Better off without him

Chapter 10 - Xavier

I felt like a stranger watching the banter between the three. They all seemed really close and Brian would jump in occasionally with something to say. It certainly was obvious that I wasn't the only fan of Harper's cooking. The girl really could cook, which made it odd that she'd be a full time teacher, when she owned her own catering company and bakery.

Their banter was cut short when our waiter came over to take our order. Once he laid eyes on Harper his eyes scanned Harper in an appreciative manner and she barley even noticed. She was too busy looking at the menu trying to decide what to order.

"Come on Harp, just order one of everything like you usually do, so you can scrutinise the menu," Alexander joked.

Harper slapped him on the arm and turned to the waiter, "Sorry about him, but can I please have your king crab linguine and coastal lamb rack," Harper asked politely, still not noticing how the waiter hung on to her every word.

"Will that be all ma'am," the waiter replied in what he thought was charming but it just looked like he was crossed eyed and needed to go the bathroom.

"Yes, thank you very much," Harper read his name tag  and said "Christian," while giving him her sweetest smile.

The waiter rushed off and everyone but me and Harper burst out in laughter.

"That guy totally has the hots for you Harp!" Macy bellowed while clutching onto her tummy still in fits of laughter.

"He so does. He couldn't take his eyes off of you. For a second there, I thought he was about to propose," Alexander replied, still laughing at Harper's expense.

"I think he was trying to be nice, which is also part of his job. He was like that with everyone else, Harper tried to reason.

"Nope just you. I bet if we were to look at him right now he'd be staring at you with hearts in his eyes," Brian joined in.

We all turned in the direction of where our waiter was and sure enough he was staring at Harper, and as soon as he saw us looking he wove in Harper's direction. She looked so embarrassed and wove back.

"Don't worry Harp, I'll keep all these men vying for your attention away," Alexander replied teasingly.

This made Harper even more embarrassed and she flushed a beautiful shade of red.

"I don't think anyone's vying for my attention, you're all just exaggerating."

"It's that dress Harp, you look so stunning in it. I forgot to comment on it earlier but damn girl, you are certainly one fine specimen. You really should look into leaving your hair out more often," Macy said, smiling at her best friend.

Harper shrunk back in her seat and nodded a small thanks to Macy.

I found it odd how she shies away from attention and couldn't really handle compliments. I always thought she was stuck up and vain like all other gold diggers but I might be wrong about her.

The night turned out to be a good one. The food was amazing, the conversation was lively and Alexander seemed to be a down to earth kind of guy. What shocked me even more was how sweet Harper was. She handled Alexander and Macy's friendly jibes at her expense every time the waiter came to our table, she had real intellectual responses when the topics got more serious, and throughout it all she did it without even looking or talking to me.

I didn't know whether to be happy about that or pissed off. It's like every time I opened my mouth to say something she'd nod her head and listen without any response, while everyone else commented. Every time I answered one of her questions, she'd freeze for a moment and still wouldn't look at me or say anything, just nod and someone else would reply for her. No one else seemed to notice this  but I did. I felt like she was waiting for me to say something nasty to her or about her, which is why she always froze up whenever I said something and god did I feel like an asshole.

She had every right to react the way she did, because that's how I've treated her the past couple of months. Now that I realise that I don't want to continue with my cruel behaviour towards Harper, it might actually be too late. It's like I've instilled some sort of fear in her and I don't know what to do to make her feel more comfortable around me.

After dessert we all sat and talked about our jobs. Harper spoke so passionately about the different teaching strategies she was tying out in the classroom and the antics of all her students and we all couldn't stop laughing. She also spoke highly of all her workers at Mary Jo's and the new additions to the menu. She even talked about all the different function they were catering for but most of all I enjoyed how animated she spoke about her plans for my company ball. I swear by the end of it I was actually excited to be attending in a few weeks time.

Macy talked about work and wedding plans and Brian, who was a chef at his own restaurant talked about how he's been asked by Food Magazine if they could do a story about his success at opening his own successful restaurant straight out of university. We were all excited and happy for him.

We just walked through the front door of my house when Harper scampered off to make some tea, when Alexander turned around and asked me a question which I was too scared to answer.

"How come you and Harper don't talk at all?"

I gulped not knowing what to say.

"I've been here only two days and I can't recall a time where I've seen you and Harper exchange even one word. What's going on there? I mean, don't you find that weird. Two people living together under one roof and not having any form of communication whatsoever. It's like you're both strangers," he said softly so Harper wouldn't overhear.

"Umm, you see...Harper and I," I started to say before Harper interrupted.

"Lex, want to watch a movie tonight, if you're not too tired?" She called out.

"Yea sure, but make sure it's not one of those damn romance movies you always force me to watch," he answered. He turned back to me and said, "Harper and you what?"

"You're right, we don't really communicate much unless absolutely necessary because we don't have anything in common and we're both very busy with our lives," I rushed out hoping that would suffice. "I'm trying to get to know her better though but I just can't find the right words, but I'll work on it."

Alexander looked at me skeptically for a second before he nodded his head at me.

"Ok, but you better treat her right, because I won't hesitate to put you in an arm bar."

I gulped loudly, before i heard Alexander laughing.

"Man, I'm just kidding. You should have seen your face. You looked like you were about to shit bricks. You have nothing to worry about. Harper's told me about how kind you are to her to offer to let her stay here while her house is being remodelled and she's had nothing but nice things to say about you. I meant what I said yesterday, I can't thank you enough for looking out for her. There's not enough people in her life who'd do what you've done and for that I'm thankful."

I was shell shocked, I was still speechless about his revelation. Why would Harper lie to him and say that I've been kind to her when I've been anything but a cruel asshole to her.

"No worries. I know you'd do the same thing for Macy," I said.

"Damn straight. Those are two of my best friends and I've always got their backs."

Harper rushed into the living room with a teapot and three cups and placed them on our coffee table. She disappeared and came back wearing one of Alexander's shirts which almost reached her knees because she was so tiny and two throw blankets. She threw one at Alexander who was seating on the love seat and placed one on the armrest of my chair, before she made her way over to the love seat and cuddled next to Alexander.

I flipped through some movies before I settled on Guardians of the Galaxy, which Harper and Alexander looked happy about and we all sat back and enjoyed the film.