One More Chance (Chance, Part 2) (3 page)

“You’ve ignored me for over five months and now all of a sudden you feel you can treat me like shit, well you can’t.”

“I didn’t ignore you, we were over and I was moving forward with my life.  You should do the same.”

“Maybe I have,” I say ignorantly causing him to look even more pissed off.

“
Then why do you look like you want me to fuck you right now?” he asks bluntly.

“What?” I shriek.

“You heard me.  You moved on, yet you want me to fuck you, why is that Haley?” he asks coldly.

“I want to slap you
, not fuck you,” I shout.

“Well that’s not going to happen.  But I guess I should thank you,” he says piercing me with those sexy blue eyes.

“Thank me?” I ask confused.

“Yeah, you couldn’t figure out what you wanted and now I’ve met a girl who knows exactly what she wants and has no problem trusting me or wanting to spend her life with me. So thank you for being indecisive.”

“You’re an asshole,” I say before I turn and decide to head down the hall, not caring where the hell it takes me, as long as it gets me away from Liam fucking Masters.

“Holy shit
, he was a jerk,” Quinn says as she rushes to catch up to me.

“Why, why do I do this to myself?” I ask, feeling thankful that there’s an exit door in sight.

“I’m sorry Hails.”

“Me too,” I say as I bust through the door needing the air from outside.

“Are you going to pass out?” she asks worriedly

“No, just needed the fresh air,” I say as I take a few deep breaths.  “Did I hear him right?”

“About what?” she asks looking confused.

“Is he engaged?” I ask, ready for the dam of tears to break.

“I don’t think so.”

“He said he found a girl who knows what she wants, who trusts him and wants to spend the rest of her life with him.  Does that mean he’s engaged?”

“I don’t think so.  He probably would have said it if he was.  He had no problem rubbing the girlfriend in your face.”

“I hate him,” I say as we make our way home.

“I know Hails, I know.”  I don’t even make it off campus before the dam breaks.  The tears won’t stop falling.  I knew it was going to be hard to see him, but I didn’t think we would have an altercation where he would literally rip my fucking heart out again.  When does the pain go away?

Chapter Two

Time passes and it’s time to head home for holiday break.  I need a few weeks away.  Quinn has decided she is going to go home Christmas Day and that’s it, so she’s going to be staying at our house off campus.  Brody and I are going to carpool home, since there’s no point in both of us driving.

“How’s Kenzie?” I finally ask.

“She’s fine, I guess.”

“Has she been bitchy lately?”  I haven’t talked to her since the day before
I called off the wedding.

“I guess she’s seeing someone, so there’s that,” he says looking happy.

“Good.  Maybe then she can move forward with her life.”

“Let’s hope so.”

We make conversation the entire way home, talking about school, home, friends, and everything except Liam.  Even though the drive is long, I’m so thankful to be home.

“Thanks for the ride,” I say as I grab my bags out of the trunk.

“Sure thing.  I’ll see you later,” he says as he heads toward his front door.

I head inside mine to find my mom and dad sitting on the couch, “Hey, what’s going on?” I ask
, because they both have disappointed looks.  I take a seat on the chair waiting for an answer.

“Hey sweetheart,” M
om says as she comes over to hug me.

“Mom, what’s going on?” I ask with a stern look.

“Well, it appears that Liam is going to be coming home for a few days.”

“Oh, okay so,” I say trying to act like I don’t care.

“He’s bringing his girlfriend,” she says with a worried look.

“Good for him.”

“Denise wants us to come over for dinner like we’ve always done, but she wasn’t sure how you would feel about going.”

“
Its fine, I can handle it.”

“Are you sure?” D
ad asks.

“Yes, it’s just dinner.  Plus, Brody and Isaac will be there.”

“Kenzie too,” Mom says happily, “or are you still not speaking to her?”

“I haven’t spoken to her yet M
om.”

“
Hopefully, you two can make up since you’re both home and it’s the holidays,” she says sounding hopeful.

“We’ll see.  When is dinner over at the Masters?”

“Not until the Monday after Christmas, so you have about a week,” she says.

“That’s fine.  I’m going to take my stuff to my room I’ll be back down then,” I say as I stand up and grab my bags.  I head to my room and flop onto my bed before deciding to send Quinn a text.

     Me- “I’m having dinner next Monday at the Masters house.”

     Quinn- “What’s wrong with that?”

     Me- “Liam’s going to be there along with his new girlfriend.”

     Quinn- “Are you sure you should go?”

     Me- “I don’t really have a choice.  I can’t hide from him.”

    
Quinn- “True, plus if he pisses you off, just leave.  It’s not like people won’t understand.”

     Me- “Can I say I’m jealous and I haven’t even seen her yet?”

     Quinn- “You can, but don’t worry, we hate her!”

     Me-
“Thanks!  I’ll text you later,” I text before heading back downstairs.

The rest of the eve
ning is spent hanging out with Mom and Dad.  Kenzie isn’t coming home until tomorrow and I’m relieved.  I have no idea what I’m going to say to her when I see her.

Tomorrow comes and before long Ken
zie is walking through the door looking way too happy.  She heads straight up to her room, then comes rushing back down the stairs.

“
Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“They ran to pick up dinner.”

“Good, because we need to talk,” she says as she sits opposite me on the couch.  I turn the television off and turn to look at her.

“What’s up?”

“Look, I get I was a raging bitch, because I was.  I’m sorry.”  I can only nod my head; I’ve heard this before. “Listen Hails, I was pissed off years ago because you didn’t even know how many guys liked you, you never paid attention to them, whereas I did.  I couldn’t get how they didn’t like me; I mean we are identical for fuck’s sake.  So when I thought you were starting to like Brody, I intervened.  I asked him out; I was actually surprised he said yes, but he did.”

“You and
Brody were good together Kenz,” I admit.

“You’re right we were, but I don’t really even know what happened.  When you started talking about Liam at college, it w
as like a switch for Brody and me.  Brody wanted you and I wanted Liam and we set out to get you two.  It wasn’t fair to either one of you and I’m truly sorry for that.”

“It is what it is.”

“But it’s not.  I should have never talked to Meg or brought her here.  You and Liam should have gotten married.  Hell, you two would be married right now, if it weren’t for me.”

“But we aren’t.  There’s a reason we aren’t
Kenz and that reason isn’t you.  I did a lot of thinking when I asked Liam for a break.  I made my decision and he made his.  Now, we are both moving on.”

“You can’t seriously believe that line of shit,” she says looking frustrated.

“Kenzie, he’s moved on.  He’s bringing his girlfriend home this weekend.  We’re having dinner with them on Monday.”

“WHAT?” she shouts, “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.  Mom and Dad already talked to me about it.  Its fine, who knows, maybe it will help me move on.”

“Don’t you love him anymore?”

“Of course I do, I always have and I always will, but it just isn’t enough,” I state solemnly.

“Have you talked to him at all?”

“Once.”

“How did that go?”

“I didn’t realize how hard it would be to see him and hear his voice. It didn’t go well at all.  He has a lot of resentment towards me and I guess I get why, because it’s my fault we didn’t get married, but it’s more than that.”

“Do you really think that Monday is going to go well?”
she asks with a curious look.

“Probably not, but I need to try to move on.  He has.”

“Well I’ll be there, so will Brody, so we can make sure no blood is shed,” she says with a smile.

“Thanks,” I
say laughing, “But there will be no blood.”

“So how are you and Brody?”

“Good.  We are friends and that’s all we will ever be.  Do you want to get back together with him?” I ask being nosey.

“No.  I think we are better off apart.  I’m happy and I hope he’s happy too.”

“He is, at least he seems like it.”

“I’ve talked to him a few times.  At first
, I thought I wanted us to get back together, but I think it’s better for us if we aren’t.”

“It’s crazy, not long ago I thought we were going to marry
the Masters men and now neither of us is with them.”

“
Yeah, but everything happens for a reason.  Do you miss Liam?”

“All the time,” I admit.

“Do you think he’s going to care that you’re there for dinner?”

“Probably not, he was pretty rude to me the last time he saw me.”

“If he was mean, then he’s not over you,” she states like she knows something I don’t.

“No, I’m pretty sure he is.  He seems really happy.”

“Have you watched any of his football games?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t play.  He’s the backup quarterback.”

“He’ll probably get to play next year.”

“Maybe, who
knows.”

“I’m anxious to see how he
is around you when he sees you,” she says with excitement.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t think he’s over you.”

“I think you’re in for a rude awakening.”

“We’ll see soon enough.  But, in regards to us, I’m sorry.  I was wrong for what I did to you over and over again.”

“It’s fine, just don’t do it again.  You’re my sister and I love you, but what you did was wrong.”

“I know, it won’t happen again.  I’ve learned a lot since that shit all went down.”

“Good.  So how’s college going?”
I ask, changing topics.

“Great actually.
  I met someone,” she says excitedly.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, his name is Jake and he’s great.”

“So
, you’re dating him?”

“Yes, we’ve
been dating for about a month,” she says with the biggest smile ever.

Kenzie ends up telling me all about Jake and how they met and I haven’t seen
her this excited in some time.  It’s great.  Maybe she has matured some.

For the rest of the week
, I hang out with Kenzie, Brody and Isaac.  Its great hanging out with everyone again, it almost feels like old times.  Unfortunately, Monday’s coming quicker than I’d like, and we have dinner scheduled with the Masters tomorrow.

“Mom
, are you sure that Liam won’t mind that I’m coming for dinner tomorrow?” I ask her curiously.

“Nope,
I talked to Denise, he knows you’ll be there and he said that he didn’t care,” she says as she finishes making a pie.

“Okay, well that’s good to hear.”
I say lying through my teeth.  He doesn’t care at all?  Did I mean that little to him?

“Don’t worry sweetie
, it will be fine.  If you want to leave at any point, I will understand.”

“Thanks M
om.”

“What’s going on?” Kenzie asks as she walks into the kitchen.

“Nothing, just talking about tomorrow.”

“Are you nervous?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay good.”  The rest of the night is spent watching comedy movies with Kenzie and my friend Ashley from high school.

Monday, I clean the house before Kenzie and I decide to go and get pedicures and manicures.

“God
, we need to do this more often,” Kenzie says as we are getting our pedicures.

“I know right, this feels like heaven,” I say enjoying the relaxation.

“Sure does.”  Once we are done with our mani’s and pedi’s, we head home to help Mom get things ready to take over to the Masters house.

“Mom
, what else do you need?” I ask as we head into the kitchen.

“I think your father and I
have gotten it all.  We are leaving in five minutes; you girls need to be over there in fifteen minutes.  Dinner will be at six.”

“Okay,” I say as we run upstairs.

“What are you wearing?” Kenz asks.

“Jeans and a shirt.”

“You need to look hot Hails.”

“
I’m not impressing anyone Kenz.”

“No, but you want him to see what he’s missing,” she says matter of fact.

“Actually I don’t.  He made his decision,” I say as I slip on a pair of skinny jeans.

“Ugh fine,” she says as she heads to her room to change.  I throw on a cute cowl neck sweater and my boots before heading into the bathroom to finish my make-up.

“Damn, you look good,” Kenz says from my bathroom door.

“Thanks.  I’m going for comfortable but cute,” I say with a smile. “You look nice,” I say as I admire her
light blue dress.

“Thanks.  Are you ready to go?”

“Sure am.”  We head down the stairs, out the door, and across the street into the Masters house.  The place is loud with everyone talking, so we make our way into the kitchen. “Do you need any help?” I ask Mom.

“Sure, can you girls take these into the dining room?” she says as she points to some of the dishes on the counter.

“Absolutely,” we grab the dishes and set them on the dining room table before heading back to the kitchen to get more.

“You girls look beautiful,” Denise says sweetly.

“Thanks,” I say happily, “The food smells amazing,” I state as I take in the aromas that are filling the air.

“Oh
, well thank you,” she says as she grabs some food and heads towards the dining room.  I grab another dish and take it out.  I look for my name on the plates and see I’m sitting beside Dad and Isaac.  I couldn’t be more relieved.

Before I know it
, everyone’s filing into the dining room to take their seats.  Kenzie is across from me, which I’m thankful for.  As I look around the table it’s Dad to my left, Isaac to my right, then Mr. Masters, Kenzie, Mom, Brody, Denise, Liam’s girlfriend I’m assuming and then Liam.  At least this way, I don’t have to see him since my dad is in between us.

“I’m so sorry, this is Nina,” Denise says to the table.  We all say a quick hello in unison before filling our plates.

After dinner, we all stay at the table and talk.

“Hey
squirt, I forgot to tell you,” Dad says to me, “We got a letter in the mail for you.”