Theon
" Really, Sam, you need to ask Iris to show you these pictures," Harper confided, drawing even more laughter from the other woman. Callie was so angry.
" Did you really freak out, Apollo?" Sam asked with a smile on her face, "I didn't know you were the type to be afraid of the public.”
We were sitting on the floor of the empty room, eating some egg tarts that Harper had brought with the Chinese food. In the end, she helped me carry the disassembled furniture down to the basement, and seemed more at ease in the presence of the mother of my son.
" I didn't freak out, Samantha. I was six years old and I had a fight with my sister," I explained, "and my mother might as well burn those pictures!”
" You'd better take advantage of that before he disappears, Sam," Harper whispered as I rolled my eyes.
" Damn right, I'll make a copy just to show the baby," she scoffed, "if you know of any more embarrassing pictures of him, you should tell me.”
" Ohhh there is one, he was about fourteen years old and on a beach in Greece," Harper began.
I immediately rummaged through the bag of food, looking for some distraction.
" We didn't open the fortune cookies," I warned, taking the three small packages out of the bag.
" Ahh, I love fortune cookies, give me mine," Harper smiled, forgetting the previous subject, to my satisfaction.
I handed each of them a cookie, keeping the other one for myself. Sam gave me an amused look as she opened her own cookie.
" So, what's the message? " I questioned Harper.
"Our first and last love is... self-love" she read the message aloud, frowning afterwards.
" Love is closer than you think" " Sam read her message next " God, may he be beautiful, interesting and successful.”
" Like a certain vet? "Harper teased, although she still seemed troubled by her own message " I heard you two went on a date.”
" Ahh yes," Sam tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "we had fun.”
I hated to hear this, I knew that Sam had gone out with Mike, Lara had told me, and I know she is free, but…
" It's easier to get forgiveness than permission. " I cut that subject off before Harper had a chance to say anything more.
" What did you say? " my girlfriend blinked in confusion.
" That's what it says on my cookie," I explained, shrugging.
Harper leaned over, taking the paper from my hand to check it with a disbelieving expression.
" This is ridiculous, who would write something like this? " She raised her voice, looking uncomfortable with the sentence.
I frowned as I noticed that she expected me to have some sort of response to that.
" I don't know, Harper. I'm not responsible for writing the fortune cookie phrases.”
" Well, we both know that one way or another, this is all bullshit," Sam interjected.”You have Self-love, probably my great love is this baby, and Theon won't do anything wrong to have to get any forgiveness, will he, Apollo?”
" Sure," I stood up.
" Can we go? " Harper asked.
" Thanks for your help, you two," Sam followed suit, also getting up, "I wouldn't have been able to solve everything so quickly if it weren't for you.”
We walked down the stairs with her, while I watched the cans of paint in the corner of the room.
" When you're going to paint the room, let me know. We can do it together.”
I told her when we were at the door. Sam agreed before saying goodbye. Harper and I walked side by side in silence to the car. My mind was stuck in everything that had happened during that day, from the moment I picked Samantha up to take her to her appointment, to the moment of the ultrasound when we had that uncomfortable situation.
The image of the scantily clad body of the mother of my child was still imprinted in my mind, no matter how hard I tried not to pay attention, it was a nearly impossible task.
If only Harper had known what had happened!
" Don't you think we need to talk? "My girlfriend caught my eye after a few minutes of driving.
I sighed. Harper had been upset ever since I had called her to let her know that I would be staying with Sam to help her, but I thought that since she had decided to keep us company, she would save me the trouble, but it didn't look like that would be the case.
" Of course, Harper. But I don't know what you expect to hear right now.”
" Well, for starters I want to understand what's going on in our relationship, Theon," she sighed.
" And what don't you understand? " I parked the car in front of my house, turning to her.
" Well, I don't understand what page we're on. And what is Samantha's role in all this," she cut to the chase.
" Samantha is the mother of my son, Harper. A friend. We talked about this when it all started.”
" And are you sure that that conversation still holds? Because I feel more and more left out, while she…”
" She's still just a friend, Harper, you're my girlfriend," I assured her, although I didn't feel so sure about that statement anymore.
The last few days I had been feeling closer to Sam, the days when I didn't go to the studio to check on her and talk to her a little, I felt like it had been an incomplete day. But that doesn't mean that she is more than a good friend.
" And why do I feel that I am left out of this story?”
" Harper, maybe you need to get closer to her," I suggested, "Sam has already told me that she wants to get along with you.”
I suggested, even though a voice inside me screamed that this was a bad idea.
" You think so?”
" That's what she said," I shrugged.
Harper sighed after a thoughtful moment, then forced a smile.
" Maybe this will help," she admitted, "you're right.”
" I usually am," I winked at her.
" Sorry for acting crazy.”
" You can always talk to me when something bothers you, dear. I don't want to make you uncomfortable," I assured her, leaning in to kiss her.
She smiled in response before getting out of the car, and I followed her, thinking about how negligent I was being with my relationship. I needed to change that.