Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

“What did she say?” I asked, trying to move our attention towards something slightly less awkward.

“She Kenny needs the first and last month’s rent in a cashier’s check. She mentioned it’d probably be smart for us to open a bank account.”

“Alright then. Well, where should we go?”

“Cherry banks right around the corner. That’s as good a place as any, I think.”

“Alright, lead the way, Mister Tate.”

Callum and I flew around the corner and entered the bank, breathless and oh so high off where our hard work was taking us. We signed our names onto the list to see a banker and sat on a non-descript sofa side by side. There was several people there and I was forced to wedge myself close to him, his warm, hard body felt so good next to mine. Callum grabbed a pen off a nearby desk and we played tic-tac-toe on the back of a deposit slip while we waited. It ended in a draw every single time.

“Cat’s game,” Callum says. “How many is that?”

“Eleven draws.”

“Why do you think they call it a cat’s game?” He asked me, leaning his head against the back of his chair and rolling the deposit slips into a tube.

I leaned my head as well but tilted my face towards him a little. He met my eyes and smiled.

“It’s called a ‘cat’s game’ because no matter how many times a cat chases his tail, he can never truly latch on. He does it anyway because it’s still fun to chase,” I explained.

“Seriously? How do you know that?”

“I don’t know if that’s true but it’s what I heard once.”

“Cool.”

“Harper Bailey and Callum Tate!” The banker called out with a little bit of deja vu’.

We stood and walked arm in arm toward their desk.

“Hi, I’m Asa.” He gestured towards the chairs and we sat. “What can I do for you guys today?”

“We’d like to open a checking account,” Callum said.

“We also need a cashier’s check before we leave,” I chimed in.

“Alright, that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just need two pieces of identification and a minimum of one hundred dollars opening deposit.”

We both nodded our heads.

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.