Chapter 126 Chapter 125
Harper POV
The auditorium still smells like last night.
Flowers. Perfume. Too many people packed into one room pretending they weren’t judging everyone who walked onto that stage.
Now it’s quiet.
The chairs are stacked along the walls. The stage lights are off. Half the decorations are gone, but glitter from the centerpieces still clings stubbornly to the floor.
I stand in the middle of the room with my hands on my hips, surveying the aftermath like a general looking over a battlefield.
“Well,” I mutter to myself, “we survived.”
Last night had been… a lot.
Logan bidding five thousand dollars on me.
Me bidding on him.
The entire room losing its mind.
The way he grabbed my hand and walked me off the stage like the rest of the world didn’t exist.
My stomach flips just thinking about it.
“Harper!”
I glance up as the doors swing open and Lila marches in carrying a cardboard box full of leftover decorations like she’s storming a castle.
Her hair is piled into a messy bun and she’s already talking before she even reaches me.
“Please tell me you didn’t accidentally get engaged to the hockey captain last night.”
I snort.
“No engagement.”
“Tragic,” she says.
She drops the box onto the nearest table and studies me carefully.
Then her eyes narrow.
“Why do you look calm?”
“I always look calm.”
“No,” she says immediately. “You look suspiciously calm.”
I start stacking leftover programs into a pile.
“It’s called emotional maturity.”
“It’s called you’re hiding something.”
She leans closer, squinting at me like she’s interrogating a criminal.
“Did you sleep with him?”
My face heats instantly.
“Lila!”
“What?” she says defensively. “It’s a valid question after the public declaration of mutual auction ownership.”
“Stop,” I say quickly. “We didn’t have sex.”
Her eyebrows shoot up.
“But something happened.”
I groan and look away, suddenly very interested in the stack of papers in my hands.
“We might have… sort of… fooled around.”
Lila gasps like I just confirmed aliens exist.
“Oh my God.”
“Lower your voice!”
“I knew it!” she whispers loudly. “You disappear with the hottest hockey player on campus and expect me to believe you two were discussing tax policy?”
“We were talking!” I insist.
“Uh-huh.”
“And maybe kissing.”
“And?”
“And maybe a little more kissing.”
Lila stares at me.
“Harper.”
“What?”
“You’re glowing.”
“I am not glowing.”
“You are absolutely glowing.”
I shove another stack of programs into her hands.
“Help me clean before I revoke your gossip privileges.”
She laughs but starts helping anyway, stacking chairs beside me.
“So,” she says casually, “how was he?”
“Lila.”
“What? I’m asking about emotional compatibility.”
I roll my eyes.
“It was… good.”
Her eyebrows rise.
“Good?”
“Yes.”
“Like good good?”
I sigh.
“Yes, Lila. Logan Shaw is good at kissing. The entire female population of campus will be relieved to hear it.”
She clutches her chest dramatically.
“This is groundbreaking research.”
I shove her lightly.
“Focus.”
“Fine,” she says, though she’s still smirking.
For a few minutes we work quietly, stacking chairs and gathering decorations.
Then Lila glances at me again.
“Have you talked to him today?”
“Briefly.”
Her eyes sharpen.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we talked.”
“About?”
“Life.”
She groans.
“Harper, that is the vaguest answer in human history.”
I sigh.
“His dad called.”
That gets her attention instantly.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
I hesitate.
Because I didn’t hear everything.
But I heard enough.
“He doesn’t like me,” I say simply.
Lila snorts.
“Well that makes two of us.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“He thinks I’m a distraction.”
Her expression hardens immediately.
“That’s stupid.”
“He’s worried about Logan’s career.”
“And you think Logan is?”
The question catches me off guard.
I think about Logan sitting on the edge of the bed earlier, shoulders tense while he held the phone.
The way he looked at me afterward.
“I think he’s trying to figure out if he’s allowed to want both,” I say quietly.
Lila studies me for a moment.
“And what do you want?”
The answer comes easier than I expect.
“I don’t want to be the thing that ruins his future.”
Her face softens.
“Harper…”
“I mean it,” I continue. “Logan has been chasing hockey his entire life. If something between us messes that up—”
“You’re not that powerful.”
I blink.
“What?”
“You’re not some evil witch casting spells on his career,” she says bluntly. “You’re a girl he likes.”
“That feels like an oversimplification.”
“It’s reality.”
She nudges my shoulder.
“You know what I saw last night?”
“What?”
“Logan Shaw in a room full of people choosing you anyway.”
My chest tightens.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“There was adrenaline. Emotion. Spotlight.”
“And today?”
I don’t answer.
Because today there’s no spotlight.
Just reality.
Lila leans back against the table, watching me carefully.
“You like him,” she says.
“That’s not new information.”
“No,” she agrees. “But it’s new for him.”
The truth of that settles somewhere deep in my chest.
Logan has always been the guy everyone chased.
The hockey star.
The one who never stayed long enough for anything complicated.
And now he’s standing in the middle of something complicated.
With me.
“I just don’t want to be the girl that makes his life harder,” I say quietly.
Lila tilts her head.
“You know what makes men miserable?”
“What?”
“Regret.”
I blink.
“What?”
“If Logan walks away from you because he’s scared of his dad,” she says, “that regret will haunt him way longer than any relationship.”
I stare at her.
“That was surprisingly wise.”
“Thank you.”
Then she grins.
“Also have you checked the campus gossip page today?”
My stomach drops.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
She pulls out her phone and scrolls before turning the screen toward me.
A photo fills the display.
Logan and me on stage last night.
His hand wrapped around mine.
The headline reads:
“Campus Power Couple? Hockey Captain Drops $5K On Sorority President.”
I groan.
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah,” Lila says cheerfully. “You’re famous.”
I cover my face.
“Kill me.”
“Too late,” she says. “The internet already resurrected you.”
I glance back at the photo.
Logan’s expression in it is intense.
Focused.
Like the rest of the room didn’t exist.
My chest tightens.
Because that’s exactly how it felt.
And suddenly one realization settles quietly in my mind.
Logan might still be figuring out what he’s willing to risk.
But one thing is already clear.
Whatever this is between us—
It isn’t small anymore.