"So you talked to Harper then?" Claudia asked Steve, lacing her fingers together.
Steve nodded as her took another cookie "Yes. But you need to confront her about the argument. It was your fight, not mine." He said, splitting the cookie in two and taking a bite.
Claudia huffed, sitting back in her chair "I don't want to 'confront' her." She remarked in her typical Claudia attitude.
"Hey, you know the drill; play with matches, you get burned." Steve said, finishing off his next cookie.
Pete sighed "Besides, you really think Steve can fix this? Everybody knows that Harper is a daddy's girl. You remember when he tried to punish her for torching the bronzer, but instead he bought her a laptop?" he remarked.
Claudia eyeballed Steve "Still haven't forgiven you for that." She remarked.
"I regret nothing." Steve responded, sitting back in his chair as well.
Claudia sighed, opening her mouth to say something until the four adults heard footsteps stomping down the stairs quickly.
"Harper?" Steve called out, getting out of his seat and walking into the living room.
Harper was putting her jacket on and readjusting her bag "Harper, where are you going?" he asked.
"Lily's having Derek drama, so Sarah and I are going to meet her at The Dud." She said, adjusting her jacket one last time.
Steve shook his head "Honey, we're going to start dinner soon."
"I'll be back before then, promise. I love you." Harper remarked before leaving the bed and breakfast.
Pete pointed at Steve as he looked at Claudia "Daddy's Girl!" he announced.
Harper rode her bike through downtown Univille, enjoying the falling leaves and the happy people walking around everywhere; she loved coming into downtown, she just wished she could come more with her parents.
Most 15-year olds would be embarrassed to be seen with their parents, but Harper didn't care; she guessed that being literally born and raised in the warehouse made her appreciate her parents, for the most part.
Harper stopped her bike by the local coffee shop, The Dud.
She and her friends always hung out around here, she didn't like it very much but since she wasn't allowed in the places she wanted to hang out, The Dud was just going to do.
Harper walked in to find her friends Lily and Sarah already at a table, Lily was throwing her arms around as she explained to Sarah what had gone on today to cause the 'drama'.
"There you are!" Lily remarked as Harper approached the table.
Harper sighed as she pulled back a chair "Okay, so what happened this time?" she asked.
The teenager listened as her friend went on and on with the trivial discussion, Harper pretended to be interested but in all honesty at least once a week she was forced to endure her friends' drama; it was all unnecessary if she was completely honest.
It had seemed like 30 minutes before Lily had finally stopped talking, and Harper believed that at some point she had zoned out before she realized there was silence staring her in the eye.
"Harper? You okay?" Lily asked as both she and Sarah stared at her.
Harper smiled "Yeah, I'm great." she responded.
"Do you want some coffee?" Sarah asked.
Harper shook her head "No, I'm great. I just need to head home soon."
Sarah hummed "Have you talked to your mom since this morning?" she asked.
"No! Quite frankly, I never want to talk to her again, or see her for that matter." Harper said.
The three teenagers were silent as Harper played with a napkin that was on the table "I hate her." She mumbled, trying to force back tears.
Lily placed a hand on her friends should "It's okay." She said, trying to comfort Harper.
Harper shrugged, taking the napkin and dabbing her eyes with it to dry the forming tears when another hand touched her.
"Harper!" a rugged man said.
The three teenagers turned and looked up at the tall, blonde man "Um, I'm sorry?" Harper remarked.
The man chuckled "Oh, it's been a very long time; I'm a friend of your parents." He said.
Harper turned to her friends before looking back at the man "I'm sorry, but my parents don't really have any friends."
"Sure they do!" he said with a chuckle.
Harper looked at her friends, silently trying to ask for assistance before Sarah cleared her throat "Hey, well we better get going." She remarked, getting up from her chair.
Lily and Harper both agreed as they got up from their seats, grabbing their jackets and bags and getting ready to head out together.
"It was so nice to see you again, Harper. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon." He said, watching the three teenagers leave the coffee shop.
Harper looked over her shoulder before leaving the building, something wasn't right about the man in the coffee shop; she didn't know what it was but her gut was screaming at her to run for her life.
"Lily, can you give me a ride home?" Harper whispered to her friend.
Lily nodded "Yeah, we'll put your bike in the backseat." She remarked, walking with Harper to her bike then escorting her to her car.
"That guy was so creepy." Lily said, driving along the road.
Harper nodded "Yeah, super creepy."
Lily hummed "Hey, text Sarah and see if she got home alright." She requested.
Harper smirked as she pulled her cell phone out of her bag and began to search her contact list for Sarah when Lilys' car abruptly stopped.
"Lily! What the hell?" she remarked, turning to her friend who was staring straight ahead in pure fear.
Harper looked in front of her to see a black windowless van with the blonde man from earlier exiting it with two henchmen behind him.
"Lily, drive!" Harper instructed.
"I don't want to hit them!" Lily said.
Harper screamed as one of the henchmen opened her passenger door "I DON'T THINK THAT IS A MATTER FOR CONCERN!" she yelled as a henchman tried to pull her out of the car.
Lily grabbed Harpers' hand, attempting to pull her back into the car when the other henchman came to Lilys' door and began slashing the tires of her car.
Harper tried to fight off the henchman while continuing to hold Lilys' hand when the henchmen gave a good tug of Harper, forcing her to let go of Lilys' hand.
"NO!" Lily screamed as she watched helplessly while the henchmen threw Harper into the van then drove off, leaving Lily alone with her car.
Lily began to drive again but her slashed tired didn't get her very far as she finally stopped her car.
"Harper!" she cried out, watching the van disappear from her sight.