Hayley opened the door not too long after I knocked. She let me in and offered me a dish with some stir fry from a Chinese restuarant down the street. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I smelled the food, I hadn't eaten since breakfast. We talked as we ate. Hayley said that she thought that her meeting with the label went well, but she wouldn't know if she was definitely signed until next week. I told her about Danny helping me move everything and then meeting the other two boys. Before I mentioned going over to Alex's she asked, "How was Pete?" "He was a bit of an ass at first. But I went to their band practice and as that progressed he was better." I replied. "Yeah, he gets into these weird moods sometimes. Don't take it personally." she explained. I just shrugged my shoulders and she said "So, how was their band practice?" "It was ok. I met Alex and his girlfriend, they seem nice. And the band was really good too." I said. "Sounds like a good time." she replied with a laugh, then said, "Did you take a liking to any of the boys?" I thought about it for a minute before saying, "Well, they're all kinda cute and I really like Jack and Danny, Pete may take a bit of warming up to, but....Danny asked me out to dinner tonight and I said I couldn't because I had plans with you, but I gave him a 'maybe later.' So...there may be something there?" Hayley sighed and said, "Danny is super sweet. Jack is nice, but he's also a bit crazy. Then, as I mentioned earlier, Pete is a bit moody, but he's a great guy once you get past that."
Just as we finished eating there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it." Hayley said, standing up. I looked at my empty mug of tea, I was using the old coffee mug with owls on it that I had always used for tea whenever I was at Hayley's during high school, she bought it for me on my birthday for that and kept it at her house. She told me when she grabbed it from the cabinet that she had never let anyone use it nor had she herself used it, even after the two of us being apart for the past couple of years. I stood up and went into the kitchen, deciding to get a refill. As I stood there I could hear Hayley and the person at the door and I quietly listened in.
"Hey Pete." she had said, sounding surprised. "Hey Hayley. I need to talk to you. Is anyone over?" "Lorelei is here, but I'm sure she'd be fine with you being here for a few minutes." "Oh, nevermind then. I'll talk to you about it sometime later." "Pete, wait, if it's important and you need privacy, then Lorelei could probably go over to your apartment while we talk." "Don't worry about it Hayley. It's not too important. I'll tell you later." he said. "Ok then Pete. I'll text you when Lorelei leaves." "Sounds great." he said. A few seconds later the door shut and I set about pouring some sugar into my mug of tea, acting like I hadn't been listening in. "After you're done with that come into the living room and let's talk about you're alibi." Hayley said as she walked past the kitchen and into the living room.
"Ok," I said, setting my tea on the coffee table before sitting down on Hayley's couch. "So I kinda made up my own little story because Danny asked. I told him that I had grown up in Tenessee and that we have been best friends since we could crawl. Then I told him that I had moved to Maryland in high school because dad's job got moved up there. I had to add that it was Salisbury, Maryland, later because Alex asked where in Maryland. Then I just said that I had to leave there because of a bad situation that I'd rather not talk about unless I have to and you offered me your brother's place." Hayley sat quietly for a minute and said, "Well then, you could've gone on that date with Danny, it sounds like you handled that pretty well. But, we do still need to figure out where you're working. There's a Starbucks across the street that's usually hiring." "I also still have Tenessee tags on my car." I said. "Oh...that is a problem. You could say that your dad was military and you still claim residency in Tenessee, even after living in Maryland." "Yeah, I guess that could work." I replied, smiling. "So, since we've pretty much got this thing figured out, that was Pete at the door earlier and he really wanted to talk, but he didn't want anyone else to be here. Sooo...do you think you could go home, because I feel like it was important." Hayley said. "Yeah, it's no problem. I'm actually a bit tired from traveling and stuff, so I'll just go to bed early." "Great! Don't forget, I'm taking you furniture shopping in the morning." Hayley said. "Don't worry, I won't. Besides, I'm sure inflating my air mattress will remind me." I told her with a laugh. "Great! See you tomorrow."
We hugged and I walked out of her apartment and into mine. I went into my bedroom and walked over to an outlet in the wall, where I had set my air mattress and started to fill it up. After it was inflated and the sheets were on I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and hair and put on my pajammas. As I was about to crawl into bed there was a knock on the door. I stood up and walked to the front door of my apartment and looked through the peep hole, it was Jack. I sighed and opened the door. "Hey Lorie...oh sorry." Jack said after I opened the door, seeing me in my pajammas, "I didn't think you'd be getting ready for bed." "I'm usually not getting ready for bed at this time, I'm usually up late. But I was tired from spending most of today driving, so I decided to go ahead and get ready for bed." I answered. "Oh, ok." Jack said, "I'll let you rest, I can ask you tomorrow." "It's really no problem Jack, what was it you were going to ask?" I told him. "No. It can wait, you need your sleep." he answered me, backing toward his apartment, pushing the door open with his back, having left it cracked. "Alright Jack, I guess I'll find out in the morning." I said, looking at him strangely. "Yeah." he said, "Goodnight Lorie." "Night Jack." I said.
I shut the door and walked back into my room. I laid down on my bed and tried to close my eyes, but now I couldn't sleep. I was too busy trying to figure out what it was that Jack wanted to ask. After what felt like several hours of staring at the ceiling I finally fell asleep, still trying to figure out what he wanted to say.
