"Jared..hey.." she stared at him completely dumbstruck, all the noise, all the energy around them seemed to drop away, like they were stuck in their own void at Times Square "but you..are.." her brain was working overtime, he was..Joe? Where was that hole in the ground that swallowed you whole when you needed it?. "Yes, I'm Joe..guilty as charged! This is so..amazing" he could barely contain his excitement, it was weird and wonderful and exciting, and..most of all it seemed weird for her, she just stood there, staring at him like she had seen a ghost "would you..like to go for a coffee or something?" he stammered, ok, he was in love, simple as that! "you know..to..uhm..get the shock under control". His voice was so warm and inviting..Harper nodded, her face, especially her cheeks still felt like they were gonna explode, she still didn't know how to feel, "is it too early for something stronger than coffee? I could actually do with a stiff drink". Jared looked around, he had asked his driver to stick around for half an hour, where was he? Oh right there! "It's not too early, but can we have some lunch with those drinks? I know this really cool and quiet place not far from here, where we can be alone". Instinctively, his arm lifted like he wanted to put it around her shoulders or on her back, but he quickly stopped himself when he saw Harper frown, they had never touched and yet it felt like they were so connected, or at least he did. Did it matter that there was an uncomfortable silence in the car? She just couldn't believe that she was right here, right now, with Joe..aka floppy hair..who would she have wanted it to be? She did love a good surprise from time to time and this didn't exactly feel like a surprise, sighing she stared out of the window and bit her lip, unfathomable that she had shared so much with floppy hair, simply unfathomable and way awkward..he was a good guy and she liked him and all, but would she have loved for the mystery to continue? Definitely! It felt like she had gained and lost a friend at the same time. "We're here'' he looked at her with his heart thumping in his throat, please look at me, ahhh, yes, score! She gave him a little smile and reached for the doorhandle, this was really happening, he was gonna sit across a table from her and he was gonna look in those dusky brown pools and be as infatuated with her as he had been on that rainy afternoon a couple of days ago. He got out of the car and circled it to join her, don't..touch her, and don't stare at her butt, which was really difficult not to when it looked so perky in those leather pants.
Like a true gentleman, he pulled back her chair and waited until she was seated before he sat across from her, "I thought you weren't going to show up..but I'm glad you did.." come on, man, stop the stammer, you've done this a gazillion times before..yeah, but not with this kind of beauty. "I thought the same about you, Joe..uhm Jared" she extended her smile at the waiter who handed her a menu, "tell me something, did you really oversleep the first time we were supposed to meet? Or were you there and left again because you didn't like what you saw? Were you even in New York? Or maybe you had a beter offer, like a date with your 'it's oh so complicated' ex". First shot was fired, but he didn't mind at all "that's easy, that would be a yes, and a no, a yes again, and last but not least a no" he sat back a bit, an amused grin on his face "I was in NY, of course I was, and you're reading way too much in the 'ex' thing, we're friends without benefits" while his eyes locked with hers. "I don't know why I asked that, sorry, I'm still in shock I guess..I mean..it's..you! Why didn't I deduct that from your e-mails..and then I wrote all this..stuff..it's so embarrassing" she buried her face in her hands. "Are you kidding me? your e-mails are some of the most poetic, hilarious, thoughtful stuff I've ever read, you're so talented! Is there something that you can't do? You paint, you make light installations, you write.." he reached for her hand but she pulled back on instinct. "What I can't do is be normal in situations like these" she bit her lip, oh thank god for waiters bringing drinks, "that's because you're not normal, Coco..I mean..I guess what I'm trying to say, badly, is that I really..admire you..I've been doing that since you came to Germany, that was such a rollercoaster, like I held back because of Coco, and I held back on Coco because of Harper..does that even make sense? And by the way, what do I call you? Harper? Coco? Countess?.." he didn't care if he was being too open so early on, she needed to know. But the second he mentioned her title, she froze up completely "Oh, so you found about that..call me whatever you want, just as long as you never mention that title ever again, ok?!" it was anything but a question, it was a statement, fine, another intriguing thing to discover about her, oh he had time, he had all the time in the world.
