by Leah Laurens
She takes a big hit of the joint and leans forward to blow smoke into Jimmy’s mouth. Not knowing what else to do, Jimmy leans over and breaths in. Crystal’s lips get really close to his, and he feels a little awkward.
She coughs and then puts her hand on his arm. “God, I cannot wait to get a beer inside!”
Jimmy laughs. “Seriously!”
“So, where do you work?”
“Well, I was actually working at Hailey’s office, but now I’m at a dating app company.”
“Oh, that’s cool! You like it?”
“Yeah, I actually do. It’s great!” They finally get inside the gate, and they are both laughing, now that they are stoned. They find a spot on the grass and lay down, staring up at the sky.
Crystal laughs. “I wish little UFO’s would come by and take my beer order.”
“Yeah. Me too.” They spend an hour talking about different flying objects that could take their beer order as the weed kicks in. “Man, what was in that joint? I’m high as a kite!”
***
Hailey is drinking her beer, looking around the packed bar. She sees a few people playing darts. “Hey Tom, should we get another beer and play darts?”
“Oh man, I love darts!” They wait for the bartender to come over, and Tom looks at his phone. He sees Jimmy’s picture of the concert line. “Lucky bastard! Look where Jimmy is!”
Hailey looks at the picture with a pang of jealousy. Tom holds up his phone to get a selfie with Hailey with the bar behind them. Tom posts the picture with a beer emoji and slides his phone in his back pocket.
***
Jimmy gets up finally. “I have an idea! Why don’t I get the beers myself?”
Crystal sits up. “Why didn’t I think of that?” They both laugh uncontrollably finding themselves very hilarious.
Jimmy says, “Be right back.” He finds the beer and gets in line. He takes his phone out of his pocket and opens Instagram to pass the time. He sees Tom’s picture with Hailey and feels a twinge of jealousy.
The line moves forward, and Jimmy steps up to order two beers. He takes the beers, walking back to the grassy area where Crystal is waiting. He tries to appear like he’s still having a good time, but the photo just ruined his night.
He spends the rest of the evening trying to enjoy his favorite band, but notices Crystal getting more drunk. She is starting to really lose touch with reality when her hand slides under his shirt and over his abs.
He turns, pretending to look around, trying to get her hand to move. She’s not going to be able to drive home, but that’s not his problem. She can take a cab. Jimmy only had one beer at the beginning of the concert, but he’s not going to be responsible for some girl that he doesn’t even really know.
Crystal yells in his ear, “Want to hang out after this?”
“Oh, I would, but I’ve got to get up early to help my mom.”
She frowns. “Boo! Okay.”
When the band plays their last song, Jimmy says, “Well, I’m going to head home. You shouldn’t drive.”
She’s so drunk now, she’s forgotten about trying to seduce Jimmy. “Yeah I’ll Uber.”
Jimmy watches her drunkenly type on her phone, as they walk out and she gets into an Uber. He’s glad she will get home okay, grateful he didn’t just leave her in a bad spot. He drives home still uneasy about Tom being out with Hailey. Does Tom like her? What the heck is going on?
***
Hailey looks at Tom after their first game of darts. “Do you know any places you can kayak on the lake?”
“Yeah down at the state park.”
“I know it’s nerdy, but I’ve really been wanting to go.”
“Well, I know they do a $10 early bird special Saturday mornings.”
“Oh, that’s a good deal.”
“Yeah, but you’d probably want to go home now, if you’re going to make it by 8:00 am.”
Hailey looks at her phone and sees it’s already 10. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“I’m pretty wiped out myself. Just can’t hang out as late as I used to.”
“At least we came out for a little while. Thanks for being my wingman!”
“Yeah, no problem.”
They are walking toward the door when Hailey says, “Man, I know I only had two beers but I don’t want to risk it. I think I’m going to Uber home.”
Tom laughs. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
“We live on opposite sides of town right?”
Tom nods. They both order their cars and get into separate vehicles, feeling good that they closed the night with a smart decision not to drink and drive. As Hailey walks into her house, she’s sad, knowing Jimmy is probably having the time of his life with Crystal tonight.
***
Jimmy gets home an hour after Hailey and pulls into his driveway. He notices Hailey’s car isn’t in the driveway, and there are no lights on in her house. He’s upset as he walks inside, knowing she might be spending the night with Tom.
Chapter 10: Is It Too Late?
Saturday starts out with clouds and light rain. Hailey feels like staying in bed. She contemplates what to make for breakfast and decides to go full-on resort-style with French toast, eggs, and bacon.
She’s feeling a lot better about herself now that she’s finding more balance with friends. Treating herself to a delicious breakfast sounds like something the new Hailey will do frequently, she thinks to herself.
She puts on her silk bathrobe over her cotton boy shorts and doesn’t rush getting up. She slides her feet into the slippers waiting for her at the side of her bed and stretches her arms. She wonders what waking up next to someone would feel like, having zero experience with that. She wonders what making breakfast with someone and being intimate in the living room afterward would be like.
Her mind is drifting as the eggs sizzle in the pan. She opens the refrigerator to grab the syrup and sees the champagne gift from her company. They sent it to her after opening the new office. She takes out the orange juice and makes herself a nice mimosa.
She smiles. She could get used to treating herself better. She remembers always rushing out of the house when she was younger with nothing more than a piece of bread to hold her over until lunch. She never really had a chance to like herself back then. Or rather, no one taught her how.
Now she feels ready to get in touch with what Hailey wants. She has a feeling she’s going to like this whole self-love thing.
As she puts the last piece of French toast on her plate, she grins and sits down with a sigh at the kitchen table. She remembers the photo Jimmy posted from the concert and wonders if he and Crystal hit it off. Her good mood starts to dwindle as she realizes that she really did push Jimmy away and make him feel unwanted. Her attitude and anger probably ruined any chance of rekindling something special with him.
She pushes her food around on her plate, and suddenly nothing seems appetizing. She wonders if he sees her as a mess and pities her.
Hailey glances out the back kitchen window, seeing a little bird who appears stuck on the ledge. She gets up, feeling compassion for the little guy. She slowly opens the back door hoping it won’t fall on the ground. She looks at the bird, who looks like it is calling out for its mom as it squeaks. She wonders if it tried to fly from the nest and didn’t make it to the ground. She wants to pick it up, but knows the mom may not take care of it anymore. She decides to let the little bird try to figure it out on its own. “You can do it.”
She goes back inside and quietly closes the back door. What would happen if she were to invite Jimmy over? She‘s scared to even try. It just seems like it would end up being a big embarrassment for her. She can picture him turning her down, though in a friendly way. Hailey’s the one who failed to fly from the nest. She may have a job, but she is still learning to walk in many ways.
She tries to eat her food, contemplating how to bring love into her life and – this time – for good.
***
Jimmy wakes up to his mom tapping on his door. She brings him breakfast in bed, something she likes to do on the weekends. Jimmy knows it helps her feel like she’s still able to be a mom, even though he ends up helping her now more than she helps him.
He sits up and puts the tray of biscuits and grits on his lap. He looks down. “Aw, no sausage.”
His mom laughs. “Just testing you to make sure you’re not an alien who took over my son’s body.” She laughs and reaches toward the table in the hall to grab an extra little plate with three breakfast sausages. Those have been Jimmy’s favorite for years.
He laughs. “I must have eaten like three boxes of these a week in college, because I had that little microwave in my room. My room always smelled like this. Well, that and dirty socks.”
His mom makes a face. “Your poor roommate.”
Jimmy smiles. “I know, right?” He takes a big bite of the sausage. His mom leaves, saying she will bring him a coffee when it’s done brewing. “Thanks!” Jimmy yells after her, unnecessarily loud.
Jimmy’s grateful their relationship has improved since he moved back home. It’s much easier to be home when he isn’t constantly worried about getting in trouble and fighting with his mom over everything. He gets a weird feeling in his stomach and pauses as he remembers last night.
The selfie of Hailey and Tom at the bar from the night before flashes through his mind, and he angrily bites into his next sausage. It’s Tom’s head he wants to bite off at the moment.
Jimmy wonders if he should ask Tom if anything happened with him and Hailey. He knows Tom has a girlfriend, but doesn’t know why Tom would have been at the bar with Hailey. Jimmy hopes it was just a work outing and that they weren’t hanging out and getting close.
Jimmy scratches his head, wondering how Hailey felt after reading his letter. He decides to wait and see if she responds to him and not make her feel pressured. He still feels guilty for letting it go four and a half years before telling her the truth. He feels like all the pain and anguish he put her though is something he must now be punished for.
He wonders if the universe will make it so he can’t love anyone for as long as he made Hailey suffer, thinking her best friend turned his back on her. He looks at his food, thinking he doesn’t even deserve it as his mom walks back in with a cup of coffee.
“Thanks mom,” he says solemnly.
“Cream and two sugars, just like you like.”
“And they said moving back home isn’t cool!”
She smiles. “Well, it’s laundry day!”
Jimmy yells after her as she leaves, “Don’t have too much fun!” He sighs as he hears the word ‘fun’ come out of his mouth. He really wishes he could have some of that this weekend but now that his friend might be with the girl of his dreams – the girl that still hates him – he doesn’t know where to begin.
He wonders if Hailey would want to hang out this weekend and tries to come up with something he might be able to interest her in. A hike would be too out of character for both of them, because they are not outdoorsy people. A movie would feel too much like a date.
As he contemplates, knowing he probably won’t even invite her even if he comes up with a good idea, he sees a message alert on his phone. He opens his phone and sees a message from Crystal. It’s a sexy bathroom selfie of her wearing red lingerie with a message that says, “Had a great time last night. Thinking of you. XOXO.”
Jimmy’s eyes widen as he realizes that this might ruin his chances with Hailey. He worries that Crystal will tell Hailey that last night was a date, when in reality, he just wanted to go to the concert.
While he has to admit, the picture is really sexy, he feels like he just accidentally dug himself into a deeper hole. He doesn’t know how to respond, so he avoids it and gets up to take a shower. While in the shower, he wonders what Hailey is doing all alone in the house next door.
He considers just walking over with a six-pack in the afternoon to bury the hatchet, but that’s more something guys do. As he washes the shampoo out of his hair he remembers while growing up, Hailey was always like one of the guys. She wasn’t all emotional and dramatic like the other girls. Maybe his idea could be a good one. Or a really bad one.
***
Hailey finishes her breakfast and loads the dishes into the dishwasher, which is one of the nicer parts of the house. She takes off her bathrobe and throws it on her bed and wonders what she is going to do for the day. She decides to shower because her hair smells like cigarettes from the bar the night before.
She puts some music on and jumps in the shower as the mimosa starts to make her feel a little buzzed. She gets out and wraps the towel around her head wondering if she should just invite Crystal over to hang out and ask her what is going on. Not knowing is really bugging her.
She picks up her phone to message Crystal and she sees she already has a message from her. It says, “Your neighbor is so hot! I think I have a crush!”
Hailey’s heart drops when she sees it. But it’s not her place to get in the way after what she did to Jimmy. She responds with a smiley face, not knowing how to put anything into words at the moment. Hailey sighs and adds, “Want to hang later?”
Crystal starts typing but then stops, so Hailey puts down her phone and gets dressed.
She decides to go out and get some new bedding, so that she can really enjoy her bed. She plans to pick up some snacks and drinks, too, so she can invite some people over and maybe have her first-ever little party.
Hailey messages Tom telling him she might have people over later. She says he can bring friends. Hailey secretly hopes Tom will bring Jimmy, because she is too scared to invite him.
Hailey gets in the car leaving the rest up to fate. But she’s excited that something might happen if she opens her doors to make things nice for her friends.
***
Jimmy gets a message from Crystal. “What are you up to later?”
Jimmy still doesn’t know what to say so he responds honestly, “Not sure.”
He sees another message from Tom asking if he wants to go to Hailey’s party, which really throws him for a loop. He decides to go hit some balls at the driving range to clear his head.
He messages a different friend to meet him there if he’s free. His friend Joey shows up wearing a tie-dye shirt and a bandana.
Jimmy laughs. “You’ve gone wild?”
“College in Vermont. What can I say?”
Jimmy chuckles, and they grab their buckets and head to the tee-off spot. They have fun competing to see who can hit the ball furthest and trade tips on body position.
Jimmy feels his phone buzz, and sees a message from Crystal. “Hailey is having a party. You should come.”
Jimmy slides his phone back in his pocket, thoroughly confused as to what to do. He tries to focus as he swings, but clips the side of the ball sending it flying off to the right.
Joey laughs. “Nice.”
“Hey, what are you up to later? There’s a girl going to this little party thing. I think you might like her.”
Joey shrugs. “Sweet. As long as she likes hippies.”
Jimmy laughs. They grab lunch at a local sandwich shop, and Jimmy is getting more and more nervous about going to Hailey’s.
He messages Crystal, “Yeah maybe.” Not committing himself fully. He sends the same message to Tom. He doesn’t know what to make of the whole thing and half-wonders if Hailey will even let him inside.
***
Hailey picks out new plush bedding that feels extra fabulous, a big white comforter with purple embroidered paisley and large pillows so she can watch movies in bed comfortably. She heads to the grocery store to grab some snacks and drinks for her party. She can’t help but get things she knows Jimmy likes, hoping he might get the invite from Crystal or Tom.
She rolls her cart down the drink aisle and shutters when she sees the boxed wine and remembers her mother passing out on her sheet-less mattress. Hailey makes a mental note to drink slowly – and n
ot too much – so she doesn’t repeat her mother’s mistakes.
She grabs some bottled water, thinking it will be nice to offer everyone since it’ll help reduce hangovers and excessive drunkenness. She’s proud of herself for thinking of that and then decides to also buy some vegetables to offer some healthy snacks. She smiles as she puts a veggie platter in the cart, knowing it’s something her mom would have frowned at.
She hopes she’s learning from her mom’s mistakes and will be a better person because of them. She takes a deep breath wondering what the night might bring.
Hailey gets home and puts the food away before setting up her new bed. She can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have someone hold her in these crisp new sheets. She smiles as she tucks the last corner under the mattress and smoothens the comforter. She snaps a photo of it and uploads it to Instagram with a caption that says, “Just for me, or maybe not.”
She likes this new addition to her life and takes a moment to lay on it just to see how it feels. She lays back and imagines Jimmy over her, without his shirt.
A double knock on the door pulls her out of her daydream. She opens the door and sees Crystal, wearing an ACDC cutoff shirt. Her hair is down, flipped over to one side. She’s wearing bright pink lipstick and, as usual, is smiling. Her down-to-earth rocker charm is hard not to like.
Hailey says, “Hey! How was the concert?”
Crystal plops down on her couch. “I was wasted!”
Hailey laughs. “Yeah? You feel okay?”
Crystal chucks. “I will be once I have a beer.”
“Grab one from the fridge, and then come tell me how you like my new bedding!” Hailey can’t help but enjoy Crystal’s company. She’s laid back and just brings out the fun side of Hailey. Hailey doesn’t feel like pegging her with questions about Jimmy, because she really does just enjoy having her as a friend.
Crystal cracks open a can of craft beer and walks into Hailey’s room as she turns on the side table light to complete the look.