harper jones is on the run (jonesycakes) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2013-05-18 00:50:00 |
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The power may have been out for a better part of the day, but Harper had still tried to keep the bakery open throughout the storm. She'd managed to wrangle in one of the coolest customers ever; a girl named Star who could make little lightning illusions dance around her. Yeah, that was pretty fly. Harper wondered if there were many more like that girl with a fashion sense almost as great as hers. After the fairy had left, Harper watched the storefront for another hour or so and did her best to will customers to walk through the door. No such luck ever happened, though. Hell, she'd even settle for Josh coming in to pick up his order of every-flavored cupcakes, even though it wasn't quite ready. The power outage didn't help with that. She was short just a couple of flavors, which was pretty touch considering she was making an order based primarily out of cupcake flavors she'd never sold before. She supposed, though, she'd have to finish it the next day and give him a call to let him know it was ready.
She was under the impression that her day was going to end on the dullest note ever, but that was when she heard the familiar jingle of her cell phone chiming a ringtone that was meant especially for her sister. Daveigh was calling; clearly, she needed something. Harper only ever heard from her sister when there was something she could offer to the youngest Jones. She'd answered the phone with an arched eyebrow and a skeptical attitude, but the panicked tone in her sister's voice made her drop her guard in an instant. "Dad's sick. I need you to come to the hospital, okay?" Harper didn't even hesitate. She sped all the way to the University of Michigan hospital, constantly playing over what Daveigh had said.
Dad's sick.
Dad's sick.
Harper didn't speak to her father, and even when they were around each other they could never get along. She always thought it was because he was jealous of her abilities which was completely unfair; she didn't ask for them, she was just born with them. Still, their attitudes constantly clashed, especially when it came to what should happen to the bakery after her mother died. Even through every disagreement, he was still her father and she drove recklessly through the flooding streets of Scarlet Oak until she was safely parked in Ann Arbor. There, she located her sister and tried to force coherence out of her sister's hysterics. Daveigh had just come home from classes and found her father feeling a shade worse than awful. He'd insisted and so she brought him to the hospital. It was no wonder that Daveigh was so panicked; the same thoughts that were freaking the girl out were also running through Harper's mind. What if this was something terrible? What if this was like what happened with their mother?
Not that she often had a voice of reason, but Harper thought that if something was very wrong with her father, then she was thankful to at least have some semblance of a warning. That was not at all the case with Sherry's death. Sherry had spent the day in the bakery with the 'CLOSED' sign turned, prepping for a busy week. Sometime in the middle of a task, she'd had the aneurysm and there was no one there to call an ambulance or have any hand in saving her life. She died alone and without warning.
Harper spent the evening in the waiting room with her arm wrapped around her sister. When the doctor finally came by with news, he explained that Nicholas had experienced a few heart palpitations and he was going to keep him for observation through the night, but so far the tests revealed nothing seriously wrong. The doctor assured them that Nicholas was going to be fine. Harper was relieved to be sure, but after being told everything was going to be okay, she was ready to finally give in to how upset she had been just a while before. She waited until she took Daveigh home and then Harper found the nearest bar.
She wasn't sure how long she'd spent drinking and singing songs loudly with the juke box, but finally she realized she needed to go home so she could get some rest before opening the bakery the next day. She called a cab and spent the drive back to Scarlet Oak harassing the driver. She kept singing the same phrases of songs over and over again before asking probing questions about the cabbie's life. ("You sure you don't have daddy issues? The best of us do, I mean look at me. My dad could've died today and I haven't seen him in months.")
Finally, the cabbie decided he'd driven Harper far enough. He didn't even care about getting tipped; he just took the fare and left her on the side of the street before driving off. Harper cussed after him, kicking the curb and immediately regretting it. The rain was still falling steadily and her poorly aimed kick resulted in splashing a puddle all over her shoes and stockings. She ran, or stumbled rather, the rest of the way to the bakery. Where, drenched, she fought with her keys to get them to fit into the lock on the door. For some reason, her car key was not cooperating and unlocking the bakery door. She was only getting wetter and angrier, so she pulled at the doors and let loose an agitated groan.
"Are you serious? Come on! Cat! Crayola!! Come unlock the door!" She backed away from the door and was shouting up to the window on the second floor. Her familiar, who heard her just fine, was too busy sleeping comfortably on the back of the couch to be bothered to move. She didn't realize that he was the only one who could hear her shouts.