Haylee’s POV
Everything had settled down. I’d gotten out of the hospital nearly a week ago now, but I was still fighting my depression. Recently, a classmate at Imperial, who was a friend of mine, had killed himself and I took it hard. I’d locked myself in my room for two days straight, only letting Chassidy in to sleep as I shared a room with her. Dan was worried, but I noticed that he’d begun to look better than he had in months. He gained back a couple of pounds for health reasons and he wasn’t as pale or sleep deprived.
I was a mess. Most of the old cuts had healed now, and I made small ones every so often when I slipped up, but I’d found ways to deal. I’d begun to go running with Chassidy on weekends or play video games with Dan. Phil had his own way of distracting me, which involved weekly trips to Shakeaway for us all every Thursday and teaching me to cook foreign dishes. Dan and I had also been working a lot in the photography lab at college, as it seemed to be one of my favorite spots now. It was quickly approaching Valentine’s Day and, although I was excited, I was also nervous. Dan had hinted that he had something special planned but he wouldn’t say what. It was keeping me busy wondering. Dan was hard at work on videos, as he’d just reached a million subscribers. Phil had reached a milestone of his own, with six hundred thousand subscribers. While Dan and Phil were missing class to be on the radio again, Chassidy and I had skipped to make a cake for them.
I curled up on my bed, opting to sleep in Chassidy and I’s room tonight as I wanted to talk to her. “Chass, I’m really nervous.” I confessed.
“Why?” She asked, tuning the strings on my guitar.
“Well, Dan says he’s planning something for my Valentine’s Day and I just don’t know. I mean, I’m scared. I love him, it’s just I don’t want him going to a lot of trouble for me. I’d rather stay in.” I explained.
Chassidy put the guitar down. “Listen, Dan’s doing this because he WANTS to, not because he HAS to. He wants you to be happy, Hays. We all do. I know how tough everything has been for you and I can see that you’ve put up walls, but you’ve got to let people through. We only want to help.” She smiled softly. “I miss my best friend.”
She hugged me tightly and it took me back to our senior year in high school, when our friendship had really strengthened. Chassidy had been with me through all of the crap in high school and it felt so good to have her here now. “Thank you. It’s so good to have you here. I missed you too.” I told her. I glanced at the ring on her hand. “I still can’t believe you’re engaged!”
“I can’t either!” She laughed. “Phil is the greatest. He’s the guy I was waiting for all this time.”
“That’s what it’s like for Dan and I. He’s the one I was waiting for and I can’t believe I found him. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without him” I told her. She nodded.
“So what are you and Phil doing for Valentine’s Day?” I asked her.
“Going out,” She began. “He’s taking me to a Chinese restaurant and then we’re going to the London Eye.”
“That sounds perfect.” I told her. She blushed and smiled. A knock at our door startled us.
“Hays? Can I come in?” Dan asked.
“Sure, come on in.” I called. Dan stepped into the room. “What’s up?”
He cleared his throat. “Um, your dad is here.” He explained slowly. My heart stopped and my mouth fell open. “He – he seems sober and he’d like to t-talk to you…”
