Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. No profit is being made from releasing this fictional story.
Author's Note: Hello hello! How did everyone do on their finals? My last final was yesterday so I immediately started working on this chapter right afterwards. Thank you, everyone, for being so patient and waiting for this update. Hopefully, I'll be able to update again before the end of Christmas break.
I hope you enjoy this installment to this story. Let's read on!
A Familiar Pattern 31
By genielou
Andy lifted the glass of scotch to his lips and downed its entirety in one gulp. A hiss escaped from his mouth as he inhaled through his teeth in an attempt to momentarily cool the burning effect of the alcohol. He glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. The long, black arrow clicked on the tenth digit as the shorter arrow remained stationed between two and three. He cursed under his breath as he dreaded yet another hour almost passed with him still awake while Harper slept uneasily in the other room.
The night's event was still fresh in his mind: the many handshakes and smiles, the short conversations, the compliments regarding his soon-to-be-wife… It was all going perfectly well until Alex decided to make things a little too interesting. Thanks to her, Andy had spent half of his night either hunting her down or trying to shut down the music in hopes of halting the half-naked men's dancing. He failed, of course. Alex seemed to be remarkably dedicated to making sure that there were no holes in her pranks. Curse her and her ability to produce flawless schemes…
Although, if he were to be completely honest with himself, the fiasco with the strippers weren't as bad as it could have been. Andy's concern was that his parents and family members would become embarrassed or upset, and may even possibly hate land-dwellers altogether. On the contrary, when his mother saw the dancing men, she immediately stood from her seat and cheered with the rest of the women. His father, although he remained on the sidelines, laughed along with the rest of the men who stood back. Apparently, they were familiar with the concept of stripping dancers and have always wanted to see one with their own eyes. The night's festivities were definitely more than they had expected, and they expressed nothing but excitement for it.
So no, the dancing men were not what stressed him out. If anything, it was Harper. She disappeared for a fair amount of time while he was chasing Alex around, and when she reappeared, she was quiet; far too quiet for his comfort. A part of him knew why, but a larger part of him wanted to play dumb and ignore it.
With a huge sigh, Andy shook his head and slowly made his way back to the mini bar. He stared at his options: Malt Liquor, three different years of Scotch, flavored Vodka, and an adequately aged Cabernet Sauvignon. The beautifully unique shapes of the bottles beckoned for his attention, each with its own unique style of seduction. The older Scotch was highly tempting, but he opted for the Malt Liquor instead. His fingertips softly graced the slick curves of the bottle before he picked it up by the neck and gently twisted the cool, metal top. The sweet aroma that reached his nose gave a momentary pause to his dilemmas.
He remembered the first time Harper had introduced him to flavored alcohol. Previously, he was only aware of Atlantean alcohol (which were not very strong), and the land dwellers' beer concoction. He hadn't known about the different types of alcohol until she took him to a local bar and made him drink an Appletini. He had been hooked since then. The sweetened taste mixed with the bitterness and stinging sensation of the drink while it travelled down his throat was an experience that he learned to bear and enjoy. Granted, he was not allowed to swim for a few hours after drinking because of its after-effects, but it was well-worth it. Add to that the effects that drinking had on his fiancée. She always became more aloof when drinking; more agreeable. With her inhibitions clouded, she became childish and rather playful, which was a side of Harper that Andy was not used to seeing. After that first time of seeing her acting like a near-fool from drinking too many shots of cherry-flavored vodka, he found that he rather enjoyed the fun, silly Harper more than he did the respectable, business-type Harper. He admired her nevertheless, but he wished that she could be silly more often.
Oh Gods, he loves her. He loves her so much that, a lot of times, he didn't know what to do with her. He would give her the world if he could. There was even a time when she had teased him that she didn't need the world as long as he stayed right by her side. And he did; he stayed right beside her as she challenged the world with her clothing designs. Regrettably, after a while, as much as he would like to believe that she appreciated the fact that he was right next to her in every difficult step that she took to become the woman that she was today, he had a feeling that she barely noticed that he was there at all.
So many forces in the universe were just betting against him and he didn't know how to handle it. First: the lack of attention from Harper's part. Second: the ongoing neglect that slowly grew to his almost non-existence in her life. Third: the deceit when Harper quickly rekindled her friendship with her first love. Andy didn't even want to think about a fourth factor; he just wanted everything to be fixed and placed back to the way they were. Possible happiness was less than twenty four hours away, and yet, he felt like pursuing his happiness would create more problems than it would solve.
Andy lifted the bottle to his mouth and took a small sip of the liquor. The sweet flavor was satisfying and calming on his tongue, despite the clouding of his mind as the alcohol descended downward into his stomach.
"I should probably stop," he whispered to himself.
He moved to the living room, quietly walking in the dark. He was used to it; it was much darker under water.
Memories surged through him as he remembered the many activities that he and Harper had done in that single room. Many late night movie times, many frozen dinners, many conversations, many kisses and touches… When was the last time that he had touched her in that same room? When was the last time that he had kissed her in that same apartment?
A framed picture perched atop of a shelf caught his eye. It was of him and her on their very first date. He remembered that night vividly. They had both decided to try something new, so they opted for eating authentic French food. It was her first time being in France and his first time being on the actual land of France. They chose a small, family-owned restaurant that was very eager to help them pick their very first French meal. The old married couple who owned the restaurant made sure that they ate something that wouldn't scare them away from the culture's cuisine. They shared a simple duck roast with a few exotic vegetables, and cheese crepes made with naturally-aged goat milk. It was different, but good-different, for the both of them. They went to a winery; they rode a hot-air balloon; they attended a country rodeo; and they even went whale-watching. That particular activity was definitely new to Andy. He had been so used to watching whales underwater, but never on the surface. He understood perfectly well why mortals were so entranced by the practice. It was absolutely breath-taking to see such a monstrous creature defy gravity and jump in the air at the height that they do.
The first time they kissed was when Andy brought her back to the same place that they had first met, which was The Blue Lagoon Water Adventure. He wanted to celebrate their third-month anniversary as exclusive daters by doing something special so he brought her there. They swam for hours, and he showed her different ways to swim through the water current without the need of fins. By the second hour, she was swimming like a natural. By the fourth hour, they lay down on a clearing and just watched other creatures swim around them. That was when she thanked him by kissing him. It was a short kiss, but his heart swelled with the contact of their lips. It was only a year later that he learned that The Blue Lagoon was also the same place where Harper and Justin had their first date. Andy wasn't sure what to do with the information. He felt irritated that The Blue Lagoon was not an exclusive memory to him and to her, so he just opted for completely disregarding that place as a choice for another date.
After that day, his life seemed to fall right into place. His studies at the Atlantean Academy of Sorcery was going great, he was next in line to be anointed as a soldier into the very prestige Atlantean Court, and he had the girl of his dreams, of whom he loved very much. His application to the Atlantean Court was even boosted up because Harper was a land-dweller; apparently, cross-breeding with land-dwellers was encouraged in his home. His uncle said that it was because of the near-extinction of their kind. Andy didn't really know what that meant, but he was willing to go along with it.
And now, there he was, a Sorcery graduate and a soon-to-be soldier. He was really hoping to add 'married' to his list of accomplishments, but now he wasn't so sure. He was sure that he wanted to be married to Harper, the only one that he had ever devoted so many years to, but he was also sure that the same commitment was not reciprocated back to him.
He shook his head. Why has the Gods given him such a hard situation to deal with? He was almost happy. Why couldn't he just be happy?
Sighing loudly, he made his way to the bedroom and paused momentarily by the doorway. He couldn't help but appreciate the beauty that lay on the bed, unaware of the turmoil within his own heart.
Andy carefully settled himself down on the bed and placed a gentle hand on her hip. The moonlight shining through the window bounced softly on her white skin, creating a slight sheen of pink from the make-up that she wore earlier. His thumb caressed the thin fabric of her clothing in circular motions, emitting a soft moan from her lips. He smiled at the knowledge that he can still affect her in that way.
He loves her. Oh Gods, he loves her. Deep down, past all the alcohol that was numbing him; he knew what he had to do. He had been thinking about it for so long, and even tried to push past it. But he couldn't. The previous night's events showed him that he just couldn't.
Andy didn't know how long he sat there, with his hand gently caressing her. All he knew was that he wanted to freeze that moment in time. He wanted to remain unmoving at that particular moment, when she is peacefully at rest and he was the only one who could claim the intimacy that he was providing her. But he knew that was impossible. He knew what he had to do. He didn't want to do it. By the Gods, he really didn't want to do it, but he knew he had to. He loves her too much to force her to be something that she wasn't. No matter how much she protested, he knew that the situation that they were currently in was not in her list of things to accomplish. It used to be, but recent events have changed that. Recent events have awakened the real Harper and have changed the true purpose of her life. She may not want to admit it yet, but she will, one day, and Andy was not sure he wanted to be there when that finally happens. So he'll do this for her, now.
He didn't even realize that his vision had blurred, or that a single tear had escaped from the corner of his eye and was now sliding down his cheek. He was trying to be strong, but his subconscious knew full well what he would be losing after tonight.
He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Her chest rose as she inhaled and allowed an inevitable sigh of satisfaction escape from her lips. Harper's eyebrows knitted slightly at the center, likely because of the disruption to her slumber. He moved his thumb to softly brush over her eyebrow and made light circular motions to her temple, soothing the frown that had formed. Her eyes slowly opened to small slits, fluttered a few times, and then opened completely. The pupils of her eyes dilated as they adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she had to blink a few times before the shape of Andy's body made sense in her vision.
"Hey," she said hoarsely while a hand slowly reached out to him. "Hi."
He caught her hand in his and brought it down to his lap. The sleepy smile that she gave him made him grin like a love-sick puppy. "I couldn't sleep," he declared.
She inhaled deeply as she tried to lift her head. Her eyes flitted briefly towards the alarm clock on her bedside and she frowned. "It's late. We have to be up early."
"Yeah, I know, but.." he trailed off as his eyes took her appearance in appreciation. Her hair was tousled and flat on one side; the remainder of her mascara was smudged on one eye; her cheeks were red with marks from her pillow; the skirt of her nightgown was lifted on one thigh, and the straps were loosely hanging off of one shoulder. He remembered the other times when he had woken up in bed with her looking just like this. She looked so young, content, and carefree, just like when they had first started dating; when she was happy, and when he knew that he was the reason for her happiness. "I'm… I'm feeling a bit dry. I need the sea."
Harper knew exactly what he meant. At times, when he had been on land for too long, his body became 'dry' to the point that regular tap water couldn't hydrate him enough. His body system could only recover by being near the sea or being submerged in it.
"Come with me? I don't- I don't want to go alone tonight."
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she nodded with a smile nonetheless.
It only took ten minutes for Harper to brush her teeth, tie her hair back, and change into a pair of pants and a sweater. The walk towards the nearest shore didn't take long, and they spent it in comfortable silence. He held her hand the entire time and swung it lightly as they walked.
"Go ahead. I'll wait here," she told him when they reached an area closed off by high slopes of rocks. She slacked her fingers to let go, but he simply tightened his grip and pulled her along. Before Harper knew what was happening, he had picked her up effortlessly and was walking towards the water. She giggled and laughed as he did so while she wrapped her arms around his neck and tightened her hold on him. "Don't let go! It's too cold! Don't let go!" she said while laughing.
A solemn expression crossed his face as he whispered, "I don't want to."
Harper pulled back enough to look at him. Her eyebrows furrowed at his expression. His eyes were unfocused, his lips were thinned to a line, and his eyebrows met at a frown. He was looking at her so intensely that she felt like she might cry.
She loosened her arms around his neck and placed a gentle hand to his cheek. "Put me down," she whispered softly.
Andy did as he was told and slowly started settling her down. A slight shiver ran through her spine as the cool, salty water touched her toes, causing Andy to stop abruptly. She bit her lip before nodding for him to continue, and he set her all the way down. Harper gasped softly as her feet became completely submerged in the sea water. Andy's arms tightened around her waist in an attempt to give her some of his warmth.
When her shivers subsided, she looked at him curiously and reveled on the softness of his gaze. It had been a while since she'd seen him look at her that way. He used to look at her like that all the time, until a few years ago when her business picked up pace and she became extremely involved in her clothing line. Since then, he would look at her with frustration and annoyance. Sometimes he looked at her with disappointment. She could count on one hand the few times that he looked at her with passion in the past year; that moment was likely to be the fifth or sixth time.
She placed her arms around his neck and lifted her face to match his height. She felt his chest rise as she placed a soft kiss on the corner of his lips. Andy tilted his head to the side and pressed his forehead to hers. "Don't pull back, okay?"
Harper frowned, confused, but gave him a small nod. Suddenly, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her eagerly, desperately. She was so taken aback that it took her a few seconds to respond. She tried hard to match his movements. She tried to give him as much as he was giving her, but she knew that, somehow, she wasn't achieving it. She wasn't kissing him back the way she should be kissing him. While the suckling of his lips on hers was purely passionate and hungry, her kisses were more reactive and sincere. He must have felt it because he suddenly pulled away from her and avoided her gaze.
Harper placed her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at her. "Hey," she said softly. Her thumb made circular motions on his skin when his gaze drifted down again. "Andy. Talk to me."
The look that he gave her was full of pleading.
"I love you," he said so quietly that she had to strain to hear him. "You must know that I—I love you so, so… much."
The corner of her lips quirked up as she said, "I love you too."
He shook his head. "I know, I know," he whispered. "Just… just not as much… as I would like to hope… that you do."
Harper frowned. Confusion settled as her hands automatically released him. Her fingers ghosted the skin of his face and he reached up to enclose her hands in his, to replace them back onto his cheeks.
"Harper," he continued. "I think I fell in love with you within the first moment that I laid my eyes on you. Remember… remember the Lagoon?"
She nodded her head numbly.
"I never told you this, but I saw you as soon as you entered. I saw you. You. And I wanted so badly to talk to you. You were so beautiful, and so full of… of life! I saw it with the way you talked with your friends. And then I saw it again when I saw you at that party—the one with the Russo's? I was drawn to you. I couldn't help it. I think—I think I knew, even then, that I was helplessly, and maybe even foolishly, falling hard for you."
"Stop," Harper said with more conviction than she thought she had. "Whatever this is leading to, just—just stop. Let's just go back home and sleep. We have a long day ahead of us and we both need to rest."
"Harper," he said, softly. He took her hands in his and held them to his chest. "You need to listen. Alright? Just, please, listen."
She shivered nervously and her grip on his hands tightened.
"To me—" he whispered. "To me, you are the lone, shining star in a city full of lights. No matter how bright the city's artificial lights may be, you still shine vividly; and I noticed you. Everyone notices you. I believe that… that you can shine brighter. Much, much brighter than you already do now. There are still so many things that you haven't done, and I know you will do them all. I know it. I just… I don't want to be the one to keep you from doing those things."
Harper shook her head slowly. "I don't have anything else that I want to do. We're about to get married. In a few hours, we're going to have everything that we've always wanted."
"You mean, everything that I've always wanted."
She frowned. The beating of her heart sped up.
"Harper, this life that we're about to enter into… it's what I wanted. Just me. Not you. And if you think back to everything that we've been through in the past year, you'll realize that I'm right." Andy tightened his hold on her hands, afraid that if he let go, he would lose the courage to say what he needed to say. "I've always kept both feet forward when regarding our relationship. But, you… whether it was work-related or—something else…"
Andy loses his voice as an image of Justin and Harper together appeared in his mind. It took him a few seconds of deep breathing to make the vision go away.
"You were always just sort of dedicated to this engagement, Harper. But not entirely. Never entirely. And I think, deep down, you know that."
Tears quickly welled in her eyes and her cheeks became red with frustration. She tried to pull her hands away from him but he relented and tightened his hold on her. "Please, please, don't do this," she pleaded.
Andy shook his head. "Harper, I love you. I love you. I love you. But let's…" he took a deep breath and felt tears sliding down his cheeks. "Let's just… stop this… while we still can."
Harper's shoulders shook as she whispered, "No, no, no…"
He enveloped her in his arms and held her like his life depended on it. His eyes shut as Harper became hysterical and cried loudly. His chest ached as he felt her shake her head against him. He could hear her protests, her denial against his accusations (he even heard Justin's name come out of her lips a few times); but he knew that he was right. He knew that he had to get through this.
It took a while, but eventually, she stopped shaking and just held on to him with exhausted arms. Andy made sure to compose himself before pulling away slightly and leaned down to kiss her again. He could feel her try to kiss him the way that he had always hoped she would, with pure and eager passion, but she couldn't. He knew that she wanted to, but she couldn't. Her kisses were still simply just a reaction to his: sincere and polite. That was all they ever could be: sincere and polite.
He reluctantly pulled away from her and held her at arm's length. "Go."
She shook her head.
"Harper, please, go," he said with a strained voice. He could feel the stinging sensation in his eyes again. "I want you to be able to walk away from me, Harper. I can't be the one to do it. If you love me, and I know you do, you will do this for me. Give me this last request. With everything that has happened this past year, you owe me this much."
The accusation stung deeply and she gasped as another bout of tears threatened to form.
"Please," he pleaded. "I can't be the one to do it. I've already done so much up to this point. It's your turn. You owe me this…. Walk away."
Her shoulders shook again and she hesitated, but he knew that she would. He knew that she would be able to walk away from him, and he was right. As soon as he let go, she took a slight step back. He waited patiently and soon, she was stepping back even further. Slowly, very slowly, she turned around and shuffled away from him; away from the water and towards the land. Once both of her feet were on the sand, her body began to twist towards him and his voice stopped her.
"Don't turn around," he begged her. "You can't turn around. Just keep going. Keep walking. I'll stay here until you're completely gone."
Her body tensed and he saw her hesitate; but eventually, she stood straight and started walking again. He watched her as she clumsily climbed over the rocky terrain and made her way towards the road. She stopped again when she reached the flat surface and he thought that she would try to turn around, but she didn't. She just stood there with her shoulders shivering and her head shaking. He knew she was crying. He just knew she was.
In a few moments, she started walking again, and this time, she didn't stop. She kept walking until she was completely out of sight. And when she was absolutely gone, that was when Andy allowed himself to cry loudly.
He stayed there, on the shoreline, until the sun came up. He stayed there for hours. A part of him hoped that he was wrong, that Harper did love him as much as he loved her. A part of him hoped that she would come back and prove him wrong. But she didn't. The dark skies gave way to the warm light of the sun and she still did not come back. The pain in his chest was overwhelmingly and he wanted so badly to just scream out into the world, but he knew… deep down, he knew that what he had done was for the best. It was the best for both of them.
Very early on the morning after, phone calls were made to the invited guests of the wedding, informing them that the ceremony had been cancelled. No explanation was offered. When family members and friends tried to reach Harper or Andy, neither could be found. Consequently, Alex had also disappeared and could not be reached.