It wasn’t really her scene. Going out never really had been. When Harper had finally turned twenty-one, she didn’t spend it in the traditional way. A group of friends didn’t take her out, she didn’t have a brunch or a small get-together of close-knit friends… She didn’t even have a drink. Harper had spent her twenty-first birthday finishing up a thesis paper on the passivity of female characters in Frankenstein. It was one more thing in life she had missed out on; and one more thing that separated her greatly from Jason.

Jason’s entire life seemed to be a party. Yes he worked and trained hard to compete at an elite level in sports, but he played just as hard as he worked. He was used to going out, and when he did, he was used to getting a certain level of service. The fanciest alcohols in the fanciest bars with the fanciest people in them. So when he brought Harper into this world, by way of a new nightclub called Pulse, she felt completely out of her element. She had grown up around socialites and had attended many white parties in her day, so the crowd around her wasn’t intimidating. It was everything they were partaking in that was. Drinking had never been Harper’s thing mostly because she never had time for it to become her thing. After being a model student in college, she immediately entered the work force. There wasn’t a chance to unwind with a night at a club.

The only reason Harper had accepted Jason’s invitation to this less than desirable locale was that she wanted their relationship, or whatever it was, to take another step further. Jason could teach her new things in many aspects of life, and she figured that if she went with him to a place that was more in his wheelhouse, she’d feel comfortable enough to let him lead the way and see where the night went. The night wasn’t really that bad, she was just anxiety ridden. They had met up with two of Jason’s teammates; Mike, who had accompanied Jason at the beach, and Reilly, a skinny-looking kid who had come from Boston.

They were already a drink and a half in by the time Harper and Jason arrived, so in order to catch up, Mike suggested they order a round of shots. As if Harper wasn’t intimidated enough, this was just an extra layer. Jason was all in for it and Harper had to remind herself that if she wanted new experiences with him, she’d have to be okay with him taking the reins. So he did. Jason took her hand and led her to the bar. While he waited for the bartender to have a moment, he pivoted and looked back at Harper. Her eyes shifted over the chaos behind the busy bar.

Jason shook her hand to get her attention, “what’re you drinking tonight?”

She looked up at him and stepped closer to him as someone passing through bumped into her from behind. She made a mental note of the way Jason used it as an opportunity to wrap his arm around her waist, with his hand resting comfortably just above her ass. “I don’t know. I’m not a huge drinker, so I’m not sure what I like.” Just then, the bartender came up, ready to take their order, making Harper feel like she had to come up with an answer immediately. “What’re you having?”

“Probably gonna stick with tequila,”

Just the thought of that made Harper want to gag. “I’ll do that too,”

“You sure?”

Harper nodded and watched as Jason faced the bar again to order. He spoke efficiently with the bartender, who after a moment, slipped away to prepare the shots. In under a minute, he was back, putting two shots, limes, and a small glass of salt in front of Jason. First Jason paved the way to lead by example. Harper didn’t know that taking a shot of tequila was such an in-depth process. Jason licked his wrist, dabbed salt onto it, picked up his shot glass, licked the salt, downed the shot, and then stuffed a lime into his mouth to suck the juice.

Now it was Harper’s turn to do the same. She copied Jason as best she could, cringing when the tequila slid down her throat. Her hand balled into a fist when she sucked on the lime, and when she reopened her eyes, Harper spotted Jason giggling at her. She could feel her cheeks getting hot, but before she could put too much thought into it, Jason leaned in and kissed her. He cupped his hand around the back of her neck and planted a wet, tequila-y kiss on her lips. From behind them, Harper could hear Jason’s friends hollering at him about it, and she pulled back, embarrassed. Unhinged by it, Jason smiled and turned back to the bar to order their drinks.

He thought she’d enjoy something sweet that would mask a lot of the alcohol flavor, so he ordered her a Tequila Sunrise. From the first sip, Harper knew it was dangerous. The delicious and because it was sweet, it was hard to believe there was any alcohol in it, which is where the danger came in. Not realizing how much alcohol was in it could prove to be a bad situation if she had too many. And for Harper, too many might’ve been two. Not drinking on a regular basis and being a pretty small person made her the definition of a lightweight. So one shot and a few sips into her drink, Harper could tell she was slowing down a little bit. Her reflexes weren’t as quick, everything was exponentially funnier, and every bit of her wanted Jason… badly.

It was clear that this was the sort of scene Jason was comfortable in. He was talkative, charming, the true life of the party, and most of all, he was making sure he was in control as to take car of Harper. She didn’t notice that at first, but when she finished her first cocktail and saw Jason was only halfway through his, she realized he was pacing himself so he could make sure she’d be alright. Which she was. With a refreshed Tequila Sunrise in her hand, Harper was feeling more than good. By the time Jason was helping her back into his car, they had drank the same amount, but Jason’s tolerance was much higher than Harper’s.

She stumbled into the passenger seat and looked to her left, waiting for Jason to walk around and get into the driver’s seat. “You’re so nice,”

Jason looked at her and laughed as he pulled out of the parking lot of the club. “Thank you,” he smiled, glancing at the map on his phone to make sure he was going in the right direction for her place.

“No, you’re like really nice.” Harper blurted and looked out the windshield, “you probably help old people cross the street… and buy all the cookies from an entire Girl Scout troupe.”

“I do have a weakness for Thin Mints.” He flicked his eyes to check on her. Convinced she was alright, he held her hand over the center console between them. “You’re nice too,”

“No, I’m a cold-hearted wench.”

Jason chuckled at her bluntness. “I don’t believe that,”

“You wanna know the last time I cried? In a movie theater at Lilo & Stitch. I was seven. At the part when Stitch is lost in the jungle and he says, ‘I’m lost’. That broke me up. But I haven’t cried in fifteen years, so like I said, cold-hearted wench.”

“Why’d that make you cry?” Jason squeezed her hand, nearing closer to her apartment.

“Because he was lost in the jungle and he just wanted his family. He wanted people he could depend on and he couldn’t find them.” Harper looked out the window. In her altered state, she didn’t realize it was all she was looking for too. “And he was just a little guy. A misunderstood alien thing with four arms, antennas, and some spiky things on his back.” She leaned her head back against the headrest and shut her eyes, “I don’t even know why Lilo thought he was a dog. Like had she ever seen a blue dog before? Come on, Lilo.”

Jason held back his laughter and pulled up against the curb in front of her apartment. He shut off the car and slid out of his seat. When he got around to the other side of the car, Harper was already trying to wiggle herself out of her seat. Sometime during the car ride or after they parked, she had taken off her heels and was holding them in her hand. Completely unstable on her feet, Jason lifted Harper up and gave her a piggyback ride up and into her apartment.

Once inside, Harper stumbled to the couch and flopped onto the couch. She watched as Jason moved through her place easily, searching through the kitchen cabinets for a glass. When he found one, he filled it up with water from he fridge and brought it into the living room for Harper. She took a sip and stared as Jason sat beside her.

“Your friends call you daddy,” she set the glass down and blinked, hoping that would focus her eyes. It didn’t really work. “Is that a kink?”

He smiled and shook his head, “it was a joke that caught on and follows me around now.” She opened her mouth to say something, but Jason picked up her glass, “keep drinking.”

She did as she was told. “Do you like me?” Harper waited until Jason nodded, and then she started up again, “I mean, do you like like me?”

“Yes, I like like you.” He played along with her childlike game. “Do you like like me?”

Harper was quick to smile. She set the glass back down on the coffee table and then leaned in, wrapping her arms over his shoulders and kissed him. This was the tequila talking, no doubt. But either way, Harper pushed her tongue against Jason’s lips. She moved her hands to his sides, working lower to his hips. Before she got there though, Jason held her hands and brought them back up to his chest. He tilted his head to the side and kissed her again, welcoming her tongue into his mouth. But the moment her hands drifted back down to his hips, he held them again.

“You don’t want me?” Harper asked, pulling away. She had a smirk on her face and tried to reach for his hips again.

Jason held firm and licked his lips. “I do, but not drunk.” He released her hands and cupped her face in his hands. “I want you all here so you can remember it, not partially somewhere else because of the alcohol.”

“You think it’s gonna be something for me to remember?”

Jason grinned and kissed her again, “I know it’ll be something for you to remember.” He pulled back to look at her, and as it looked like she was about to go on a long winded rant about something, he took her hand and stood up from the couch. “You should probably get some sleep. I have a feeling you’re going to wake up with a friend tomorrow.”

Harper stood up and followed and Jason led her into her bedroom. “You?” She found it odd that he knew where her bedroom was considering she hadn’t given him a tour of her place, but then reconsidered as her apartment was only four rooms.

Her response had caught Jason off guard mostly because she’d never been that forward with him before. He pulled back her duvet to make a spot for her in her bed. “A hangover,” he sat her down and crouched, unzipping her booties and slipping them off her feet.

“You’re not gonna stay?”

He stared at her for a moment. “I have to let Layla out or she’ll pee all over the floor,” he mentioned quickly and turned around for the dresser. Jason began pulling open drawers until he found one containing pajamas, to which he them pulled out an oversized t-shirt and brought it back to Harper to allow her to get changed into it for the night.

As she did so, her mind reeled about why he didn’t want to stay over. She was flat out asking him, and sounding disappointed by his refusal. It didn’t make sense to her. In her experience, or lack thereof, she believed that if a boy liked a girl, he’d make that effort to hang out with her, and surely wouldn’t decline an invite to stay the night. So she figured he must’ve not liked her as much as he claimed to.

Harper figured she had to be alright with that. He didn’t owe her anything. He hadn’t made any promises to her that he was now breaking. It was okay if Jason didn’t like her. He wasn't on this earth for that sole purpose. But it did hurt a little bit to know that in asking him to stay over, he declined.

---

Jason was right. She did wake up with a killer hangover the next morning. And on top of that, she also woke up with a bruised ego. Despite being drunk, she hadn’t forgotten the fact that she'd invited Jason to stay the night. And she hadn’t forgotten that he’d said no. Harper turned over and willed herself out of bed. She needed coffee and breakfast; something that would soak up the rest of the alcohol still coursing through her.
What she never expected, was to walk out into her living room and nearly collapse to the floor. In front of her, she soon realized Jason was standing in her kitchen. His form had startled her at first and it took a moment for Harper to collect herself and meet him by her stove. He looked ready for the day, already changed in a new outfit from the night before. She was confused and trying to figure everything out, and before she could even say a word, Jason handed her a cup of coffee.

“This is going to sound like a lie, but I swear it’s true… I told you to lock your door last night as I was leaving. But I guess you passed out because your door was still unlocked this morning.” Jason looked over and smiled at her as he flipped over a pancake.

“You’re right, that does sound like a lie,” Harper smirked and took a sip of the coffee he handed her. “How’s Layla?”

“Great. She didn’t pee on my floor,” Things went quiet for a moment. Jason finished up with the pancakes and put them on two plates. When they sat at the table, both of them couldn’t help but notice that the awkward silence was growing. “How’re you feeling?”

“I don’t know what hurts more, my head or my deflated pride.” Harper took a bite and stared at Jason. He returned her glance with a confused one of his own. “You didn’t want to stay with me last night?”

“Harper,”

She shook her head. “I don’t need an explanation. Like you don’t owe me that… I just want to know what we are. Because we’re hanging out all the time… so much, that I don’t really see anyone else, but you don’t want to be with me?”

“I do want to be with you.” Jason’s answer was quick and instant. She had barely finished speaking when he responded. “And I did want to stay the night. But truth is, I panicked. I might make you nervous, but you make me nervous too. And I didn’t want to stay over and have something happen because you were drunk. I want something to happen when we’re sober.”

Harper continued to stare at Jason. She understood where he was coming from, and she respected his decision to make sure they were sober before they really fooled around. But now she was in a new situation; wanting him more than ever and hoping he’d go along. “We’re sober now,”

Notes

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