Joel's Babe

Chapter 6: The Part When We Ask, "Who is Harper Dailey?"

It was well past 12 o'clock at night when Joel stepped through the door with a sleeping Olive on his chest. It wasn't easy tending to customers as well as keep his baby occupied but, Nancy helped watch over Olive from time to time.

He walked over to the couch only to find Aurora sound asleep in her work attire. From the mess on the coffee table, Joel could tell she bought take-out. He stepped in the kitchen for sandwich makings when he saw a small take-out box on the stove. It had a note attached.

Joel--

I got your favorite. Enjoy!

Rori.

He smiled softly and grabbed the take-out and trudged upstairs. He put Olive in her crib--which Rori paid for--and watched her face relax back into slumber. He then climbed into his bed after stripping off his clothes and shoes. With his back against his mattress and his eyes on the ceiling, he toyed with his thoughts a little longer. He thought about Olive's mother and who she might be. Would he marry her out of obligation to Olive?

He thought of girls. Tons of girls--it seemed. Until his thoughts stopped on just one girl in particular. One girl he hasn't thought of in months. The girl--for lack of better words-- kicked his heart in the ass and left him to bleed out.

Harper. Harper Dailey.

Joel and Aurora didn't start out as the two musketeers. There was one missing musketeer that no one mentions anymore. She was every boys dream but she didn't have a heart. She was what everyone wanted and wanted to be. She was like candy--it's funny, that was her nickname. She was sweet but, the cavities she left behind were painful to acknowledge and painful to fill.

She had fiery, fire-blazing strands and deep green eyes from her Scottish immigrant parents but, she was California bred. She was a firecracker--she'd willingly set herself on fire and people loved to watch her explode.

Joel thought about her long fingers--she had a gift. Her piano fingers were amazing and legendary.

Flashback.

They met her in college at this party. Joel practically dragged Rori to this party as a way for her to actually enjoy her college experience instead of just studying all day and night. The night was young and Rori was droning on and on about counting college credits and bar-exams, while Joel spotted this red-headed bombshell. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her--it was like she reeked chaos through her pores. And he loved the smell of it. The red-head's eyes flickered towards him while she stood close to this blonde guy and teasingly wrapped her arm around the blondes waist and snuggled deeper into his shoulder. The blonde guy was oblivious to his girlfriend's flirting and continued to talk to some of his friends about his current courses. Joel on the other hand watched her with a smirk on his face. Without taking his eyes of the red-headed beauty, he grabbed the red-solo cup that was between Rori's hands and took a huge gulp of whatever she was drinking.

"Excuse me, Ror." He said still not looking at Rori as he left their secluded corner. She followed his gaze to the object of his attention and frowned. Rori knew Harper Dailey, she was in her psychology class last semester. She was always late and everyone thought she was sleeping with the T.A.--if she did, she had a brilliant way of covering it up. Rori was indifferent when it came to Harper Dailey and the rumors she dragged around with her. Rori figured that Harper was just like any other misunderstood college girl and refused to believe any of her poorly constructed rumors. However, she did feel a small stab in her heart when she saw Joel saunter over to Harper with lust in his eyes and passion pumping through his veins--or maybe it was the alcohol.

Rori laughed to herself as she stood alone in a corner and thought about her pathetic crush on her best-friend. Rori shuffled towards the kitchen to avoid looking at the boy she fell in love with fall in love with another girl.