Sunday, 3rd of April.
Harper woke up the following morning, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She rolled over, expecting to cuddle straight into Luke, although as she patted his side of the bed she noticed it was empty, and cold, which indicated that he had left quite some time ago.
She smiled and briefly opened her eyes. Maybe Luke was downstairs, perhaps he was making breakfast or talking to the other boys.
Harper laid in bed for a few more minutes, her mind drifted as she thought about what Luke and her could do for the remainder of the day. She was thinking something calm, something he would remember until he came back.
It was five minutes later that Harper decided to get up, due to the sun that shone directly on her face. She pulled the covers off and reluctantly pulled herself out of bed, the only thing that kept her going was the fact she could go see Luke.
Harper brushed her brown hair out of her face before she grabbed a pair of shorts out of her bag, thankful she had an emergency bag at his. She smiled at the feeling of Luke's shirt on her; he must have changed her into it when she fell asleep.
As she walked down the stairs, Harper could feel her stomach stirring, a hand was placed over it to try and calm it down. When Harper walked into the kitchen she was met with Calum baking pancakes, and Luke nowhere in sight.
Calum turned around at the sound of Harper's footsteps as she walked further into the kitchen. He saw Harpers questioning expression, and he silently cursed Luke for leaving him with the task of telling Harper.
"Where's Luke?" Harper asked as she sat down on a chair by the kitchen table. She noticed Calum's hesitant- almost scared- expression, and wondered what could have possibly made him look like that.
"Well, um," Calum paused as he debated whether to lie or tell her the truth. How would she feel if he told her that Luke had lied? But how would he feel if he lied to her?
It was when Harper cleared her throat that Calum decided to lie, the pained look on her face made him feel so guilty as he spoke, "The flight was changed, he left early in the morning."
Harper felt tears brim at her eyes as she placed her head in her hands and laid it on the table, determined not to let Calum see her cry. She wasn't ready, she wanted to spend all of today with Luke, to give him a proper goodbye at the airport.
"Are you okay Harper?" Calum asked as he placed a plate of pancakes in front of Harper. She glanced up, her mouth nearly watered at the sight and smell of the golden, fluffy pancakes.
"I'm, f-fine." Harper murmured, "thank you for breakfast." She added once she had started eating. The pancakes tasted as good as they looked, even though Harper had drowned them in golden syrup.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Calum questioned as he placed a comforting hand on Harper's shoulder.
Harper nodded her head, beating herself up inside for getting so emotional over the fact Luke had left early. He couldn't help it. She placed her knife and fork down, placed her dishes in the dishwasher before she had hurriedly making her way back up the stairs and into Luke's room.
When she was in the comfort of his room she had let the tears fall. She tried to keep her cries silent, but she knew she hadn't succeeded when Calum had lightly knocked on the door. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, trying to hide the fact she had been crying. "Harper?" The knocking became a bit more persistent when she didn't reply.
"I'm okay Calum, just getting changed." She lied. Surely that was a believable excuse as to why she couldn't open the door?
"Okay. Just promise me you'll come back down soon?"
"Of course," Harper replied. She waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps, before she collapsed on the bed and cuddled into Luke's pillow. She didn't know why she was getting so emotional, yes he would be gone for a while, but she didn't understand why she was so upset.
She must have laid there for ages since Calum had come by again to see if she was okay. She felt bad that she was stressing Calum out, but she had no clue how to deal with her emotions.
It wasn't until the third time that Calum came by that Harper finally decided to leave Luke's room, although she couldn't bring herself to let go of his pillow. When Harper opened the door she was greeted with the sight of a worried looking Calum.
"Harper," he sighed as Calum embraced her in a tight, comforting hug. "It's going to be okay."
Harper nodded as Calum released her and gestured for her to go back downstairs. "Are you sure you're okay? I know it must be hard for you..." Calum trailed off because he didn't know how to end it, and because he didn't want to make Harper cry again.
"I'm fine, promise. I'm just going to head back home, visit my parents," Harper partly spoke the truth. She did want to see her parents, and she would go home. She just knew that her dad wouldn't be home until later that day and her mum till late at night since she was out at a party.
"I'll drop you off," Calum offered. He sent her a smile as he went to go grab his keys.
•
"Thank you, Calum," Harper spoke as she hopped out the all to familiar SUV. She gave him a small wave before unlocking the front door and walking inside of her home, which she hasn't stepped foot in for what felt like ages.
She quickly peeked through the windows just in time to see Calum reverse out the driveway. He stopped outside her house for a few moments, Harper almost thought he would hop out and knock on her door. However, after a minute or so had passed he was driving off down the street.
Harper kicked her shoes off, and flopped straight onto the couch with a content sigh. She had a couple hours before her dad would be home, so she had lots of time to let her emotions out.
That's how two hours later, Logan had walked inside only to see his daughter huddled up on the floor, right at the bend of the L-shaped couch.
Harper nearly had a heart-attack when her father had placed a hand on her shoulder and asked her what was wrong. She couldn't even form a coherent sentence as she wrapped her arms around her fathers neck and cried.
Logan was shocked, he had no idea what to do. He knew this was different to all the times that Leia had cried on his shoulder. He jus couldn't believe that something- or rather someone- had done this to his daughter.
"Harp, tell me what happened?" Logan tried to ask again. He hoped to get a proper, logical response and was thankful when Harper nodded and wrapped her arms around her knees, which were had been brought up tightly to her chest.
"Luke's gone to Australia," she let out a final sob before continuing, "he doesn't know when he will be back."
When her father didn't reply, she looked up at him, tear stains on her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy. "Am I stupid? Clingy?" She wondered aloud. Was she overreacting? She couldn't explain the connection that she felt to Luke.
"Of course not, Harp." Logan spoke as he stood up and gestured for his daughter to follow him.
The two walked outside, the direction they were headed was directly to the forest- a place where her and Logan had ventured to many times together.
The sun was still high in the sky, it only being 2pm, and was sending down rays of sunshine against the species of flora.
There were so many Macro flowers around Harper, each patch was a different colour to the one only mere metres away. One Macro caught her eye, it was a light lilac in colour, the middle of it was almost white. Her face was one of awe as she stared at the breathtaking sight in front of her.
"It's so pretty," Harper spoke as her dad came to stand beside her. The flower's petals were open, surrounded by more of its species, although the others were more of a purple colour, rather than lilac.
Harper felt like she was the lilac one, everyone else in town was purple. She may be classified as the same colour, but she was different, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
"It is." Logan agreed, his lips twitching up into a smile at the sight of his daughter so happy. All him and Leia wanted for their girl was for her to be happy.
The father and daughter duo had spent a couple hours in the forest, and it wasn't until the sun began to set that Logan spoke, "I think it's time to head back."
"But dad," Harper whined as she looked at the tree tops, small slithers of the sunset showed through the thick, green leaves.
"Harper," her father warned as he pointed back the way they had came. Harper sighed but followed him nonetheless, her eyes wandering around the forest as she absorbed the calm and beautiful atmosphere.
While her eyes were wondering around the forest she could've sworn she saw a person duck behind a tree, accompanied by the sound of a twig snapping. She stopped and stared at the tree for a moment, before she decided that she was just being paranoid and no one was actually there. It was probably a deer anyway.
Harper jogged to catch up to her dad, smiling as she followed him out of the forest and back towards the house. She glanced behind her, just in time to see a flash of brown behind the bushes. Her eyes widened momentarily before realising it was probably just a deer. She shook her head and followed her father inside.
"What do you want for dinner?" Logan asked as he walked into the kitchen. He opened the cupboards, pantry in fridge in order to find something to cook for the two of them.
"M' not really hungry, dad." Logan stared at his daughter. He furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced at her briefly, his eyes narrowed as he tried to determine whether she had had any food today.
"Have you eaten today?" He asked.
Harper knew if she said 'no' that her dad would force her to eat, his doctor side would show. "Yea. Calum cooked pancakes, had a big pile just before you got home."
"Okay. I'll make some homemade pizzas if you change your mind," Logan grabbed out the ingredients, and prepared the pizza dough.
"Okay," Harper spoke as she trudged up the stairs and back into her room. Her back hit the bed with a soft 'thud' as she spread herself out on the comfy bed.
Harper cuddled into her pillow, her mind drifted to what she was going to do now that Luke was gone. Of course, she had her schooling to attend but other than that, what would she do?
Harper was startled awake a few hours later by a knock to her door. She rolled over, still disorientated from her slumber, and ended up flat on her bedroom floor. The door was quickly thrown open after she had landed on the floor, her worried father leaned down beside her.
"You okay?" Logan asked as he wrapped his arms around his daughter.
Harper nodded, although she wished it was Luke who would help her. If he was here than he would've stopped her from rolling off in the first place. But, he wasn't here. Harper had to get used to that.
"I'm fine, dad." Harper grumbled as she pushed her dad away and stood up. She rubbed her wrist before she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where her dad had laid out two home made pizzas.
"Are you sure you're not hungry? I can make something else, Harp." Logan suggested. He didn't like the idea of his daughter skipping a meal, due to the fact it was bad for you, unless done correctly.
"I said; I'm fine." Harper groaned as she laid down on the couch and turned on the TV. The news came on, talking about a devastating plane crash, where the plane had been blown up over the Indian Ocean.
Harper's mouth parted in shock. Her eyes brows furrowed as she looked closely at where it had departed from, her heart relaxed as soon as she saw it had departed from Australia. Harper continued to watch some TV for a few hours with her father until she excused herself and headed up to bed.
Once Harper was changed and back in the warmth of her fluffy, warm covers she let her mind drift. She wondered why Calum was being so kind to her- not that he wasn't ever kind, but he was being a lot kinder. Ashton she still hadn't heard from, so that hadn't changed due to Luke's departure.
It was when Harper was almost asleep that she heard the sound of leaves being crushed outside her house. She could sense a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, much like she had when she discovered Luke's plane had left early.
She slowly peeled the covers off and hopped out of bed, her feet carried her to the window as she peered out. It was hard to see anything, there was hardly any moonlight, which meant it was extremely dark outside. She did a quick glance over the backyard and found her window before she walked back towards her bed. It was probably a deer, or something.
Harper fell asleep that night, unbeknownst to her that a pair of eyes was watching her from a neighbouring tree.
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