She scrolled through her clinic schedule for the upcoming week, anxiety leaking into her stomach and her pulse thrumming in her fingertips as she thought of all the things she needed to get done, all the things she’d been neglecting.
Indira cleared her throat and steepled her fingers on the table. “So first things first. Are you okay?”
Harper felt the weight of their eyes pressing on her. Memories from last night scratched at her throat, but she pushed them away. She didn’t want to talk about it. She wanted to pretend it never happened.
“I’m fine. I just don’t like crowds.” Thu scoffed at Harper’s understatement.
“The Jeff thing was super fucked up, though. I’m sorry he was even there. Invite has always just been word of mouth,” Indira said.
“Yeah, well, he showed his whole ass last night, didn’t he?” Harper said, pursing her lips at the memory. Unfortunately, her friends knew all too well the unique and visceral pain that came with being called a bitch.
“And then Dan was there to hand it to him,” Indira added with a smile.
“Yeah, and if he didn’t get the message from that, I think I’ll just have to let Dr. Ren know what a sexist little asshole Callowhill has applying to OS residencies. She’s pretty tapped in to the admissions community and might have a thing or two to say to program directors,” Harper told them casually.
“You devious little genius,” Thu said, before taking another swig of coffee. “I fucking love that.”
Harper pursed her lips to try to hide her smile.
“So, you’re sure you’re okay?” Indira pressed, eyeing her.
“Fine. I promise,” Harper mumbled, looking over a clinical competency criterion that was due next week. Her palms itched as her to-do list grew.
“Good. On to the important things then.” Indira cleared her throat once more, working to keep a straight face. “Did y’all hump?”
Lizzie gave a weak snort of amusement from the couch, but Harper kept her eyes trained on her laptop.
“Like bunnies,” she deadpanned, scrolling through a class web page.
“Dammit, Harper!” Indira slapped her palms on the table, making Lizzie grab her head with a whimper.
“The evidence is overwhelming but you’re gonna play nonchalant? In all the time we’ve known you there’s been no dick. Now there’s dick and you dare withhold details on said dick? Nuh-uh, not gonna happen.”
Thu even found the strength to whip off her sunglasses and glare at Harper in solidarity of Indira’s moving speech.
“First of all, there was no … dick,” Harper said, pointing at them. “And you want details? After having a full-on freak out in the bathroom, he brought me home, I ate a shit ton of pizza and blacked out from wine. Really classy night for me. How was yours?”
“Where’d you get the pizza from?” Lizzie asked, eyeing the box on the floor.
“Does it matter?” Harper said with a sigh.
Lizzie held up her hands in defense. “I was just wondering if there’s any left. I need a level of grease that a cinnamon roll won’t provide.”
“Not now, Lizzie,” Indira snapped, before turning back to Harper with a crestfallen look. “So that’s really it? No dick?”
“That’s it.” Harper turned back to her laptop in an attempt to end the line of questioning. “How was last night for you all?”
“It was fun. We danced, and drank, and missed you. Thu got freaky on that Alex kid.”
“Alex, huh?” Harper said, turning to Thu.
“Not a thing,” Thu said, waving her off when Harper opened her mouth to push for more. “But nothing else happened with Dan? Nothing at all? Because I have a hard time believing that.”
Harper let out a sigh, blowing a puff of air that lifted her bangs off her forehead. They knew Harper was withholding and weren’t above beating it out of her if necessary.
“We may have had a moment,” she said quietly, guzzling down water to put off answering Indira’s imminent questions.
“Well, shit, Harper, try not to be so graphic,” Thu said, making Lizzie laugh while she scavenged through the abandoned pizza box on hands and knees. Harper shot them both the finger.
“What kind of moment?” Indira asked, a manic thrill animating her features. She’d found a thread and she was holding on for dear life.
Harper rolled her eyes, trying to downplay the swell of excitement she felt thinking about Dan.
“An intense kind of moment, okay? A kiss-in-the-rain, movie-level, electrocute-your-senses, rip-your-panties-off kind of moment. We kissed after we left the apartment, and it was amazing, and he opened up to me about stuff with his dad and … I don’t know. It was special. And then we got pizza and he ended up staying the night. On the couch,” Harper added quickly, raising a hand to Indira’s silent screech.