The Bad Boy (21 page)

“
What
is he talking about?” Hailey asked taking my phone.

“
I
haven’t told you everything either.”

She looked at me
and I told her everything that went on between Jared and I. when I
ended with running into Austin in the store she slapped me on the
back of the head. “Why are you so stupid!?”

“
Excuse me?” I asked dumbfound and rubbing the back of my
head.

“
Why
would you tell Jared to stay away from you and blame everything on
him?” Hailey screamed slamming my phone on the counter. If that
broke…

“
EMILIE!” I snapped my head to her and scowled.

“
I
don’t know, I just did!” I yelled sick of people screaming at
me.

“
You
had to of had a reason! You don’t just do that to someone!” Hailey
was now pacing the kitchen and kept sending me side way glances.
“Why are you being so mean to him? He never did anything to
you.”

There it
was.

Those six words
hit me in the face hard and I just stared at Hailey without saying
anything.

He
never did anything to you.

I’m an idiot. A
major idiot.

“
How
do I answer him or I do I just not answer him at all?” I asked
Hailey looking up from my phone with confusion.

She popped the
spoon out of her mouth that was covered with ice-cream only seconds
ago. She was back to eating the ice-cream, stating that even though
it was shit, she was still on her period and was craving it.
“Obviously you are going to answer him!”

I leaned my
elbows on the counter and placed my head in my hands. I was such a
fuck up with guys. I don’t even know why I try anymore. I confuse
them, myself; hell I even confuse people who aren’t even involved
in this shit!

I pushed Jared
away, blaming everything on him for no reason. Everything that
happened to
me
was because of
me
. Not because of
Jared or Conner or Anna. It was destined for all this shit to
happen, it was life. Blaming Jared was a way for me to think I
could control it but really all I did was look like a stupid
bitch.

“
Ask
him to meet up to talk and apologize.” Hailey commented sticking
the spoon in the ice-cream and hoping off the counter.

“
I
don’t think he wants to listen to me.” I admitted looking up from
the counter pushing my hair back from my eyes. “Honestly I don’t
blame him though; I wouldn’t want to talk to myself
either.”

Hailey stared at
me with look that said are-you-stupid. She cleared her throat and
started tapping her lip with her finger, assessing me over. “Mrs.
Grey, where were you ten minutes ago when Emilie had said to Hailey
that if you love someone, you will do anything for
them?”

My mouth fell
open.

“
What…
Hailey what are you trying to say?” I felt my heart pounding
against my chest. She couldn’t be thinking that…

“
You
love him.”

I stared at her
for a good minute before exploding into laughter. I clutched my
stomach as I fell to my knees in front of her. She had to be
kidding me. I looked up at her with tears in my eyes. Hailey had
her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at me. I sobered up
for a good second before falling onto my back again in
laughter.

Me loving Jared?
That had to be the best thing I heard ever! I have only known this
kid for like what? Two weeks and a couple of days? There was no way
I could love him. I didn’t even know what love was, example was my
last relationship with Conner.

“
You
are so dumb Emilie!” Hailey cried slamming her hands down on the
counter. “How can you not see how he feels about you and vice
versa?”

I got off the
floor and wiped under my eyes. Shaking my head I placed my hands on
Hailey’s shoulders. “You are my best friend and I will always
believe you but this… this is I can’t.” I was biting back a smile
as Hailey continued to scowl at me.

Throwing my hands
off her shoulders, she stomped out of the kitchen. I followed her
to see her walking to the front door. “You are so fucking stupid,
it’s not even funny.” She threw open the door and walked
out.

I was right
behind her, my feet moving so quick I thought I was going to trip
when I tumbled down the steps. “Whoa!” I grabbed onto her arm and
spun her around. When she was facing me I asked, “What just
happened?”

She rolled her
eyes. “Are you kidding me right now?”

My eyes went wide
with the venom in her voice. “Seriously, what just got you all
pissed off? You were happy like ten minutes ago!” She just did a
complete one-eighty on me. How was I supposed to react?

She threw her
hands in the air and screamed in my face, “You are just ignoring
what’s right in front of you! That’s what is getting me pissed
Emilie! Why do you have to be such a bitch when it comes to things
like this?”

“
Be a
bitch when it comes to things like what?” I cried feeling my own
temper rise.

Hailey and I
rarely fought with each other. Out of all our years of being
friends, we only fought three times. Two of those times being this
year and in about four days. This was getting pathetic and I hated
fighting with her.

She grabbed onto
my shoulders and shook me like she was trying to knock some sense
into me. “How can you not see it!? A fucking blind man could!” She
dropped her hands and rubbed them over her face, taking deep
breaths.

I stood there not
moving. All I could do was stare at her as she tried to calm
herself down. She ran her hands through her hair a couple of times
and finally looked at me. “Are you going to say something?” I asked
after she didn’t talk for a moment. A moment to long.

“
You
have no idea what is right in front of you Emilie.” She shook her
head. “Conner was a complete asshole to you—“

“
He
had his reasons.” I snapped feeling like I had to defend
him.

She scoffed.
“Fuck that bullshit! He abused you, threatened you, and even hurt
others over you. Yet, you don’t press charges against him and let
it just slide. But when a nice guy, a fucking nice guy who is good
to you, comes along, you blow him off like he’s shit!”

I knew she was
talking about Jared and I felt my body freeze.

“
Tell
me one bad thing he did too you? Annoying you doesn’t count
either.” She demanded, her eyes so serious I couldn’t believe this
was Hailey who only this morning was hanging out her car window
yelling at a guy for him beeping his horn at us.

“
He…
he—“

“
Exactly!” She threw her hands in the air and laughed
sarcastically in my face. “He didn’t do shit to you! He was nice,
funny, and wants you! But you just can’t take that and have to fuck
it up, don’t you?”

“
He
wants me alright! He wants sex from me and then once I give it to
him, he won’t talk to me anymore!” I got in her face seething by
this point. “Why the fuck would I go after a guy only to get hurt
in the end?” My voice cracked from the intensity I put into my yell
and I pulled back from Hailey, my chest moving up and down
rapidly.

“
You
never gave him a chance, Emilie. How would you know what he is
really thinking?” Hailey snapped at me like because of me Jared
will never live in happiness again.

I roughly ran my
hands down my face before throwing them up with so much anger and
aggravation. “What? So you are saying I should’ve slept with him to
see if he would’ve stayed with me!?” I bite out my throat aching
from all the yelling.

Nobody was making
sense. There were too many silent words not being said to me. If
they just straight out told me, instead of holding back maybe I
could deal with the problem. They were only making it harder for
me.

Hailey threw her
head back and groaned. Looking at me one last time she shook her
head with a sad smile on her face. “I can’t do this anymore. You
just will never learn.”

My heart dropped
at her words. My lips parted and I felt my fingers run cold. Was
she going to stop being my friend? That thought terrified me and I
felt tears brimming the rims of my eyes. “Hails…” It was a weak
whisper, all the anger leaving me and being replaced with
sadness.

She turned to me
with sad eyes. She didn’t want to do this, I could tell. Then why
was she doing it? “Em, I think you need time to figure yourself
out. The whole Conner cheating on you and beating you is really
having an effect. I don’t know what else I can do or say to help. I
think you just need yourself at this point.”

Her words made
the tears fall down my face so fast, I couldn’t hold them back.
“Don’t do this, please. I’ll listen and…” I started choking on my
sobs. I couldn’t lose my best friend over this. “Please just don’t
go. Talk to me, I need you.”

I could see the
debating in her eyes and finally her hands slipped off the car door
handle and she moved away, closer to me. “You want the
truth?”

I nodded anything
to keep my best friend with me. I didn’t want to lose her over me
being stupid. I couldn’t do this alone, whatever this was that
Hailey was talking about. “Yes.”

“
You
are being such a stupid bitch.” She said without hesitation. That
cut me up a little. “I get that you are confused with the whole
Conner thing and I want to help you but I can’t when you make these
stupid decisions!”

I choked back a
sob. “Like…”

She rolled her
eyes. “Like letting Conner get away without charges. Like playing
with Jared’s feelings over and over again. You tell him one thing
and then say another thing. You do one thing with him and then do
another thing to him. You are so confused with yourself, you can’t
even figure out what you feel for him.”

“
I
don’t love him.” I pointed out sternly.

“
Okay,
you don’t love him but I know for a fact that you pushing him away
was not what you wanted!” She looked at me with disappointing eyes.
“You only pushed him away because you’re scared. You heard things
about him and are scared of being hurt again. Your feelings are
being mixed up with your thinking.”

“
Hailey, I know for a fact he would hurt me. Nothing good comes
out of being with Jared McKingsley. Ask any of the girls in our
school. They will tell you.”

She scoffed
pointing a finger at me. “You believe them? All they would tell me
are lies.” My eye brows knitted in confusion at what she
said.

“
What?
What do you mean lies?”

“
Stop
being a stubborn bitch Emilie and go talk to Jared. I can promise
you, he will not lie to you about anything.”

My eyes wondered
to the ground. “I can’t… he doesn’t want to talk to me after the
way I treated him.” I felt so weak, especially after this fight
with Hailey. Was everything she said true? Was I really just
confused with everything because of all the commotion that has been
going on lately?

Hailey moved
forward and pulled me into a hug. Squeezing me tightly she
whispered in my ear, “Love… well in your case, liking has risks.”
When she pulled back she gave me a soft smile and walked over to
her car.

I stood there
watching her as she opened her door and slid into the seat. I knew
what I had to do. “Now, do you want me to drive you there so you
can get your man or are you going to walk and get there all sweaty
and out of breath?”

I laughed and
nodded. “I’ll take the ride.”

“
Good!
Now lock up your house and get your skinny ass in the car before I
get impatient.”

I folded my arms
over my chest and stood there smirking at her.

She narrowed her
eyes. “Emilie.” When I didn’t make a sign of moving she shrugged
her shoulders and went to put the keys in her ignition. “Say
what?”

“
You
need your keys to start the car, you know that right?”

Her head swung to
me and she scowled. “Very funny.”

“
Yeah,
I know.” I laughed walking to my house to grab her keys and lock
up.

Even though I was
laughing and playing it off like I was fine, my heart was going
wild in my chest at the thought of going to Jared’s house. What if
he didn’t talk to me? I would just have to respect him; after all I
couldn’t blame him because for once he would be listening to
me.

Unfortunately,
the one time he does listen to me, it had to be the stupidest thing
I ever asked for him to do.

Jared’s mansion
of a house came into our view as we drove down the road. Hailey’s
eyes went wide and she mumbled. “I will never get used to seeing
his house.”

“
I
know right.”

She pulled her
car up to the curb and turned to me with a sad smile. “Want me to
wait here for you? Just in case.”

I threw open the
door and shook my head looking up at his house. “No, I got this and
need to do it on my own. It’s my problem and I will fix it. Thank
you though.” I leaned down so my head was in the car and I smiled
at her.