Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 44

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Important Author's Note Below~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My body was bouncing up and down on my bed the next morning. Why this was, I didn't know. Not until I opened my eyes to see a very excited Aliyah jumping on my bed. I groaned and yanked my covers over my head.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head!" she said while still bouncing.

"Go away," I mumbled. She stopped bouncing and for a minute, I actually thought that she had listened to me. Yeah, right! As it turned out, she only stopped bouncing so she could crawl over to the side of my bed, take the covers off my face and flick my nose. I jumped and rubbed my nose after she did.

"Wake up!"

"That really hurt!"

"It got you up, didn't it?"

"You're despicable."

"Noted. Now, come on. We have to get you ready."

"For what?"

"For what?"

"That's what I said."

"I swear, you act like a blond sometimes Hayley," she grumbled.

"Noted, now what am I getting ready for?"

"Your surprise! Duh!"

"Are YOU going to tell me what it is?"

"No, then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore."

"Oh, please? I can pretend to be surprised."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"I'm not telling you."

"Oh come on!"

"You're just going to have to wait."

"Man, if I had a nickle for every time I heard that...." I grumbled to myself as I lazily got out of my bed. She held up some dark skinny jeans and a light blue v-neck shirt to me.

"Wear this," she said. "It's simple without being too fancy."

"Where exactly am I going for this surprise?"

"That's part of the surprise."

"UGH!" I groaned loudly. I heard Joyce crack up laughing downstairs along with Jordan and Damon, both of whom were here strangely early. Last night, the four of us- Joyce, Jordan, Damon, and I- went out to eat and came back home where they sang happy birthday to me and made me blow out eighteen candles on my cake. Aliyah came over for a sleep over shortly before Jordan and Damon left.

"So impatient," Aliyah chuckled to herself. I went out in the hall.

"I dislike you all!" I shouted out.

"Hey!" Damon called. "I hope that doesn't go for me too!"

"Of course it does!" I called to him.

"BURNED!" Jordan shouted. I loved that he and Damon were getting along much better now. They weren't the best of friends, just two people who talked a lot, but that was a big step up from Jordan wanting to tackle Damon every chance he got.

"Shut your pie hole!" Damon retorted. I entered my room again and went into my bathroom to get ready. When I was all set and done combing through my mess of hair, Aliyah and I went downstairs.

"There you are!" Joyce cried out when she saw us. "Come on, don't want to miss all the good tables."

"Good tables?"

"Yeah, we're going out to breakfast," Jordan told me. "We're going to meet Seth and everyone else there."

"Everyone else?"

"My parents, Jordan's parents, Seth's parents, and I think that Damon said his dad and brother were coming?" Aliyah said. Damon nodded.

"Yeah, they're coming," he said. "So is my aunt."

"Oh, it'll be so good to see her again," Joyce said happily while I looked between the three of them, a confused expression playing at my face.

"Okay......did I miss something? What's with this big gathering for breakfast?"

"Well, not everyone got to celebrate your birthday with you yesterday," Aliyah said, shrugging her shoulders. I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was dropping me a hint right there. Only problem was that I didn't get it.

"Am I missing something else?"

"Nope," Joyce said quickly. "Now let's go." She and Aliyah took me to Joyce's car while Damon and Jordan agreed to ride together in Jordan's car. I didn't pay attention to anything the whole trip to...wherever. The only thing that I could really think about was what my surprise was. It couldn't have been my birthday, that was yesterday, and everyone said happy birthday to me yesterday. Besides, even if they DID want to celebrate my birthday with me, I would think that they would plan on coming to the house not going out to have breakfast. Ha ha, I bet Becca was annoyed that she had to get up this early to go out to breakfast. Speaking of early, what time is it? I took out my phone and checked it. It was only ten in the morning. We pulled up into the parking lot of IHOP and entered, looking around for anyone. My eyes fell on Becca sitting at a table by herself, phone in her face. I nudged Jordan's arm, nodded toward his little sister, and nodded to him. He nodded back and quietly walked up behind her. When she was in the middle of texting someone, he grabbed her and made her shriek slightly.

"You jerk!" she cried out when she had seen who the culprit was. Jordan, on the other hand, burst out laughing and nearly fell to the ground.

"Classic!" he cried out. She rolled her eyes and went back to her phone.

"Happy belated birthday, Hayley," she said to me.

"Thanks Becca."

"So you're technically a legal adult now. How does that feel?"

"Feels like freedom," I smiled.

"Man, I can't wait until I turn eighteen," she sighed dreamily.

"Yes you can!" Aliyah, Jordan, Damon, and I all said. She held up her hands in surrender.

"Okay, I can wait," she said. I really hoped that she would enjoy her years where everyone was just starting to TURN bad, not even that bad yet, and where no one was like Jake. There was no way that I was going to let Becca go through something like that.

"How are you holding up Hayley?" she asked, changing the awkward moment that followed after our outburst.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Is that crazy guy going to prison?"

"I hope so," I sighed. "His trial isn't until next month."

"I hope he goes to prison forever for what he did to you."

"You and me both," Jordan said in unison with Damon.

"Damon, is Larry okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He can't stop talking about you," Damon answered. Becca turned three shades of red when he told her that. Jordan looked away "casually". Poor guy didn't want to think of his little sister getting a boyfriend yet.

"Hey, Becca? Where are mom and dad?" Jordan asked.

"They went to the bathroom."

"Together?"

"Dude, it's their twenty year and a half anniversary."

"Oh right," he nodded, scrunching up his nose in disgust. Jordan and Becca's parents were the type of people who wanted to celebrate every little thing from your first steps as a baby to their twenty year and six months anniversary. Was it silly? Of course it was, but I thought they were awesome people all the same. I didn't need to know that they were in the bathroom doing things that.....yeah, I just didn't need to know that they were in the bathroom together. And from the looks of it, neither did Jordan.

"You're here!" Mrs. Parker exclaimed as she and Mr. Parker came in from the bathroom hall. Her lipstick was still looking a little bit smeared. Joyce rubbed her lips to signal this to Mrs. Parker, and she quickly wiped at it until Joyce gave her a thumb's up. They sat with us at the large table, questioning Joyce, Damon, and me about how we were and what we think is going to happen to Jake. Joyce said she hoped he got the death sentence while Damon told me that death was too kind. He said that he wished he would rot in prison for the rest of his good-for-nothing life, with no possibility of parole. And I have to say that I couldn't agree with him more. The others arrived shortly after Mr. and Mrs. Parker came to the table, asked us how we all were, and I was actually introduced to Damon's father.

"You must be Hayley," he said to me. I nodded.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Smith," I said kindly with a smile.

"I've heard so much about you. It's nice to finally meet the famous Hayley," he said. I flinched a little when he said that. Those were some of the first words that Larry said to me. And that's what their maid, Katie, said to me too. Damon really did talk about me a lot, but I thought he didn't really talk to his father. Katie must have told him about me then.

"Good to see you again, Hayley," Larry said.

"Good to see you too," I replied. Joyce shook hands with Mr. Smith and smiled at Larry. We all sat down and ordered our breakfast. Damon turned to me while everyone else was diverged in conversation.

"So," he said. "It's finally all over."

"Thank god," I smiled. "Do you really think he's going to go to prison?"

"If the jury is made up of sensible people, yes."

"How long do you think?"

"There are a lot of law enforcements who know who Jake is and what he's done. I think that with his history he has a very high chance on going away for life, but he'll probably get a parole possibility."

"Eh."

"It'll be a while before any judge allows that, though."

"That's what I want to hear."

"Enough on him now," he said, taking my hands in his. "When we get back to your house, there's something that I want to give you since I didn't give you your birthday present yet."

"I thought the surprise no one is telling me about was my birthday present."

"Well that's from all of us. What I want to give you is from just me. I got permission from Joyce," he said with a smirk. Larry called for his attention and he turned away from me as the color drained from my face a little. He said the thing he wanted to give me was from just him and he had asked Joyce's permission to give it to me. Was he....was he going to ask me to marry him? I didn't have a problem with that, I really didn't, it's just that....well...we were still in high school for crying out loud! I was eighteen, yes, but I don't want to get married THIS young! I love Damon, I really do. I just didn't want to think about marriage for another...four, maybe five years. I had to stop thinking into this so much. It was giving me a headache. I turned back to the plate that had appeared in front of me. I didn't even notice that the waitress was here....oh well, I thought.

"Hayley," Joyce said.

"Yes?" I asked, looking up.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I don't know if you CAN, but you MAY."

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically. "If I did something that you didn't want to do, would you be mad at me?"

"What?"

"If I got a certain SOMETHING that you didn't want, would you be mad at me?"

"Uh....it would depend on what that SOMETHING was..."

"Okay," she said, nodding her head. She turned her attention to Mrs. James, leaving me confused as ever. What did that mean? If she got a certain something that I didn't want? What was that certain SOMETHING I didn't want? I looked at Damon, only to receive one of his stupid smirks. What the hell?

When everyone was done, and after Becca and Larry were done flirting their butts off with each other, we all went back to the house while Damon went to his place to pick something up. Probably that present he told me about. The possibility of it being a ring grew smaller, because he could have fit that in his pocket easily. Then again, he could have forgotten it. Oh my god, what if he proposed to me in front of everyone and that's why they were all coming over?! I couldn't tell him no and look like a female dog! I mean I could, and explain to him why I was saying no....no that wasn't going to work. Knowing me, I would probably get caught in the surge of the moment and say yes or something. Ugh, why did I have to be so difficult?

"How are you feeling?" Seth asked me.

"Nervous," I admitted.

"Are you getting butterflies in your stomach?" Jordan asked.

"Now how did you know that?" I asked, crossing my arms as I paced around the living room.

"For god's sake, Hayley, would you calm down a little?" Joyce asked me from the couch.

"I can't!" I said. "You know I'm impatient!"

"Damon's here!" Larry said from the window. Becca was sitting on his lap, much to Jordan's chagrin. My head snapped toward the window and I quickly walked to the door to meet him there. I opened the front door- with Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah close behind me- Damon was just opening his door to get out. I could clearly see the box he was holding.

"Damon," I gasped. "What is that?" He smiled and held it up to me.

"Do you want to see?" he asked. "No wait, open it inside. I want everyone to see it."

"Damon-"

"Come on," he said. Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah led the way into the living room with Damon behind them and I followed closely behind. Everyone had huge grins on their faces as my friends sat down on the ground in front of the couch. Damon and I stood in the middle of the living room with the box. All was silent.

"Just look Hayley!" Joyce said.

"I hope you like it," Seth said. "I helped pick it out."

"So did I!" Jordan said.

"Me too!" Larry said.

"I didn't because apparently I wasn't cool enough to go," Aliyah said.

"You got that right," Seth said.

"Hey! I'm cooler than YOU!"

"Psh, whatever. I'm so cool, ice cream freezes on me," Seth said. We all stared at him while he looked from person to person. "What?"

"Did you really just say that?" I asked him.

"Yes I did," he said. "I'm just that cool."

"Okay...." Mr. James said, looking at his son oddly.

"Don't judge me, Dad," Seth said, holding up his hand. "I'm too cool to be judged."

"Whatever," his dad said, rolling his eyes. Damon and I looked back at each other.

"Well," he said to me. "Do you want to see what's in this box?"

"I do," I said. He slowly opened the top. When I say slowly, I meant excruciatingly slowly. "Damon just do it!"

"That's what she said!" every male in the room shouted, including Damon. I rolled my eyes while Joyce, Mrs. Parker, Mrs. James, Aliyah, and Becca all burst out laughing.

"Just open it, Damon!" I whined playfully. He showed me a small smirk before opening the box completely. I gasped at what I saw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~HAHA! Cliffhanga! Just cause I'm cool like that and I can do it if I wanna! Ha ha! This story is almost over! Even though I'll miss writing it, I DO have other stories I need to wrap up and start. So yeah. Just....ONE more part people. ONE more part and this story is DONE. The next part.....comes out....TOMORROW. Yay! Cliffhanger will be over soon. For now, suffer. Mwa ha!