How it happened

Part 6: Rain Storm

Harper's POV: 

I don't know why Alex keeps trying to talk to me and I don't know why I like it when he does. It's causing more harm than good. I have more bruises from last night and a shift at the coffee shop today. It's currently 85 degrees outside so wearing a turtleneck is impossible. 

I step out of the house with four layers of makeup on my arms, neck and face and make my way to the coffee shop. As soon as I open the door I start to relax, Jackson's not here. I walk to the back after greeting Rebecca at the register. When I open the door to the employee room my comfortability disappears, right there in front of our employee lockers is Alex. He's half way through lifting his shirt up, I can see the soft ridges of his stomach and the v-line that leads below dark jeans. When he hears the door open his eyes fly up, meeting mine. For a few moments we just freeze staring at each other, then we look away. 

"I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here!" I explain as I turn away, he fixes himself. 

"It's okay." His response is short as he slides past me and out of the room. His quick exit stings, I shouldn't care. I have a boyfriend. I love Jackson. Do I really though?  Yes. Yes I do and I always will. But it still hurts that he wanted to get away so fast. 

I go through the motions of putting my things away and slipping on my uniform in a trance, the image of Alex's bare chest still stuck in my mind. I force myself to focus as I go to the cash register to begin my shift. It's a pretty slow day so I pull out the book I keep up there and begin reading, before I knew it, three hours had past.

"Hey! Your Jackson's girlfriend right?" I look up from my book to see the blonde girl from earlier. "I'm Amanda" She's still just as pretty as before but this times she doesn't look confused, there's a bright smile fixed on her face.

"Oh yeah that's me. I'm Harper it's nice to meet you, what can I get started for you?" Her smile widens as she asks for her latte and about the special of the day. "Okay I'll have that right out for you!" 

"Thank you so much! I just wanted to clear things up with Jackson though, I swear I didn't know her had a girlfriend when he invited me, I would've never been so eager if I had known. I'm so sor-" My brain starts to fog over as she speaks. Jackson must've told her. Invited her? To where? 

"Wait where did he invited you?" She looks up at me confused.

"He invited me to his place for drinks and I'm assuming something else... Wait.. he didn't tell you?" I feel my face fall and the room begins to blur. Jack wouldn't cheat on me. He loves me. She must really be confused about this.  But what if she's not?  No. No she definitely is. 

Of course at the perfect moment Alex steps out with her latte. 

"Iced caramel latte?"

"That's me! Anyway I'm really sorry, you look really sweet so if you ever need something like a friend or something you can call me." She says as she slips me a piece of paper. I instinctively slip it in my back pocket and try to get through the rest of the shift. 

The rest of the day is a blur. I know I messed up a lot of orders because I couldn't focus. All I could think about was Jackson. Jackson and another girl. Jackson and a girl that's not me. I could feel Alex looking at me the whole time. His worried eyes trained on me the whole time, but every time I'd look up he'd look away. Am I really that ugly? After we close we're alone in the employee room.

"Are you okay?" He asks timidly, still watching me.

"Yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?" He scoffs as he shuts his locker. 

"You've been off all day Harper. Look I don't know what happened but if you need someone to talk to I'm here." I stay quiet as he leaves but the second the door closes a single tear slips down my face. I wipe it away before leaving. 

Usually Jackson picks me up from work but he was busy today (-busy cheating- No he wasn't he probably just had homework) so I started to walk home. It's not very far, it's even a little relaxing to walk. Until it started raining. I pull my T-shirt tighter around myself as I walk. It's dark and the thunder is so loud it makes the ground shake, I don't even notice the car pull up next to me. 

"Hey!" I look into the rolled down window to see Alex. "Hop in I'll give you a ride"

"No um it's okay. Jackson wouldn't like that very much." He stops the car.

"Harper get in the damn car. It's pouring and your whole body is shaking. If Jackson has a problem I'll explain the situation to him." I look at him nervously but another crash of thunder forces me to jump into the open car. "Thank you" We start to drive in silence but the rain keeps pouring and the road gets blurry. "I can't see anything. I'm pulling over and we'll wait it out." My anxiety spikes, Jackson hates it when I'm late but, it's unsafe to drive and I don't want to hurt Alex so I decide It's better I just walk from here. 

"I'm just gonna walk the rest of the way." I tell him as I move to unbuckle.

"No you aren't that's ridiculous. You could get hurt out there." I start trying to open the door but he pushes the lock button forcing me to stay.

"Alex you can't force me to stay in here."

................................................................................................................................................................Alex's POV: 

Just hearing her say my name shoots sparks through my body. I saw the look in her eyes this morning but after talking to that blonde girl she's been off all day. There's been tears in her eyes and she's been shaky, so when I see her on the side of the road soaking wet in the storm my heart plunges. 

"Yes I can. You're not going out there Harper." Her eyes widen in fear and at first I thought it's because of me but then I realize. She starts shaking, her whole body moving. Her breathing speeds up and she mumbles incoherent things. "No no no" "I have to go" "he'll kill me" 

"What? What do you mean he'll kill you? Is it Jackson is he the one that gave you that bruise?" I should've kept my mouth shut because she starts shaking even more than before tears start to slide down her cheeks. I reach for her but she flinches away so I push back the center cup holders and move across the seat. At first she tenses when I wrap my arms around her but after a few seconds she relaxes, her arms make their way around my neck, her face nuzzles into my chest. We stay like this for what feels like hours but it must've only been a few minutes, until the rain goes down to a drizzle. 

Harper moves away from me and suddenly I feel so cold. 

"Can you take me home now please?" I look at her puffy eyes and red cheeks and somehow she's still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. 

"Yeah, Okay." I drive her back to our apartment building and open the door for her, as soon as it opens she darts out sprinting into the building as she mutters a small "thank you." I follow her in and head to my apartment more confused than before. 

................................................................................................................................................................

Okay guys this is my first book!! I know my writing isn't perfect and neither is my grammar so if you have  any tips send them my way!! Thank you so much for reading so far!