded them and cheered them on. Something close to panic hit Kristofer hard in his gut and he felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. Just when he thought he would give her space, make sure that he didn't influence her with his bad behavior, someone else took it upon herself to do just that.

Clair was not a bad person but she didn't know when it was time to have fun and when it was time to get serious. At that moment, Clair had no idea how serious the situation had gotten, especially with the scavengers that were hanging around them. Kristofer pushed his chair away then stood up, and Cash had a satisfied smile on his lips. 

"Sit down if there is nothing going on with the freshman, Kris." Cash settled back on his chair and eyed his friend hard.

Kristofer ground his teeth together so hard that he thought the tendons holding his jaws together were going to snap! He took a deep breath and turned towards the bar counter. He was about to make his way there when suddenly someone grabbed his arm to stop him. 

"Let her be." It was Melody and she clasped his hand tightly in hers with her eyes pleading for him not to go to Harper. "She doesn't deserve you."

Kristofer slipped his hand away from her grasp and said. "It is because of what she is doing that shows she deserves me, Melody. So, you need to stop this."

"So, you choose her over me?" Melody's voice squeaked. 

Kristofer turned to his friends who were also eager to hear what he was going to say then back to the girl who had tears dancing in her eyes. "It doesn't matter." He walked past her towards the bar.

When the scavengers saw him moving towards them, they quickly moved out of the way because they knew he never thought twice about pulling punches. His reputation was stained with his past but sometimes he allowed it because it gave him a shield against any form of attack from the students. When Kristofer got to the bar, Harper was about to chug yet another shot down her throat. Counting the number of empty shot glasses on her side, he knew she was on the losing end. She was already swinging around on her stool. 

Just how long had they been there?

Before she had the opportunity to get the shot to her mouth, Kristofer reached forward and grabbed it from her hands before he chugged it down for her. He looked down and took all the full shot glasses before he finished them for her, the liquid leaving a fiery trail in his throat. They warmed him instantly. 

"Kris!" Clair protested and there was a slight slur in her voice.

Kristofer could tell that Clair also had enough to drink but he was worried about the girl beside him who looked up at him and a slow smile began to form on her lips. 

"Kris, where have you been?" Harper grabbed his t-shirt and shook him lightly. "Do you know how worried--I was about you--" She hiccupped then let him go and ran her fingers through her disheveled hair. "I thought I hurt you again and--and that was why--" Hiccup, "--you were ignoring me."

"You're drunk, Harper," Kristofer said as he helped her push her hair away from her face. "Let me take you back to campus."

"No." Harper shrugged her shoulders but the action almost sent her down to the floor. Kristofer quickly caught her and helped her up. She giggled and said. "Maybe I am a little...just a tinsy bitsy tipsy but I'm not--I'm not drunk." She allowed him to help her up then looked at him and said. "I missed you."

There were a lot of oohs as people started muttering to themselves about what was happening. Kristofer didn't need any more gossip so he turned to Clair. "Let's go."

Clair groaned in frustration but she knew better than to go against Kristofer. She got a hold of her bag together with Harper's and followed him out.

Harper could barely walk and Kristofer knew he couldn't take her back on his bike so he called for a cab and packed them both in.

"Get her back safely," Kristofer told Clair but before she could say anything, Harper opened the door and stepped out. "Hey, get back in the cab, Harper."

"Not before I tell you something." She said and stumbled towards him.

Kristofer noticed that she got rid of her wedges and was walking barefooted on the dirty street. He groaned as he caught her once again before she kissed the hard pavement. She chuckled lightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck and Kris hefted her from the ground and into his arms, making sure her pretty feet didn't get dirty. 

She turned her big beautiful eyes to him and smiled again. "I wanted to tell you that I missed you and that you need to look through my assignment before I hand it in--on Monday. I--I wanted to tell you that--that I came to the lab--the other day--" Hiccup, "--but you were too busy with your work to even notice me--and I just miss you." She hugged him tightly.

It must have been the shots, Kristofer thought as he held her close. "I'll come and check your assignment tomorrow and...I did notice you at the lab, Harper. I know your perfume from anywhere."

"Then why--why didn't you say hi!" She moved from his shoulder and looked at him accusingly. 

He was a coward, that's why. 

"Kris, I get it that you don't like me that much--but we are friends, right?" She hiccupped again and looked deep into his eyes.

"You said we weren't friends, remember." He reminded her. She thought he hated her. He thought the same thing yet here she was asking if they were friends.

She gasped in surprise. "I did, didn't I?" She squirmed in his arms until Kristofer had to let her down. As she stood in front of him, her body was flushed against his and she used his chest for support. 

"You want us to be friends?" He asked her, looking down at the way she assaulted her lower lip with her teeth, an action that left Kristofer gasping for air like a drowning man. 

What was it about Harper that had him act like some teenager on hormonal steroids? 

"Can we go home now?" Clair called out from the cab.

Kristofer rolled his eyes and told the cab driver to take Clair back to campus first. 

"No," She shook her head vigorously and made her hair bounce about her face. "I don't want to be your friend, Kris."

Kristofer sighed and moved around her then stopped yet another cab before he got her in it. She wouldn't let his hand go and the funny thing was that Kris didn't want her to. 

"I don't want to be your friend, Kris." She muttered as the cab started for the campus. 

The revelation hurt like a b***h but at least she was being truthful about it. They said that people were always honest when they were drunk and that was what Harper was at that moment. She was being truthful. 

"I heard you the first time," Kris muttered back. He sighed then rested back against the car seat and closed his eyes. His head was already twirling with the number of shots he took for Harper. That was what he got for drinking on an empty stomach. Everything felt like a dream which made Kris wonder exactly what was in those shot glasses?

Suddenly Harper moved from her position and straddled him. Kristofer's eyes snapped open and her drunk face was above him with her wild mane framing her face like a siren. Kristofer never thought he would appreciate a drunken face before but Harper looked so enchanting with her eyes droopy and her mouth curled on one side in a half-smile. She placed her hands on his chest and held him down when Kris was preparing to get her back on her seat.

"I don't want you as a friend, Kris." She repeated.

Kristofer swallowed hard and went to grab her waist so that he could shift her back to her seat but Harper held onto his hands and slipped them from her waist to her thighs. She held them there as she leaned down and placed a soft innocent kiss on his lips.