Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 43

I opened my eyes to discover I couldn't see anything but white. I thought I had gone blind for a minute, but that went away as soon as I took the blanket off of my face. I let out a sigh and took in my surroundings. It was obviously a hospital room.

"Hayley?" a very scared Joyce asked. For a second, I thought that Jake was in here with us and was holding a gun to my head again. I looked at her sitting by my bed.

"Joyce," I sighed. She smiled with relief and hugged me. I was shocked at how much pain shot through my shoulder and even my arm when I hugged her back. I gasped from shock and pulled back. She immediately let me go and looked guilty.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I forgot about your shoulder."

"I did too," I said, rubbing it lightly. "Where's Damon?"

"I can't believe that's the first question you ask me," she mumbled to herself. "He's in a seperate room with his brother. His father is in there with him." I sighed and leaned my head back against the very uncomfortable pillow. If they had sick and weak people in here, you'd think they would have more comfortable beds and pillows.

"Is Jake....is he gone?" I asked. Joyce nodded her head, a glint of relief in her eyes.

"He was arrested. I don't really think he's going to have a chance at getting bail, let alone have a chance of not going to jail."

"That's a good thing," I yawned. Man, I was tired.

"Hayley, we need to talk about this whole...gang...thing."

"What about it?"

"I want to know how you got involved in the first place, why Jake decided to come after you, why he was after Damon in the first place, and then we're going to discuss your relationship with Damon."

"What are you going to do? Not let me see him anymore? Because even if you do that I'm going to be eighteen tomorrow, so there's nothing you can do after that."

"I wasn't going to say that exactly," she sighed. "Just- start talking." So I did. I explained everything to her from when I first met Damon to the moment Jake stepped in the house. She was surprised, upset, sad, and furious all at the same time. Surprised that I had been keeping this from her all this time, upset that I had lied to her so many times, sad that Damon had to do what he did to defend himself, and furious that I lied about being home all winter break while I was really going to see my uncle in prison all the way in Florida. Can't say that I blamed her for being mad about that, though. I would be mad if I were her. My punishment for all the lies was being grounded for three days. I only got three days because she saw being stabbed in the shoulder and sitting in a hospital bed all day was punishment enough. Needless to say, I couldn't agree with her more.

The next day, I was released from the hospital. Total damage? Two stitches in my shoulder, one split bottom lip- right down the damn middle-, one bruise on my upper right arm and one on the side of my neck- probably from Jake holding me so tightly, and a small cut just above my left eyebrow. No real damage except for the shoulder, in short. To be honest, I was more concerned about Damon and Larry. They were the ones who took the bullets, not me. Joyce wouldn't let me go see them though. She said that they needed time to talk to their dad about what happened. Even though I really wanted to see if they were okay before we left, I agreed with the fact that they needed to speak to their dad and left the hospital with her.

When we got home, I was immediately bombarded with text messages and phone calls from practically everyone I knew. They called on both my cell phone- which was taken from Jake by the police- and on the house phone. I've never felt more....annoyed. I mean I knew people may have been concerned about me and Joyce seeing that what happened on Christmas day was all over the news, but could they let us rest. We just freaking got home! Every message that was received started with "oh my gosh, are you guys all right? How is Hayley hanging up?" and ended with "happy birthday, Hayley." At first, I was confused about why they were saying happy birthday to me. Then, after an amused Joyce reminded me of the date, I remembered that it was indeed my birthday. Yes, I forgot it. Being held at gun point and stabbed in the shoulder on Christmas day can do that to you. Two hours after Joyce and I got home, the door bell rang. She answered it after making me sit and stay on the couch, to which I stubbornly stood up and followed her to the door. When she saw me following her, she rolled her eyes and opened the door to reveal my best friend in the whole world. He walked in after Joyce told him to come in and stared at me with a sad look on his face.

"I should have stayed," he said, shaking his head sadly.

"It's not going to help if you start blaming yourself," I said. "Besides, he had a gun. There wasn't much you could have done anyway."

"But I-"

"No buts. It's not your fault this happened."

"I should have called him out while we were all here."

"Yeah, so he could hold us all hostage? It was bad enough that Joyce was in here, I don't think I would like it much more if your family was in here. Especially your little sister. AND Aliyah's little sister.

"My dad could have gotten the gun from him."

"Not without getting shot himself, he couldn't have," Joyce said. Jordan sighed and dropped his shoulders.

"I still think that I should have been here."

"I don't."

"What about the stink kid? Larry?"

"He was here," I said. "And as it turns out, Jake threatened him."

"Threatened him how?"

"By telling him that if he didn't help him out with going after Damon, he would hurt his dad."

"Guess it makes sense why he was being a little-"

"Jordan," Joyce warned.

"-male organ," Jordan finished with a straight face.

"Yeah, I guess," I said, sitting down on the edge of the couch.

"How's your shoulder, birthday girl? Did I say happy birthday yet? No? Well, happy birthday!" he cried out joyfully. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, thanks," I said glumly.

"Oh god, Hayley," Joyce groaned. "You never liked your birthday! Why not?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I just don't like all the attention, I guess."

"Be lucky that your birthday is over winter break."

"Yeah, cause last year you threw and posted flyers all over the school saying 'happy birthday, Hayley!' and you hung streamers over my locker and over the doors to all my classes and you threw confetti everywhere I went!"

"I wanted people to know that you hit the big one-seven."

"It's not that big a deal. I would have understood a little bit if I was turning EIGHTEEN, but not SEVENTEEN."

"Well you have a bigger surprise this year than last year."

"What are you talking about?"

"Shush!" Joyce said quickly. He smiled slyly at me.

"What?" I asked annoyed. Neither of them said anything. "Oh come on!"

"Nope," Jordan shook his head.

"You are going to have to wait until tomorrow," Joyce sang. She stood up and walked to the kitchen while Jordan snickered next to me.

"This isn't fair!" I called to Joyce. "You both know I hate waiting!"

"Which is exactly why we're making you do it," Jordan said.

"Ugh!" I groaned, childishly throwing my head back against the cushions of the couch. He laughed some more at me as the door bell rang again. I got up, expecting it to be Aliyah or Seth or someone like that, but it was Damon. He smiled slightly when he saw me, but I didn't smile at all. I just stared at him with a shocked expression.

"Okay..." he trailed off, beginning to turn on his heel to leave. "You don't want to see me. I completely understand." What he didn't expect, however, was for me to punch his upper left arm, knowing that he had no injury there. He winced a bit and nodded.

"That's for leaving me worried sick about you!" I yelled. He nodded again slowly.

"I deserved that," he admitted.

"How could you just take off like that? Do you have any idea how much I missed you! Do you have any idea how much I cried over you! How badly I wanted to find you!"

"I got your calls," he mumbled, but I didn't pay attention to that.

"I mean you just left! With no warning or anything! Just an 'I'm sorry, Hayley'," I said, imitating his deep voice. "I'm sorry I'm about to leave you here to worry over me. I'm sorry I'm about to leave you without a clue as to what's going to happen to me! I'm sorry I'm leaving to go possibly be killed! I'm sorry I'm a big....big- dummy head!"

"I deserved that too."

"Damn right you did!" I shouted through tear coated eyes. His gaze softened when he saw the tears threatening to spill out. I didn't bother stopping myself from hugging him. I knew his arm had to be in searing pain right now, but I missed him so much. I had to just be in his arms to make sure he was really there and that this wasn't another dream. He winced a little, but slowly put his arms around me and held me.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"I missed you so much," I sobbed.

"I missed you too," he whispered, kissing the side of my head. "I missed you too." I was very aware of the presences behind us, but I didn't really care. I was here and Damon was here, and most importantly alive, and that was all that mattered to me at this moment. We finally pulled apart and looked into each other's eyes.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I whispered back. He kissed me eagerly and even though it hurt my lip a little bit, I returned it. Who cares about the pain when he's here? He pulled away, much to my dismay, and leaned his forehead on mine.

"As much as I love this, there's someone here who wants to apologize," he said.

"Who?"

"Me," Larry said, coming up behind Damon. I couldn't help but flinch when he came into my view. It was only natural, every other time I saw the kid he had a message from Jake or was just being a creeper to me. Now I knew better, but he was going to take some getting used to.

"Hi Larry," I greeted kindly, forcing a smile.

"So look, Hayley," he said, awkwardly rubbing at his neck. "I'm sorry. For everything that I put you through. I'm sorry for giving you a bad impression of me, I'm sorry for telling Jake about you, I'm sorry about...about suggesting we use Chris as a spy, and I'm SO sorry for everything that Jake put you through. I just...I did the things he did because he....he was going to hurt my dad."

"Larry," I said. "I forgive you. If it were me, I would do the same thing for Joyce or my friends." He looked so relieved that I said those words.

"Thanks," he said. "I really hope that you and I get to know each other. As friends instead of enemies this time," he said with a tint of hope in his voice. I smiled and nodded.

"Of course," I said. He nodded.

"Cool," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The person, I assumed was their dad, honked the horn and Larry looked back. "Ah, I gotta go. Father calls." I looked at Damon and he shook his head.

"You're not getting rid of me right now," he said with a smirk. I grinned and kissed his nose.

"Good," I said.

"I'll see you guys later," Larry said.

"Bye," I said.

"Later bro," Damon said looking back at his little brother. Larry gave him a nod and smile and went to the car. They pulled out of the driveway and left.

"So....were you two planning on playing love birds out here or were you planning on coming in at all?" Joyce asked. I let out a laugh and gently pulled Damon in, partly because of his bad arm and partly because of my bad shoulder.

"So when is the surprise coming?" Damon asked Jordan quietly behind me. I stopped in my tracks and whirled around to face the two of them.

"YOU know about the surprise?" I asked Damon.

"Of course he does," Joyce said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. The only thing was that it wasn't! It wasn't at all obvious! At least it wasn't to me!

"What is it?!" I whined.

"Um.....a surprise," Damon said.

"Yeah, a surprise," Jordan agreed.

"That's not what I- I meant WHAT is the surprise?!"

"OH! Well...yeah, we answered it. It's a surprise."

"Y- you- GAH!"

"Damon, I think we're annoying her," Jordan said, stating the obvious.

"I completely agree Jordan," Damon said, nodding.

"Hayley, take this as an opportunity to learn patience," Joyce said with amusement tinting her voice.

"Argh," I groaned.

"What, are you a pirate now?" Jordan asked.

"Yes. A pirate who wants to know what her treasure is."

"And we are fellow pirates who are telling this pirate-" Joyce said, pointing at me. "-needs to be patient."

"Can I at least have a hint?"

"Think....." Jordan trailed off.

"Think of....think of an organism," Joyce said.

"Something living?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god...is it a puppy?!"

"You'll have to wait."

"No really, is it a puppy? I've always wanted a puppy!" I exclaimed. They all shared a smile and shook their head while I gushed over the fact that I may be getting a puppy. I really hoped it was a pug. I know they had like sinus issues, but I thought they were adorable too much to even care. I really couldn't wait until tomorrow.