- Text Size +

Nick stood there deciding whether to go up to her or turn and continue up to his destination. He knew going up there would not do him any good as he would be able to see her and would feel like he was stalking her by sitting up there. All he would be able to do is watch her. Nick also knew that going up to her would make him seem like a stalker anyways. He knew he had to make a decision quickly. Maybe he could just turn around and leave without her noticing.

Nick took a step backwards, managing to step on a stick laying in the sand. It of course made a cracking sound loud enough for Harper to hear.

It made her jump up so fast.

‘Shit’ Nick thought to himself. But his thoughts were lost when he could tell that Harper had been crying.

“You scared the shit out of me” Harper exclaimed. She realized it was Nick.

‘What in the world is he doing here? It’s not like anyone could have known I was here’ Harper thought. Then realized she probably looked like a complete mess. Turning slightly, she ran her hands under her eyes to get rid of any stray tears that might be left on her face.

“I’m really sorry, it wasn’t my intention. I wasn’t stalking you either. I was just going for a drive and then decided to go for a walk up to that bluff over there. I honestly had no idea you would be here” Nick explained and pointed to where he was going to go. He felt like a real idiot after saying that.

“It’s ok. I should probably be going anyways” Harper announced. She began to walk past him. But Nick stepped in her path before she could go any further.

“I don’t mean to pry, but are you ok?” Nick asked, he knew he couldn’t just let her leave without asking.

“Yea, just needed to do some thinking, but I’m fine” Harper answered and gave a him a weak smile, that he could tell was a little forced.

“Are you sure?” Nick asked again. Hoping not to push her too much.

“I’m sure, just tired. It’s been a long day” Harper told him. She was hoping he wouldn’t ask her more questions.

Nick nodded his head and stepped out of her way.

“Ok. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bother you”

Harper looked at Nick and instantly felt bad for being a little cold towards him. She took a deep breath.

“Really, Nick, it’s fine. You didn’t bother me” Harper said and began to walk, but stopped and turned back to him. “I’ll call you soon and we can get that coffee or something”

Harper turned and continued walking. But not before she saw a smile creep on Nick’s face.

“Ok, yea, that would be nice” Nick called out to her. He stood there watching her walk to her car. She was parked just a few spots away from him.

Deciding to just go home also, Nick began walking to his vehicle.

When he reached his car, he could hear Harper trying to start hers. Something sounded funny though. He stood there with his hand on the handle of the driver’s door, watching her for a moment.

She tried to start the car a few more time before it just completely conked out. He saw Harper put her head down on the steering wheel.

“Does this seriously have to happen to me now” Harper yelled out loud to herself. She picked her head up and looked to see if Nick was still around. Her eyes met his as he was standing next to his car looking at her. Harper really didn’t want to get out and ask him for help. But she was sure he probably already knew something was wrong. It would make her look bad if she just ignored him now.

Harper leaned her head back and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. It’s not like she really had anyone to call to help her with this. She knew she would probably just need to call a tow truck. But what was she going to do with all of Kate’s stuff in her car.

Getting out of the car, she saw that Nick was looking at his phone. Harper thought that maybe he was doing it to stall on purpose.

“Uh, Hey Nick” Harper called out. He looked up from his phone and put it back in his pocket. Nick walked around his car and came over to Harper.

“Everything ok?” Nick asked already knowing what the problem was though.

“Well…I’m having a little car trouble” Harper replied while looking back at her vehicle.

“I see. Unfortunately, I’m not that great with cars. I don’t know how much help I can be” Nick laughed a little.

“Oh, ok” Harper wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Although, I am handy with a phone” Nick smiled as he pulled out his phone and held it up “Do you have a regular mechanic you go to or Triple A{AAA}?”

“No…to both” Harper informed him.

“Ok, well, I can let you use mine. Hold on while I get the card out of my car” Nick ran back to his car and got the card out. Harper watched while Nick made a phone call. A couple minutes later Nick came back.

“They will be here in about 20 minutes. I told them they could tow it to my usual mechanic, he’s a really nice guy” Nick informed Harper.

“Thank you so much Nick, I have no idea what I would have done if I was here by myself”

“Well, it’s a good thing I decided to go for a drive today” Nick smiled.

It got quiet between the two of them for a moment. Then it hit Harper.

“Oh crap!” Harper exclaimed putting her hand to her head.

“What’s wrong?” Nick was a little startled by her outburst.

“Sorry, it’s just that, my car is full of stuff” Harper let Nick know.

It wasn’t till then that Nick noticed the back seat of her car was filled with boxes and bags.

“Are you moving or something?” Nick wondered what she was doing with all that stuff in her car.

“No, It’s not even my stuff. It’s my friends. I’m hanging on to it for her for a little while” Harper explained. What was she going to do with all of Kate’s things? She really didn’t want to leave it in there while it was at the mechanics.

“Uh, Nick? Not that I want this to sound bad, but I really don’t want to leave all that in my car while it’s at the mechanics. I mean, considering that it’s not even my stuff” Harper told him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

She wasn’t trying to make an accusation that anyone at the body shop would steal the stuff, but she didn’t want to take the chance either. The stuff she had of Kate’s wasn’t really, expensive or irreplaceable, but she didn’t want to be a bad friend and have something happen to any of it.

“Oh, right” Nick thought for a moment. He got an idea that would prolong their time together. And hopefully it would help him get to know Harper a little more.

“Why don’t we transfer everything to my car and I can drive you to wherever you need to go?” Nick suggested. He could tell Harper was hesitating a little at the idea.

“Are you sure? I don’t really want to take up anymore of your time if you have somewhere else to be” Harper stammered. She knew she really didn’t have any other options at this point. And again, she didn’t want to be rude. Nick was being so kind and helpful right now.

“It’s no problem, really. I don’t have any plans for the rest of the day” Nick informed her.

“Ok” Harper smiled at him.

“I’ll just pull my car over and we can get everything moved”

Nick was so glad he took his car in to get cleaned the other day. Sometimes he could let it get a little messy.

They had got everything out of Harper’s car and into Nick’s just in time as the tow truck pulled up. While Nick talked with the driver, Harper double checked and made sure she had everything out of her car that she thought she would need.

Twenty minutes later the tow truck had taken off and Harper was sitting in Nick’s car telling him where to start driving.

Harper was extremely nervous to have Nick at her house. It’s not like she could just get out and run inside. There was all the stuff to be taken out of Nick’s car. She would probably just put it all in the garage for now. Her house wasn’t anything impressive. Not like AJ and Rochelle’s or probably even Nick’s. But she didn’t really need a big house as it was just her.

Nick turned on the radio to break the silence that had fallen in the car. He looked over at Harper. She was looking out the window and chewing on her bottom lip. He could tell she was nervous.

“So, are you storing this stuff for someone?” Nick asked trying to break the tension in the car.

“Uh, yea, something like that. She had to move quickly and couldn’t take everything right away. I’ll send it to her after she gets settled in” Harper explained to Nick, not wanting to go into detail about her friend’s dilemma.

“That’s cool of you to do that” Nick smiled at Harper. She smiled back and nodded her head.

Nick was now beginning to really understand what AJ was telling him. This wasn’t going to be easy with Harper. But it kind of made him a little intrigued. Harper had a bit of mystery to her now. Nick’s curiosity was going to get the better of him with this girl. He really wanted to know what had happen to her since the last time he saw her to make her seem like such a different person.

Harper gave him a couple more directions and soon enough they were pulling into her driveway.

“This looks like a nice place” Nick commented after he turned off the car.

“I know it’s not much, but I like it” Harper replied hoping he wasn’t judging her too much.

“I know what you mean. Sometimes I would rather have a small place. That way it doesn’t take you 10 minutes to get from one end of the house to the other” Nick laughed a little hoping it would make Harper smile too.

He saw a small one creep on her face.

“But unfortunately, they don’t make that many small houses that are right on the beach and I don’t think I could… live not on the beach” Nick knew that sounded funny when it came out of his mouth but he wasn’t great with words at the moment. He was getting a little nervous too, being alone with Harper for so long.

“Yes Nick, I know that” Harper laughed at him. Only cause it reminded her of something.

“What’s so funny?” Nick was confused but glad to see her smiling and laughing.

“One night after a show we were having an after party, a bunch of us were hanging out in someone’s hotel room. I don’t remember who’s but you were kinda tipsy and you were going on and on about how much you love the beach and the ocean and being out on the water, and you said that you could never live anywhere but on the beach for the rest of your life” Harper explained and began laughing a little more.

“Oh” Nick replied laughing with her but he was actually feeling like such a dumbass. His thoughts from earlier came back. He had probably made such a fool of himself during that tour.

The silence came yet again after their laughter died down. Harper started gather her stuff she had with her in the front seat.

“Well, we should probably put the stuff in the garage” Harper said while opening her door and getting out.

“Right” Nick agreed.

He got out and opened the trunk while harper was putting in the code to open her garage door. Nick lifted a couple boxes out of the trunk.

“Shit” Harper said to herself once the door was open. She forgot she had been going through some stuff last week and didn’t finish putting it all away. Looking back at Nick she saw that he was getting stuff out of the trunk. Harper quickly threw the stuff back in the box. She picked it up, threw it over in the other corner of the garage, and put another nearby box on top of it.

Nick had noticed her doing this while he was getting stuff out of the trunk. He was too far away to see what she had put in the box that she just shoved in the corner. But could tell it had to be something significant because Harper looked frazzled when she was done. He saw her take a deep breath and shake her head.

It didn’t take them too long to get everything out of Nick’s car and into Harper’s garage. Harper gathered all her stuff that she needed to take inside, then headed to the door that lead into her house.

Harper had just a few seconds to decide what she should do next. She couldn’t just say bye and walk in the house. That would be extremely rude considering everything Nick had just helped her with. She had to think quickly if she had left her house a disaster this morning or if she had cleaned enough recently. Harper turned to Nick.

“Do you want to come in?” Harper asked. Seeing his eyebrows raise slightly, she could tell he was a little surprised by the offer.

Nick was taken aback by her words. He really wasn’t expecting that. Part of him wanted to just scream yes at her, and the other part of him wasn’t sure if he should. He wasn’t sure if it would be too much for her.

“I don’t want to impose, you said before that you were tired” Nick was trying to be a gentleman. But he decided that if she were to say it was still ok after his reply, that he would take her up on the offer. His curiosity wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

“It’s fine Nick, I could make you some food or something. It’s the least I could do after how much you helped me today” Harper told him.

“Ok” Nick smiled and followed Harper inside, closing the door behind him. But not before something yellow on the garage floor caught his eye. He couldn’t tell what it was from that distance though. Shaking his head he decided not to worry about.
Chapter End Notes:
Sorry so long for an update. Hope you like it and let me know in a review. Thanks for reading!!