Labels || H.S. [#Wattys2020]

O N E H U N D R E D A N D F O U R T E E N

Hailey didn't plan it. She was on one of those five steps to rehabilitation deals and was on one of the final steps: asking for forgiveness. She knew the kind of person she was and knew that if she were to plan it she would never do it. So one day, she swallowed her pride, put on her Ruby Woo lipstick, and marched her way up to Reagan's office. She had made sure that the boys wouldn't be there, strictly because she was avoiding seeing Harry for as long as she possibly could. She knew she had to make amends with him, even if he didn't necessarily think badly of her. Because of course he didn't, and that made her feel even worse.

She didn't bother knocking on the door, already knowing that Reagan was in. She just walked through the door in her typical Hailey fashion.

"Hailey?" Reagan said she was in the middle of making a cup of coffee at the make-shift coffee bar by the door.

"Yeah." Hailey said, realizing her tone was totally still condescending by the look of Reagan's face and made a note of taking it down a notch, "Hi." She tried again.

"Hey." Reagan nodded, stirring her mug, "What's up? We weren't expecting you in til next week." She tried to keep the conversation as normal as possible. She hadn't seen Hailey in a while, and knew that the last time they had spoken things had been...well they had been rather off.

"I...I came to talk to you." Hailey said, almost shyly.

Her demeanor threw Reagan completely off guard, "...Oh?"

"Yeah. Can we sit?" She said, pointing to the large couch beside the coffee bar.

Reagan nodded, "Of course, you want a cup of coffee or tea?" She said, pointing at the already warmed up coffee maker.

Hailey shook her head, the last thing she needed was the rush of caffeine making her more nervous than she already was.

"So..." Reagan started, looking at the mug in her hands.

"I...I just wanted to say that I said a lot of horrible things to you and I-"

Reagan held up her hand as if to stop her, "It's okay. I mean, it's not. But I get it."

"You get that I was a totally shitty person to you?"

Reagan nodded, "I do. I mean, I've had to deal with this my entire life, so it wasn't anything new or anything."

"And that makes it okay?"

"No, not really."

"Then let me fucking apologize." Hailey said, a smile breaking through her tough exterior.

Reagan laughed, "Okay."

Hailey took a breath, "Alright. Reagan, I'm sorry for being such a shitty person to you. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry for blackmailing you, and for just saying all those terrible things to you."

Reagan nodded taking a sip from her mug, "Alright."

"Alright? That's it?"

"What do you want, Hailey? A medal for apologizing?"

"I don't know. Something would be nice."

"You get the feeling of knowing you're becoming a better person."

"Yeah, whatever."

Reagan smiled to herself. Hailey was slowly coming around. Maybe this whole experience would actually teach her something as well.

"How are you and Harry doing?"

"Why, are you one the millions that's rooting for us to break up?"