harper reese

harper had never thought patrick to be the ‘calling out of the blue’ type, but she answered the call anyway, “are you a reject in person kind of guy, cause...” his voice was flat, and then angry. his mom? she didn’t even know his mom’s name, or have a facebook she went on. she mostly used instagram, and it was mostly for art but... “oh my god, i cannot believe... i would be happy to give you an explanation. meet me at...” she gave the location and hung up the phone before he could respond. she pulled on some bike shorts and a crop top before briefly checking her appearance in the mirror and threw on a few layers of mascara before she walked out of her room, her eyes on heather as she walked out of her room at the same time, gabe following her with the lovesick look on his face.  “first you’re gonna keep me up all night, then you’re gonna stalk patrick’s mom? you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” seeing heather’s wallet sitting on the counter top, harper smirked before grabbing it and jogging to the door. “the least you can do is buy me coffee for embarrassing me with a classmate.” quickly slipping on some vans (whose they were, she wasn’t surer. itt was a total guess, honestly), harper grabbed her purse and keys and ran out the door, clicking the lock right before it closed and running down the stairs, and her jog didn’t slow until she was almost to the coffee house. harper chose to stand outside since she didn’t see patrick inside yet and wait. hopefully he would listen to her explanation, but they hardly knew each other - she would be surprised if he even showed up, honestly. and if he didn’t, then it called a sister-funded shopping spree.

@patricktakenada

harper rolled her eyes at patrick’s comment, most of them, really. “oh please, everyone is a little embarrassed when their naked, right? and people find the flaws... it makes paintings more interesting, but I have yet to see one that i’m not totally embarrassed by.” he was from new york. it was quite the trip, new york to florida. “i’ve always wanted to go to new york. not for the food, but that would be an added bonus. you’ll have to take me some day when we’re in love and married.” harper laughed and stuck her tongue out, knowing full well it wasn’t likely they would ever end up as a romantic anything. she’d never be opposed, especially with his face, but she doubted he’d be interested in her. feeling him lean against her, she giggled as she wrapped her arms around his waist, taking a deep breath of the cool, grease-filled air and took a step forward, feeling her body run into a table just as he offered to pay. “oh my god, I’m so...” turning to the table, harper was face to face with her twin, he was all but sitting in... gabe’s lap? “um...” clearing her throat, she got herself on her feet and pushed patrick up a little, giving a tight smile to the couple? “hi, heather. not expecting... um, big family, this is what it’s like.” turning, she smiled at patrick, “this is my twin, heather. and... best friend?” she raised an eyebrow at gabe before her eyes fell on the fries. “oh mah god, fries.  Here, sit.” harper let patrick sit before she pushed him over slightly, grabbing the basket of fries and picking one up, dropping it quickly. “oh, fresh, even better. here, try these.”  looking up at the 2 across from her, she took a bite of another fry, sucking in some air to cool it down before munching on the rest. “so you 2 look nice and coupley. finally pull the ass out of your stick? no... stick, out of your... well, you know.” leaning on her elbow, harper turned to patrick, “they’ve been best friends forever. he replaces me most of the time, i swear.” picking up another fry, she waved it in the air towards gabe and heather, “they slept together last night and heather was making this big ol’ deal about it. i always told her though, gabe would probably be a good lay...” widening her eyes, she turned to her twin, “oh, i’m so sorry. that’s so rude!” wrapping her arm around her art partner’s shoulder, she leaned against him slightly, realizing that sitting made the alcohol rush to her head faster, somehow. “this is patrick. artist in the making. i was helping him with some extraaaa credit. he did great.” she gave a big grin to patrick and bit the fry.

harper shrugged, “i used to hate it, but it was a job. now it’s... still embarrassing, but it allows me to look at myself as art. strangely enough, i critique myself less. i don’t hold myself to standards that are unattainable.” grabbing her bag, she smiled as patrick stood up, laughing slightly. “no one knows about this though, so you’re sworn to secrecy. that’s where the alcohol comes in.” harper gave him a smile as she lead him out of the room, shutting off the lights before pulling the door closed and locking it. “where is home? if you don’t mind me asking?” she glanced at him before turning back to the door and tugging on it to make sure it was locked, then grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the back door. “like i said, the alcohol is so you forget all of this. also to help you loosen up. and look at you now, painting for extra credit. that never happens in any other college course. consider yourself lucky!” looking around, she gathered her surroundings before heading in the direction of the diner.

shrugging her shoulders, harper nodded, “big family. couldn’t imagine anything else now, ya know? it’s weird to think of not having everyone in my life.” she smiled at his compliment on her painting, a blush forming on her cheeks. she was sure she could blame the alcohol, but from what she learned of herself, she didn’t usually turn red with the liquid. it was rare she got those kinds of compliments, anymore. it was usually i’ve seen better or a you don’t seem to have the same passion as you once did and usually just a lot of backhanded compliments. harper gave him an enticing smile and nodded her head, walking across the platform before spinning and walking backwards. “it was a way to get by and now... sometimes you just want to feel pretty. and seeing different interpretations is intriguing.” hearing his comment, harper came out of the haze slightly and nodded her head, stepping down from the platform. “no, yeah, of course. we hardly know each other...” she chuckled awkwardly as she took his paint brushes and threw them in with the rest to soak. “i mean, if you do want more practice, i can give you a schedule. so you know when not to come...” honestly, it was silly of her to think he’d want to see her nude, anyway. that was just... she was like a tutor. there were some rules against it.  “i can call you an uber, if you’d like? or food. you said you didn’t eat before, right? there’s a diner just down the road from here. best fries, honestly.”

harper let him laugh. it wasn’t an unusual response. he’d get a kick out of finding out that it was a reese thing. their parents thought it was cute and convenient. “clingy is the perfect word. we’re all super close in age so it was bound to happen. plus, twin older sisters, twin middle sisters, plus 2 brothers scattered in the middle of it all? we had to have alliances. all of us against our parents.” 8 kids vs. 2 adults was already hard enough, but with their ‘alliances’ that they lived by, it made it that much more difficult for their parents. now that she was older, she actually felt sort of bad about it. looking between their paintings, she eyed patrick as he started to do what everyone did after painting. “hey, you can’t compare yourself to me. i’ve been doing this for... years. it’s my major, and its my job.” she took all of the brushes and shrugged her shoulders at his apology, “i pushed you out of your comfort zone. it was expected. but, for what it’s worth, you did a lot better than I thought you would.” she gave him a smile before tossing the brushes into the sink and running warm water of them before turning and leaning against the counter.  “besides, i should know the female anatomy better than you. i have it. all of it. plus when you’re up there, you learn a lot about your body you never thought you’d have to learn.” tightening the core, crossing one leg over the other in a particular way to tighten or smooth the skin, hand here and head there to make the body look longer than it was. it took a long time for harper to figure it out. turning the water off, she let the brushes soak before returning to their easels, taking in what he had done. “looks good enough for extra credit to me.” taking her pencil, harper wrote a small EC HR in the corner so their professor would know to give credit where credit was due. “If you wanna do it again, i’ll be up there tomorrow.” he was attractive, and she had a pretty nice buzz. she was shocked she wasn’t already up there without any clothes, honestly. she had, unfortunately, and to everyone’s dismay, turned out a lot more like casey than she had thought possible. including the reckless behavior with men.  

harper raised an eyebrow at his comment on heather being the sane one before a laugh erupted from her. “heather? the sane one. boy, you really haven’t met a reese. i don’t know how my parents survived. i think... maybe my oldest sister would be considered sane. she’s also on a date with her ex-fiance who went into rehab six years ago, so i’ll let you take that as you will.” pulling her legs up, harper crossed here leg as she finished her glass, sighing. “one our of four? that is terrible, but psych, that’s pretty cool. makes sense with your difficulties to let loose.” harper winked as she looked at the painting, a smile forming on her face.  there was color, the female anatomy and everything in between.  nodding here head, she leaned back and gave patrick a smile. “i never would’ve known you knew the female anatomy. it’s a step in the right direction.” harper looked at the model and waved her away, and the girl got up quickly and threw on a robe before going into the dressing room.  “i can close up here, i’ll come early tomorrow for my shift and open up as well.” and before she knew it, it was just patrick and harper.  “how are you feeling? feeling like you can open up more, enjoy the process?”