When I'm Gone ( Nate Maloley AU)

Chapter Eight

Gilinsky's POV:

He looks at the girl with his best friend. She smiles at Nate, her head laying down on his shoulder. Jack wants to puke seeing the happy couple. He hates her with everything in him, and yet he doesn't know why. Maybe it's been ingrained in him from Sam, but he just hates her. 

"Why can't you try, Jack?", Sam asks.

"Does she really matter honestly? He's lying to her, Sam. He'll cheat, and Natalie will take him back. He may love her, but he'll still cheat."

"Then, let it happen, Jack."

Hayden leaves from Nate's side and goes upstairs, yelling that she'll be back later. Nate looks at his three friends, confusion written all over his face. 

"What?" Nate asks. 

"You're gonna hurt her, Nate. She loves you and gave you a second chance. If you think about hurting her, then just leave", Johnson says.

Hayden won't love him, everyone knows this, and yet no one understands why she keeps giving him chances. It was easier when she was nothing when only Johnson talked to her. 

"Who are you to say I'll cheat on her?"

"You can't help yourself, Nate! She clings to people because no one has ever loved her! I turned my back on her when she needed me, and you'll do the same damn thing. She'll forgive you because she wants someone to love her! But You don't truly love her, we all know this", Sam says.

Hayden's POV:

My walk was rudely interrupted by Natalie, but lately, it seems as if it was for other reasons. Like she's bullying me to push me away from what's happened to her with Nate. She doesn't want me to get hurt, she wants to save me from that kind of pain. 

"You know, Hayden, no one loves you. Nate will come crawling back to me. He doesn't really care", Natalie says.

I look at her and attempt to avoid eye contact with her. It was an accident I ran into her, well, at least for me. She comes closer, making me step back and avert my eyes. 

"Natalie, I didn't know that you were with him. If I did I would've stayed away."

"Leave him, Hayden. He'll do the same thing. If there's no sex within a month, he'll find it somewhere else. I was labeled the slut. But I gave that up so I could keep Nate. Don't do it. I know you love him, but don't stay for him," Natalie says. 

"Thanks, Natalie."

She nods and walks away, leaving me to look at my house.  I silently walk inside and Nate looks at me from the living room before following me. He shuts the door behind us and sighs.

"Hayden, we can't be together anymore. I'm sorry."

I look at him, and my eyes water, while I was going to say the same thing, it felt worse coming from him. The only thing I can do is nod, but he needs to know that it was a mutual feeling. I've given him too many chances already.

"Then, don't talk to me. If I do I'll come back."

Nate looks sadly at me, and I can see he wants to reach out and hug me, but he stops himself. I watch him leave and the tears burn my eyes. The chance I gave him was barely long enough to be called a relationship. I let him toy with me while he had someone.

Someone knocks on the door, and I groan softly. Boys don't ever understand wanting to be left alone, but I had to answer before the knocking becomes more insistent. 

"Go away", I say.

"Hayden, It's Jack."

"Go away, Jack!" 

My walls built up again, and as I lay in bed, I can feel my heart sink into my chest. I shut my eyes as the tears continue to fall. He didn't even say why he left me, he didn't say if it was my fault. He just left, and it hurt more than I wanted it to. I let the sobs out, not really caring who heard. My door opened, and I knew it was Sam, but I could care less. My heart was breaking, and I wanted to escape away from them. I wanted to shrink and not be found. I open my eyes and see Sam. He lays beside me, and I curl into his chest, and he started to feel like my best friend again. 

"Everyone was right. He can't love me," I state. 

"You'll find someone who loves you, Hayden. I know it."

I just shrug feeling numb. Not caring if I slept the day away, I shut my eyes. The two of us both know I'll need to see him at school tomorrow, and people will talk. 

Sammy's POV:

He sees her looking lost while talking to Johnson at her locker. Her heart was ripped and cut, with no way of fixing it, and Sam was part of the problem, but there was more to it than that. She gave her heart to him when she really didn't want to. 

"Sam", Nate says, "You know I'm pretending not to love her, and I know I can't get her back."

"Yeah, but you went right back to Natalie. Who told me the reason she stayed with you was that if you didn't get any sex you'd leave her. She told Hayden to leave so it didn't happen to you. Hayden was gonna announce that you two were done. She couldn't before you broke up with her."

"That's not my fault," Nate says defensively.

"Johnson's gonna take her heart, and once he does you're done," Sam whispers.

"I don't care anymore."

They entered the choir room, and he heard her voice ring through the room. She was just singing with Jack, trying to distract herself from all the drama. As they walked in, Hayden switched her song to You're Love is a Lie by Simple Plan.

Sam sits and listens to the emotion put into every word. She watches Nate the whole time since no one else was in the room. Johnson plays the piano and knows he can help her portray all her emotions. 

Nate is beside him looking down, he knows that she's singing about him, but he won't say anything. No matter what he says, he feels guilty for everything he's done. She sits next to Johnson and choir finally starts, but Sam can see his best friend breaking apart. Nate knows he screwed this up.