Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 39

It's not very long, but I didn't have the time nor the patience to write everything I wanted to get in here, so it's just going to have to wait until the next part which comes out Monday. The best part of that is that it's actually going to be out Monday. I'm on Spring break right now, so I'll have more time to upload and such. So yeah. That's exciting. Lol.

<3 Nikky~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hayley! Seth and his parents are here!" Joyce called upstairs. I groggily got out of bed and came slowly down the stairs, wishing that the dream I had eariler wasn't a dream at all and that it actually happened. Unfortunately, it didn't.

"Hey Hayls," Seth greeted me. "How are you?"

"Fine," I lied feeling a stab to the heart. How could I say that I was fine when I obviously wasn't?

"I see," he nodded, not buying it at all.

"Hello Hayley," Mrs. James greeted me. I looked at her warily. The woman who got impregnated by my uncle and lied to her family about it for eighteen years. I didn't know how to respond to her greeting. I glanced at Seth quickly and he nodded once.

"Hey Mrs. James," I said eventually.

"It's so nice to see you again," she said.

"Yeah...it's...it's been a while," I nodded. She smiled and joined her husband's side. I wonder if they were just pretending to be the happy couple or if he was actually okay with what she did.

"Hayley, nice to see you," Mr. James smiled at me. I returned his smile.

"Nice to see you too Mr. James," I said.

"Merry Christmas to you," he said.

"Merry Christmas to you too," I returned.

"Martha, I have got the most amazing gift for you. I got you one too Chase," Joyce said, coming into the living room. Mr. and Mrs. James looked at her.

"Well we got you one too, Joyce," Mrs. James said.

"Seth, this is for you," Joyce said, holding out his gift to him. The door bell rang.

"I'll get it," I said. Joyce nodded and then turned back to Seth's parents. I went to the front hall and opened the front door to reveal Jordan, his parents and his little sister Becca, along with Aliyah and her moms and her baby sister, Ava.

"Hey guys," I smiled weakly. "Come on in." They all stepped in one after the other and filed in after me into the living room.

"Look who's here!" Joyce exclaimed, holding her arms out to Aliyah's mom, Christina. Christina held out her arms and embraced Joyce.

"So good to see you again, Joyce," she said.

"It is," Aliyah's other mom, Chanda, agreed. Joyce smiled at Chanda and embraced her next.

"Chanda," she sighed. "It feels like it's been forever!" she said.

"Probably because it has," she said.

"And look at Ava! She's gotten so big!" Joyce exclaimed, looking at Ava in her little baby seat. I smiled weakly to myself as I looked at Ava. Aliyah and I had planned out how many kids we wanted and what we were going to name them. I wanted five kids, just because it was different. Honestly, how many people do you know have five kids? Aliyah wanted however many came. I became sad again when I realized that the man that I was most likely to want kids with was probably dead right now. I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and looked away from the crowd standing in my living room.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Jordan, my savior, asked me. I nodded and turned toward the stairs.

"Joyce, we're going to go up," I said.

"Okay hon," she said. "We'll call you down when dinner is ready." I nodded and led Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah up the stairs. We went into my room and Seth shut the door behind him.

"How are you really holding up?" Jordan asked me. I looked at him with a fake confused expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about? I told you guys downstairs that I was fine," I said. Lying. Through. Your. Teeth.

"Hayley, I know you too well. You're my best friend, I know when you're fine and when you're not fine."

"Well, your best friend emotion sensor must be whacked up because I'm fine," I insisted. He gave me the same look Seth was giving me while Aliyah pursed her lips at me. I looked down at the ground to avoid tears slipping in their vision field.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's working," he persisted.

"No it's not."

"Hayley stop being difficult and just talk to us," Seth said. I looked up and clicked my tongue.

"I'm fine. Really."

"Hayley," Aliyah started.

"Who wants presents?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Damon was the last topic I wanted to discuss right now.

"I do," Seth said in a pathetic attempt to lighten up the mood. Aliyah and Jordan eventually joined in on the lightening the mood process and Aliyah and I exchanged gifts with the guys.

"Jordan!" I practically screamed out. "You actually got them for me!"

"Yes I did," he stated proudly. I started jumping up and down.

"I can't believe it!" I burst with joy and threw my arms around him. "Thank you! But you really shouldn't have!"

"You KNOW they were free," he said. "Advantages of having your cousin as a ticket master."

"This is one of the best Christmas presents I've ever gotten," Aliyah said, admiring the ticket she held in her hand.

"Dude, this is AWESOME," Seth said as he stared at his own.

"Will Joyce let you go to this one?" Jordan asked. I nodded.

"It's Daughtry, of course she'll let me go. It's just Seether and other bands like that she won't let me go see."

"And that concert was awesome I hear," Aliyah said. I stuck my tongue out at her.

"You don't need to tell me about how awesome the concert that I wanted to go to but couldn't was."

"Hey, I wanted to go too! I'm just saying that's what I heard from very reliable sources."

"Did it end in a riot?" Seth asked. Aliyah looked thoughtful for a moment.

"No, I don't believe so," she said.

"Of course not," I sighed. "The one time there's no freaking riot at the end is the time that I CAN'T go."

"Sucks for you."

"Sucks for all of us because your parents didn't let any of you go either! So you can hush!" I said. We sat up in my room for a while, laughing and talking about the most random things. I really missed this right here. Just laughing and talking randomly with my friends and looking back at the things we did in the past. It was all so fun that I almost forgot about....him. As soon as I even began to think of him, a fresh pang of pain hit the bottom of my stomach. Where was he?

"Hayley!" Joyce called up. "Dinner's ready!" The four of us went downstairs to the dining room where the extra table we had was set up next to the one that was in the room every day. Aliyah, Jordan, Seth, Becca, and I sat at the extra table while everyone else sat at the larger one that was there every day. Jordan who was sitting next to me placed his hand on my shoulder.

"I still know you were lying up there," he told me. I rolled my eyes.

"Good luck getting me to admit it," I said. This time, he rolled his eyes and I smirked at him. Huh. I smirked. Damon rubbed off on me there.

"And I got them the most amazing gift ever!" Joyce purposely said louder than neccessary so we would hear her. The four of us looked over at her and she just grinned while the rest of the adults chuckled at our expressions.

"What did you get us Joyce?" Aliyah asked.

"You'll find out," Joyce sang as she took a bite of mashed potatoes. I narrowed my eyes and then looked back at my plate.

"I hate surprises," Becca said grouchily.

"She not giving you yours either?" I asked.

"No," she said, taking out her cell phone.

"Dude, Becca what did mom and dad say about phones at the table?" Jordan scolded more like a parent than a brother.

"Relax, Jo. They're not looking," she said without looking up from texting whoever she was texting.

"Who are you talking to?" Jordan interrogated.

"Someone," Becca replied casually.

"That someone being...."

"This guy I met at the mall, okay?" she said in an annoyed tone.

"Ooh, a guy. What's his name?" Aliyah asked. I looked down at my plate, trying to avoid the conversation as much as possible. The last thing I needed to hear or even think about was someone else's new romance when mine just withered up and died.

"His name is Larry," Becca said. I tensed up and then scolded myself mentally for doing so. Calm down, Hayley. There are plenty of Larry's in this town, I'm sure that she's not talking about the one you think she's talking about.

"Larry who?" Aliyah asked, side glancing at me.

"Smith," Becca said all perky. Smith? Larry Smith? Okay, scratch that. There was a VERY GOOD chance that she was talking about the Larry I thought she was talking about. My face paled and I dropped my fork. She jumped and looked at me.

"Are you okay, Hayley?" she asked. I nodded quickly.

"I...I'm just not feeling so well right now. I think I'm going to go to the bathroom rieally quick," I said. I got up from the table and practically ran up the stairs into the bathroom even though there was one right downstairs. They all probably thought I was some head-case now, so yeah. I stared at myself in the mirror.

"Calm down Hayley," I said. "You can't get upset every time someone says something that reminds you of him." Oh god, I was going to become one of THOSE people, wasn't I? My phone started ringing and I looked at caller i.d. It was from a restricted number, but whoever it was hung up before I even got the chance to answer it. Then, the doorbell ran downstairs so I rushed down to get it.

"I'll get it!" I called to Joyce.

"Okay!" she called back. My cell phone started vibrating off the hook just as I reached for the door handle. Two things happened then. One, I took my phone out and my jaw fell open as my eyes landed on who was calling. Two, I opened the door and heard the voice I hated most in this world.