One More Chance (Chance, Part 2) (8 page)

“Sure,” I say as I feel sick to my stomach.  I watch her walk over and pick the test up and read it. “What’s it say?”

“I’m gonna be an aunt,” she says with a smile.  It makes me drop to the floor with tears pouring out. “Shit, Hails it’s going to be okay,” she says as she rushes over to me. “We don’t have to tell Liam it’s his,” she says out of nowhere.

“What?” I ask through the fountain of tears.

“We can say you had a one night stand and got pregnant.  He doesn’t even remember sleeping with you, so it’s not like he would know.”

“Do you think that could work?”

“It’s that or tell him you’re pregnant with his baby.”

“No, I can’t.  I heard him tonight. I can’t do that to him.  He’s moving on and he’s happy.  I won’t ruin that for him.”

“Plus, you don’t have to tell anyone, you’re about to go to London and by the time you come back we will figure it out.  You have room in your house.  We can talk to the school about your classes.  It’s your senior year, you are going to graduate and you are going to have a baby.  It’s all going to work out, you’ll see,” she says as she hugs me, comforting me.

After crying for a solid thirty minutes
, I get myself up and change and crawl into bed. “Do you want me to stay with you?” she asks.

“Yeah, the bed’s plenty big, crawl in,” I say as more tears come.

“I’m going to change, I’ll be right back,” she says as she goes to grab her bag.

I can’t help but continue to cry
, as I’ve just changed the life of me and Liam and he doesn’t even know.  What the hell am I going to do?

“What’s wrong
, why are you crying?” Liam asks as he stops at my door on the way to the spare bedroom.

“Nothing,” I lie as I try to wipe the tears away.

“Hails, you’re crying.  Why are you crying?” he asks as he enters my room.

“I just have some things going on.”

“Like what?” he asks as he comes and sits beside me on the bed.

“I….”

“Hey I’m back, OH, Hi Liam,” Kenz says as she comes into my bedroom.

“Hey,” he says to Kenzie, “What’s going on?” Liam asks while looking directly at me.

“I’m okay, I’m just overthinking things.”

“What are you over
thinking?” he asks me intently.  Kenzie stands there staring at me not knowing what to say or do.  I don’t know what to say or do either.

“Just life I guess.  Things don’t always go as planned,” I say making up a silly explanation.

“Kenz, can you give us a few minutes please?” Liam asks.

“Umm…sure,” she says
hesitantly before walking out of the bedroom.

“You’re not telling me something, what’s going on?” he says.

“I just have a lot going on right now, that’s all.”

“Haley I know you, what are you not saying?”

“Probably a lot, but things aren’t like they used to be. I can’t just open up to you anymore, we aren’t that couple anymore Liam.”

“Babe
, you can always talk to me.”

“No I can’t,” I say as fresh tears fall.  Before I know it, Liam leans down and pulls me towards him hugging me.

“Yes Hails, you can.  We’ve known each other our entire lives; you can always talk to me, no matter what.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“What’s not?”

“Liam, I’m happy
that you found someone who can make you happy and give you the world, you deserve that. I won’t be a person who holds you back or that ruins anything for you, I won’t be that girl,” I say as I pull away.

“Holds me back or ruins anything, what
are you talking about?”

“You need to move on with your life like you have and forget about me, forget ever knowing me,” I say as more tears fall.

“Hails, I’ll never forget you, why would you even think that?”

“Because for this to work
, you need to.”

“For what to work?”
he asks confused.

“Please Liam, please do this for me,” I say as I try to hold back the tears, “I love you and you will always
hold a special part of me, but I need you to do this for me,” I plead.

“Why?”

“Because it’s better for everyone.”

“I don’t understand,” he says looking lost.

“I know and you won’t, but I’m asking you to forget about ever meeting me.  Live your life like you were supposed to without me in it.  You’re happy and you deserve that.”

“
Hey Liam, Spence is asking for you,” Kenzie interrupts.

“Shit,
okay,” he says as he gets up from the bed, “This conversation is not over Haley,” he says before leaving my bedroom.

“What happened?” Kenzie asks as she rushes over to me.

“I asked him to forget about me, to move on and be happy,” I say as fresh tears fall.

“Oh
Hails,” she says as she comforts me, “Maybe you should tell him.”

“I can’t, he’ll think I did it on purpose or that
I tricked him.  I can’t, he deserves better than that.”

“We are going to get you through this,” she says as she crawls in bed with me.  She hits the off switch on the nightstand light, “We are going to get through this together.”

“I need to get to London, I need May to get here before I start showing.”

Everyone’s
gone by the time I wake up, which I couldn’t be happier about. I know Liam is going to continue asking questions until he knows what’s wrong, but I can’t tell him; he deserves better than my screw-ups. Kenzie left me a note saying she had to run some errands and will be back later.  So it’s just me and an empty house.

Chapter Five

“Holy shit, when did you two happen?” I ask as Quinn and Brody enter the house holding hands.

“Last night,” Quinn says excitedly.

“I’m happy for you,” I say as I give her a hug, “Took you long enough,” I say looking directly at Brody.

“What?” he asks looking innocent.

“You two have been going in circles for months,” I say laughing.

“I know, but it doesn’t matter now,” Quinn says.

“I think you two are perfect for each other.”

I couldn’t think of two better people to be together than these two.  They are opposites on a lot of things, but they actually have a lot more in common than they both realized.

“Thanks,” Brody says.

“So, I want details,” I say as I sit on the chair.  They both take a seat on the couch.

“Good, because I’ve been dying to tell you,” Quinn squeals.

“She wanted to
wake you up last night to tell you,” Brody says laughing.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because it was late and I figured you would probably be sleeping.”

“You could have woken me up.”

“Nah, it’s okay.”

“Well
, I will let you ladies talk, I’ll be back in a little while,” he says before leaning down and kissing Quinn.

“See
ya,” I say with a smile, “You’re blushing,” I tell Quinn when Brody’s out of earshot.

“I’m so freaking happy right now it’s pathetic,” she says as her head falls back onto the couch cushion.

“I can see that, so tell me what happened.”

“So last night at the party we started talking after you left.  I was a little tipsy, but so was he.  He came right out and told me he had a crush on me.”

“Oh yeah, well that’s good,” I say excited for my best friend.

“I had just taken a drink and he caught me so off guard
, it came flying out of my mouth, luckily he wasn’t standing in front of me, but it was a good laugh.”

“Only you,” I say shaking my head.

“I know right, I was just thankful I didn’t give him a mouthful of beer in his face, how horrible and embarrassing would that have been?”

I can’t help but laugh, “Okay continue,” I say
, wanting to hear more.

“Basically
, I told him I liked him too.  So we danced, talked, and hung out for a little while longer before deciding to come back here.”

“Did you get a good night kiss?”

“More like a make out session in bed,” she says all excitedly.

“Brody slept here last night?” I ask
, confused because I didn’t see him.

“Sure did
.”

“You
hussie,” I joke.

“We didn’t have sex, though I wasn’t opposed to it.”

“Why not then?”

“He said the first time we have sex
, we are not going to have alcohol in our systems.”

“Oh damn, he wants you
to remember every second of it,” I say laughing.

“I know right, so tonight no drinking,” she says completely serious.

“Tonight?” I ask laughing.

“Yes, I want sex and I like him and I know him, and yes, just yes,” she says blushing again.

“By all means, you do what you gotta do,” I say laughing hard, “So are you guys together, together then?”

“Yep.
  He asked me last night when we were in bed if I would be his girlfriend,” she says excitedly.

“I’m really happy for you.  I think you guys look cute together,” I say honestly.

“Thanks.  So tell me about the guy you were talking to,” she says with piqued interest.

“His name is Jason and he’s nice.”

“And hot,” she points out.

“Yes, definitely hot,” I say laughing.

“You guys spent a long time talking.”

“We did, it was nice.  He seems like a really
good guy.”

“And?”

“I’m definitely going to hang out with him again,” I say happily.

“Good, who knows maybe he’s your next boyfriend,” she says with excitement.

“No,” I say shaking my head, “Once I tell him I’m pregnant, I’m sure he’ll be running for the hills.”

“Maybe not, you don’t know yet.
”

“I do know.  I took a test last night,” I say nervously.

“Seriously?” she asks, looking shocked.

“Yeah, Kenzie got one for me last night on the way home.”

“Holy shit, why didn’t you tell me?”

“This is the first I’ve seen you since I took the stupid test,” I say with a look.

“You should have called me; I would have been here for you.”

“It’s fine.  Kenzie was here and talked to me.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Hopefully
hide it until I get to London.”

“
What about Jason?” she asks, looking confused.

I give her a stern look, “Why would
Jason stick around?  A majority of guys aren’t going to want to get to know a girl who’s pregnant.”

“That’s not always true.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that, guys don’t want to date a girl who’s pregnant.”

“Some do,” she says trying to be optimistic.

“It’s fine.  I’m going to hang out with him and I’ll tell him, hopefully we can be friends.”

“When are you seeing him again?”

“Tomorrow night, we are going for dinner.”

Before I know it
, Monday night is here and I meet Jason at the tattoo shop he works at before we leave to head to Molly’s Irish Pub.

He’s looking pretty freaking hot today.  He has on a
v-neck tee shirt that shows the tattoos down his arms, snug jeans, and black boots.  If I thought he looked slightly preppy the other night, he definitely doesn’t anymore.  His blonde hair is a messy mop on the top of his head and the way his green eyes sparkle is sexy.

“Hey,” he says as I enter the shop.

“Hi,” I say with a smile, “You ready to go?”

“Yep,” he says to me before he turns and says bye to the rest of the guys and girl at the shop. “Do you want to leave your car here?” he asks.

“We’re walking?” I ask confused.

“Yeah, it’s not far.”

“Sounds good,” I say as we walk side by side to Molly’s.  I turned twenty-one in the beginning of January, but knowing I’m pregnant now, I know it’s not wise to drink.  We make the short walk to Molly’s and head inside grabbing a booth.

Liam

“You like her, don’t you?” I ask Spence for the third time.  I know he’s lying to me.

“No.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“I mean she’s cute, but nah
, too crazy for me.”

“Crazy?  She’s not crazy.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?  I’m pretty sure you told me she was a fucking crazy bitch.”

“That was before, she seems like she’s growing up, thankfully.”

“No, I don’t want Kenzie, so don’t try to hook me up with her,” Spence says quickly.

“Then don’t watch her the way you do
, and I’m not trying to hook you up, I’m trying to help you out.”

“There’s a difference?”
he asks surprised.

“Yea
h.”

“I’m good.”

“If you say so,” I say as we make our way over to Haley’s house.

“When do you have to leave?”

“Leaving tomorrow afternoon.”

“I like Nina, she’s nice.”

“Thanks.”

“But you know she’s not Haley
, right?”

“Of course I know that.”

“So, why are we on our way over to Haley’s tonight?” he asks.

“Brody asked if we could all hang out.”

“At Haley’s?” he asks with a look.

“He’s dating Quinn now, so yeah.”

“No surprise there.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“He’s been drooling over her for the past few
months; it’s about damn time he did something about it.”

“
I know,” I say as I pull into the driveway noticing Haley’s car isn’t here.

“Where’s Haley?” Spence asks.

“How would I know?” I say harshly.

“You know everything about her.”

“Shut up man, no I don’t,” I say as I exit the car.  We head inside to find Quinn, Brody, and Kenzie in the living room watching television. “Hey,” I yell as we enter.

“It’s about damn time,” Brody jokes.

“Pizza’s on the table and beer’s in the fridge,” Quinn says kindly, before resuming to eating her pizza.

“Where’s Haley?” Spence asks the question I’m curious to know
.

“She’s on a date,” Quinn squeals.

“A date?” I ask, thinking I didn’t hear her correctly.

“Yep, wi
th the guy from the other night,” she says proudly.

“
The douchebag with all the tattoos?” I ask.

“Someone jealous?”
Brody jests.

“No
, I’m not jealous.”

“Could have fooled me,” Kenzie states with a smile.

“No, I’m not jealous, good for her.  I’m happy for her,” I lie through my teeth.  Shit.  I didn’t think it would be a big deal when she started dating again, I mean I did, but hearing it makes me want to go to wherever she is, pull her out of there, but not before punching him in the damn face.

“Me too, I think she really likes him,” Quinn states excitedly.

Great.  Just what I want to fucking hear.

“Good for her,” I repeat.

“If you’re happy for her, then why does it look like someone just kicked your puppy?” Kenz asks, calling me out in front of everyone.

“What?  No
, I’m fine and I am happy for her,” I say trying to fake a smile.

“Well
, it’s your own damn fault,” Quinn says surprising me.

“What’s my own fault?” I ask confused.

“You’re losing her.  You moved on, so it’s only fair that she gets to do the same,” Quinn says hastily.

“She’s not mine to lose.  Guys we didn’t work, but we’re friends, please let it go…all of you,” I say now annoyed.

Haley

For the next few hours Jason and I talk and things are going great
, until I realize I need to tell him the truth.  I know he is someone I will be friends with, but I can’t start anything with him without him knowing the whole truth.

“So I’m thinking we should definitely do this again soon,” he says as we walk back holding hands.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I say nervously.

“What’s up?” he says as we continue to walk.

“Getting to hang out with you and know you these last few days has been amazing.  I think you’re great, you’re funny, and charming, but I need to be honest with you about something,” I say as I look towards the ground.

“What’s going on?” he asks as he pulls me to stop on the sidewalk.

“I…ummm,” I stutter.

“Just tell me,” he says calmly.

“I’m pregnant.”

“What?”

“I just found out, but I don’t want to lead you on if this were to go somewhere,” I say honestly.

“Pregnant, wow.
  How far along are you?” he asks as he looks at my stomach.

“Thirteen weeks.”

“Wow.”

“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to see me again because of it I’ll understand.”

“Haley, I think you’re great.  I’m not going to lie to you, but I don’t know if I could date you now.”

“That’s fine, I understand.”

“No, wait…shit,” he mumbles, “Haley we just met and started hanging out.  I would like to continue to be friends, but I can’t say it would go any further than that.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah, you’re fun to hang out with so if nothing else, friends would be great.”

“Friends it is then,” I say with a smile.

“Let’s go,” he says laughing as he throws his arm around my shoulders leading us back to the tattoo shop. “Well, I guess no tattoos for you anytime soon,” he says with a sexy smirk.

“I wish, but after the baby’s born and I get
another one, will you do it for me?”

“Sure.”

I know I trust Jason to give me a tattoo; he’s been doing them since he was seventeen years old, so he’s had lots of practice and the ones he did on himself look amazing.

“Thanks.”

We end up talking for another hour before we head in different directions.

I walk into the house around 11:30 p.m. to find everyone in the living room, laughing during a movie.