Chapter 15
Luke
Ihave to give Harper credit—she’s trying her best. I’m not sure if she actually wants me to go on a date with someone or if she’s just being stubborn.
She’s refused to let me approach anyone with her, insisting that she’ll be better off talking to people alone.
Mostly I think she’s just coming off as awkward, which is especially funny because she’s normally such a social butterfly.
For some reason, she’s become a jumbled mess trying to be my wing-woman.
Harper is talking to two women hanging out by the mask bar as I sit in one of the corners of the lagoon.
She’s been with them for about fifteen minutes now, which is a new record.
With the other attempts, she left in embarrassment after the first two minutes.
She’s talking animatedly to the two, which I guess is a good sign.
Harper wants to set me up on a date, but no one here is catching my eye—except, of course, the girl trying to get me to go on a date with someone else.
“Need a refill?” A woman swims up next to me, holding up a glass of wine. She looks my age, maybe a little younger. Her skin is freckled, matching perfectly with the naturally red and brassy hair that’s pulled back into a bun. She gives a flirty but gentle grin—approachable.
“I’m all set.” I hold up my beer that I’ve been slowly sipping.
“You here alone?” she asks, eyes curious.
I have to laugh to myself at the irony of someone approaching me while Harper is desperately trying to find me a date.
“No, my friend is actually trying and failing to play wing-woman for me.” I point to her. Harper’s still talking to the two other women, though it seems like they’re doing more of the talking than Harper is.
The woman laughs, a bit awkwardly. “Is it not going well?”
I look at her and back to Harper. I’d give just about anything to be with Harper, but she’s making it abundantly clear that she doesn’t see me that way. She’s willing to humiliate herself talking to strangers when she could be relaxing and soaking in a hot spring without a care.
I do find the woman in front of me attractive.
A few pieces of hair have fallen out of her bun to perfectly frame her heart-shaped face.
It’s hard to tell, but it looks like her hair has a gentle wave to it, the strands forming loose ringlets.
She has deep brown eyes, and the type of full lips models strive for.
Not to mention the confidence to come up and talk to me effortlessly.
I’d ask her out in an instant if Harper weren’t in the picture.
But I have to be honest with myself—Harper doesn’t want to be in the picture.
“I’d say it’s probably going better for me than for her.” I smile.
A grin lights across her face. “I’m Cassie.” She offers a hand.
“Luke,” I say, taking her hand in mine.
“You two are just friends?” she asks, pointing toward Harper. “I don’t want to step on any toes.”
I let out a huff. “Friends who apparently suck at setting each other up on dates.”
Cassie lets out a relieved breath. “Well, if she wants a confidence boost, I can walk away, let her come to me, and pretend like I’ve never met you before.”
This time I really laugh. She’s funny, I’ll give her that.
“I assume this means you’re here alone, or do you also have a friend swimming from group to group trying to set you up on a date?”
She lets out a soft chuckle. “I wish! I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
She shrugs. “He paid for the trip. It was too late for him to get refunds, and he didn’t have the guts to tell me that I couldn’t go. Free trip for me, I guess.”
“At least he didn’t try to come too. You’d be stuck with him begging for forgiveness.” I say it as a joke, mostly because I don’t know how else to respond.
“Oh, I hid his passport,” she says nonchalantly. I must have made a face, because she starts to backtrack. “I didn’t steal it. I just put it in a spot in his apartment he’d never look.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Where?”
“The cabinet that has all the cleaning supplies.”
I laugh. This girl is devious.
“Is that bad?” she asks, cringing a little.
“No, it’s kind of brilliant.”
When I look up again, Harper is coming back, her face grim. I feel a bit like I’ve been caught cheating because I’m talking to Cassie, but I remind myself that this is what she wants.
“Would you want to go to dinner with me tonight?” I ask. It’s probably the boldest I’ve ever been. And the ironic part is that it’s not boldness because I want to go on the date with Cassie. It’s because I want to put Harper out of her misery.
“Oh,” Cassie says, a little taken aback. “I’m—” She pauses, then smiles. “Sure.”
“Great. Give me one minute. I’ll be right back.”
I feel Cassie’s eyes on me as I walk through the warm water to Harper. Harper’s eyes are still cast down, taking a walk of shame after yet another rejection.
“Hey,” I say. When Harper looks up again, I can tell she’s trying to put on a fake smile for me. “You don’t have to keep talking to people.”
“It’s fine, Luke, I—”
But I cut her off. “I have a date tonight.”
She stops cold. It’s like I put a pause button on her, but then her eyes flick behind me, and she notices Cassie. She gives a shy smile.
“Cassie and I were talking, and we’re going to go out tonight. Is that okay?”
It takes her a beat to respond. “Yeah, of course.” She looks like she’s going to say more, but then she stops and gives me another forced smile. When she looks at me, there’s something she’s hiding, but I can’t tell what it is exactly.
“Hi!” Cassie says as she approaches from behind me. She reaches out to extend her hand. “I’m Cassie.”
“Harper,” she says, feigning composure.
“Where are you guys from?” Cassie asks.
“Massachusetts,” Harper responds.
“Oh, no way! Me too. Berkshires.” This was news to me.
Harper seems to brighten up. “Boston.”
“A couple hours away, but not bad for meeting randomly in another country. How do you guys know each other?” She turns to me this time, like she’s still suspicious that me and Harper might be dating. I guess that’s understandable for someone who just had her boyfriend cheat on her.
“Our moms are best friends, so we grew up together,” I say.
“Oh, so more like brother and sister?” She’s double checking her boxes, turning to Harper this time.
“Yeah,” Harper agrees and then backs away. “You two can hang out. I’m going to go get another drink. Luke, find me when you’re ready to go.”
Harper departs so quickly that I have to stop myself from following her to make sure she’s okay. Especially when I have Cassie analyzing everything between us.
“You guys came to Iceland together?” she asks once Harper disappears.
I feel a rift between us. The suspicion is heavy, and clearly going out with a girl whose boyfriend just cheated on her while I’m sharing a hotel with another girl probably isn’t going to go well. And maybe it’s not my best move, but I exclude information she doesn’t need to know.
“We’re sharing a rental car.”
Cassie nods, accepting my words. I’m a little afraid she’s going to assume that means Harper and I are sleeping in separate locations, but I’m even more afraid of what she’ll think if she finds out that we’re sharing a bed.
This date is just casual. Her boyfriend just cheated on her, and I’m getting over Harper. We both need a rebound date.
Cassie and I hang out for the next hour.
There’s a waterfall near the main building, and Cassie wants me to take her photo in front of it, holding her wine glass and posing.
She even asks to take a selfie together, and part of me feels like she’s using me to rub it in her ex’s face, which I guess is fine.
Every now and then I look around, trying to see if I can spot Harper, but the place is so big that I’ve lost her.
Cassie and I make it inside. We exchange numbers and make a plan to meet at six p.m. for dinner. She gives me a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing into the women’s locker room.
I start searching for Harper amongst the sea of people.
When I grab my towel, hers is still hanging on the rack, so I figure she’s in the water somewhere.
I’m about to give up when I notice a steam sauna with glass walls, and I’m pretty sure I recognize her blue bathing suit through the fogged glass.
I pull the door open, steam blasting into my face. The air in here is so heavy, it’s uncomfortable.
“Harper?” I call out. She waves me over from the wooden bench. “How long have you been in here?”
Even though she’s only a foot away from me, there’s still a misty fog separating us. “A minute or two.”
“I’ve been trying to find you.”
She shrugs. “There’s a backside to this place that I was hanging out in with a few coves. There’s not as many people. I was trying to give you two privacy.”
“You didn’t have to. We’re hanging out tonight anyway.”
Harper nods but doesn’t react.
The room is hot, which I know is the whole point of the place, but it feels uncomfortable to breathe. The steam is so thick that it’s almost impossible to see out the glass walls. If I stay in here too long, I’ll probably pass out.
“Alright, well, I can see you’re comfortable breathing in water, but I prefer my air dry.”
“There’s a regular sauna across that way.” She points outside to what I assume is another torture room.
“I’m all set.” I get up. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready.”
“So dramatic,” she says, but she follows me out the door.
We go our separate ways again when we reach the locker rooms to change. While I’m waiting for Harper to come out, a text from Cassie pops up on my phone.
Can’t wait for tonight ??
I feel myself smiling as I read it. I don’t think the date will really go anywhere, but I will admit, it’s nice to have someone to flirt with who reciprocates.
I’m typing out a response to Cassie when Harper comes back. Again, it feels a bit like I’ve been caught doing something wrong. I remind myself that this is what Harper wants.
“Ready?” she asks.
“Yeah, just asking Cassie what she wants to eat tonight.”
Harper’s face falters, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say she might even be jealous.
But I chalk it up to the fact that Harper doesn’t like to eat alone.
I make a mental note to pick up food to go for her before I go out with Cassie.
At least then she can eat in the hotel room while watching TV rather than sitting in a restaurant by herself.