Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

Fifteen minutes later, Asa is wrapping up everything he needed. “I’ll just get these copied for you. If you’ll just get your deposit ready for me. Here’s the opening deposit slip. Just fill it out and I’ll be back shortly.” He stood and entered a room in the back.

While Callum filled out our deposit slip, I reached for my bag and pulled it up into my lap. I opened the top flap and reached toward the bottom for our cash but it wasn’t there. Must be in the front zipper, I thought to myself. I unzipped the front pocket and felt around inside. Nothing. My adrenaline started pumping furiously through my veins. I stood up and tossed the insides of my bag all over the seat of my chair.

“What are you doing?” Callum asked, confused but I can’t really hear him.

I rummaged through my belongings, knocking things off the sides of the chair, desperately searching for the bands of cash but there was nothing. At this point, Callum stands up realizing what’s going on and frantically started searching with me. I found my bag on the floor, unzipped all the pockets, tearing my hands through every inch of every compartment. Callum took the bag from me and turned it upside down, shaking it out, like he could force the money to fall out. My hands begun to tremble and I fell to my knees on the harsh, grey carpet. My entire body shook with disbelief. I brought both hands to my mouth to stifle the sob I was getting ready to let escape but Callum startled me before I could.

“No,” he said quietly. “No, it can’t be. Not after how hard we worked. Please, there’s no way this could be happening.”

“What do we do?” I asked, shell shocked.

Callum turned towards me, as if seeing me for the first time since our discovery. He shrugged his shoulders in defeat and joined me by falling to his own knees, barely able to keep himself upright. He hung his head and I couldn’t help but feel like the whole thing was my fault. I was so ashamed that I couldn’t even look at his beautiful face. He’s going to hate you forever for this, I though. I would. Why didn’t you zip it into the bottom compartment? I asked myself.

“I’m so sorry, Callum,” I barely choked out.

Abruptly, Callum stood and crossed over to me. Instinctively, I held my hands over my head, readying myself for the blow but it never came. Instead, Callum grabbed me by the shoulders and brought me to my feet. He pulled me into the tightest hug and I lost control of myself, sobbing into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Callum,” I cried.

“Shh,” he said, stroking my back. “Did you really think I was going to hit you?” He asked.

I nodded in response unable to speak.

“Jesus, what kind of life did you have before me?” But it was a rhetorical question and when I opened my mouth to speak, he just shook his head and hugged me tighter.

“So sorry,” I mumbled out, still shaking with sadness.

“It’s not your fault, Harper. It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “It must have been the dude on the subway.” I nodded my agreement, sniffing loudly against his chest.

Asa chooses that moment to walk into his tornado blasted office, interrupting our full blown meltdown.

“What happened?” He asked.

“We, uh, lost over five thousand in cash. It was stolen actually.”

“Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Here,” Asa said to Callum, helping him place me in Callum’s chair. “Shall I call the police?” He asked.

“Please,” Callum said, before bending down and gathering all my belongings into a neat pile.

I bent down next to him and helped him fold my laundry and place my stuff back into my messenger bag. The salt from my tears must have clouded my eyesight and I was having trouble controlling my trembling hands because I kept losing my grip on my toothbrush. Callum grabbed it from me and placed it in the front zipper. He closed the top flap of the bag and placed it by my chair. When he stood, he brought me up with him one more time and hugged me closely. He kissed the top of my head but instead of comforting me, it sent me reeling down a spiral of guilt and the tears flowed nonstop until the police arrived.

The police took our statements but both Callum and I knew, we were never going to see that money again. We left the bank a few hours later in utter disbelief. Callum clasped his hand tightly into mine and silently guided me toward The Hope House to wait out the night in hopes we’d get a cot. How long we stood, I don’t know but I remembered suddenly being yanked from the line with a single curse from Callum. He dragged me to Central Park and sat me on a bench next to him. He dragged me closely to him, tucking me into his side much like when he introduced me to Charlie that same night. How quickly life can change. In an instant, you can lose your mother, your father, your life, your youth, your innocence, and your pride. Losing your money and possibly the best friend you’ve ever had seemed like too much, even for me.

“You’re going to leave me now, huh?” I asked him.

Callum looked at me, stunned. “What? No. Never, Harper.”

“Why not?” I said, staring blankly at him. “I just lost thousands of dollars. I lost any chance of housing for yourself and possibly just made going to school impossible for you as well as myself. Why even bother?”

“Listen to me closely,” Callum gritted through clenched teeth, grabbing me by the shoulders, bringing his face closely to mine. “That money was stolen. You were no more responsible for it than I was. Stop blaming yourself, Harper Bailey! Shit happens! You know that just as well as I do but it’s because it happens to us so often that he have to fight just a little bit harder.

“One day, you and I are gonna’ wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day. One day. I promise you.”

He brought his chest to mine and I buried my face in his neck, sobbing at the generosity of his words.

“Thank you,” I whispered into his ear.

He buried his hands into my hair and kissed my neck. “No, thank you, Harper.”