Let me tell you something about the weekends. They're the best. The weekends are the days where you get to see the people you want to see and talk to the people you want to talk to. For instance, I don't want to talk to Damon, so I don't have to. I want to talk to Jordan, so Jordan and I can talk all day if we feel like it. Let me tell you why this weekend is going to SUCK. It started this morning. I got the three signs that it was going to suck when I woke up. I forgot to turn my alarm off, so I ended up waking up at six in the morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I pretty much just lay in bed until nine when I couldn't take it anymore. I nearly killed myself going down the stairs on the way down. And then Joyce woke up. Now I bet you're wondering what's so bad about that, right? Well, let me tell you. She told me that we had to 'talk'. Meaning, she had something to say and she knew damn well I wasn't going to like it. So that's how Joyce and I got to the table now, with me waiting for her to start our 'talk'.
"Hayley, I love you, you know that right?" she began. I nodded.
"Yeah," I said slowly.
"Now, you know that your father loves you no matter what, right?"
"Joyce, what did you do?"
"Nothing, nothing, I was just checking to see if you knew."
"I'm not stupid, Joyce. I know there's more to it than that," I said. She sighed.
"Your father is coming here for the weekend, he'll be here tonight," she said quickly, then she got up and ran away, leaving me there at the table with my mouth and eyes wide open. Joyce said WHAT now? I got up and went to the kitchen where she was hiding behind the counter.
"Joyce, we need to talk about this," I said, sitting at one of the bar stools. She stood up straight and sighed again.
"I called him yesterday while you were at school," she said. I gestured for her to go on. "He didn't know me at first, but after I explained to him who I was, he was extremely excited to be talking to me. I told him that you would love to meet him and see him again and he said he would love to and asked when. I told him the sooner the better and asked him if this weekend was okay. He said it would be fine and we made his flight arrangements over the phone. I'm picking him up from the airport tonight at six thirty, just in time for dinner. What do you think?" she finished. I stood up, grabbed a pen, and pretended to stab it into my chest. She rolled her eyes.
"Don't be so over-dramatic," she scoffed. I straightened and looked at her.
"I'm not being over-dramatic! You're the one who told him that I wanted to see him this weekend and I told you that I wasn't ready to see him!"
"I know, but I couldn't help it! You know how pushy I am," she said. I sighed. Yes, I did know how pushy she was. I just didn't think that she would be THIS pushy. Twelve years later, I'm going to see my father. Twelve years later, his promise is officially broken.
"I'm going to go up and get dressed. Jordan is going to be here soon," I said. She gave me a small smile.
"Okay, honey," she said. I blew some air out from my cheeks and went up to my room to get ready. I didn't feel like changing for when my dad got here, so I just put something on that was nice, but not overdoing it either. I pulled on some dark blue skinny jeans, Converse, a rosy pink tank top and a black cardigan over it. And of course, my mother's pendant. I sighed and ran a brush through my stupidly thick hair. When I was ready, I went over by my window and sat on the window seat and leaned my head back on the wall. I tried not to think about what would happen today, but that's all I COULD think about. Dad was coming here. What if he expected me to go back to wherever with him? If he expected me to move in with him? I couldn't do that. I didn't want to leave Jordan, Seth, and Aliyah. I couldn't leave Joyce either. And for some damn reason, I thought I couldn't leave Damon. And what ABOUT Damon? I shook my head. Nothing, Hayley. Nothing. Don't think about him. Jordan honking his horn in the driveway.
"Hayley! Jordan's here!" Joyce called.
"Coming!" I called back, grabbing my jacket and running downstairs. I opened the front door and went to the car.
"Be home by six!" she called out the door after me.
"Okay!" I waved at her. I got in the car and shut the door behind me. "You'll never believe what she did," I said right away.
"Oh jeez, what did she do?" Jordan said, pulling out of the driveway.
"Did I tell you she found my dad?"
"Indeed you did. Yesterday."
"She called him."
"Shut up."
"She did. He's coming to visit for the weekend."
"Shut the hell up! He is not!"
"I'm not kidding, he is!" I exclaimed.
"So you're finally gonna meet your dad?" he said.
"Not that I'm all too excited about it," I mumbled.
"I wouldn't be either. I mean, if my dad promised me that he would find me and then he shows up after twelve years....well, I wouldn't be too excited about seeing him either," Jordan told me.
"His promise is broken and can't be fixed," I said quietly. He glanced at me.
"I'm sorry Hayls," he said, taking my hand and squeezing it.
"I still can't believe Joyce called him and told him it was okay for him to come this weekend when she KNEW I wasn't ready to see or talk to him," I said.
"Dude, I'm just gonna say this. That. Is. Sketchy," he said.
"I couldn't agree with you more," I sighed. "So where are we going?"
"Mall and then we're going to Buffalo Wild Wings," he answered.
"And Seth and Aliyah are meeting us there?"
"Yep and Aliyah said she's got a surprise waiting particularly for you," he said. I narrowed my eyes.
"You don't know what it is, do you?" I questioned.
"No clue. She didn't tell me or Seth. Said it was a surprise."
"I see. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until we get there to see," I said.
"I guess so," he said. I watched him. His shaggy brown hair covered his eyes a little bit and his gray eyes looked a little sad.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Nothing," he said too quickly.
"Jordan, you're my best friend and I know you know I can see right through you. You can't lie to me. Whatever it is, you can tell me," I said.
"No big deal, just M...."
"Mattie?" I guessed. He sighed then nodded.
"I keep saying that I hate her, but then I got right back to loving her to pieces," he said.
"She cheated on you, Jo," I said.
"I know she did. That was one guy though and it was one time."
"Yeah, you're right."
"I really really think I love her still," he said.
"Well, then give it a chance. It might work this time," I said.
"I don't know if she'll go out with me again," he said.
"She would have to be crazy not to!" I exclaimed.
"Thanks Hayls. Love you sis," he said.
"Love you too bro," I smiled. He pulled into the parking lot in front of the mall not too long later and we went inside and met up with Seth.
"Hey, hey, hey!" he greeted us.
"Hey Seth! Where's Aliyah?" I asked him.
"Uh...yeah. Y-you see th-the thing is...." he stuttered, rubbing his neck nervously. He pulled out his Twix bar and bit a piece of it.
"This isn't one of those commercials! You can't get a moment from Twix, now talk!" I demanded. He swallowed.
"I don't know," he said quickly.
"Yes you do," I fought.
"Okay I do, but we have to wait until she texts me," he said.
"Ugh, you suck," I groaned.
"You swallow," he retorted.
"You choke!" I shouted.
"WELL!" he said.
"Just kidding, you know I love you Seth," I grinned.
"I know. You know I love you too. Aliyah just texted me," he laughed, while looking at his phone. "She'll be here in a couple minutes."
"What's her big surprise?" Jordan asked.
"Take a look for yourself," Seth answered, looking behind Jordan and me. I turned and rolled my eyes right away.
"Why is HE here?" I groaned. Damon Smith was walking up toward me and my friends with Aliyah. I pulled Jordan in front of me.
"Okay!" Seth said as I yanked him in front of me after Jordan.
"You can't hide from him, Hayley. I'm sure he already saw you," Jordan said.
"I don't care. This is just in case he didn't see me!" I whispered. I saw their feet come to a stop in front of my two bodyguards.
"Hey Seth, hey Jordan," Aliyah greeted.
"Hey Aliyah," they replied. "And hello Damon."
"Why's Hayley hiding behind you two?" Damon asked. Just straight to the point. Jordan and Seth looked at each other.
"You tell me," Jordan said.
"Hi Hayley," Damon said, looking around them. I sighed and stepped out from behind Jordan and Seth.
"Hey Aliyah, hi Damon," I greeted them. It would bother him that I greeted Aliyah first, I knew that.
"Hey Hayley, why were you hiding behind the dynamic duo here?" Aliyah asked me.
"I resent that!" Jordan said.
"As do I!" Seth chimed in.
"Get used to it because that's what you are!" Aliyah said.
"WELL!" Jordan said.
"I never," Seth mumbled.
"Anyway, why were you hiding behind these two?"
"Cause she felt like it," Jordan mumbled.
"I was talking to Hayley," Aliyah sighed.
"And I was talking to Puff the Magic Dragon, what's your point?"
"My point- never mind," Aliyah said, giving up. "Hayley, we'll talk later."
"Why is Damon here?" I asked her.
"I'm right here," he said.
"Do I care?"
"Such hostility for someone who gave you a ride to the hospital just the other day."
"I didn't ask for you to take me to the hospital and besides that, I didn't really need to go anyway," I argued.
"You did too! You got three stitches!"
"So?"
"And I was there right beside you while they were giving you the stitches and you squeezed my hand."
"That doesn't mean 'hey buddy, you wanna be my best friend now?"
"Who said I wanted to be your best friend? Who said I didn't want to be MORE than a friend?"
"Oh, friend with benefits. No thank you."
"What's your deal with me?"
"Your cocky, arrogant, and you just flat out bug me."
"Well I have plenty to say about you."
"That would be what?"
"That you- well I have nothing negative right now, but I'll think of something!"
"Oh god," I said, turning away from him.
"I'm going to ask you guys a question and you have to be honest, but have you two met before?" Seth asked.
"No," Damon and I answered at the same time.
"You guys must have been married or something before, because you argue like an old married couple," Aliyah said.
"Oh, shut up, Aliyah," I huffed. Then I grabbed Seth and Jordan's hands and dragged them away with me. Aliyah and what's his face could choose to follow if they wanted to or not.
Jordan pulled into my driveway later that day. After the schpiel with Damon, we wandered around the mall and looked at stuff, but didn't buy anything. We went to a couple picture booths, with either me or Damon in the picture with the other three seeing as I didn't really feel like being in a picture with him. When we got tired of the mall, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and chowed down on some wings and watched some random football game that was on. Aliyah and I didn't really pay attention, but the guys were shouting at the t.v. with the rest of the people watching whenever their team had a fail. I'm happy to report that I did not kill Damon. I hardly socialized with him. Of course there was flirting. It was one-way flirting, but there was flirting. I got more annoyed each time he tried to ask me out. Didn't he get the hint that I didn't want to go out with him?
"You getting out today?" Jordan said.
"No, I plan on living in this car for the rest of my life," I answered.
"I'm sorry to say that that's not going to work. Your mother gave direct orders for you to be here by six. It is now six o one," he said. "You, my dear, are a minute late."
"It's not my fault," I mumbled.
"Look, I know you're nervous about seeing your dad. That's understandable, but you're going to have to get it over with at some point. He's coming over to YOUR house and he's coming over to see YOU," he said.
"I know," I sighed.
"Good. Now shoo," he said. I rolled my eyes and opened the door and got out.
"Talk to you later," I said.
"I'll text you," he said. I shut the door and watched him pull out of the driveway and leave down the road. I sighed again and went to the door. I unlocked it and stepped inside. Joyce wasn't home, probably went to go get.....Dad. It was so weird to think that he was coming here. Would he recognize me? Would I recognize him? A lot can happen in twelve years. He could be bald for all I know! I sighed and started walking around the house.
"Hi dad? Nice to see you dad? Hello, my name is Hayley? Agh, no he knows your name, you're his daughter," I said to myself. I sounded like a crazy person, but right now I didn't care. No one was here to listen to me. I dead in my tracks when I heard a car door close. Followed by another. I took a deep breath and watched the front door open and watched Joyce walk in. She looked at me and smiled. Joyce opened the door wider and there he stood. My father.