“But I was wrong. I’d fallen asleep after babysitting him for a few hours. I woke up early, around five or so, to a sleeping Alan, or at least I thought he was sleeping.

“Oh, God. No,” Harper said, brining her hand to mouth.

“I tried to shake him awake but he wouldn’t,” I choked out. “I beat the hell out of his chest, begging him to wake but he wouldn’t. My foster parents came into my room and tried to revive him but there was no use. He’d been dead for hours.

“My foster parents refused to believe I wasn’t using as well and kicked me out. I ended up at my last foster home that week.”

Harper unfolded her legs and faced me, sitting on her ankles. I face her as well, on the verge of losing my cool from the memory of my friend’s dead, lifeless face. She cupped her hands around my face and kissed each of my cheekbones, then each brow, brushing the hair back from my face and threading strands through her fingers, holding it in fists above my ears. I pull her closely to me, hugging her tightly. It was what we both needed in that moment.

I don’t believe two people have ever led lonelier lives than the lives Harper and I had led.

“I think I’ve been waiting my entire life for you, Harper Bailey.”

“I think I have, too,” she whispered.

I don’t remember falling asleep but I do remember feeling the best I’d ever felt in my entire life.

Chapter Six

The Knife

Callum

For the next two weeks, Harper and I worked our fingers to the bone day and night, saving every penny we earned, knowing Charlie would be returning and we’d eventually have to figure it out for ourselves. Oh yeah, it sort of also distracts me from having to deal with the growing attraction I was feeling for her.

No matter what I did, I could not stop myself from falling for Harper Bailey.

Every day, like a vision, she struck me like a starting gun with a sweet smile and a generous nature. She always made me a toasted bagel with cream cheese in the morning. A few days into our friendship, I discovered she didn’t even like coffee, the little liar, so I bought her a box of tea, instead. You’d think I’d given her a diamond when she saw the damn box. She was so elated, she’d begun to cry.

She was the hardest working person I’d ever met. She was frugal yet generous. She was an enigma and funny to boot.

“Good morning, Harper Bailey,” I said toward the ceiling, still lounging on the couch despite the fact that the sun has almost risen completely, meaning we’d lost any chance for work at the docks. But that was okay because we had worked at The Bowery the night before for enough cash tips that we should be alright to skip one morning.

Harper and I had several jobs. At three thirty in the morning, we usually headed for the docks, earning about a hundred dollars a piece there. We’d leave there at six thirty and catch the train back to Charlie’s where we would sleep until ten thirty or so, then head to whatever restaurant would take us. We usually pocketed an additional two hundred there and headed home once more where we’d sleep from around four in the afternoon until seven, only to work The Bowery until three in the morning, where we help clean up then head straight for the docks. In all, we earn around five hundred dollars a day and caught around seven hours of sleep. It was rough but we planned on getting an apartment together which was going to be difficult as hell for me knowing how I was starting to feel about her but it was the only way.

“Good morning, Callum Tate,” I heard her say. “We missed work this morning,” she said around a yawn.

I sighed. “I know. It’s alright, last night I think we earned three hundred altogether. We can afford to miss one morning.”

“I hope you’re right,” she said. “Because Charlie comes home today and we haven’t looked at a single apartment yet.” She stood on the bed and looked down at me. “We better skip work altogether today and clean this place up, then search for our own place.”

I leaned up on my elbows. I felt a definite crease in my hair and was slightly embarrassed knowing it was more than likely laying at strange angles. I attempted to run my hand through it but judging by Harper’s amused expression, I’d only made things worse.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s clean up, wash all the sheets and blankets and then count our loot before the apartment hunt.”

It only took us a few hours to finish everything up, leaving the apartment cleaner than how we’d found it. While the last load of sheets were drying, I popped around the corner and bought a paper to circle a few options close to campus before trudging back up to Charlie’s apartment to get an idea of what we’d saved.

When I walked in the door, I noticed Harper on the phone.

“Um, yes. Sure, sure. No, no, that’s okay. No, really, it’s alright.” She giggled politely. “Yup, alright. Bye.”

“Who was that?” I asked, shutting the door behind me.

“Oh, that was social services.” She cleared her throat. “I had my name put on a list, the day we met, for permanent housing.”

I felt supreme disappointment for a moment.

“Oh,” I said. “Well, what did they say?”

“No openings in the foreseeable future but I really only called to remove my name from the queue. You know, since we’ll be living together.”

Relief washed over me.

“Oh,” I said as coolly as possible. “Shall we?” I asked, pointing at the paper in my hands.

“Sure.”

“Wait,” I said. “Maybe we should figure out what our budget will be before we start looking.”

“Right, that only makes sense.”

We dumped our cash onto the floor and separated the bills by likeness. We had a few hundreds and twenties but the lower denominations dominated. I knew Charlie kept cash straps around his house because his bands usually paid in cash so I got up and rummaged through a few drawers before finding what I needed. In the end, we had five thousand seven hundred thirty-six dollars in bills and seventeen dollars in coins.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much money in my entire life,” I said.

“Well, we worked our freaking butts off for it,” Harper said. “What does it mean, though? We can’t rely on this kind of money when school starts, can we?”

“No, I don’t think we can. I’d say the most we could rely on would be...” I said, as I did a mental calculation in my head... “probably fifty a day, before taxes.”

“What? Why so little? What is that, like, fifteen hundred a month?”

“Yup,” I said, “and if I were to guess, our monthly apartment budget shouldn’t be more than seven or eight hundred. Fifty a day is just a guess, Harper. it’s so little because we’ll each be taking twelve hours of classes or, in my case, fifteen. We aren’t going to have time to work the way we have this summer.”

Harper stared at the floor, thinking. “We aren’t going to be able to do it.”

“Why would you say that? We’ll figure it out. I promise. Listen, we have a week before school starts, right?”

“Yeah, if I was even able to get in.”

“Harper, you were already accepted.”

“I know that. I’m just not going to get my hopes up that Sylvia may have found the funding needed.

“Okay, so we’ve got five grand in our pocket. We earn another thousand this week bringing the grand total to six thousand. We’re in school ten months.” I tallied up an estimate, on a hand held calculator. “Leaving us an additional six hundred a month in added income. We can do this. We just need a little creativity.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We can do this! Gee, you’re like a regular motivational speaker, Callum. I think I’m going to start calling you Tony from now on. Certain medical school is your true calling?” She teased.

“Ha, ha.”

“Just stay away from me in the mornings. Note to self, keep megaphone away from cheerleader Callum.”

“That’s it!” I said, tackling her onto the couch, tickling her until tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.

“Please stop,” she begged. “Please!”

She giggled uncontrollably. I released her but only long enough to allow her to think I was letting up. She sat up and took a deep breath but before I could tackle her again, a look flashed into her eyes. A look that told me she wouldn’t mind if I placed my hands on her body again. She sucked her bottom lip under her top teeth, her breathing was labored, her cheeks flushed. Did I ever want to place my hands on her figure. I sat up on my knees and walked them toward her. She instinctively sat on her heels and I placed my hands on either side of her legs, crouching over her.

“Harper, are we ever going to talk about that day outside The Hope House?”

“Don’t forget the subway,” she challenged.

I fought the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Or the subway?”

She breathed a sharp intake of breath when there was a hard knock on the door.

I sat back onto my heels as well. “Seriously. Everyone I know is still asleep. Who in the world could it be?” I asked the ceiling.

I climbed off the sofa and walked to the door, forgetting I didn’t have a shirt on. I swung open the door and there sat Sam, her eyes grazing every inch of my chest and stomach. I tried to cover myself up which only made her laugh out loud.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to open up Charlie’s house. Clean it up a bit before he came home tonight.”

“That’s bull, Sam,” I said, calling her out. “You knew we were here while he was away.”

“Alright, fine, but...Wait, we?”

“Yes. We, as in Harper and I.”

“Did Charlie know you let some stranger stay in his apartment?” She practically yelled, knowing full well Harper was within hearing range.

“Um, yes, he did, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Shit, Callum. I’m his freaking girlfriend!”

“No, you’re not and you know it. Charlie was never exclusive with you. You said so yourself.” She tried to open her mouth but I interrupted her, “What’s the real reason you’re here, Sam?”

She made a motion to come inside but I placed my hand on the door jamb, blocking her way.

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Are you coming to the show Saturday night?”

“You knew I would be.”

“Are you bringing her?”

“Who?” I played dumb.

“Harley.”

“Harper!” Harper corrected from the living room.

I wanted so badly to howl in laughter.

Sam crossed her arms and slowly tapped her foot. “Well?”

“Yes, I’m bringing Harper. I want her to meet Charlie.”

Her face brightened with realization.

“Yeah, I want Charlie to meet Carper, too,” she said, barely stifling her glee.

“Harper.”

“Yes, I’m sure Charlie will find her as delightful as you do,” she challenged, voicing the very fear I was so terrified of.