Seven hours, three naps and four snack bags of Dorito's later Preston stood by Harper's side in her grandparents crème marble floor foyer watching Olaf, who vaguely resembled Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, scamper up the stairs the wrought-iron railed stairs after Harper demanded to see Astrid.
It was cold to Preston, not just because it was thirty-nine degrees outside during the Norwegian summer and he was wearing Nike basketball shorts and a white tee. The coldness came from the inanition of the grand house. The infinite hallways big enough for a mac-truck to stroll through that led to rooms big enough to conduct lectures to an incoming freshman class.
The three-storied mansion rose to rival the spruce forest that engulfed around the forty-seven-acre estate. Five people lived in the house that span eight thousand square feet with its neo-gothic accents but only one made the rules. Rule number one, Harper just broke it.
"When you said Norway. I didn't think you meant the country." Preston reshaped his fro trying to get presentable before Astrid floated down the stairs. He wanted to keep his status as Astrid's favorite of all her grandchildren's friends.
"What other Norway do you know?" She asked with a knotted face.
"Did you get permission?" Preston tugged at Harper's arm. She was unfazed with her eyesight locked on the second floor balcony wanting for Astrid to emerge. "Were you summoned?" He tugged Harper harder.
Harper pulled back, "I don't need permission." She looked back up at the balcony hearing the door close and footsteps approaching. "I had my first birthday party in the parlor." She pointed down the hall. "I ran up and down these hallways with Sven, Gustav and Dagny playing hide and seek, I used my first tampon in this house."
"I didn't need to know that." Preston grimaced looking up at the grandiose crystal chandelier with candlelight bulbs that rain white brightness over them.
"Then, don't ask me if I need permission, again." Harper swayed side to side rocked with frustration and anger.
"He's a liar." Harper seethed. "He broke his promise."
"Whoa!" Preston said catching her attitude from her raised eyebrows and flaring cheeks. "What crawled up your butt and died."
Preston's eyes shot wide open. She was pissed. This was the angriest he ever saw her, even angrier than the semester Emerson Moreau called her two-toned.
Olaf reemerged down the stairs. His polished oxfords tapped the floor and he told with a thick Norwegian accent, "Mr. Sven wished to not be disturb."
"Did you tell him Harper wants him?"
"Yes, Ms. Chambers, I did."
"And he said he wasn't coming down."
"He wished to remain." Olaf thought for a second. "Undisturbed."
Harper laughed. "Undisturbed." She laughed again shifting her gaze to Preston and he wryly smiled at her. "He wants to not be disturbed."
Harper rushed around Olaf and ran up the stairs, took a right at the corner and opened the first door she reached. "You promised me!" She spat out as she rushed in the room.
Sven raised his head up, lifting his eyes out the book. In flannel pajamas and his flaxen locks pulled back into a bun he was tucked in bed and ready to call it a night.
He looked passed Harper's irate demeanor and Preston's confusion to place his eyes on a nervous Olaf, "I said I didn't want to be disturbed."
"I informed her of that." Olaf affirmed clasping his hands.
Harper waved Olaf's statement away as she blocked Sven's view of the man, "I don't care what you want because clearly you don't care what I want."
"What are you talking about cousin?"
"Don't play coy, Sven. You know what you did."
"Other than smoking marijuana and getting picked up by Astrid's random drug tests I haven't done anything...." He slipped the bookmark in the book. "Illegal."
"No it wasn't illegal but you broke your promise." She folded her arms tightly. "After Isabeth, you swore to never hook up with one of my friends. There are thousands of girls that I don't know. Why are you only attracted to the ones that I do?"
"Well.... any guy would take a run at Isabeth." He smiled at the nod of Preston's head. "But I haven't touched any of your friends since then...now I can't say my thoughts have always been pure." He grinned to himself.
"I'm not playing, Sven." She flung a pillow at him. He grabbed the pillow before it smacked him in the face. "You hooked up with Fiona. Gidget saw you. So, don't lie."
Sven sat the pillow back on the bed, "I didn't hook up with Fiona. I was helping her."
"How?" She cocked her head to the side. "By giving her some vitamin D."
"Hey! I said that once. And don't get mad at me if the girl was happier after we screwed." Sven pushed himself up in the bed. "But being serious. Fiona asked me for help."
"Help with what?" Preston questioned moving away from the door.
"I was in New York visiting Aunt Katja when I ran into Fiona. She didn't look like herself; shifty and anxious." Sven trained his sight on the portrait on the wall in front of him. "I managed to get her back to the penthouse after much pleading. After she calmed down...she told me she had a stalker and she needed to get away."
"But why was she at Princeton with you." Harper couldn't hold herself up anymore she sat on the bed.
"She stayed in my dorm for a week." He swallowed hard then placed his icy blue eyes on Harper. "Until...he found her."
"What did you do then?" Preston asked now standing by the bed.
"She said she wanted to go home. Back to Evening...to see her family and friends." Sven tried to blink away the mist that formed in his eyes. "That was a month before.... you know."
"Did she tell you his name?" She asked.
"No. but before she left she received some flowers and the card read to my muse but she ripped it up and tossed it before I could see who it was from." Harper placed her hand on his but he slid his hand away, "Look, I told you what you wanted to know."
Sven's voice was melancholic as he continued, "Now you can go because like I said before...I don't want to be disturbed." He sniffed as a tear fell from his eye. "And this is disturbing." He reached over and switched off his lamp casting the room in darkness.
Thanks for reading! Remember to comment and vote.