Chapter 216 Chapter 215
Chapter 216 Chapter 215
Harper POV
For the first time in almost three months…
I could breathe.
I stood in the middle of the ballroom with my hands resting on my hips, slowly turning in a circle as I took everything in.
The white lights draped across the ceiling gave the room a warm glow, soft enough to make the gold accents shimmer without feeling overdone. The centerpieces we’d argued about for weeks sat perfectly in the middle of every table. The auction items had been arranged in neat displays along the back wall, each one labeled and cataloged. Even the dance floor looked exactly the way I’d imagined it all those months ago when this had been nothing more than a rough sketch in a notebook.
It was beautiful.
Not perfect.
I’d learned a long time ago that perfection didn’t exist.
But it was ours.
Every late-night planning meeting.
Every disagreement over decorations.
Every fundraiser.
Every frantic phone call to vendors.
Every volunteer who had shown up after class carrying boxes instead of going home.
It had all led to this.
I smiled before I even realized I was doing it.
“I know that smile.”
Lila’s voice floated across the ballroom as she walked toward me carrying two clipboards and what looked like her fifth iced coffee of the day.
“Do you?”
“Oh, absolutely.”
She stopped beside me and looked around the room.
“I’ve only seen that smile twice.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Twice?”
“The first time was when Logan finally kissed you.”
Heat immediately crept into my cheeks.
“Lila…”
“The second time is right now.”
She nudged my shoulder.
“That’s your proud smile.”
I looked back across the ballroom.
Maybe she was right.
“This is everything I pictured.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“It’s better.”
I laughed softly.
“You know what the crazy part is?”
“What?”
“For weeks I kept thinking something would go wrong.”
“And?”
I shrugged.
“Something always goes wrong.”
Lila looked toward the ceiling dramatically.
“Please don’t say that out loud.”
“Why?”
“Because the universe listens.”
I snorted.
“You’ve become surprisingly superstitious.”
“I’ve been friends with you long enough.”
She pointed toward the floral arrangements.
“Remember the welcome brunch when somebody accidentally ordered three hundred carnations instead of thirty?”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Or when the DJ showed up a week early?”
I groaned.
“I said don’t remind me.”
She grinned.
“My point is…”
She spread her arms toward the ballroom.
“…nothing has caught fire today.”
“That’s a very low standard.”
“And yet…”
She smiled.
“…we’re winning.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
The formal was tomorrow evening.
Tomorrow.
After months of planning, sleepless nights, and color-coded spreadsheets, we were finally here.
I glanced at my watch.
Just after three.
Logan would be finishing practice soon.
The thought automatically made me smile.
Lila caught it immediately.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“The Logan smile.”
“I do not have a Logan smile.”
“You absolutely do.”
“I have normal smiles.”
She laughed.
“Sure.”
I reached for one of the programs stacked on the registration table and lightly swatted her arm with it.
“You’re impossible.”
“And yet I’m your favorite.”
“I’ve never actually confirmed that.”
“You don’t have to.”
She linked her arm through mine.
“I know.”
The next hour disappeared into a blur of tiny details.
A volunteer couldn’t find the name cards for one of the sponsor tables.
Someone had accidentally placed the silent auction forms beside the dessert table instead of the entrance.
Two freshmen debated for nearly ten minutes over whether the welcome sign should sit two inches farther to the left.
Apparently two inches mattered.
By the time I solved the last problem, my phone buzzed inside the pocket of my jeans.
I smiled automatically.
Logan.
Or at least…
I assumed it was.
Instead, I frowned.
Three missed messages.
All from Logan.
My smile faded.
That was strange.
He knew I was helping with final setup.
He normally sent one message.
Maybe two if Marco had done something ridiculous.
Not three.
I unlocked my phone.
Logan:
How’s Miss President doing?
Twenty minutes later…
Logan:
Tell Lila I said she can’t make Marco cry today.
Five minutes after that…
Logan:
Call me when you’re free.
Something tightened in my chest.
The messages themselves weren’t alarming.
It was the last one.
Call me when you’re free.
There was no joke.
No teasing.
Just…
Call me.
Before I could dial his number, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I almost ignored it.
Almost.
Instead, I answered.
“Hello?”
“Harper?”
Coach Daniels.
I straightened immediately.
“Coach?”
“I’m sorry to bother you.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
My stomach dropped.
“Is Logan okay?”
A pause.
“Physically?”
The fact that he clarified physically made my heart begin to pound.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
“Okay.”
“He took a pretty hard hit during practice.”
I gripped the edge of one of the tables.
“But the trainers checked him out.”
“So he’s okay?”
“He insisted he was.”
Insisted.
Not is.
Insisted.
I knew Logan well enough to understand the difference.
Coach sighed quietly.
“He left before I could really talk to him.”
That wasn’t like Logan.
Not anymore.
“He just…”
Coach searched for the words.
“…looked like he needed to be somewhere else.”
My pulse quickened.
“Has he answered your texts?”
I looked down at my phone.
Three unread messages.
One missed call.
“No.”
“I was afraid of that.”
Silence stretched between us.
Finally I asked the question that had been growing louder in my head.
“Coach…”
“What’s really going on?”
Another pause.
“I think he’s carrying more than he’s letting you see.”
The words landed heavily.
Because they confirmed what I’d been feeling for weeks.
“I don’t want to betray his trust.”
Coach continued gently.
“But if anyone can reach him…”
“I think it’s you.”
The call ended a minute later.
I stared at the dark screen in my hand.
Around me, the ballroom buzzed with activity.
Girls laughed.
Boxes moved.
Someone tested the microphone on stage.
Life kept going.
Mine suddenly felt frozen.
“Harper?”
Lila’s voice sounded far away.
She walked toward me, immediately noticing something was wrong.
“What happened?”
I swallowed.
“I have to go.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“I have to find Logan.”
“Did something happen?”
“I don’t know.”
And that was the worst part.
I didn’t know.
Lila didn’t ask another question.
She simply took the clipboard from my hands.
“I’ve got everything here.”
“You sure?”
She looked me directly in the eye.
“Go.”
I hugged her without thinking.
“Thank you.”
Then I ran.
The drive felt longer than it actually was.
Campus faded behind me as I turned onto the familiar two-lane road lined with old oak trees.
I hadn’t driven this way in years.
Not since high school.
Back then…
Whenever Logan had a terrible game.
Whenever he fought with his dad.
Whenever life became too loud…
He disappeared.
Not forever.
Just long enough to think.
Most people assumed he went home.
I knew better.
I always had.
There was a small lake about fifteen minutes outside town.
Nothing fancy.
Just a weathered dock, a few fishing spots, and enough quiet to make the rest of the world feel far away.
The funny thing was…
Logan never told me about this place.
He didn’t have to.
I’d noticed his truck there after a middle-school tournament once.
Again after a brutal high-school playoff loss.
Over the years, I’d quietly pieced together the pattern.
He went there when he needed to hear his own thoughts.
I turned the final corner.
The lake came into view.
Sunlight danced across the water.
The old wooden dock stretched out over the shoreline exactly as I remembered.
And parked beneath the biggest oak tree…
Was a black pickup truck.
My heart skipped.
Logan.
I pulled my car onto the gravel shoulder and shut off the engine.
For a second, I simply sat there with both hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.
I’d found him.
The question was…
Would he let me in?