W Y A T T

Harper answered the phone on the third ring. I don't know what I was expecting, really, when she'd swipe right and put the phone to her ear, but what I did not expect was the chaotic and buzzing sound of the masses, the crowds.

"Hello?" She said, her voice barely auditable amongst the loud background noise.

"Where are you?"

"Um..." I could tell she was thinking of something to say. Something that wasn't the real truth, and it hurt me to think that she'd have to hide wherever she was from me, that she didn't fully trust me. But I swallowed the feeling and waited patiently for her answer.

"Not at Columbia. I'm... going somewhere."

"Oh, okay." The disappointment was easily perceptible in my voice, I was sure.

Harper and I had been spending almost every evening together, mostly studying, me sharing my notes from my freshman year with her while keeping her company at the same time.

"Why?" She asked before correctly guessing. "Are you outside my dorm room right now?"

I could lie like she did. Avoid it. But when it comes to Harper... I just didn't have it in me.

"Uh... Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am."

"No way!" She gasped. "We didn't talk about studying tonight, I-"

"I know, I just... Wanted to surprise you. Not with notes, though." I looked down at my other hand, and the box I was carrying. "Just donuts."

None of us spoke for a minute, we just stayed on the phone, me listening to that background noise and she listening to silence on my end.

I blurted out the question that's been brewing in my mind before I lost the courage to ask it out loud.

"Where are you going?"

I was well aware that it was a question that could sound too intruding and make me come off a bit obsessive and creepy. But thankfully, Harper didn't seem to think so.

"Home."

"What?" I struggled to find better words. "Are you at the airport right now?"

"Nope."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and my tone matched the feeling.

"Where are you, then?"

"Penn Station."

"You're at Penn Station?" I sounded a lot more surprised than I'd meant to but I was completely caught off guard about that statement. Confusion took over. "Are you planning to get from one end of the country to the other by train?"

"No." She explains. "I got a cheap flight to LA but it's leaving from DC so I am taking the train to Washington tonight and taking the plane first thing tomorrow morning."

I briefly took the phone away from my ear and looked at the time. "It's eight o'clock, Harper. What time are you getting to DC?"

"Midnight."

"And where are you spending the night?"

Forget about me trying not to sound like a total creep and obsessive guy with a crush, this is totally making me sound like I'm being a possessive friend, possibly a stalker, but I was getting too worried to care about that right now.

"I don't know." Her voice sounded soft. Before she could continue, I was already speeding through the hallways of the building, holding the phone against my ear using just my shoulder.

Once inside my room, I removed everything from my backpack and filled it with a change of clothes, some pajamas, my toothbrush and my phone charger. I'd carry the box of donuts in my hands.

"I'll just sleep at the train station or the airport."

"There's no way I'm gonna let you do that. What time does your train leave?"

"Eight thirty. But Wyatt, I don't-"

"We'll talk when I get there."

I could probably get to Penn Station in less than twenty minutes if I rushed, which I knew I could, but when I stood outside the university, using one hand to secure the donuts and the other to hold onto the strap of the backpack that rested lazily on one shoulder only, I saw a yellow car drive past me and I figured that taking a cab would be my best option. Which it proved itself to be, because I got to the station with only five minutes to spare.

When I met Harper by the entrance, she was already very impatiently waiting for me.

"What platform?" I asked while looking up at the board, but finding it hard to make sense of so many numbers and destinations while my eyes could only see spots. Probably from rushing.

"Two. Let's go!"

She grabbed my hand and dragged me with her as she ran down the staircase to the designated platform for our train. She ran so fast through the stairs that I wasn't even allowed the time to cherish the sparks that flew when our hands were touching.

The train was already there and with its doors open, waiting for passengers to take their seats before departure. We did just that, and I followed her inside, letting her take the window seat.

For the first ten minutes, we didn't speak. I couldn't think of what to say and I guessed neither did she. However, after the lady who was sitting across from us (in her late fifties, with short, grey-ish hair) got up from her seat and changed train cars, leaving us alone, Harper broke the ice.

"What were you thinking coming here?"

"I told you, it's dangerous to spend the night alone at some train station or airport. Don't you realize that?"

"Oh and what? Now that you're coming with me I'm gonna be safe because you're a guy and I'm a girl and I couldn't take care of myself?"

"That was not what I said." I let out a sigh. "It's dangerous for both."

"So, what's your plan?"

I glanced at the window on the opposite side of the train, watching the buildings swoosh past, as the train went through the rails.

Leaving the city was definitely not on my plans tonight, let alone going back home. But I acted upon a feeling. I felt like Harper was in harm's way for doing this route by herself and I and acted on it, allowing me to make a decision. And that decision was to pack up a bag and leave. Literally!

Which sums up my relationship with her fairly well, because although platonic and on the friendship base alone, I am so hung up on her, I would follow her anywhere, anytime. Hence why I'm in a train moving at the speed of light right now, headed to Washington.

"We'll search for a hotel when we get there and get some proper, safe sleep."

"I can't afford that." She threw back. "Plus, the whole point of me taking the plane from DC was to save money."

"I'll pay for it."

"No way. I can't accept that."

"That's not very feminist of you."

"It's not about feminism, it's about not wanting to accept your help."

"Why not? Am I really that much of an unpleasant guy?"

"No, but hotels are expensive and I don't want you to carry that burden."

"I'm the one offering." I reasoned. "Look, we've got three hours to kill."

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and started looking up hotels in the Washington Union Station area, where we would be spending the night. "We can do some research and choose a place that's not too fancy or too expensive, okay?"

I found a couple of hotels, with decent prices that included breakfast. I showed it to Harper and after we settled on a hotel, I called the reception number to book a room for tonight.

The next two and half hours were spent talking about everything but nothing in particular. Me, asking her how long she'd be staying in California for, Harper telling me she'd stay for four days and that she missed her bedroom. She would drift off to sleep occasionally, mostly after it got darker outside, but her naps never lasted longer than twenty minutes. I asked her what the flights she'd be taking and booked a return ticket for myself also.

"Are you excited about seeing Chloé?" She asked me, out of the blue, after we passed by the border between states.

"Yes." My lips curled upwards into a smile. My sister and I are very close and although we talk everyday on the phone and through text, I miss being around her. "I miss her."

"Yeah, me too. And Zoey. And I miss Kyle, too."

The conversation ended there, and Harper pulled out a book from her bag - The Bride Test, I could read on the cover - and opened in where she kept the marker, the page where she'd left off the last time she was reading it.

I rested my head against the headboard and closed my eyes.

* * *

When we hopped off the train at our stop, it was nearly midnight and cold as hell in DC. So, we followed the directions to the hotel to a tee, and made it there in about five minutes.

When we got to the hotel, the lady behind the reception table asked us for our IDs and shortly after, handed us our room keys. It was late, I was tired, and I was sticking to those two excuses to blame on the fact that I was probably not seeing straight. Because I only saw one bed.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Harper commented with a huff before dropping her bag on the floor and walking inside.

"I'll go talk to them."

I did. And they told me that because when I called I asked for a room for two, they assumed that we were together and wouldn't mind sleeping in the same bed. Also, they didn't have any other rooms available.

"This is just so typical, you know?" Harper said when I came back into the room and delivered the news to her.

"No, actually I don't."

"This always happens in romcoms and books. When two people get a hotel room, there's only one bed. It's a trope in the romance universe, a form of diversion to force two people together."

"On a bed?" I couldn't help but smirk. "What do they do then?"

"Sometimes they just talk and become closer. Other times making out or even sex is involved."

"I'm not complaining." I said, meaning to joke around with the situation, but only caused Harper's cheeks to turn a darker shade of red, which she could not hide.

"I'll sleep on the floor." She said after clearing her throat.

"Nonsense!"

"It's only fair since you're paying for it and I was going to sleep on the floor anyway." She shrugged. "At least this is a safe, clean and disease free floor."

"You have no idea how untrue that is."

Having hotel mogul parents means that you know all there is to know about managing hotels and that includes everything, from managing the housekeepers to managing the directors. The good and the bad. And one thing I know for sure is that hotel room floors are never clean enough for you to sleep on, no matter how clean they seem to be.

"Fine, we'll share the bed." She said eventually, but not sounding too upset about it. "We should just get some sleep. We've gotta get up early tomorrow."

"You use the bathroom first."

"No, you go first. It's the least I can do after you joined me and got us this room."

"No, no. I insist. Plus, I should probably text the guys and let them know I won't be back until a few days."

She didn't protest and Harper walked away to fetch her bag at the entrance of the room and tossed it on the right side of the bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her grabbing her personal belongings and her pajamas and lock the bathroom door behind her.

She didn't take long and about twenty minutes she came out of the bathroom, with her strawberry blonde hair loose and hanging behind her back. She was smelling like fresh cut flowers and summer days, and I felt myself getting lost in her scent. This was going to be a long night for me.

Harper pulled the covers and laid down on the right side of the bed. "You can go."

I grabbed my bag and did as told. After a shower and brushing my teeth, I was ready to come out.

"Shoot, my phone died." Harper said, lazily throwing her phone on top of the comforter. "Could you bring me my bag, please?"

"Sure." I grabbed the duffle bag she brought with her and took it to her side of the bed. "Jesus, what in the world are you carrying here? Rocks?"

"Nope. Just the parts of the guy I murdered."

I stood still, my mouth agape, knowing that she was joking but not recognising this caustic, dark humor of hers. Harper was funny, that wasn't even up for debate. It was one of the reasons why I liked her straight away. But this type of humor just wasn't hers. She wasn't herself and it led me to believe that this might be a hint of some sort of defense mechanism she might be picking up on.

"Relax, Wyatt." She smiled as she found the phone charger, and plugged it on the outlet next to the bedside table on her side. I grabbed the heavy bag and put it back on the table.

"I wasn't going to tell you this, this soon, but I don't want you to call the cops on me when you can't find me."

My curiosity peaked, absolutely unaware of what she might be about to tell me.

"My bag's heavy because I'm taking some things of mine. Things I will not be taking back to my dorm in four days."

I wasn't sure I was following, but she enlightened me.

"I'm dropping out of Columbia."

"What?" Was all I managed to say with an expression as shocking as my tone. "Why?"

"I just don't like it."

"College?" My eyes widened. "Harper, you got into Columbia University, an Ivy League school, with a scholarship!"

"Yeah, and I got it because I worked my ass off in high-school and for my SATs, because I thought Columbia and New York were what I wanted. But they're not."

Harper looked empty. I looked into her eyes and they were blank, it's like life had vanished from her. And I hated seeing her like that.

"What changed your mind?"

I could tell she was about to say something, something that would only serve to shut me up and end this conversation topic, but I interrupted her.

"Because when we met, you were obsessed with the Big Apple and moving there. And your eyes shone brighter than the moon when you asked me questions about it and I answered them."

"I don't know, really..."

"Forget about college for a second. The adjustment from high school to college can be very difficult, I'll give you that." A beat. "But what about New York City? The city that never sleeps and that people come to to find opportunities and chase their dreams?"

She didn't say anything, she just sat there, looking at me.

"New York City was your dream. Are you going to throw it all away because college is getting hard?"

"It's not about that!"

"Ah, so you do have a reason."

"I have no one in New York! Not my parents, not my best friends, not my house, my home, not my bike... nothing."

You have me. Was the first thing I wanted to say. But I knew if I said it, she could fire back a "But that's not enough.", and that would break my heart forever, with no possible form of fixing.

But I still went ahead and said it. After all, I would do anything for this girl, anything in the world. And that included getting my heart broken.

"You have me."

She looked appalled for a second. She probably never thought I'd have the guts to say those words aloud.

"I do. And I cannot thank you enough for all your support and company. And the donuts and the notes, really... thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"But everything else is missing." By now, a small tear rolled down her right cheek. "And you know what... even if for some reason I could make a full transplant of everything in my life and bring it to New York, it still wouldn't feel the same. And I would still hate it."

"You're right about that. It will never be the same, no matter what you do." She remained still, looking hopeless and sad. I had just confirmed her thoughts out loud and it hurt. "But that's the beauty of it. You don't want it to be the same, you want it to be different so you allow yourself to grow."

"But I don't want it to be different."

"How do you know that?"

She gave me a stern look that said she was done with hearing me talk and not support her decision like she probably expected me to, deep down at least.

"Here's my unsolicited advice," I said, before taking her hand in mine. "Try to prove yourself wrong, try to stay at least until the end of the semester. Give yourself a chance. You're not doing that by throwing away an opportunity that you worked so hard for."

We remained silent for a few minutes, while Harper was thinking about my words. She didn't open up to me about what she was thinking, or whether she agreed with me or not, but after a while she let go of my hand and nodded her head in the direction of the bed.

"Let's go to sleep." 

 * * *

author's note

i've been waiting to post this chapter since before this story became a whole story! wyatt and harper have always had my heart, and this is one of the first scenes i had written for them <3 

question: what's your favorite romance trope?

if you're enjoying LEOYAM, please don't forget to vote, and consider leaving a comment with your thoughts! also follow me on ig - missmarswrites - for sneak peeks, edits, quizzes and so so much more!

xoxo, mars