The One that got away

24. The one with the first official date

"Jess, do you...do you think I'm pretty?" I awkwardly asked and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Hailey, you're beautiful," she replied me before continuing to flip through the magazine.

"You're my best friend, you have to say that."

"Then why did you ask me?"

"I don't know..."

"You have the best hair, it's so beautiful that you'd win best hair if there was an award for it at school. Your eyes are not boring like you claim they are and you have a great smile. You're small and cute, guys like that, and you're a good person. So if you're trying to ask me if Joshua Reily likes you then my answer would be yes," Jess said making my cheeks turn red.

"How did you know?" I asked, referring to how she knew what I was really asking.

"Why else would you ask if you're pretty?" she asked and I just shrugged. "You being pretty is beside the point though, he likes you for more than just how you look Hailey."

"What makes you say that?" I wanted to know.

"He spends pretty much all his time with you. If he liked you for your looks he wouldn't do that," she answered.

"Oh okay," I said with a sigh.

"You like him too right?"

"Jess, I think I might love him," I said in a soft voice.

"Are you sure? I mean we're only 16 years old, I can't even tell when I like someone sometimes," Jess whined.

"I don't know. It just...it doesn't just feel like a crush."

"Wow," Jess said, slightly in awe.

"Yeah wow."

"I mean obviously I knew you liked him, just not this much."

"Well yeah..."

"You know what I think?"

"What Jess?"

"I think you're gonna marry him one day," she told me.

"You do?"

"I really do Hails so when that day comes you are obligated to make me your maid of honour, since I called it and all."

**************

"I wish this week wasn't so busy," Josh says with a sigh.

"I'm sorry that I have bad timing," I joke.

"Of all the times you could have told me you choose the Sunday before the week we get audited at work," Josh says with a laugh.

"At least it motivates you to do your work. The sooner you get done the sooner we get to go on that date you promised me," I tell him.

"And on that note it's back to work for me."

"I love you Josh."

"I love you Hailey," he says before hanging up. I put my phone down on my bedside table before getting up and walking to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"That was cute," I hear Jess say.

I smile at her before opening the fridge and taking out some orange juice but decide against it because it reminds me too much of vodka after Josh and I's drinking evening."Cuter than we usually are?" I ask and she rolls her eyes.