Harper looked all around for Sage outside the building. There were a lot of people standing around in small clusters in random areas surrounding the building. Outside, the air was not as stuffy and contaminated from cigarette smoke as it was inside, which wasn't saying much, because there was a very strong scent of cigarettes outside. Across the street was a parking lot where numerous people were walking to and from their cars. Harper scoped the parking lot for any sign of Sage, but he still couldn't find her. He was starting to get desperate and somewhat impatient.
"Harper!" said a soft voice from behind him.
Harper turned around quickly to see who had called his name.
"Harper, what are you doing?" came the same voice, which belonged to Noelle. She had been standing behind Harper to his left.
Harper looked somewhat disappointed as he said, "Oh hey, Noelle." He sighed in defeat; he was on the brink of giving up hope of finding Sage by this point.
Noelle sensed that something was wrong by Harper's tone and was quick to ask, "What's wrong, Harper? You just played probably your best show yet. I'd think you'd be on cloud nine tonight."
"It's nothing. Not anything important," Harper replied quickly, but Noelle sensed that he was lying by the way his eyes never seemed to meet hers.
Noelle frowned. "Harper, you aren't very convincing. What's going on?"
Harper was still looking around for Sage, but once again, he came up empty handed. He almost forgot Noelle was standing right across from him. She was waiting for an answer from him and was starting to get a bit irritated at the fact that he didn't seem to hear a word she had said.
His eyes went from left to right and back again, finally coming to rest on Noelle. "Ok, fine," he admitted, "It's nothing, really. I'm just looking for someone."
"Well undoubtedly it's not nothing, because you seem practically obsessed with finding whoever it is you are looking for," Noelle said, somewhat hurt at how Harper had been too consumed in searching for someone to pay her any notice, but nevertheless, she was still interested in what Harper was doing, "Who are you looking for, anyway? Maybe I can help."
Harper instantly became a bit more reserved at the last part that Noelle said. For some reason, he wasn't sure that he wanted Noelle to help him find Sage. This confused him, because normally he wouldn't mind Noelle's assisstance in something like this. Harper withdrew himself, staying very silent as he shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets.
"Ok, if you don't want my help, that's fine. I was just going to ask if you had seen Sage, because she was here tonight," Noelle said softly, her spirits bruised by Harper's attitude toward her, "Incase you were wondering, she's in the alley on the phone, because that's the only place around here that's not swarming with loud people."
The look in Harper's eye changed into a look of gratitude and apology for Noelle. He didn't know how to thank her properly for leading helping him find Sage, partly because he understood that his behavior toward her, only moments before, was an attitude that Noelle did not know and did not deserve to know. It was an distrusting and shifty demeanor, one of hesitance and suspicion. He knew Noelle was probably hurt by how he had acted, but his main focus was Sage at the moment, and he wanted nothing more than to talk to her. All he felt he could do for Noelle was mutter a quick "Thank you so much, Noelle" and rush off again, leaving one of his best friends standing all alone in the midst of a crowd of people. Noelle didn't even have time to utter a "You're welcome" to him.
It'll be ok. I'll just apologize to Noelle later. She should understand. Reassure himself all he wanted, in the back of his head, he still had a nagging feeling of guilt about how he treated Noelle.
Through the crowd he walked, approaching the entrance to the alleyway as quickly as possible. When he arrived at the alley's entrance, he stopped and looked around to see if Sage was there. It was dark and murky, and a dumpster obstructed his view of a little bit of the alley. His eyes brushed the emergency stairs, which were across from the dumpster. He couldn't see anything or anyone, but he could faintly hear the sound of Sage's voice from the alley entrance and decided to wait outside for her so that she could have her privacy; he didn't want to interrupt her conversation.
Her tone was distinct, although her exact words were unclear. She spoke so softly and gently, yet with a hint of liveliness and vibrance on a normal basis, but on this night, Harper noticed a change in Sage as he was straining to understand her muffled words. Her voice seemed shrill and cold, as if she was exhausted; she didn't sound like her usual self, but she sounded as if she was ready to give up at any moment.
After a few minutes of waiting, Harper noticed that Sage's voice had silenced. Harper strained to hear some sign of life, but not a thing was heard. He knew she had to be in the alley; there was no other way out aside from where Harper was standing. Harper grew relaxed again when he heard the soft tapping of shoes on the crusted concrete. Harper's heart beat with every step, the patterns of each matching and molding together in union.
She appeared out of the musty alley, a ray of light gone dim. Harper immediately called to her to catch her attention, but he did not need to; she had already seen him and was in the process of walking to him. No words had to be said; Harper had already assumed that Sage was distressed because of Adrian, and Sage knew that Harper had an idea of her troubles by the way he held his arms open for her in silence the moment they were close enough to touch.
Sage put her arms around Harper's neck, clasping one hand around the opposite arm and the other hand around a portion of the back of Harper's shirt. She broke down silently in his arms. For that moment, Harper was Sage's strength, and the thought of this guiltily made his confidence soar. Why is her pain making me feel good? Is it just the fact that she turned to me? Why me of all people? Why isn't she running to one of her closer friends?
Harper held her for several minutes, the entire time hoping that Sage would be alright, but he was also hoping even more that Adrian would quickly become old news. Harper looked around at one point and spotted Rhodes across the street; their eyes met for a brief second, and then Rhodes's focus shifted to Sage's body wrapped around Harper, and he frowned. He cut his eyes back to Harper's, who had never broken his stare, and shook his head slowly, closing his eyes as he did so. Rhodes turned back to Devin, who he had been standing with, and resumed their conversation.