Chapter 12; Craved Feelings, Much Needed Advice, and The Walk Over
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Alright, thanks for bearing with me! I seriously am sorry for the late update everyone! I wanted to get this just right. And to make up for the extra few days, LONG / longer / longisher than the other chapters CHAPTER! Anyway, thanks for getting MRSR up to over 7500 reads! I can't tell you all how much I appreciate it!
chapter dedicated to Shady234 for my amazing new cover
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-DREW'S POINT OF VIEW-
As soon as the sentence left my lips, the atmosphere in the room changed almost instantly.
Hailey, standing in front of me silently, was searching for words. Her hands fell softly to her sides.
It was like, we were both treading on new territory, this possibility of actual friendship that we hadn't considered before. It was strange, but new. And to be honest, I didn't mind it. Even though I had only asked her to dinner because I felt like I owed her for that night, for me, it seemed like some kind of proof that maybe I didn't hate her as much as I originally thought. I didn't even anticipate asking her to go anywhere with me, it just kind of slipped out before my mind could catch up with me. But now, I couldn't decide whether or not I was regretting it or happy that I did it.
I mean, I wanted to hate her. I really did.
First of all, she nearly hit me with her car, and then screamed at me for it. And then she scored a job at the one place I decided to work at, which she never let me live down by the way.
And then, she was frustrating and complicated and ridiculous, all at once.
But, she also cared. I could tell that she cared, even just the slightest bit, even if she didn't know she did. I could tell by the way she looked at me when she saw me walk though the door, by how worried she was. And I didn't really know what it meant.
All I knew was that I craved that kind of feeling. Where someone actually cared.
But, I had to remind myself, Hailey hadn't even given me an answer yet.
Instead, she was just standing in front of me, still silent, and by the way her eyes darted around and the way her lips were parted, I could tell what she was doing.
She was examining me. She was searching for some kind of hint of a smirk that played off that I was joking, or maybe even some kind of hint of something else, as she pried apart her memories for any sign of my motive.
But she couldn't find any, so instead, she gave up.
"What?" she finally decided on, straightening her posture and crossing her arms. She had been silent for too long, and now her cheeks started to blossom underneath her green eyes in embarrassment.
I wanted to sound genuine, because in reality I really did feel like I owed her, but it also felt as if I was walking on glass.
One step too far, one wrong word, and we would go back to hating each other. I know I was being dramatic, but I hadn't really had any friends since-
the accident.
I shivered. I hated that kind of categorization. Everyone else called it an "accident," everyone else said "Oh Drew, it wasn't your fault, it was just, bad times."
But what the hell did bad times mean anyway? And it's not like it hid what they really felt, because I knew. I knew they hated me, I could see it every time I looked at them.
Every single time.
"Dinner. With me. Tonight." I repeated, trying to show Hailey I was pretty serious about this whole friend dinner invitation thing. Because at that moment, I realized it would be nice to have someone who didn't hate you. And it was always easier to start off with someone who cared already.
I mean, Odie cared. He was the greatest person I knew. But it would be nice to talk to someone else beside him for once, even though that sounded pretty bad.
What was going on with me?
Why was I even thinking like this in the first place? It was just a damn dinner invitation, not a marriage proposal. She would probably just end up hating me too, if she didn't already.
She leaned her back onto the counter, hitting the broom with her elbow.
"So this is how your going to repay me?" She finally smiled, and I smiled back in relief.
"Well, I mean, if you don't want to, I-"
"Okay, okay, fine." She interrupted me, and I smiled even bigger.
Gotcha.
"Okay?" I mocked, crossing my arms and smirking as I walked around the counter. She turned to look at me, resting her arms on it and leaning forward. The tips if her brown hair brushed the glass as she rolled her eyes at me.
"I'll go to dinner with you tonight." She agreed, looking over at me.
I was still grinning. I don't know why I was grinning so much.
"But," she started again, poking me with her finger, "you better take me somewhere cool." Then she laughed, turning around again to walk towards the record shelves.
"Oh, trust me. It'll be cool." I teased, and then we both laughed.
Too bad she had absolutely no idea that what she had just said set my nervousness off like a trigger, because really, I had no freaking idea where I was going to take her.
When was I ever someone who got nervous?
4 Hours Later
-HAILEY'S POINT OF VIEW-
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
About the whole dinner thing.
I mean, where did all that come from? First we were flirting and then we were joking and now were going out to dinner tonight? Or yet, a better question was, why did I even say yes in the first place?
It was so strange, starting to see Drew as an actual friend instead of some annoying, conceited motorcycle boy. Ever since that night, it was like something, something had changed for the both of us.
That seemed wrong, but it was true. I stopped seeing him as that awful person who needed nobody because I had seen him when he was vulnerable, when he had needed someone. And I think he stopped seeing me as the maniac who almost ran him over because I had helped him, because I had cared.
It definitely wasn't your usual logic, but it was the only thing that made sense to me right now. And I needed at least one thing to make sense, because I was seriously freaking confused.
Especially because we were only about two hours away from closing, and after some more chores and absolutely nothing, Drew suddenly got all weird and ran into the back room.
Like literally. We were in the middle of a conversation about why some record titles are just a complete abomination to society, and then all of a sudden he just froze up and went into the back room.
When was he ever one to freeze up?
I was used to the Drew that gave insulting replies and sarcastic remarks, not the one who escaped from a conversation to go into the back room.
But I guess a lot of surprising things had happened today for me to even have time to think about that, because at the moment, I could only keep one subject in my mind.
Dinner. Tonight. With Drew.
I still couldn't believe he had asked me. At first, I thought it was some kind of joke that he could tease me about later, but he was completely serious. I had tried to figure out what he was thinking, what his motives were, but he had that same unreadable expression he always wore. So I just decided to take a leap of faith and believe he was only doing this because he had felt like he owed me.
But had I wished it was for some other reason?
No.
No, definitely not. I didn't think about him that way. And he definitely didn't think that way about me, no matter what he had said to me after I hugged him this morning.
Why was he capable of making me feel so confused?
I sighed as I walked over to my purse on the red leather couch in the corner, flicking it open and digging through it for my phone. When I finally found it, I took one last glance at the back room before taking long, quick strides toward the front door.
I hardly think Odie would mind if I took a little break outside and made a call.
I began dialing Millie's number as I stepped outside and leaned against a pole on the sidewalk. The sound of the downtown's hustle and bustle wasn't as loud as I had expected because the sun was going to go down soon, but the heat was still definitely disgusting. I knew I had to make this quick, or I would be sweating buckets by the time I got back inside.
"Hailey!" Millie's cheerful voice echoed through the phone after the third ring, and I sighed in relief.
"Hey Millie." I said, trying to match her happy tone but failing miserably. Immediately, she knew something was wrong. That kind of thing was just a given with her after being friends for so long.
"Hailey?" She asked, concern now laced through her words. "What's wrong?"
I sighed again, switching hands on my cellphone and running my fingers through my hair.
"It's just- um-"
"Come on, tell me Hailey. You can tell me anything, you know that. Now what's going on?"
I smiled at Millie's words. She always knew how to be reassuring, how to always make me feel better, even the slightest. She was everything I had ever wanted in a best friend. But my smile quickly faded.
"Don't judge me, okay?" I told her as nervousness bubbled inside me and I chewed at my fingernails. I had never been nervous to talk to her before, so I had no idea why I was now.
"I won't. I promise. Now spill it." She instructed, her concern escalating as her sentence continued on.
I waited a few seconds before starting, taking a deep breath.
"Drew asked me to dinner." I rushed out, and then paused, shutting my eyes. I didn't want to hear her response.
"He what?" she asked, but based on her tone, I couldn't really decipher whether or not she approved of this whole ordeal.
"And I said yes." I said, ignoring her question. There was another pause. She definitely knew how to relish in dramatic moments. But that's not what I wanted right now, I wanted her advice.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke up again. And she sure did always know how to take me by surprise.
"I knew it!" she laughed, almost snorting, "I knew it! I knew it! I totally saw this coming. And you were totally shutting down the whole fate conspiracy and everything but guess who's right-"
"Millie." I groaned, rolling my eyes and clenching the phone before I remembered she couldn't actually see me.
"What? I told you-"
"Millie! This is serious!" I interrupted her again, starting to get a little frustrated with her I told you so's when they weren't even right.
"What's wrong with him asking you to dinner? You could have just said no if you really didn't want to go." She said, sounding a little disappointed with my reaction. But it's not like I could help it, I was just starting to get really flustered about the whole situation.
Which I shouldn't be, because it was just one simple dinner, but I just didn't understand how the circumstances could change so quickly. There must be something I didn't realize.
"It's not that I didn't want to go, because I did, and I still do, it's just-" I sighed, trying to think of a way to end that sentence. Nothing was coming to mind.
"It's just what Hailey?" she questioned, "Was he rude when he asked you or something?"
I shook my head, "No, it's not that." I answered, finally gathering the right words, "He just-, he said he only asked me because he felt like he owed me, not because he wanted to."
"Owed you?" Millie sounded confused, "For what?"
"For that whole night. When I fixed him up and we drove him home and everything."
Finally, it clicked for Millie and she let out an "Ohhhhh" kind of sound. I leaned farther into the metal pole on the sidewalk, losing my breath as the heat and humidity stole it away from me.
"I see." Millie said quietly, and I could imagine her nodding. "And you wanted it to be for some other reason, didn't you?"
I knew the kind of response she was expecting, but I didn't know if it was true or not. I didn't think it was, but lately, I wasn't to sure of anything.
"No." I breathed out immediately, but my voice caught at the end.
"Oh Hailey," Millie sighed. "You like him, don't you?"
"No!" I repeated again, getting angry. I didn't like him, I really didn't. I just was kind of upset that the only reason he would want to hang out with me was because he felt like he owed me a favor. Especially because I thought that lately we had gotten out of that whole "I hate you" kind of situation. So, I wasn't very welcoming to Millie's accusations, because they weren't true. I mean, I still hardly knew him.
Millie didn't say anything, which made me even madder. She didn't believe me.
"I don't, I swear. I just, I care about him okay?" I tried to reassure her, before she could remind me about any more fate conspiracies she had in mind. "I don't even know anything about him. We're barley friends."
"But that's how everything starts, doesn't it?" She said, and my mouth nearly dropped. "And if you don't know anything about him, then this dinner is the perfect opportunity to ask him a few questions."
"Yeah yeah whatever," I growled, "Just please, don't get any ideas Millie, okay?"
"Fine. But I'm coming over later to hear about your date!"
"It's not a da-" I was about to respond, but then the line went dead, buzzing in my ear.
God. She really knew how to be dramatic. She had no idea what she was talking about anyway!
Or did she?
-DREW'S POINT OF VIEW-
I leaned back in Odie's computer chair, which smelled a lot like decaying leather, and put my head in my hands.
I had one hour left. One little hour. The sun was already going down for god sakes.
And I still had no idea where I was going to take Hailey out to dinner. I don't know why I was making such a big deal about it, because really I could take her anywhere, but I felt this horrible urge to impress her.
I mean, its not like I could take her anywhere spectacular, we were hardly friends and that would be absolutely ridiculous, but still. Not one place was coming to mind, not one freaking place.
"Are you muttering to yourself?" Odie's voice surprised me, causing me to nearly fall backwards in the computer chair. I had no idea he had come in, but I guess I should've known he would. This was his office, after all.
"God Odie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I yelled, trying to fix my composure quickly. Odie was chuckling.
"You're such a girl." He teased, and then burst out laughing again. I just scowled. Odie had no idea what was on my mind. He didn't get to make fun of me right now.
"Oh, right, says the guy who naps every two hours. But, I mean, I guess beauty sleep is beauty sleep." I shot back, and that set Odie off again, almost choking from laughter.
"Okay, okay," He raised his hands up in defense and pretended to wipe a dramatic tear off of his cheek. "You got me. I like to look beautiful, okay? You can't stop me!" Then he proceeded to do an exaggerated hair flip, which looked totally wrong because he was nearly bald.
Now he even had me smiling.
I loved that Odie always had that affect, where he could make you happy whenever, no matter what. I was so glad I had a friend like him. He was basically like a dad to me, even though he was old enough to be my grandfather.
But as soon as the jokes wore off, the old situation came crashing back down onto me as quick as it left.
Where to take Hailey?
I sighed, a little louder than intended. Okay, maybe a lot louder than intended. Odie's face suddenly went serious. He was quiet for a few moments.
I tried to pass it off, like I had yawned or something, and then started to get up from the computer chair. But when I was almost to the door to head into the main back room area, I felt a rough hand enclose around my shoulder.
So close, so close.
"Drew," he began, his tone strange, and I turned around to face him slowly. "Are you okay?"
I knew what he was thinking about, what everyone always thought about. That's why he sounded so concerned, because he was thinking about the accident.
Or at least, that's what he thought I was thinking about. And usually, he would be right, because no matter what, that always seemed to linger in the back of my mind. And he knew me well, maybe even better than I knew myself, which meant he knew I blamed myself for it.
But I wasn't thinking about that right now. And I was okay, just a little nervous and a little indecisive.
"I know what your thinking," I admitted, "and trust me, I'm fine. It's not about that, I promise." Immediately, Odie's wrinkled expressions softened and he looked relieved.
"Okay, alright." he said, but he still sounded a little unsure. "What is it then?" he asked, and I frowned.
"Nothing," I got out quickly, hoping he would let me leave, "Just teenager stuff."
But it wasn't that easy. It never was, with him. He just wouldn't budge. A huge smile spread across Odie's face as he leaned on the computer desk and crossed his arms.
"Teenager stuff? At eighteen? It's about time." Odie was still smiling, and I just rolled my eyes.
"You know, at eighteen, I'm actually, technically not a teenager anymore." I said sarcastically, and Odie waved his hands at me.
"Oh pleaseeee," he snorted, "Some boys don't seem to stop being teenagers until their thirties, so you still have some time left."
I grinned, "I guess so."
"Now really, what's the deal?" He started again, but I just shook my head.
"It's really nothing. You shouldn't waste your time." I replied, praying he would just brush it off.
But, god kind of hated me at the moment, so I'm pretty sure my prayer didn't go through.
"I might have been a teenager about a thousand years ago, but I was still a teenager once nonetheless. So come on, tell me."
I sighed, twisting my bracelet between my fingers. "Fine."
Odie looked at me expectantly, raising his eyebrows. "So-"
"It's about Hailey."
Odie's face puckered as he let out a kind of "Ohhhhh" sound. I frowned again. Moments passed, and we kind of just stood there, him waiting for me to say more and me waiting for him to give me more crap. Eventually, Odie spoke up again.
"What did you do?" Odie said, uncrossing his arms and placing his hands on his hips. I looked at him, shocked. I didn't expect him to say that.
"What did I do? I didn't do anything!" I yelled, a little hurt.
"Well then-"
"I asked her to go to dinner with me!" I got out, interrupting him for the second time.
His face puckered again, and he let out another "Ohhhhh" sound. I furrowed my eyebrows, scowling at him.
"I see." he said, nodding and looking around the room.
"Well?" I asked him, raising my arms in frustration "You're not going to say anything?"
"I knew this was going to happen!" He exclaimed, starting to laugh again.
Knew what was going to happen?
It's not like we liked each other or anything. Or at least I'm pretty sure we didn't. And I don't know why he found it so funny anyway.
"You really are so helpful Odie," I said, rolling my eyes again.
But he ignored my remark. "So where are you going to take her for this date of your's?" He asked, beaming at me.
"It's not a date." I grumbled under my breath. "And that's the problem, I have absolutely no freaking idea."
"Hmmmm," Odie said, tapping a finger under his chin and plastering a thoughtful look onto his face. I waited a few moments, tapping my feet with my arms crossed. I admit it, I was kind of mad he thought all this was funny. It wasn't funny- I was freaking out. I couldn't remember the last time I had gotten so stupid over something so simple, especially something like a girl.
But I guess Hailey was sort of different, under some kind of circumstance, right? Either way, I was still clueless.
"I got it!" Odie jumped up, scaring me again. I stumbled backwards a little, but he ignored it. "I know where you can take her!"
-HAILEY'S POINT OF VIEW-
The sun was completely down now, and it was around eight o'clock. I ran my finger along the glass behind the counter, humming numbly to the songs playing on the record player and trying not to fall asleep. I was still thinking about Millie and I's conversation, but it wasn't as big as a deal now that some time had passed. I wasn't even nervous anymore, it just didn't seem like a huge pressing matter like before. Drew still hadn't come out from the back room after his little freeze up and escape incident, and Odie hadn't even peered his head out the door either. And I hadn't really felt like going back there, so I had been alone in the front room for quite a while.
Finally, it was a few minutes from closing, and I heard the sound of the back room door creaking. Assuming it was Odie, I said "Do you want me to close up tonight or-" But once I turned around, I saw who it actually was.
It was Drew.
"I think Odie's going to close up tonight, so no need to worry about it." He smiled, and I looked down to see that he was twisting his bracelet between his fingers. When he saw that I noticed, he quickly pulled his hand away and looked at me again with his brown eyes.
Forget everything I said about it not being a big deal anymore. I was wrong.
For some reason, my heart started to race and my throat went dry.
"Okay." I replied, and then I took a deep breath.
It's just Drew. It's no big deal, act normal. What is wrong with you?
So immediately, I put on a devious smirk and straightened my back, trying to look as calm and careless as possible. I had no idea if it was working or not, I probably looked like a clown.
Drew seemed to be doing the same, or he actually just didn't really care about this whole dinner thing.
"Okay." he said back, and then we kind of just stood there, looking at each other. And then I snapped my head away.
"So where are we going?" I asked lightly, walking to the door and waiting for Drew to catch up.
He ran a hand through his dark hair, finally snapping out of it as well. "That, is a surprise Hailey." He grinned, walking over to the door infront of me and holding it open as we both headed out onto the sidewalk. The little bell above the door echoed through my ears.
"I'm not really a big fan of surprises." I said, and he just shook his head at me.
The hot air outside hit us immediately, and we both grimaced, but at least the sun was already down and the stars were poking through the sky. I couldn't wait to get in a car with air conditioning-
But then, that's when I realized, he came to work everyday on his motorcycle. My heart dropped, my palms instantly becoming sweaty.
I had never been on a motorcycle before.
The thought of it nearly scared me half to death, and I wondered about bringing it up as we continued in slience a little awkwardly down the sidewalk. I stopped in my spot, nearly missing a melted piece of gum near my shoe, and looking up at him. Drew noticed my hesitance and stopped next to me, his expression twisting into something strange, like he figured I was going to bolt or something.
"Uh, Drew?" I spoke up, and he looked nervous.
"Yeah?" He asked, glancing from me to the street back to me again.
"How exactly are we getting to this surprise place?" I asked, and he seemed to take the hint.
His nervous expression turned into a full blown grin, and he laughed, his eyes lighting up as he continued.
I stared at him, confused.
"What's so funny?" I snapped, crossing my arms.
"You thought we were going to take my motorcycle, didn't you?" He laughed again, and now I was scowling. He looked down at me, turning around so he was standing directly in front of me. Then he stuck both of his hands on my shoulders, and told me with the up most sincerity, "Don't worry, I wouldn't make you go through that and possibly risk the horrific mess up of your hair."
Then he continued to laugh, and I just rolled my eyes. "Ha- ha, so funny." I shot back, "Well then how are we going to get there, motorcycle boy?"
"Would this be a bad time to tell you we're walking?" He teased, releasing his hands from my shoulders. But when he pulled them away, my arms tingled a little from where his hands had been. I shook it off.
"Well, not really." I said, "Just as long as you don't mess up your hair."
And then we paused and he looked over at me. And in a matter of seconds, we both were spitting and chortling and choking from laughter. My face was red and his teeth were glaring and we just couldn't stop.
I couldn't remember the last time I had laughed like that.
Afterwards, when we were back to the occasional giggle, he joked "Your lucky I have such a good sense of humor, or I might just go eat dinner by myself." And I just smiled as we turned onto another sidewalk, me following Drew as he continued to head to where ever we were going.
Around us, our half crappy, half modern downtown was officially quiet, with only the brave few left wandering around. Lights were on in mostly every shop, but no one besides the workers were normally around at this time, because that was just how our downtown was. I guess I couldn't blame anyone, since the last time I saw someone walking around here at night they had came into the shop and nearly beat Drew senseless. But tonight seemed calm, and something about being with Drew and laughing kind of made me feel safe.
So we continued with our now comfortable silence as we waited to cross the road, even though no cars were coming. We weren't really in any kind of rush; I think for the first time ever, we were actually truly enjoying each other's company.
But of course, being me, I had to say the first thing that came to mind and break the silence.
"Drew?" I said, the quiet murmur of crickets in the background and the reflection from the crossing lights on my face.
"Yeah?" He replied, stopping beside me again.
"I want, I want us to start over." I looked up at him, and his brown eyes seemed to be almost glowing. He really was good looking.
"Start over?" He asked, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?"
"You know, like start over." I sighed, "Forget the whole car and motorcycle incident, all the arguing at the shop and everything. A clean slate."
"Why would you want to do that?" He questioned, reaching down to twist his bracelet between his fingers, but then deciding not to and sticking his hands into his jean pockets instead.
"I don't know," I shrugged, looking down at the street. "I just- I hate thinking that you kind of hated me. In the beginning anyway." I said.
Where was all this coming from? Why was I saying this?
There was a pause.
"I didn't hate you Hailey." He replied, and when I looked back up, he seemed sad. "And I don't hate you now either, if that's what you're thinking. I'm glad that- that we're friends."
I smiled. Relief and something else flooded through me all at once. "Friends." I nodded, "So no clean slate?"
"Nah," He grinned. "I would hate having to pretend like I just met you. I like thinking that I at least know one thing or two about the girl I'm taking to dinner."
I laughed again. This night hadn't even really started yet, but it definitely was turning out to be pretty good so far.
Not at all what I thought it was going to be. I was so glad I said yes.
And after a little while longer of crossing a few streets and turning and joking, Drew suddenly grabbed my arm, causing me to freeze.
"Close your eyes." He said, and I obeyed, shutting them. Then he was pulling me a little farther down the sidewalk before halting again.
"So, Hailey," he prompted, sounding a little sarcastic and excited at the same time, "is this place cool enough for you?"
And I opened my eyes.
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WOOOHOOOO! LONG CHAPTER!
So I know you all thought this was going to be the actual date -eh hem- "friend" get together, but I guess you'll all have to wait until next chaper! (:
And what did you guys think about the whole Drew and Hailey make up? Leave a comment, vote, do whatever, I APPRECIATE YOU ALL SO MUCH! And remember to check out the new character banners below, I posted the links in the comments!
Oh, and one more thing, the person I have as Millie (Dianna Agron) and the person I have as Odie (Robert De Niro) are coming out with a new movie together! :OOOO Lol I almost had a heart attack! It's called The Family. So go look at the trailer, I was seriously freaking out when I saw them in the same movie!
anyway, thanks again <3
-Elizabeth