Parting Chances (Fighting Chance #1) (4 page)

I nodded and wondered why Kyler never mentioned it.

“She didn’t want to tell you and give you a reason to stay at home.” He read my thoughts. “So when she and Noah were talking again, they went out and found your current apartment.”

That makes sense. Kyler and my parents wanted me to move here. If I had found out I didn’t have an apartment, I would never have left. But Kyler swore up and down she already paid the deposit on the apartment and needed me here.

“Sorry.” Eli broke me out of my thoughts with that one word.

“What? Why?”

“For stealing your bedroom.” He smirked at me.

I let out a laugh and punched him lightly on the arm. Settling back into the chair, I turned my attention to the TV.

We watched the movie in silence until Kyler came bounding down the stairs and pulled me out of the chair.

“I’m sorry! I know I said we’d leave after dinner, but we just got caught up with…” Kyler blushed. She never blushes, so I was well aware of what exactly they got caught up in.

“Uh huh.” I grinned at her, making her turn darker, before she ran off to the foyer. I turned to Eli who was pretending to watch the TV. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah. Maybe we’ll have some classes together this semester.” He smiled at me and gave a little wave as I followed Kyler into the foyer.

I knew I had a stupid grin on my face as I slipped on my shoes, and I brushed past Kyler heading outside hoping she didn’t catch the smile.

She ran out behind me and linked her arm with mine. “I know that grin. Someone has a crusssshhhhh!” She sang loudly.

“Shut up!” I swatted at her and ran to the car, throwing myself into the seat and hoping Eli hadn’t heard her through the open windows.

Kyler was giggling hysterically when she slid behind the wheel. “Once we get home, you’re spilling.” She pulled the car out into the street and drove us to the apartment.

The whole ride my mind was on the semi-geeky, utterly gorgeous boy who had unknowingly made me forget my home issues for the night.

***

“Okay, woman. I want details.” Kyler said as she dug into one of my boxes.

We had been home for forty-five minutes, working hard to get my stuff put away. I thought she had forgotten about Eli, but of course she hadn’t.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged as I hung my clothes in the closet.

“Like hell you don’t.” Kyler threw a book at my head. Thankfully, her aim was horrible and it clunked the wall a good three feet to the right of me.

“Yeah, cause that’ll get me talking.”

“
Hales
!” Kyler whined, jutting her lower lip out into a pout.

I dropped to the floor in front of my bed with a huff. I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this discussion. Kyler was way too persistent.

“I knew it! You like him!” Kyler squealed and ran over to the bed, dropping down next to me.

“I am the worst.”

“Why?”

“Because I find him incredibly attractive right now and yeah, probably have a crush on him. But two years ago, I wouldn’t look twice at him. I’m a horrible person.” I shut my eyes and leaned my head back against my bed.

“No, you’re not,” Kyler said, nudging her shoulder into mine.

“No? What would you call it then?”

“Honey, I’m not blind. I’ve noticed how much he’s changed these last two years. But you’ve changed too. Hell we all have. Plus, you may not have been attracted to his looks back then, but was there anything about him you did like?” Kyler asked.

“Well, he was funny, he always had me in stitches. He was caring, I didn’t realize until tonight that he always dished me up first when we were eating together. He was super smart. I secretly loved that he was dorky, it made me feel like I didn’t have to try too hard around him.” I trailed off, feeling so stupid for letting outward appearances distract me from who he really was.

“Want to know something?” Kyler asked and continued without my acknowledgment. “That’s still who he is. Just because he grew into his outside, doesn’t mean who he was isn’t still there. I’ve hung out with him enough these past few months to realize that nothing has changed.”

“Except he probably has every girl falling all over him now,” I muttered.

“If you weren’t so hung up on what’s-his-face freshmen year, you would have realized Eli had girls falling all over him then, too.”

“What?” My lips tugged up at the corners as Kyler avoided mentioning Drew by name.

“Girl, he’s
always
been hot. Sure his hair was longer and he was a little scrawnier, but that was it. He still had those piercing blue eyes, still had that kissable mouth, still had that chiseled face. Why do you think I kept badgering you to give him a chance?” Kyler stood and resumed unpacking.

“I figured you just wanted me to date Noah’s roommate so we could go on double dates.”

Kyler laughed and folded up a now empty box. “Well, sure, that was part of it. But I honestly thought you two would click. What’s stopping you now?”

My mind wandered to my mom. The idea that she probably wasn’t even going to be around for another year made my heart hurt. “I’m not sure I can deal with the possibility of getting my heart broken.” I caught Kyler’s eyes as mine started filling with tears.

“Oh Hales…” Kyler knelt next to me and pulled me into a hug. “I know your heart is hurting right now for your mom, but it’s okay to let other people in.” She rubbed small circles on my back, trying to soothe away the pain.

“I just don’t think I can,” I choked out. “I can’t risk it. And I really need to just focus on school and my mom. Everything else would be a distraction.” Making excuses was what I was good at when I didn’t want put myself into a difficult situation. Kyler knew me better than that though and opened her mouth to say something.

“Can we not talk about this anymore?” I held up my hand to stop her. “I’m not going to do anything about this. I just want to be his friend right now.”

Kyler stared at me for a second longer before nodding and grabbing another box to unpack.

I stood and opened a new box. We worked in silence until the boxes were empty, flattened, and piled by the door. After saying good night, Kyler escaped to her room. I fell exhaustedly into my bed. My brain was unable to shut down and started giving me flashbacks of the night. I had lied to Kyler earlier. Of course I wanted to focus on my mom and school. Distractions really weren’t needed.

But I also was still recovering from Drew. To say he and I ended our relationship on a bad note would put it mildly. He didn’t even have the balls to actually call me and tell me we were over. No, I found out on Facebook, after he changed his relationship status from in a relationship with me to in a relationship with some random bimbo he had met while in California visiting his family for Christmas. I immediately unfriended him, blocked him and hadn’t talked to him since.

My friends and family were thrilled when that happened. None of them liked the guy. Clearly for good reason. If I had listened to them all from the beginning, maybe I wouldn’t have wasted two years of my life. Maybe I wouldn’t have trust issues right now. And maybe I would have been able to open my eyes and realized Eli was always right there.

Dating a nice guy and not a jerk…that’d be new to me.

Before I fell asleep, I called my mom to check in. I avoided telling her about Eli. She would be overjoyed to hear about a decent guy and would probably pester me until I drove over to the guy’s house and asked him out. And she’d be pissed to hear my excuses for not dating right now. Yeah, not telling her was the smart choice.

Kyler and I had been living together for two weeks. I was able to get my job back at Chapman Buzz, the coffee shop I worked at since freshmen year, so that took up much of the last weeks of freedom I had. And almost every night I would go with Kyler over to Noah and Eli’s. We’d all sit around the living room and either watch movies, or Kyler and I would watch the guys play video games.

Now with my final weekend of freedom, I headed back to my parents’ house for Labor Day weekend. Caleb was bringing his new girlfriend home, and according to my parents, he had some exciting news to tell us.

My mind still couldn’t wrap around the idea that he had become serious with someone in a month and a half. Don’t you need more time to get to know someone? More time to tell them all about your life and such? More time to get them used to the idea of meeting your parents? You just don’t spring that on them, along with the “oh, also, my mom is dying,” do you?

Needless to say, I was curious. Caleb wasn’t a big fan of using Facebook to update the world on his life, so I didn’t even have a picture of her to go off of. All I knew was that they went to school together.

I sang loudly to the radio as I drove the two hours home. I didn’t want to let my mind wander to anything else other than the here and now. Otherwise, I would be thinking of my mom or Eli. And I’d already made it clear to myself that I wasn’t going to jump into a relationship this year, so the fact that Eli was on my mind pretty much pissed me off.

My parents’ house came into view, and my heart caught in my throat. Two weeks had passed since I’d seen my mom. It was the first time since she told us the horrible news that I was even away from her. I wasn’t sure how I should brace myself. Was she going to still be healthy? Or in the two weeks did she get a lot sicker? I just wasn’t sure I was completely prepared to see them yet, but before I could continue driving down the road, I saw Caleb race out of the house and wave me down.

With a sigh, I eased the car next to the curb and switched off the ignition. Caleb rounded the car and threw open the door before I could even grab my purse. He pulled me out and wrapped me up in a bear hug.

“Whoa! What’s up with you?” I mean, I was happy to see him too, but this was really out of the norm for him.

He buried his face in my neck and hugged me tighter. “Mom and Dad are on the warpath right now.”

Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.

“What do you mean they are on the warpath? And where is your girlfriend? Did you leave her in there all by herself?” I pushed back so I could finally see his face. He kept glancing up at the house and gulping down air like he couldn’t breathe. “Caleb. What the hell is going on?”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, glancing everywhere but at me. I was about to kick him in the shin, when I heard the front door open. I spun around and saw Mom standing on the front porch, hand propped on her hip, looking as beautiful as ever.

“Caleb, don’t keep Haley out here all to yourself. Bring her in. Introduce her to your fiancée.” Mom held up air quotes as she said it, gave me a smile, and then turned back into the house.

“Wait. What?” I spun to face Caleb and grabbed his arm. “Your
fiancée
?”

Caleb nodded.

A nod. I got a nod in response. He really did want to get throat punched.

“Caleb! Are you
insane
? You’ve known the girl for all of what, a month and a half? And you proposed?” Caleb tucked his hands in his front pocket and just lifted his shoulders. Another non-verbal response. That was it; I kicked him hard in the shin. He yelped and rubbed his leg while I walked around the car to get my bag. I would have throat punched him, but he had some explaining to do, and I didn’t want that to be his excuse to continue not talking.

With a huff, I snatched my bag and ran up the front porch into the house. It was exactly as I left it, except Dad was pacing the hallway muttering to himself about his “ridiculous son,” and Mom was in the kitchen with the blonde-haired stranger.

My heart clenched in my chest. We were being rude. This poor girl didn’t deserve to come all the way here just to get shunned by the family. It wasn’t her fault Caleb had lost his mind. Although, she did agree, so I was beginning to wonder what was in the water in Boston. I set my bag down in the entryway and moved into the kitchen with a fake smile plastered on my face.

“Hi there! You must be Caleb’s fiancée.”

She spun around in her seat looking startled. Her soft blue eyes wide open and her mouth in the form of an O. I guess she hadn’t heard me come in.