More With You (15 page)

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. See you soon,” she says as she ends the call.

I’m shocked that their coming home, but then again, they do have to pack up their lives and move.  These next few days are going to take a toll on me emotionally. 

I wake to the sound of keys in the door. I open my eyes and see Liam, Aiden, and Allison dragging in their overnight bags.  I sit up and rub my eyes.  My kindle falls to the floor.  “Shit!” I say.

“Well, that’s a welcome greeting.” Liam laughs.

“Shut it, buster. I just dropped my kindle and that, my dear brother, is a tragedy,” I retort.

“Shit, it didn’t break, did it?” Allison asks concerned. 
I love my best friend!

“Nope, all is well,” I say. “How was the drive home?”

“Long,” Allison says. “But worth it. I want to show you the condo.” She pulls out her phone and proceeds to show me each room.

“Wow, it looks great.  You took a ton of pictures.” I laugh at her. 

“I wanted you to see everything, that way you can be a part of this with us.”

I reach my arm around her and hug her tight. “Thank you,” I say, my voice thick with emotion.

“Hey, what’s this?” Aiden asks.  He’s holding my admission letter from Durham Tech.

Here we go. “That’s my acceptance letter to the RN program at Durham Tech,” I say, like that letter doesn’t change the course of my life.

“What? You’re changing schools?” Liam asks.

“Yeah, I am. I talked to mom and dad about it tonight.” I proceed to tell them about the program, how I have everything I need, and will just have to focus on nursing classes.  I tell them about the nursing assistant class and how it will run up until the week that I come to stay with them in Charlotte.

“You’re still coming though, right?” Aiden asks me.

“Of course. I get a week off before the heavy stuff starts, and I can’t think of a better way to spend it than hanging with my family,” I tell him.

I see his jaw clinch at me including him in the “family” category. I need to think of him as a brother; otherwise, all I think about is ripping his damn clothes off.

We finally chose a condo, and it’s so sweet! We decide to drive home instead of spending the night. It was Liam’s idea. He said we could get an early start on packing tomorrow. I don’t really care what his reasoning is if it gets me back to Hales that much faster.  I missed her today. It’s usually the four of us and, well, I just really missed her.  Moving without her is going to suck.  I wonder if I can convince her to transfer schools so she can live with us in Charlotte. 

“Dude, where’s the fire?” Liam asks me from the backseat.

I glance at the dash and realize I’m driving eighty miles an hour. I smile. Just thinking about Hales makes me drive faster.  I really missed her today. 
Get used to it, Emerson.
 

“Sorry, just anxious to be home. It’s been a long day.”  A long day without Hailey.

We finally arrive, and the three of us grab our bags and head inside.  Hailey jumps up from the couch when she hears us.  I try to hide my smile, but I’m too damn happy to see her.  We talk about the condo and the fact that she will have her own room.  I wish she would call my room hers. I see a paper lying on the floor, so I bend down to pick it up.  “What’s this?” I ask her. 

The smile falls from her face, which puts me on alert. Hailey then begins telling us how she’s changing schools and has decided she wants to be a nurse. My chest swells with pride for her. She’s amazing, and her choosing to be a nurse just flows with the type of person she is.  I’m dragged back to the conversation when I hear her tell us that she only has a week between some summer course she has to take and classes starting.  I feel the panic build; I’m counting on seeing her that week.

“You’re still coming though, right?” I ask her hopefully.

When she agrees that yes, she will still be spending the week with us, I relax until she says that she wants nothing more than to hang out with her family that week. 

What. The. Fuck.

Yes, I think of her as family. In my mind, she’s mine. Not just my family, but my girl.  To hear her lumping me into the “family” category pisses me the fuck off.  I know she isn’t considering me the same type of family that I consider her.  I have no right to be pissed about it, but fuck it, I am. 

“Good,” I say, handing the letter to her.  “Well, I’m beat. See you all tomorrow.” I turn and head to my room. I wanted to spend time with her tonight, but damn it, I need to get my shit under control.  I can’t be getting pissed off because of these feelings I have for her.

It’s not her fault that I fell in love with her.

I take a hot shower and wash the day away. Hoping I can relax, I climb into bed and reach for the remote.  I scroll through our five hundred channels and nothing catches my eye.  No wonder. The only thing that tends to be catching my eye lately is sleeping in my living room.  I turn the TV off and I’m engulfed in darkness. I stare at the ceiling, listening to the quiet of the house. I heard Liam and Allison go to bed a while ago.

I want to see her.  I know she’ll be sleeping, but I just need to see her before I can fall asleep.  I throw the covers back and climb out of bed.  I softly open my door and make my way down the hall.  When I make it to the living room, I find Hailey curled up in a ball on the couch.  Her soft pink lips are parted and she’s softly breathing in and out.  She looks so peaceful. So beautiful.  I lean down and brush her hair out of her eyes.  She doesn’t stir.  I bend down and kiss her forehead.  “Sweet dreams, angel.” I say, and then head back to my room.  I don’t want to.  I want to pick her up and bring her with me.  Hold her in my arms, but I can’t and I won’t.  I just needed to see her. Just two more days and I won’t have that option anymore.  And there it is, that familiar ache that is taking over my chest these days. 

I climb back into bed and stare into the darkness. I fall asleep with the image of Hailey curled up on the couch running through my mind.

The next day is nothing short of chaos. Liam, Allison, and I pack up our lives.  This is all surreal to me. Liam and I made it to the NFL.  My best friends are getting married, and the girl of my dreams is being left behind. 

“You all set?” I hear from the doorway.  I look up and find Hailey watching me. 

“Yeah, pretty much. I just have the clothes I have on, my stuff for tomorrow, and the essentials left to pack,” I reply.

“Yeah, Liam and Allie are pretty much ready as well. They’re taking a nap.”

She looks amazing today. She has on short gym shorts and a UNC t-shirt. Her hair is pulled up in some kind of knot on top of her head. She has not one stick of make-up on, and she has never looked better.

“I’m getting kind of hungry. You want to go grab something to eat?” I ask her.

“Sure.” She looks down at herself. “Can we maybe hit a drive through?” she asks with a grimace. 

If she only knew how she looked to me, right now, in this moment.  She’s fucking hot!

“Anything you want, angel. For the record, you look amazing as always,” I tell her honestly. 

She rolls those sexy blue eyes at me and walks away. What do I do? I watch her of course.  Her ass looks amazing in those shorts. 

I grab my wallet and cell phone and meet her by the front door. “I drive, you buy,” she says, holding up her keys. 

I nod my head in agreement and we head out. “You choose. You know I can eat anything,” I tell her.

The car ride is silent, yet comfortable.  I’m enjoying just spending time with her.

Hailey pulls into Chipotle, turns to me and smiles. 

“Since when did Chipotle get a drive through?” I ask her.

Smiling sweetly, she says, “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind going in and ordering.  Then we can go to the park to eat.”

“I said anything you want,” I tell her, opening the car door.  Like I could tell her no anyway.

“Wait, you don’t even know what I want,” she tells me.

I smile at that, because I do know. She always gets the same thing. “Burrito Bowl, brown rice, chicken, hot salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cheese, chips, and a large lemonade,” I tell her through the window. 

Her mouth drops open. 

“Did you want to add anything?” I ask her.

She shakes her head no, and I walk away with a smile on my face.  She has no idea that I watch every move she makes, I memorize what she likes and dislikes.  The look on her face was priceless. 
Score!

There is no one in line, which surprises me.  This place is usually packed.  I order our food, fill our drinks at the drink counter, and head back to the car.

I stop at the driver’s side window and Hailey takes our drinks from my hands. I then head to the passenger side and get it. “Driver, to the park, please,” I say, teasing her.

She just laughs and pulls out.  It only takes about five minutes to make it to the park.  We pull into the lot and there are no other cars.  We gather our lunch and head to a picnic table that is nestled at the edge of a tree line.  It’s the most secluded spot in the park and it’s usually taken.  I can’t help but think that everything is falling into place to make this a perfect day with her.  No line at the restaurant, the park is deserted, Liam and Allie wanted alone time, so it’s just us.  Me and my girl. 

“So, tell me about school,” I say, opening her bowl for her and handing her a fork.

In reward, I get one of her dazzling smiles.  “I’m really excited,” she says softly.

“I’m so proud of you Hales. You are going to be an amazing nurse,” I say, digging into my bowl.

“It’s going to be hard work and a lot of dedication, but with you all leaving…well, I’ll have plenty of time to focus on studying,” she replies, staring down at her food.

“Hey.” I reach over and lift her chin with my forefinger so her eyes meet mine. “We’re not leaving you. I am not leaving you. You will always be a part of us. Once you finish school, you can move to Charlotte and live with us.  We made sure that you have your own room.  It’s just a year,” I tell her. She is staring at me; the expression on her face gives nothing away about how she’s feeling. “It’s as if you applying and getting accepted into the program is a sign. You will be with us in a year; otherwise, you would have been at UNC for three more years.  One year, angel, and we will all be together again.”

The ache in my chest eases a little just thinking that a year from now, she will be living with us again, and all will be right in the world.

“I guess you’re right. So, are you excited about training camp?” she asks.

The rest of the afternoon, we sit there at the picnic table and talk about, well, everything.  I’m gonna fucking miss this girl so much.

My cell phone rings, making us both jump. Hailey giggles as I pull it out of my pocket and swipe the screen. It’s Liam.

“Hey, man,” I say, smiling at Hailey as she continues to giggle.

“Dude, where the fuck are you, and have you seen Hales?” he says curtly.

I laugh, “I’m looking right at her.”

“Where in the hell are you guys?”

“We were hungry, so we went to Chipotle and brought it to the park,” I tell him.

“Fuck me. That sounds so good right now. When are you guys coming back?”

“Hales, are you about ready to go,” I reluctantly ask her. Not ready for our time together to end.

“Yeah, I guess we better. It’s getting late.”

“We’re heading back now,” I tell Liam.

“Cool, hey, do you mind stopping to pick up Chipotle for Allie and me?  She said she would call the order in so you don’t have to wait.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” I tell him.

Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life. I said a very tearful goodbye to my three best friends. Yes, I include my brother in that title because, well, Liam is the best brother ever!  He also gets major brownie points for making Allie my sister.

Allie and I made plans for me to visit a month from now, the last week of August.  My nursing assistant classes end the week before and Nursing school starts the week after.  I doubt I will make it down before that, even for just a day or weekend trip.  I really need to focus on this class or I can’t start nursing classes.  The three of them will be busy getting settled into their new place, so I doubt they will visit either.  So there it is.  An entire month before I see my three favorite people again.