** Harper **
They kept chatting until late into the evening. It turned out that four years was quite a long time to be out of touch, and there was too much news in both of their lives to catch up. When Eli finally decided it was time to call it a day, he suggested that they set up a schedule every week to meet up in the future — both to make sure they don't fall out of contact again and to guarantee a slot on his chaotic calendar for the "regular practices".
Harper was a bit surprised that Eli was taking their arrangement so seriously. Even more surprised that he picked Saturday night as their default rendez-vous time, because it meant that she would be seeing him again … tomorrow.
But most of all, she was surprised by what he had told her about his job and his father.
Eli had always been a private person. Harper wouldn't be surprised if the number of his friends who knew about Sterling Trust could be counted on one hand. The fact that he was telling her all of this might have a bit to do with his move back to Davenshire — it'd probably be hard to stay private about it for much longer, now that he was officially a member of the company — but still, admitting to her how he felt about the job meant that he trusted her as a friend, and that he still saw her as someone worthy of having a real conversation with.
It shouldn't be a surprising revelation. But for Harper, it somehow was.
She had been trying to redefine her relationship with Eli ever since their first re-meeting. They hadn't seen each other for too long, and the experience of talking to a first-crush-in-life so explicitly about sex was too surreal and embarrassing to even think about. So she decided to think of him as "just an editor" instead, to make things easier. Because if all they talk about was simply "business" and "for the web novel", then she could let those awkward moments pass with much less mortification.
But just as their conversation tonight reminded her, that was not how things worked. They were friends. They'd known each other for so long and shared so much in their lives already. It wasn't something she could just change or ignore.
Maybe that meant it was time to change her view instead.
~ ~
At a quarter to eight on Saturday evening, just before their meeting time, Harper turned on some ambient music, double checked the coffee table which no longer had embarrassing books piled on top, and examined herself again in the mirror.
The thought from yesterday had been on her mind all day, and apparently it had an obvious effect on her. Unlike the previous two times when they met, she didn't fidget over which chic and sexy dress to choose from today. Instead, she went with something completely different — jean shorts, a ruffled off-the-shoulder top, and her hair down in natural curls.
It wasn't a date night look, but it was the look she liked on casual weekends and the same one she always wore back at home. It was what felt most like herself, and she decided that if she was still considering Eli as a friend, then she shouldn't be afraid to let him see this side of her too. She wanted them to both be comfortable with each other in their own skin, and if that meant reminding him of the girl next door, oh well. They weren't dating anyway, so why would she need to go out of her way to impress him with a glam look in the first place?
Harper smiled at herself in the mirror, pleased with her choice. She was ready when the doorbell rang.
"Sorry, I suppose I'm a bit early." Eli's half apologetic smile greeted her before the door could fully open. "Traffic was lighter than I expected—"
He did a double take when he had the time to take in the sight in front of him. "Wow, your hair looks … so different."
… What kind of comment was that? Harper was prepared for a potential lack of enthusiasm, but this was an even worse reaction than she expected. She smiled a bit awkwardly as Eli stepped inside. "Um, I … ran out of time to braid it."
"You ran out of— Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that it was different from the way you did it yesterday." Eli hastily corrected himself. "I meant as in, from years ago. Your curls used to be tighter. When did it become all soft waves?"
Harper blinked. She didn't expect anyone would actually notice such detail about her hair, let alone remember it. "Ah, I suppose it's the weather here. The dryness is hard on tight curls, so it just got softer over time." She eyed him curiously. "But I'm surprised you noticed. I thought no one but myself would be able to tell the difference."
Eli chuckled. "Maybe you've forgotten that every time we rode in your parents' SUV, your hair would always blow all over my face in the wind." He caught one of her locks between his fingers and studied it wonderingly. "I probably knew it better than my own — the texture of it, the smell of it … even the taste of it."
Honestly, it might have been a bit odd to hear anyone else talk about her hair like that. But coming from Eli, with the image he was describing and with his fingers twirling her tresses in such an adoring way … Harper thought it sounded kind of sexy.
The smell of it … the taste of it …
It made her want to lick her lips, and it made her want to kiss him. So that was what she did — she reached up and hooked her arms behind his neck, and she pressed her lips against his.