Together

Tied Together With A Smile

Well... as promised, this one builds in intensity from the last one (and next one will be even more so.) this deals with unhealthy methods of weight loss, so please be careful. It's time for Patrick to find out what's up with Harper. Now is when you can all start killing me... whoops. Have fun ;) comment/vote x
-ab

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October 26, 2025

Patrick

All of Saturday and today, and she still has barely said a word. She's eaten only enough to keep herself alive.

To say that I'm worried may be an understatement.

Patrick: Taylor, she's still acting weird. What do I do? She has rehearsal tomorrow. Help me. Please.

Taylor: Love, I wish that I could offer you advice, but I just don't know on this one. Do you want me to come over?

Patrick: Um... maybe. Only if you wouldn't mind xxxxx

Taylor: I'll be there in less than half an hour.

I head back to the closed door leading to our room, and lightly tap on it again. "Harper?"

The silence tells me that she's still pretending to be asleep. No human can possibly sleep as much as she's pretended to in the last few days. In reality, I'm convinced that she's barely slept a wink.

I sigh, leaning up against the latched door and sinking down to the ground. I stay in that position, hugging my knees to my chest, until I hear Taylor knocking on the door to the flat, at which point, I let her in.

"Any developments?"

"She's still pretending to be asleep."

"I don't know what to tell you, love," Taylor tells me, rubbing my back. "I don't think it's you. You've not done anything wrong, have you?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Then I'm sure you haven't."

"But what could it be?"

"So many things, love. Let me go see if she'll let me talk to her."

"Good luck," I say, giving Taylor a little smile before leading her to the closed door which leads to our room.

"Harper? Love, it's Taylor. Can I open up?" Taylor asks, lightly tapping on the door.

"Please don't."

Taylor drops her hand to her side and looks at me. "Alright... what now?"

"Harper, please," I say through the wood of the door. "We are all so worried about you."

"Don't be."

I bite my lip and frown.

"Come," Taylor whispers to me, and we walk back to the living room, taking a seat on the sofa. "Have you tried to look around the flat to see if there's anything which could be upsetting her?"

"I did a little bit, but not really."

"We have to search every corner of this flat, then. I know that it seems crazy, but it could be anything. Maybe she ate some bad food and is actually feeling sick or something. Have you checked her laptop?"

"She'd kill me."

"You have to, Patrick. We'll leave it as a last resort... but her laptop, iPad, and phone could all give us possible answers."

"Okay," I nod. "We are going to be married. She shouldn't have anything to keep from me, right?"

"That would be a nice thought, wouldn't it?" Taylor laughs. "It's an invasion of her privacy, but it's for her own safety. She'll understand with time."

"Hopefully," I mutter. "Where should we start?"

"Let's start in here, and then go to the kitchen."

"Fine by me," I reply. We search throughout the entire room, but find nothing more than Harper's iPad, plugged in for a charge. "Should we-"

"Not yet," Taylor insists, cutting me off. "Let's go check the kitchen."

"I'll start on the refrigerator, and you start on the cupboards," I suggest.

"Alright. Check the expiration dates of everything."

Taylor opens up the cupboard where Harper keeps her tea and sweets, which is the one on the end of the row. "You're not going to find anything in there," I tell Taylor. "That's her favourite cupboard in the house. Nothing in there is going to be outdated, becuase she eats stuff in there constantly," I laugh.

"Worth a check, still."

Shrugging, I simply turn to the fridge and start pulling things out. The milk is fine, the eggs are fine...

As I'm nearly done with the second shelf on the fridge, I hear Taylor muttering something under her breath.

"No..."

"What is it?" I ask, alarmed.

"Patrick, come here," she tells me, with a certain urgency about her tone. I run over, slamming the door to the refrigerator closed. "This tea... is she having it?"

"I don't know," I shrug. Taylor grabs the box out of the cabinet, and I see her face fall as she notices the box has been previously opened. She frantically counts up the tea bags.

"One is missing. There's supposed to be eighteen in the box, but there's only seventeen. Patrick, have you ever seen this before?"

"No... it must be new."

"Patrick, this tea... it's one of the worst things that anybody can drink. She must have just had some recently. She'll be feeling the effects of it soon."

"What do you mean?" I ask, grabbing the box from Taylor. It's labeled '3 Ballerina Tea.' "What is this, Tay? I've not heard of it before."

"It's supposed to make you lose weight," she explains. Then, motioning to a chair at the table, "Sit." I do as I'm told, and Taylor sits with me. "Where do I begin... During my tour for my album 1989, I was always so exhausted because I was quite underweight. I would play a show, but I was really thinking about when the next time I'd get to sit down and sleep was. It wasn't healthy, and I was able to realize that. After my tour, I started to put on a bit of weight, and I made a few public appearances that sparked a lot of rumours. The cover of every tabloid had stories printed on it about me. I had gotten a boob job. I was pregnant, but who was the father? It was never-ending. So, some people on my publicity team wanted me to start drinking this stuff. They said that it would help me to lose weight, and fast. Thank god I read up on the side effects, though, because it makes you so, so sick in the meantime."

"Oh my god," I say, blinking a few times to try to push the tears out of my eyes. Thinking that Harper may be having issues which would cause her to want to have this stuff makes me so upset. "What should I do, Tay?"

"You've got to talk to her about it. I'm sure that any minute now, she'll be feeling the side effects. Did you notice her brewing water today?"

"I think she did... about two hours ago..."

"That's probably when she drank it, then. I think it takes three hours or so for the side effects to kick in."

"Alright."

"Go talk to her. Right now. Make her listen. I know Harper. As soon as you tell her what you know, she's going to break. She'll open up to you. Hopefully. I'm going to go home, but will you text me?"

"I will," I nod. "Thank you so much, Taylor. I never would have known..."

"How would you be expected to? You've never been involved with this whole show business thing."

"I just feel bad. Was I oblivious?"

"No. You're fine. Just go and stop it before she uses the tea again, okay? The sickness will pass in a little bit... until then, I'd recommend that she... uh, stays near a bathroom."

"Gotcha," I reply. "Thank you."

Taylor and I share a quick hug and bid each other farewell, before I walk back to Harper, the box of tea in my hand.

"Love, I'm coming in."