You eventually make your way home after the confusing conversation with Hailee. You are still lost as to what it all meant and as much as you said you would just forget about it, you find your mind always going back to it. It doesn't help that she is breathtakingly beautiful or that the feeling of her lips on your neck sent shivers through your whole body, something you never experienced with anyone before. You shower and crawl into bed, hoping that in the darkness you could escape your mind and fall asleep. Your mind is cruel though and instead the quietness of the darkness only made your thoughts louder. You roll over and grab your phone off the nightstand and find yourself scrolling through random videos on tiktok for a distraction. It was close to 2 am when you finally yawned and decided to put your phone down and try to sleep.
A few days have past and it's the day to finally release the new collection. You woke up early and caught you commercial airing for the first time. You couldn't believe it was actually on TV for the world to see. You headed into the store early to make sure everything was set up and good to go for when you open. You were shocked to see a line already at the door when you arrived. You open the front door and say to the first person in line, "Hey, we don't open for another hour, I'm sorry if there was any confusion."
The girl responds back, talking quickly and flashing her phone right in front of your face, "Can you tell me if you have this shirt in stock, I want exactly what Hailee is wearing in her music video?"
You take a step back and take a look at her phone. It was a screen shot from what looked to be Hailee's new music video. You reply back to the girl "yes we will have everything in stock, so in an hour I will open the doors and you can enter then."
The group of girls started yelling and cheering and singing the words to Hailee's song.
"hmm" you think to yourself "she released the video and didn't tell you." You head back to your office and sit down at your computer and bring up her youtube page. There you see the music video. You hit play and watch the music video until the end. As you watch your mind goes back to those days you watched Hailee film it. It is cool to see the final product after seeing how it was all made. In the description you notice a little shout out to your shop for saving the day with the clothes. That must be how the girls knew where to come. You pick up your phone and open your text messages. You click on Hailee's conversation and stare at the screen for a little.
You: I saw the music video. It turned out great. Congrats. Thanks for the shoutout in the description.
You go to hit send but instead delete the text and close your phone. You look at the clock. You head up front to open the store and notice that the line is now even longer. When you unlock the door the girls come flooding in. You spend most of the day ringing up orders and restocking shelves. Even with the employees you have working that day you still seem understaffed and can't catch up. Just when you think you have time to take a break and finally eat something, the shop door opens and more people file in. Soon you were running out of inventory and having to take orders for when more inventory comes in. The new line was a success. When it was time to go, you let all the employees head home so they can get some rest. It was a long exhausting day for everyone. You spend some time rearranging what stock was left to make the shelves look not so empty. You go to the cash register to gather up the receipts when you hear the front door open.
"Sorry! We're closed! I was just coming to lock the door." you yell as you come around the counter not paying attention to who was standing there.
"I'm sorry I haven't reached out." Hailee replied.
Hearing her voice made you freeze in your steps.
"Hailee..." you whisper to yourself.
"I meant to come by earlier but I noticed it was really busy and I have things I need to say so I came by once you were closed, I hope that is alright."
You clear your throat trying to remind yourself to breathe. You knew she was beautiful but seeing her stand in front of you again, you're reminded at just how beautiful she is. Her long brown hair was styled with wavy loose curls and her makeup was done as if she had some sort of work event today.
"uh yeah that's fine but I really want to get out of this shop. I've been here all day and I could use a change of scenery. I live not to far from where, can we go to my place to talk?" you ask.
"of course, I'll follow you."
You lock up the shop and drive home making sure you don't lose Hailee who is following you. You pull in the drive and wait for Hailee to exit her car. You make your way into the house, taking off your shoes and throwing your keys in the bowl on the shelf next to the door.
"well this is my place, its nothing special but I call it home."
Hailee looks around quietly. "It's nice! Is this pictures of your family back in Ohio?"
"Yeah those are my nieces and nephew. I miss them A LOT. They will be coming here for a few weeks in the summer to visit." You stare at the picture remembering how simple life was back in Ohio but that you wouldn't change moving to California for anything no matter how hard it gets sometimes being away from your family.
"I'm starving, I haven't ate all day. I'm going to throw on a burger and mix up a salad would you like some?" you ask Hailee.
"I could always eat a burger." Hailee replied.
You lead the way to the kitchen. Hailee sits at on a stool at the breakfast bar while you start seasoning the burgers. You light your indoor grill and mix up the salad while the grill heats up. Once it's ready you throw the burgers on the grill. You notice that Hailee is just watching you as you move about the kitchen.
"You really know your way around a kitchen" she calls out.
"I've always loved to cook. I use to cook a lot with my mom since we had a big family. Once I moved out here sometimes it's a bit easier to grab food from a restaurant than cook but I enjoy it when I have the time to actually do it." you reply.
You plate the burgers and hand Hailee hers. You sit down on the stool next to her. As you both begin to eat you start up the conversation.
You: I saw your music video! it turned out amazing. Congrats!
Hailee: Thanks, I meant to text you but every time I started I just didn't know know what to say. You deserve more of an explanation and it wasn't until today that I felt ready to give you one.
You: What happened today to make you ready?
Hailee: You ever just ask for a sign to help you make a choice and then you see one thing and you think ok thats a coincidence, but then a little while later you see another thing and you're like ok maybe that's a fluke. When I saw something for a third time, I couldn't explain it away anymore. It just felt right inside of me.
You: What did you see?
Hailee: You.
Hailee put her food down on her plate and took a deep breathe in. She turned so that she would be facing you more. You turn to face her.
Hailee: Ever since I left the shop that night I haven't felt right. I just kept feeling like a piece of me was idk missing like there was a hole and no matter what I did to try to fill it, it never felt right. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. When you are in the spotlight as much as I am you feel this enormous pressure to always be the person everyone expects of you. You try to live up to everyones expectations that eventually you kind of just lose yourself in the process.
You: I never had any expectations of what or who I wanted you to be.
Hailee: I know and that was part of the problem. You didn't look at me like almost everyone else does. You helped me that first day not because I was "Hailee Steinfeld academy award winning actress" but simply because I was just a person who needed help. When I got out of the car with no makeup on and in my sweats, you still looked at me like I was something special.
You: You saw that...
Hailee: kind of hard not to see, you were kind of staring and fumbling with the keys, but I found it really cute.
You: so embarrassing...
Hailee: When the first day of shooting was done and we were just hanging out, I didn't feel like I had to be anything specific. I was able to throw on some music and just chill for once. Then we started dancing and you looked so helpless at first but I was kind of glad because it gave me a reason to get close to you. I had felt just drawn to you all day but I knew I needed to resist because
You: of Cameron.
Hailee: Not just him, but because I was still figuring myself out. I've had crushes on girls before. I've had friendships that would blur the line but we always just joked about being close best friends. I knew deep down it was always a bit more to me than just friends. When Naill cheated on me I was broken. I swore to myself that I'd take the time to really figure myself out. Then I put out this EP with all the break up songs and everyone seemed so worried about how I was doing. The label was putting pressure on me to have some publicity with someone new to get some stories out there to help sells but I'm not that kind of artist. Then quarantine hit and I've had no choice but to just be alone to the point it was just eating me up inside. When I ran into Cameron one day at the beach and we started talking again, it felt...
You: right?
Hailee: more like familiar. I knew I was able to be myself around him and we were already together once so we already knew a lot about each other. As things progressed it just seemed natural to get back together.
You: but...
Hailee: but that part of me was still feeling off. I still felt like I was being what everyone else expected of me. Then I felt myself being drawn to you and while we were dancing, the way you were holding my hands on your hips and the way our body was moving together and the way your hair fell off to the side and exposed your neck, I just couldn't take it anymore. When my lips touched your skin, it was like electric went through my whole body. I felt... alive in ways I never felt before. Then we sat down and ate and talked and got to know each other. The more you talked about your life the more I felt myself wanting to know more. I hoped that we could... idk.. be friends while I figured it out but when Cameron showed up and Patrick told me how you were sad, I knew I had gone too far.
You: Hailee... we can still be friends if that is what you want.
Hailee: it is but its not at the same time. Last night I was laying in bed with Cameron
You: Ehhh I don't think I need to hear about that.
Hailee: relax, let me finish explaining. I felt alone. Even with him laying next to me, I felt alone. I missed you. I grabbed my phone to text you so many times and I just couldn't find the right words. So instead I asked for a sign that would tell me what to do to feel complete in life. When I woke up this morning the first thing I saw was you. Cameron had the tv on, there was your commercial. So I shook that off and said ok for real if that was a sign show me another to prove it. I had asked Cameron for a ride to my press interview today for the new music video and he told me he had plans to ride bikes with the boys so he wasn't able to. I couldn't be mad at him since he already had plans but a part of me felt mad. So I get to my interview and everything is going great and we are about to be out of time when I guess the station had some technical issues so we had to stay on the air a little longer. The person interviewing me goes well since we have some extra time, I have a question about the outfits in your video. This was the sign I guess you could call a fluke because I mean it isn't out of the ordinary for them to ask but she never would have asked if there was the technical issue giving us more time.
You: haha well thanks for more free press!
Hailee: you're welcome haha. After the interview I called Cameron to see if he wanted to grab food and again he blew me off to hang out with the boys. So I went to the studio, ordered some food and felt just wanted to blare music and escape for a little while. I turned on the radio and that is when I knew. I stood there listening to the same song we danced to in the same spot that we danced and in that moment I felt... complete. So that was my third sign. I grabbed my stuff and figured I would come to the shop and see you. I knew it was past the time of closing so I guess i asked for a fourth sign in that you'd still be there and you were.
You nod your head with a small smile on your face.
You: So what exactly are you saying then?
Hailee: I want to take you out on a date on Friday if you are interested.
You: What about Cameron?
Hailee: Rather you say yes or no, I am breaking up with him. I need to start living my life for me and that is exploring this feeling I have with woman. I can't preach to people to love themselves if I am hiding a big part of me. I mean that doesn't mean I am going to go screaming through the streets that I find woman attractive, but I owe it to myself to at least figure out that part of me.
You: okay.
Hailee: okay as in...
You: I would love to go on a date with you on Friday.
Hailee squeals in excitement and wraps her arms around your neck pulling you in for a hug. It felt amazing to be back in her arms. As you both start to pull away you begin to talk again.
You: I have one condition.
Hailee: okay... what is it?
You: We move at your pace. You have a lot to figure out and I don't want to push you faster or farther than you are ready to so you need to communicate where you stand and not expect me to read minds because I am telling you, you are way to attractive to leave it up to me to figure out.
Hailee giggles.
Hailee: Thank you for that. That means a lot to me. I'm glad we had this talk.
You: Me too.
You get up and take the plates to the sink. You stretch out your arms and yawn. You didn't realize how late it had gotten.
Hailee: I should get going, it seems you have had a long day and I just talked to your ear off.
You: Yeah the store was packed, I'm pretty exhausted.
Hailee: well I will see you Friday then. Pick you up around 6?
You: That sounds good, just let me know ahead of time how to dress.
You walk Hailee to the door. You open the door and as she is about to step out you pull her back in for another hug.
You: Sorry, I needed one more.
Hailee: its ok. I did too. Goodnight (y/n)
You: Goodnight Hailee.
You watch as she walks to her car and gets in. You don't close the door until her car has left your driveway. You can't believe what all has happened. You do a happy dance while singing "i have a date with Hailee, I have a date with Hailee." Then you yawn again and remember just how tired you are and head to bed, falling asleep with a smile on your face.