Harper & Ryan
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Harper was running late again, as usual. It was the whole morning thing. She was so not a morning person. Her small fluffy pup, Panda, sat on the end of the bed watching her run around her room throwing on articles of clothing, grabbing books and stuffing them in to her too heavy messenger bag, and trying to find her other Van’s shoe that actually matched the one in her hand.
“You know, I love to sleep, but you wouldn’t be so panicked if you wouldn’t hit the snooze so much and actually got up when the alarm goes off…”, Panda said to her in a calm but slightly condescending voice.
“Oh can it Pan”, Harper said as she finally dislodged the troublesome shoe from a place far underneath her bed. “Are you following today or no?”
“If you are going to the cafeteria for coffee and breakfast, then yes I’m following. There’s always someone who will give in to my begging face and give me yummy human scraps”, Panda responded with a lazy dog grin and a happy twinkle in her eye at the thought of “yummy human scraps”.
“Well come on then, let’s book it!” Harper breathlessly said as she swung the door open and flew out at a brisk run/walk with Panda trotting happily behind. Panda didn’t seem to mind mornings so much, she seemed happy no matter what time of day. She was probably the only individual Harper could actually stand seeing happy in the mornings. Well, except maybe Arrow Boy. He was pretty happy in the mornings too.
She flew down the halls and somehow managed to make it to the cafeteria before them shutting down the lines. She went through the coffee area and breakfast line, grabbing a mocha frappe and a still warm bacon, egg, and cheese flatbread. She turned food in hand and had taken no more than a couple of steps when Ryan, Arrow Boy to her, walked up to stand in her path. Both she and Panda looked up to say in unison, “Well, hey there.” Of course Panda said it like she knew she could weasel food out of him, and Harper said it like she would just like to go back to bed.
Ryan grinned impishly at a still grumpy Harpy, who had obviously not started in on her coffee yet. “Running late again, I see”, he said with a slight teasing tone. He, of course, had gotten up in plenty of time to get ready, grab food, and even save some strips of bacon for both Panda’s big begging brown eyes, and Piper’s less begging amber ones. Ryan laughed as Harper rolled her eyes at him and followed her while she stalked off to plop down at a table and dig in.
Ryan sat down beside her, less ploppish, and started feeding the pups the bacon. After Harper had her coffee in her, then he would strike up real conversation. She would be good after that. He reflected on how easy it had been to just fall back into their natural friendship pattern. He wished it could be a bit more, but hey, maybe they would get there, if he got up the courage to ask her. Watching her gulp her frappe down, he wondered what this year would really hold. There had already been a bit of tragedy, a bit of drama, maybe some healthy romance would get thrown in the mix. He would just have to sit back and bide his time for the right opportunity.