The Player and the Played

17. You Grasshole

My head hurt. No, hurt was an understatement. I felt like someone was stabbing me in the head repeatedly with a million daggers. Grabbing a bottle of water, I tried to sort out my thoughts. All I could remember was getting drunk, seeing Reece, Tyler helping me, Tyler driving me home and then telling me he couldn't stay. Oh, and Tyler saying he had been in love once. I wasn't that drunk lass night so I could remember the outline of what had happened but most of the details were missing such as what Reece had said to me and vice versa. As long as I didn't tell him I loved him, I think I was okay. I looked out of my window and saw that Tyler's window was closed and the curtains were closed too. Huh, weird.

Me:                              

Hey, Ty! Are you free?

I waited for a reply but I just saw the read receipt. The typing symbol came up too but then disappeared.

Me:

TYLERRRR!!!

Me:

I know you read my messages.

Me:

You grasshole.

I climbed onto the tree branch again and began knocking on Tyler's closed window. That was probably an insane idea but I was sure that Tyler was avoiding me and I had an inkling as to why so I needed to see him as soon as I could before he'd get better at avoiding me.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Tyler?" I asked. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

I heard a deep, familiar chuckle before the window opened to reveal...Caleb.

"Caleb?" I asked, incredulous.

"Hey kiddo," he said, ruffling my hair.

"Don't mess up my hair!" I whined. As kids, he would always ruffle my hair and mess it up.

"It's already a mess," he teased me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was with my friend Emma who was visiting her cousin Tyler. I knew you both lived in the same town and was probably going to meet you today but you came here instead."

"Yeah, is Tyler there?" I asked.

"Wait, are you dating Emma's little brother?" He asked me.

"What?! No! We're just friends!" I exclaimed.

"And yet you were banging on his window while standing on a tree. You hate heights," he pointed out.

"He kind of helped me get over that fear," I said sheepishly.

"Really? When?" Caleb asked, shocked. He knew about how much I hated heights after being stuck in that Ferris Wheel. He and Ashley were sitting with me that time.

"Ashley's birthday. He wanted to cheer me up and forced me to go zip lining."

"He knows?"

"Yeah. I told him. Not in detail, just that she had cancer and that she was amazing. Have you told anyone?"

"No. I think I'm still in love with her but sometimes I think I like Emma. Either way, the only person I can tell is Emma but at the same time I can't for some reason."

"It's okay. Ashley would want you to get over her. Move on as long as you remember her."

"Yeah. But she was my best friend for most of my life...and I was in love with her too," he said sadly. I walked over to him and gave him a hug. He was my sisters and thus my best friend before Reece and like an elder brother to me too. He was also one of the few people who knew what it was like to lose Ashley as he was in love with her. He asked her out when he found out she had cancer because he had been too scared before but then he didn't care about rejection. She had loved him too. Sadly, they were together for only a year. One thing I had learnt from what happened to them was to keep trying when it came to love. Life was too short for regrets and fears. No matter how many guys broke my heart, I'd keep looking. And now, I had to look for Tyler.

"I'll see you at dinner? I think my parents are coming back today and they'd love to meet you," I said.

"Yeah, I missed Angelina and Jordan," Caleb said with a genuine smile. I rolled my eyes. My parents spoilt him like crazy and he loved them. I walked out of Tyler's room and ran into...Tyler.

"Hailey?! What are you doing here?" He asked, shocked. I gulped. I couldn't tell him the real reason yet.

"You've been ignoring me and I thought it was about the girl you used to be in love with and now you think you should stay away from me," I blurted and mentally facepalmed. Didn't I just decide not to tell him the real reason yet? God, I sounded so clingy.

"You remember?" He asked and then cussed under his breath.

"Yeah, when I get drunk I remember the last thing that happened and blurry details of what happened while I was drunk," I said, mentally planning an escape route.

"Trust me on this, Hailey. You should stay away from me."

"And why?"

"Because....just because," he said, running his hands through his already messed up hair. This was such a bad idea. Why did I have to do such impulsive things?

"Tyler, you've become an amazing friend and whatever reason you think is valid is probably not valid anymore because you've helped me out a lot and vice versa. I may have known you for two months only but I feel like you know me pretty well. After all, I don't tell every random stranger about Ashley," I said.

"But that's the problem," he said and walked in the opposite direction, leaving me dumbstruck.

A/N
Sorry for the very very very late update. I'd finished this much long back but wanted to add more but then decided not to and write that in a separate chapter, maybe have some more drama, change it a bit.

Hailey was pretty impulsive in this chapter and pretty stupid. She did exactly what I would have done but she said she blames it on the headache. I don't have anything to blame.

I'm obsessed with this poem, 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou and 'If' by Rudyard Kipling. You guys have to read them, they're amazing. Maya Angelou is so inspirational! I'm not including a quote because the two poems are literally the quotes and I can't pick a specific line...

Song recommendation:

That song makes me cry every time I listen to it. You may want to listen to it in a later chapter *smiles slyly*...

In the meantime, byeeee!!

Xoxo

Anu

PS: HOLY SHIT DID WE JUST PASS 1K???!! THANK YOU GUYS SOOO MUCH!! 1k isn't a lot compared to other books but it means a lot to me that you guys
have taken time out to read my book!!!! Love you guys!! 💕💕💕