I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I let out a sigh recalling last nights events and turned over to look at my phone, hoping for a reply from Hailey. But was once again let down by a blank screen with no new notifications. I ran my hands threw my hair and huffed, Did Sheri tell her that I liked her?
My heart pounded at the thought of Hailey being uncomfortable around me because she doesn't like me back.
I got out of bed and changed into a pair of pants and a plain white t-shirt. I'm going to go see Hailey today. I hated any type of tension between her and I, and hell- I was feeling so much of it right now. I hated the fear of rejection and I hated the fear of loosing her friendship.
Once I ate breakfast I drove over to her house. I smiled as I saw her car in the driveway, but quickly frowned when I also saw Jackson's. At least her parents aren't home.
I parked my car on the side of the street and knocked on the door. My heart raced as I heard faint footsteps and the sound of someone unlocking the door.
Please be Hailey. Please be Hailey.
I was greeted by a serious-looking brother. Shit.
"What do you want, Nickolas?" Jackson crossed his arms loosely and leaned against the door frame.
"I'm here to see Hal- uh Hailey." I stuttered.
"She is busy." He sighed as he stared at me.
"She was supposed to come over to my place yesterday. I tried contacting her but she didn't answer. Is she okay?" I said quietly as I looked over his shoulder to see if I could see any sign of her.
"She did go over. She just came back before she reached your door." He rolled his eyes and completely disregarded half of what I said.
I raised my eyebrow as I was struck with confusion, "What? No, she didn't. She did?"
"Look, Nickolas. Just because you don't feel the-" he came to an abrupt stop, "You hurt her yesterday." He shook his head as he rubbed his temples.
Did she arrive and see Sheri? "Look, man." I sighed, "Sheri came over last night. I didn't invite her- I swear. Since what happened between Sheri and Hal, I want nothing to do with Sheri. If Hailey is upset about that, I promise that I'll cut Sheri off completely. I was going to do it anyway, she just appeared at my door." I rambled.
Now, he was the one that looked confused. What the hell was he talking about then?
"She couldn't care less who you hang out with. She overheard you on the phone earlier that day. You were talking about her and what you said really hurt her." He sighed, "You could have kept it to yourself, you know?" He nearly whispered the last part.
"What phone call? When was I talking about her?" I asked, trying to piece this jumbled mess together.
He raised an eyebrow, "You don't even know what I'm talking about, do you? "
"No. Jackson, you know I would never purposely offend or hurt Hailey." I sighed as I ran my hands through my hair, "Please let me talk to her. Please." I didn't care how desperate I sounded. I just wanted to get this conflict resolved as quickly as possible. This was killing me.
Jackson looked over to his shoulder and I saw him briefly nod. He looked back over to me and hesitantly sighed as he motioned for me to walk in through the front door, "Come on in."
I walked in and I saw Hailey sitting on the living room couch. She quickly glanced up at me and turned away. It only took me that brief moment to know that she had been crying and had stayed up late due to the dark bags under her eyes. Did I cause that? Guilt hit me like a freight train, I felt the air being sucked out of my lungs.
