Dan risked a friendly pat to Harper’s shoulder. She looked at him, her face so miserable, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or hug her to his chest. Probably both.
Instead, he slid his half-full beer in front of her. She offered a weak smile before grabbing the bottle and taking a huge gulp.
Dan stood. “Do you want something different to drink?” he asked.
“You might as well bring me another one of these,” Harper said, giving the beer a tiny shake before taking another swig.
“You got it.”
Harper reached for her purse, but he stopped her. “On me.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he turned to the others at the table. “Ladies, can I get you something to drink?”
“I’ll take a lager,” Indira said.
“Same,” Lizzie added.
Dan turned to Thu, but she was too engrossed in her conversation with Alex to notice his question.
“Get her a cider or something sweet,” Indira said, nodding at Thu.
Dan rapped his knuckles on the table and nodded, then walked to the bar.
Waiting on the drinks, he turned to look at the group. Thu and Alex were leaning toward each other, talking and smiling, while Lizzie and Indira were locked in an animated conversation, saying something that made them both laugh. Dan couldn’t see Harper’s face, but he could tell by the tilt of her head that she was bouncing between the conversations and other noises in the room, never focusing on one thing for too long. Her body always seemed to hum with energy, her mind pulled in a hundred different directions. Dan wondered what it’d feel like to be the sole focus of her attention, what the magnitude of that energy would do to a person.
Drinks in hand, he moved back to the group and set the bottles on the table. He took his seat and Harper smiled at him, her shoulders less tense with an empty bottle in front of her. Dan hooked his foot at the base of her barstool and turned her seat gently so their knees touched. The contact felt like an electric current.
“This place is cool,” he said. “I’ve never been here before.”
“It’s Harper’s favorite,” Lizzie chimed in. “She always makes us come here instead of any of the thousands of fun bars in Philly.”
“I didn’t pick it tonight.” Harper shot a look at Thu, who gave her a guilty smile.
“Why this bar?” Dan asked. “Their beer?”
Harper shrugged, taking a sip of her drink. “The beer is good, but it’s mainly the space. Other places get so crowded and noisy and just too … bleh,” she said, sticking out her tongue. “Fat Louie’s is huge, and you can always get a table, and it feels like I can breathe. Plus”—she turned to her friends—“at those other fun bars, I’d never be able to hear all the nonsense you like to spew.”
Lizzie and Indira clinked their bottles together before taking a drink.
The conversation started flowing smoothly through the group. They ordered another round as Lizzie entertained them with stories of being a high school wild child, and Alex had everyone doubled over with laughter at stories of his mother.
“I swear, the second I turned eighteen, my mom made me a profile on a dating site. She said she didn’t trust me to find a wife, so I should focus on school while she handles the other ‘stuff.’”
“Isn’t that a bit invasive?” Harper asked, wiping at her eyes as she giggled. Dan loved seeing her laugh. He wanted to take a picture of the way her eyes creased and her nose crinkled. Capture the rosy stain of her cheeks—his new favorite color.
“Alex talks to his mom, like, fifty times a day. Doctors say they’ve never seen an umbilical cord stay attached this long,” Dan chimed in, making the girls giggle harder.
Alex rolled his eyes. “What kind of dick doesn’t answer the phone when his mom calls?” Alex shot back, giving Dan a pointed look.
“Cheers to that,” Harper said with a sad smile, clinking her bottle with Alex’s. Guilt flooded Dan as a mental stream of missed calls and unanswered texts from his mom filtered through his mind. He shook himself, not wanting to go there. Not tonight. Not anytime soon. He’d completely rerouted his life for his mom, for fuck’s sake. He should get a hall pass on a few missed calls.
“You guys want to play pool? A spot just opened up,” Alex said, nodding toward the billiards tables in the corner.
“I’m in,” Thu said, getting up from her seat. Lizzie and Indira followed her lead.
Dan glanced at Harper. She stared at the densely packed corner, chewing on the inside of her cheek.