Delicate Love || The Music Freaks AU

Chapter 3: Nice To Re-Meet You

Hailey's POV:

Crap. It was Jake. He looked just as shocked as I was. I can't believe he was here. Out of all the places in the world. Why here? 

"I'll let you two get introduced." The boss smiled and left us. I stood my guard by the door. In my mind, I thought seeing Jake again wouldn't be as terrible as Zander said it would. I thought I'd be able to move on, but one look into his big brown eyes told me differently.

"Hailey," His voice was barely a whisper. "Jake," The tension was screaming at me. "It's, uh, nice to see you." He tried to smile at me, but it didn't look normal. "Yeah. You too." I said quietly. We stayed trapped in the silence for who knows how long until Jake cleared his throat and pointed to a room facing his desk. "Uh... you'll be working... there." I whisper a polite 'thank you', and walked into the room.

I put the box I was holding in my hands down on my desk. I looked up to see Jake glance at me. This was going to be awkward. Once I'd finished unpacking someone knocked on my door. It was Jake. I nodded my head, allowing him to come in.

"You don't have a pager yet, so the boss asked to me tell you that he needs you in his office." He didn't dare look at me the whole time. "Oh. Yes. Um, thank you." I quickly slipped past him. But before I could escape the room, Jake caught me. "Hailey?" I felt like someone had glued my feet to the ground. I didn't want to stop, but couldn't bring myself to keep walking. "I-I'm sorry," He said softly. 

I guess he was waiting for me to respond. But I didn't. I just walked away and left. It was rude of me. But I wasn't ready to hear his half-hearted apologies. 

Jake's POV:

"I guess she's still mad at me," I sadly said as I sat down at my desk. I did feel pretty upset about it. Out of all the members, I didn't think Hailey would still be holding a grudge. That's Zander's job. I smiled recalling the last happy encounter between Zander and me.

Zander wanted me to come and see the matching jackets that Milly was making for all of us. I was an idiot and went with my other friends. "I'm so stupid!" I yelled, swiping my stapler off my desk. He was finally trusting me again and I ruined everything. I held my face in my hands, pulling on my blond hair. "Why did I have to be such an idiot!" I yanked on my hair harder. My eyes felt watery and my head was filled with thoughts. "I should've never gone with Drew." I moved my hands from my face and stared at Hailey's office. 

"She'll never forgive me," I mumbled to myself as I started getting back to work. The thought of the club is still fresh in my mind.

Zander's POV:

"What!?" I yelled into the phone. Hailey had just informed me, that Jake was at her new job. And to make things worse, she was sharing an office with him. "Calm down, Zander. It's not that bad." I paced around my and Luke's house in anger. 

"I thought we were finally done with that traitor!" I spat. "Look. We're probably just going to ignore each other. Stop overreacting."

"Overreacting? Me? Have you completely forgotten about what he did?" 

"No, Zander. I didn't. But it's time you moved on!"

"Believe me, Hailey, I've tired."

"Then try harder. We're adults now, Zander. You're acting childish - still holding a grudge on someone from when you were sixteen."

"What he did had more of an effect on me than you think!" 

"Me too! But we have to just move on, all right? Jake doesn't matter anymore."

"Yeah. Whatever." I said and hung up the phone. I turned and saw Luke worrying on the couch. "Are you okay?" He asked me as I took a seat beside him. "Great," I growled at him. I didn't mean to come off as rude. But the thought of that backstabbing jerk being anywhere near my sister was enough to make me want to punch the wall.

"It's all right, Zander." Luke smiled at me. "It doesn't feel all right." Luke played with the back of my hair. Something he does to calm me down. "Hailey's smart. She'll know what to do." I met Luke's honey eyes with my own. He was right. But if that jerk hurts her again, or even tries. I swear to god, I'm going to kill him.

Hailey's POV:

Zander hung up on me. Of course, he did. That was typical Zander. I started walking back to my - or Jake and I's office. Our boss had added me in some sort of group chat. He'd also given me a pager. I got back to the office and saw Jake working on his computer. I opened the clear glass door and Jake made no acknowledgement of me being there. Which is what I wanted. I went into my office and sat down at my desk. I looked up. I didn't realize it before but Jake's eyes looked big and red. Has he been crying?

I tried my best to ignore Jake for the rest of the day. It was going well until our boss came in. "Hello!" He said. I left my office to go see him. "Hello, sir." Jake and I both said simultaneously. "Aw, you're best friends already!" He said happily. "Not exactly," I muttered. Boss looked confused but brushed it off.

"I have a task for both of you," He began. "Could you two go bring me the plans for our latest batch of faulty computers from the basement?" He asked. I didn't want to do it with Jake. I was perfectly happy doing it alone. But we both agreed and began heading for the basement together. 

"So, um, do you still sing?" Jake asked me quietly. I looked at him. "No, I um, quit a few years back." Jake looked at me in shock. "W-What? But you're amazing!" I felt my cheeks sting at the compliment. "Thanks, Jake," I said. "What about you? Do you still sing?" Jake paused before answering. "Yeah. Sometimes." He opened the basement door for me.

"You're not still friends with Drew, are you?" Jake looked at me. "No. I stopped being his friend after you guys kicked me out. You were right, Hailey. He is toxic. I'm so sorry I didn't realize it sooner. I should've never said the things I did."

I was shocked to hear Jake say that. "Oh," Was all I could manage to say at that moment. Jake cleared his throat and picked up the box. "You shouldn't give up on singing, Hailey. You were really fantastic. I'm not sure of your reasons for quitting but, you should give it another shot." He smiled at me. "Yeah. Maybe." I said quietly. Jake cleared his throat again and started to leave I followed after him.

I didn't feel hatred toward Jake anymore. Now, I only felt guilt.