First Daughter || (n.j.)

Chapter 13

Harper's POV

"Right, sweetie?" My dad questioned again.

Aunt Lizzie looked at me like she had seen a ghost. She had no idea I hadn't told my parents about the break up and now the cat was out of the bag. Well, I guess no time like the present.

"Well..." I started.

"We broke up several weeks ago." Luke blurted out. "This is my fault, I had asked Harper not to tell anyone yet because I wasn't ready for everyone back home to know." He was completely lying, but in this moment, I was thankful for his help.

"What?" My mom said completely shocked.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you." I said sincerely. I really had felt bad lying to them about his but I knew it would lead to a whole round of questions I wasn't ready to answer just yet.

"It's... it's okay, we're just shocked." My dad said.

"Obviously, we're still close friends and care about each other. That's why when you called, Mrs. Ryan, I was more than happy to come anyways. I was worried about her after I heard what had happened."

"I... I don't really even know what to say." My mom said looking a little bit hurt but she seemed to have taken Luke's excuse to heart.

"We just decided we were better off as friends." I mumbled.

"Well, you certainly don't need to defend your decisions to us, sweetie." My mom said. "And Luke, you're still always welcome here. If you'd like to still stay for the correspondent's dinner, we'd love to have you."

"I would love that." Luke smiled.

After that, the subject was pretty much dropped. I was thankful no one pressed us for more information. My parents had handled it much better than I had expected and maybe that was because we were all here in the room together.

I wasn't so sure they would take the news of Nick and I dating as well. I glanced back at him a few time and he winked at me. I smiled back at him and tried to keep focused on dinner. I didn't want anyone catching on to anything before I could tell them about it myself. Especially after this disaster, I figured I needed to do it sooner rather than later.

After dinner, we had all said goodnight and gone our separate ways. Luke was going to meet up with some of his friends before returning to his hotel. We said goodbye and he promised to be back to be my date to the Correspondents dinner on Sunday.

Nick stopped me in the hallway and pressed him lips to mine. It took my breath away.

"Hi." I whispered.

"Hi." He smirked. "Dinner was sure interesting."

"Yeah, that's a good way to describe it." I smiled.

"Are you up for a little walk?" He asked intertwining his fingers in mine. It was like he was a different person now that we had admitted our feelings for each other.

"Sure." I said following him out the back door.

We headed toward the garden. It was beautiful this time of year, even in the dark.  There were lights under most of the bushes and it some strung out between them. It looked like fireflies were dancing all around us.

"I used to come out here all the time when I first started working for your dad. I did my best thinking in this place."

"It sure is beautiful. I don't think I have ever seen it like this."

"You haven't really been around here much since your dad became President have you?"

I shook my head.