W Y A T T

"Wyatt?" I stopped in my tracks to whip my head around and search for whoever it was that was calling my name.

"Mr. and Mrs. Moore!" I smiled when I recognized the blonde woman and the taller, brown haired man, and took a couple of steps towards their direction.

I knew Harper's parents quite well. Since Harper and I were friends, and we had spent some time together, I had gotten the chance to know them in the past. They were everything my parents weren't. And back in May, when I was nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, to introduce myself as Harper's prom date, wearing my tuxedo and a white rose boutonniere that matched her corsage, her parents showed genuine interest in getting to know me, and even insisted on taking some pictures with their cameras. They were massive photography geeks, always snapping a photo of every little moment.

"We are so sorry to bother you!" Mr. Moore removed his backpack, placed it on the floor between his feet, and bent down to search for a picture frame that he handed to me. "But we forgot to give this to Harper. And we don't want to go back to her room now, not after we already said our goodbyes."

I looked at the gold metal frame on my hand, and immediately recognized a much younger Harper, between her mom and dad, as the three of them smiled widely for the picture, in the middle of the shiny Times Square, with a commercial for Coke right behind them, the golden arches made out of french fries of McDonald's taking up the right margin of the picture, and a matching yellow and red Kodak commercial standing just on the opposite side. Harper's long and wavy strawberry blonde hair looked exactly the same, and so did her smile. It was impossible not to recognize her.

"That would just be opening a very fresh wound." Harper's mom added with a shaky voice. "For us all."

"It was hard, uh?" I offered as I looked between the two of them.

"She's our only child." Her mom lifted her shoulders. "I don't think we can ever get prepared for the set off."

"And Harper?"

"She cried, we did too. The first few days are bound to be hard, you know that. But she seems... off. I don't know, call it a mother's intuition, but she seems like she's not herself." She took a pause, before adding. "If you don't mind me asking, Wyatt, will you please keep an eye on her? I'm only asking because you're going to the same university."

"Oh yeah, no problem." I said rather too quickly, but if her parents noticed it, they chose not to address it.

"Thank you." Her father said while he put his backpack back on. "It's good to know that she's got someone here that she knows, so she won't be alone."

"She'll never be totally alone, Columbia is a world of itself." I added. "Has she met her roommate yet? Did they hit it off?"

"Harper doesn't have one." Harper's father's statement caught me by surprise.

"What?" My eyebrows knit together. "How can she not have one?"

I knew that her parents weren't rich, and I knew that they were doing a massive effort to put her through her dream college. I mean, tuition alone is around sixty thousand dollars a year, not to mention housing and all the other fees and expenses. The only way she'd be able to live in a private room was if her parents had won the lottery, which I didn't believe was the case here.

"She called here last week, asked to change to a private room but they said the only way she could do that is if she'd pay the difference. But housing called back and told her that there was a student moving out of one of the dorm rooms, and if she were to transfer to that one she'd be alone."

"That is until someone moves in. Which will most likely happen next semester, I'd assume." Her mom added.

This made absolutely no sense. The Harper I know was dying to move to New York and to start college. She was fully ready to embrace the college experience of sharing a room with a complete stranger, eating her meals at the dining hall with everyone she doesn't know and then get to know them and make new friends. Bouncing back and forth between classes, staying up late to study for an exam or finish a paper, attend the college events, go to the games and spend her free time wandering around New York City with said new friends. That was all she ever talked about ever since I met her.

"I'll check on her." I said, reassuring them that their one and only baby wouldn't be left alone, while telling myself that I would try to get to the bottom of this very unlike Harper behavior.

"Are you going back to Cali soon?" I asked while I zipped close my own backpack, now with the frame in it.

"Our flight leaves tonight." They explained, with a pained expression on their faces. "We wish we could stay for a few more days and explore the city but we got work."

"Oh yeah, that's too bad." I offered with a polite smile. "Well, have a safe flight home."

"Thanks, honey." Harper's mom added. "It was good to see you."

"You too!" I said with a wave, as we parted ways.

I went back to my route, making my way towards the library, where I'd planned to spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on some classes. However, for the first time in three years, studying wasn't easy for me. I wasn't able to concentrate. Not when I knew that Harper Moore was in the same exact place as me, and especially when I knew that something definitely happened for her to act this strange way.

When my phone rang, the sound of a text notification, a big part of me hoped it would be Harper herself, letting me know she'd gotten here or asking me to show her around. But when I looked at the lit screen of my phone, and saw that it was my sister, my smile turned upside down.

Chloé: Hey you! How are you?

Wyatt: What do you want?

Chloé: lol I'm that predictable, uh? Just wondering if you've gotten the chance to meet Harper and give her a proper welcome to Columbia

Wyatt: Actually, no. And yes, you are!

Chloé and I aren't twins, but might as well be. We are very close and always had a very special and unique bond, with this spidey sixth sense, almost telepathic, in which we always know what the other is thinking, without having to exchange a word.

So, considering all of that, I probably should just go ahead and meet Harper, see her and try to figure out what the hell happened. But I didn't want to be too obvious or candid about it. Might not be a good idea given our history.

But on the other hand, I had been given a gift. The gift of an excuse. A valid justification for my actions. And that gift came in the shape of a picture frame. The frame that her parents had given me was going to be my golden ticket to Harper Moore. They asked me to give it to her, so, essentially, I would only be doing them a favor. Seeing Harper and getting to talk to her would only be a bonus for me.

A God given bonus. One that I should and would not waste or put behind me. A bonus that would allow me to find Harper, and talk to her, without the weight of thinking that I was being too straightforward about it. And boy, oh boy, how badly do we need to talk...!

Growing up, I never had stuff just fall into my lap when I needed to. Except today.

Thank you, God. 

* * *

author's note

hi lovelies! i know i keep apologizing, but my personal life really has been a whirlwind. i went through a massive loss, a new job, all in the past two months and it hasn't been easy. so, it's been difficult to even find time to post a chapter, let alone edit it! i am hoping things will be a little bit more back on track from now on :)

anyway... what are your thoughts? i for one LOVE harper's parents and how much they love wyatt and care for him <3 

question: don't you already love chloé?

don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter, leave a comment, and share it with your friends!

xoxo, mars