One Chance (6 page)

“I need to leave now,” I say freaking out.

“Let’s go.  You can text her on the way home.”

“Good thinking,” I say as we sneak out the back door and walk through the grass until we hit the sidewalk.  I shoot her a text letting her know we left, but that I saw Brody was there. She replies back saying “Have a good night.”

The rest of the night is spent
with me hanging out with Quinn, along with a bunch of my sorority sisters at the sorority house.  We all sit in the social room on the couches, laughing and having a good time.

“What are you doing here?” Cara asks Meg.

“I live here,” she says looking confused.

“I just thought you would be out with sexy man tonight.”

“No, he’s with his friends tonight,” she says like it’s no big deal.

“Sexy man?” I ask confused.

“Her nickname for her boyfriend,” Julie states.

“Nice,” I say with a smile.

“So, are you girls ready for Christmas break?” Cara asks changing the subject.

We all socialize and
before I know it, the night is almost over.   Quinn and I are drunk and decide to head back to the dorm to get some sleep. 

Brody, Kenzie, and I
say our goodbye’s in the morning and I look forward to seeing them in a few days.

Chapter Five

Christmas break is just what I needed.  I get to spend time with Kenzie and Brody along with getting to see my parents.  I also make sure to spend time with Isaac, he’s 13 now and growing into a fine young man.  It’s crazy how Liam and Isaac look so much alike.  I mean they are brothers but wow, it’s crazy.

My parents
were confused at first with my different color hair and my new tattoo, but when I explained why I colored my hair and about the tattoo, they complimented me on it.  I couldn’t feel any happier, I have pretty cool parents.

I’ve avoided Liam at every cost.  I know he saw me in my car, but I quickly diverted my eyes and floored it, so I didn’t have to talk to him.  Other than that
, he hasn’t been home much, which I’m grateful for.

Before I know it
, I’m heading back to school after break.  I’m looking forward to seeing Quinn again, but I’m going to miss Kenzie and Brody.  We promise to keep in touch better this time around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next three months, life is great.  I attend the social gatherings the sorority has and have even made some close friends out of it.  Meg the President is pretty awesome along with Rebecca.  Rebecca and Quinn are my best friends at school.

“You should totally come with us for spring break,” Cara
one of the sisters, says excitedly.

“I can’t, I promised my sister I would go home and hang out with her and Brody.”

“So, bring them along,” she says like it’s no big deal.

“Maybe next time,” I say truthfully.  I’m ready to go home for a week.
“You guys have fun in Miami though!”

“Oh
, we definitely will,” Quinn pipes in.

We hang out un
til it’s time for us to leave, me to go home and the girls to head to Miami.  I drive the long drive home and can’t wait to see everyone.

“Holy shit, I thought you were never going to get here,” Kenzie says as she comes out to help me grab my bags.

“I hit some traffic on the way home,” I say as I follow her inside.  We end up talking and hanging out, catching each other up on the recent activities.

“Oh girls,” mom says, “We are having dinner at the Masters tomorrow at 6:00 p.m.”

“Okay,” I say.  We have dinner parties often with the neighbors.  Before we know it
, Saturday is here and we are getting ready to head over for dinner.

“Girls, your father and I are heading over, come over
within the next ten minutes,” Mom yells up the steps.

“Okay,” we both shout in unison.

I’m wearing a pair of skinny jeans with a purple V-neck sweater, whereas Kenzie is wearing a pair of jeans with a blue blouse that helps bring out her eyes.

“Ready to go?” I ask her.

“Yep, just let me throw on my eyeliner,” she says as she heads into the bathroom.  I follow her in deciding to throw some on too and we end up talking and losing track of time.

“Shit, mom’s going to kill us,” I say as I look at the clock and realize its 25 minutes past when we were supposed to be over
at the Masters house.  We run across the street and open the door heading to the dining room where we hear lots of laughter.

“Sorry we’re so late, we lost track of time,” I try to tell everyone.

“Haley?” I hear from behind me.  I turn to see Liam and Meg sitting at the table.

“Meg?” I ask confused.  She gets up and gives me a hug, “This is my sister Ken
zie,” I say introducing the two, looking anywhere, but where Liam is.  Holy shit, what is happening?

“We are going
to grab the rest of the food,” Mom says, “Isaac can you go get the guys?”

“Sure,” he says before leaving the room.

“How do you two know each other?” Liam asks looking confused, as he now stands beside Meg in front of me.

“She’s in the sorority,” Meg says like it’s no big deal.

“What sorority?” he asks.

“The same as me silly,” she giggles.

“You have the same sorority at your school?” he asks still confused.

“What?  Oh
babe, you are too much, she goes to our school,” Meg says filling him in.

“You what?”
he shrieks, “Since when?” he asks staring at me, waiting for an answer.

“Since last August,”
I say answering him, looking anywhere but at him.

“How come I’ve never seen you there?”

“Probably because I’m only a freshman.”

“How did I not know you went there?” he asks looking between me, Brody, and Kenzie.

“Guess it just never came up in conversation,” I say hoping to end this conversation.

“When did you dye your hair?” he asks changing the topic himself.

“The beginning of school,” I say quickly.

“You’ve always had brown hair since I’ve met you. I think it looks great,” Meg says kindly.

“Thanks,” I say with a smile.  Luckily the conversation ends because Mom and Denise walk in with the food and Isaac comes back with the guys.  We each take a seat at the table; I end up sitting beside Kenzie and Mom at the complete opposite end from Liam. Thank goodness.

“So what brings you two home?” Isaac asks not holding back.  He
hardly sees Liam anymore.

“
We’re going to live together,” Meg squeals as she blushes excitedly with her news.  I can’t help how my mouth falls open.  How on earth did they get decide this so quickly?  Hell, I didn’t even know they were dating.  How did I not know they were dating?

“We’re thinking about it,” Liam says, calming the commotion down.

“I didn’t realize it was so serious,” Mr. Masters says.

“Dad, we’ve been together for two years, I’d say that’s pretty serious,” Liam says shocking the hell out of me.

The night we slept together I asked if he had a girlfriend, he said no.  That was only four months ago.  What the hell have I done?

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the r
estroom quick,” I whisper to Mom before rushing out of the dining room as quick as possible.  I splash some water on my face trying to cool myself down.  How the hell could I do this to Meg?  She’s great, what the hell will she think of me once she finds out?  Oh God, I can’t let that happen.

“Are you alright?” I hear Liam ask on the other side of the door.

“Yeah I’m fine.  I’ll be out in a minute,” I say before giving myself one more look in the mirror. I take a few deep breaths before walking out and finding Liam standing in the hallway.  “You didn’t have to wait.”

“Are you alright?” he asks
again, ignoring my comment.

“Yeah, I’m fine why?” I ask putting on a braver face than what I feel.

“You looked like you saw a ghost Haley.”

“I did?  Oh
, well I don’t know, I’m fine though.  We should probably get back,” I say before starting to head towards the dining room.

Liam grabs a hold of my arm lightly, “I think we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to Michigan?” he asks with a hurt look in his eyes.

“What would be the point?  So you could be an asshole to me there too?  Sorry, wasn’t happening.”

“What? I wouldn’t have been an asshole,” he says defending himself.

“Yes Liam, you would have.  You’ve been that way towards me for a long time now.”

“So what
, you’ve been avoiding me at school?”

“No, I just haven’t seen you around.  I went to some of your games, but that’s probably the only place I would have seen you at.”

“You don’t party at all?” he asks with disbelief.

“Oh no I party, we go to all sorts of parties, but I never saw you there, I didn’t really look for you either though,” I say lying through my teeth.  Of course
, I looked for him.

“Then how is it that I’m just now finding out that you go to school with me and have for the past year?”

“Like I said, it just never came up in conversation.  I do find it odd that I’ve never seen you with Meg.  I didn’t know you guys were an item until today.”

“Yeah, well we’ve been on and off for the past few years.”

“Oh, well congratulations on living together.”

“Thanks Haley
, but it’s only a thought, so we’ll see what happens.”

“We should probably get back,” I say before turning and heading back to the table.

“Are you alright dear?” Mom asks as I sit.

“I’m good,” I say with a smile.

“Good, well let’s eat,” Mom says happily.

We eat and continue to have small conversations throughout dinner.  I can’t help but glance up at Liam every now and again.  How did I not know he was dating Meg?  Quinn is going to kick my ass for sure on this one.

After dinner, we move our bodies into the living room and continue to talk.  Me, Kenzie, Brody, and Isaac all decide to head down to the game room, while Liam and Meg fill our parents in on their plans.

“I can’t believe your brother is
moving in with her,” Kenzie says, saying the words I’m thinking.

“Why not?  He’s been with her for a while and they are pretty serious,” Brody says.

“Two years is a long time to just now bring your girlfriend home,” she says.

“What?  It’s not, we’ve met Meg a
while back after they first started dating,” he says surprising us all.

“Really?” I ask confused.

“Yeah, you guys were out of town, which is probably why you never met her.  Though Hails, I’m surprised you didn’t know, considering you two are in the same sorority.”

“No idea, I’ve never seen them together until today.”

“That’s weird.”

“It sure is,” Kenzie says.

“Who cares, if they are happy, good for them.  Who wants to play a game of ping pong?” I ask.

“I’m heading over to Mike’s house, I’ll be back later,” Isaac says before heading back up the stairs.

“Why don’t we head outside and watch the stars?” I ask changing the subject.

“It’s cold out,” Brody says.

“So?”

“Sounds like fun, let’s go,” Kenzie
says walking over to grab a coat in the downstairs closet.

Brody grabs some blankets and we all get hats and coats on before heading out into the cold air.

“We haven’t done this since we were kids,” I say laughing as we find the perfect spot to lay the blankets.

“I know, I’m excited,”
Kenz says jubilantly causing Brody to laugh at the two of us.

Brody lies down blanket upon blanket leaving us a few blanke
ts to cover up in too.  “It’s good to be home if even for only a week,” he says.

“How do you like
West Virginia?” I ask the two of them.

“It’s fun, you need to come down and visit,”
Kenz says again, she’s already told me like fifty times.

“I will, I promise.  How about you Brody, what do you think about it?”

“It’s good I guess,” he says as he stares up at the stars.

“You don’t want to be at
West Virginia?” Kenzie asks confused.

“No it’s not that, I just thought the people would be a little different I guess,” he says quietly.

“Different, like what?”

“I guess more like
Hails’ and Liam’s friends.”

“You don’t talk to many people there?”

“Not really, a few people in my classes, but that’s about it.”

“Why didn’t you rush?”

“I did.”

“So you’re in a fraternity?” I ask confused.

“Yeah and I mean that’s fun, but it’s constantly parties.”

“I’m confused,” I admit.

“You can hang out with your friends or sisters whatever you want to call them. Liam does the same; the fraternity I’m in is always just about the parties.  You don’t hang out with anyone unless it’s to party.  I guess I just wanted real friends.”

“Then leave that and go to a different fraternity.  They aren’t all the same,” I tell him truthfully.

“I thought about it, but we’ll see.”

“Well good luck with it. 
Kenz, why didn’t you join a sorority?”

“Didn’t want to.”

“I’m surprised, I actually figured you would be all over that.”

“No, maybe next year.  Who knows,” she says as she continues to stare into the sky.

After a while of staring at the stars and talking, Kenzie decides she’s ready to head in and go to bed. “Oh Hails’s, I’m gonna spend the night over here tonight,” she says softly.

“Okay. I’m
gonna lie out here for a little while longer.  You two have a goodnight.”

“You too
Hails,” Brody says before walking with Kenzie inside.

I continue to stare at the stars wondering what I want to do with my life before I hear, “You do realize it’s freezing out here right?”  I look over and see Liam standing in a coat, hat, and gloves.