when all is said and done | e.d.

twenty-two

(you're very welcome for that photo ^^)
ethan

i only offered to use my spare time to pick up the rest of the presents so i could stop by her house.

to see ruby, i remind myself.

to see ruby. yeah. exactly.

with arms full of bags, i do my best attempt at knocking on her door. it swings open shortly after, and harper faces me with a smile.

she looks different.

not a bad different.

a good different.

her hair is let down, reaching just past her shoulders, and she wears no makeup, just her modern, wire glasses.

instead of the usual skirt or dressy pants, she wears grey sweatpants and a white cropped sweater.

"you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come in?" she asks, tilting her head a little.

i blink, pushing the intrusive thoughts from my head. "uh, right. yeah, sorry."

she takes a couple bags from my hands and opens the door wider. i step into her now familiar home, and slip off my shoes.

my face breaks into an immediate smile when i hear the small little running footsteps, and ruby pops out from the hallway. she races to me, panting heavily and already trying to lick my face.

i've never had a dog love me this much.

"she really likes you," harper nods, closing the door behind us.

"she would be the first," i joke, and hear her laugh a little.

we make our way to the kitchen with ruby on our heels, and start taking everything out of bags and laying them out to sort what goes to who.

harper high fives me when she sees everything off the list she gave me was crossed out, and i hand her credit card back.

"okay. do you know how to wrap gifts?" she asks, digging through a small closet off her living room filled with wrapping paper and bows.

"who doesn't?" i ask rhetorically.

she turns around with an embarrassed look, and red cheeks. "me."

"oh my god," i laugh out. "pathetic. you're pathetic."

"no i'm not!" she exclaims, pushing past me and back into the kitchen. "i just... always put stuff in gift bags. wrapping is hard."

"i can teach you."

harper looks up at me, her big green eyes slightly glossy and curious. "okay," she whispers.

"but on one condition..."

"what's that?"

"you have to open another bottle of wine."

she grins and ducks down to her cupboards, pulling out two bottles of conde valdemar rosé.

"oh great," i roll my eyes playfully. "the fruity stuff."

"come on! it's so good. i think you'll like it."

she grabs two wine glasses from a cupboard and fills each of them up half way.

"i've drank more in this past week than i have in my entire life, honestly," she mumbles, putting the glass to her lips.

"why?" i ask.

she shrugs. "i don't know."

i take a sip of the wine, and it faintly resembles champagne to me. it's not bad, but i would prefer red.