Catch Me

Chapter Fourteen: You're Looking For An Excuse

Chapter Fourteen: You're Looking For An Excuse  

The next morning Haleigh awoke to her phone buzzing beside her. She glanced toward the bed next to hers, which was Sam's and found that it was empty. Sam must have stayed with Charles last night. The morning sun beamed harshly through the dorm room window, creating a shadow on only half of the room. Haleigh sat up, wiping the sleep from her eyes before glancing at her cell phone. She had a few texts from Sam, they were from last night and difficult to understand because Sam had been intoxicated when she had sent them; there were a couple texts from Shane telling her about his date with Bryan, and asking if she was alright. He was probably worried about her due to all late night phone calls and texts she had sent her best friend last night. And lastly Zander had called three times, and texted twice. Haleigh opened the texts from Zander.

Zander: I'm not sure what I did to upset you, but I'm sorry!

Zander: Okay I guess I do know... I should have listened to you... Call me when you get these.

Haleigh groaned before locking the screen on her phone and tossing it back onto her nightstand. This was all becoming too much for her to handle. Her nerves were shot, and she could feel the beginnings of an anxiety attack coming on. She focused on her breathing. She wished she could call her dad and vent to him, but she knew he was probably out working at the wood mill. She was completely alone... yet again. But was it her own fault? Was there some underlying reason why she was pushing Zander away? It was times like these that made Haleigh want to crawl in bed and stay there for hours, but she knew that this wasn't something that she could do. She had homework that she needed to get done. Yes it was only Saturday but if she finished everything today she would have the rest of the weekend to mope around and think about Zander. She wanted to text him, and tell him she was sorry for kicking him out last night, but she also needed him to know that it wasn't okay to go around looking for a fight; which was exactly what Zander had done last night. She also wasn't sure if she could handle all the drama that seemed to be following Zander around.

Haleigh spent the day writing papers, and solving geometry problems. Zander had called two more times, but Haleigh had let them go to voice mail. Eventually she knew she would have to talk to him, but she hoped she could put it off for a couple more hours at least. Haleigh was startled when Sam burst through the door at around 2pm. She looked a mess. Her normal perfectly curled hair was tangled on the top of her head, she was wearing the same white, flowy dress that she had warn to the Kappa Sigma party, mascara and lipstick stains streaked her cheeks. She staggered into the room dropping her purse and the leather jacket she had borrowed from Haleigh down on the floor before throwing herself onto her bed.

"Dude, you look awful..." Haleigh pointed out as she nibbled on the eraser end of her pencil. She was working on a rather difficult geometry problem when Sam had forced her to lose concentration. Sam didn't say anything, she just groaned into her pillow. Haleigh could tell her roommate was hung over. Haleigh rolled her eyes before standing from her bed. She pulled a bottle of water out of the shared mini fridge that sat in the corner of their room, and a bottle of Advil from her bathroom bag and handed them to Sam.

"I am never drinking again in my life." Sam groaned as she sat up in her bed. She took the water and Advil from Haleigh and popped a couple pills into her mouth, washing them down with the water.

"I give it a week." Haleigh knew that by next Friday Sam would be right back into the party scene Charles by her side. Sam ignored this comment before leaning back on her pillows.

"What happened with dreamy bass player last night." Sam smirked at Haleigh who could feel her cheeks begin to blush.

"What do you mean?" Haleigh asked, adverting eye contact.

"I may have been drunk, but I watched you guys leave the party together. Tell me everything." Sam begged in a hushed tone. Haleigh remained silent for a little while, contemplating whether or not she wanted to discuss the events of last night with Sam.

After a moment of contemplation, Haleigh told Sam everything.

"He kissed you!?" She interrupted half way through Haleigh's story. Haleigh's face flushed as she told her friend about the encounter. Sam listened intently to every detail. "Are you crazy?" She asked as Haleigh wrapped up the story. She had just told Sam about how she had handed Zander back his jacket last night and asked him to leave. "He was just trying to protect you. How romantic!"

"It's not romantic Sam. He could have been seriously injured. Or he could have killed the guy. I don't want him getting in trouble for me. He had already kicked the shit out of him earlier in the night. Why did he have to go and make the situation worse?" Haleigh was getting mad that Sam wasn't on her side right now.

"If you ask me, you're looking for an excuse." Sam mustered. "Look at your wrist." Haleigh glanced at the purpled bruise that marked where Justin's hand had clamped tightly down. "And what about your shoulder? Justin seriously hurt you, I would be pissed if Charles had just sat back and watched it happen to me. Zander was protecting you. I don't understand why you're so mad at him."

"You don't get it, Sam." Haleigh was growing more and more frustrated. "I love that he was protecting me. That's what makes this so hard." She glanced down at her feet. "But he had already taken care of it at the party when he had tossed Justin out. There was no reason to go looking for more trouble. That's why I'm mad." She left out the fact that she was scared, she didn't tell Sam that she thought Zander may be just a little too intense for her, and that she didn't understand why this guy who she had only known for about a week was working so hard to keep her safe. She neglected to mention that she didn't think she was worth all this trouble.

"I don't know Haleigh." Sam sighed as she stood up from her bed and gathered her bathroom supplies. "If you're asking for my advice, I think you should talk to him." She turned on her heels, and left the room, leaving Haleigh to her thoughts. Haleigh sat in silence for a moment before pulling out her phone and typing a message to Zander.

Haleigh: Hi...