Carrie started laughing. “You should have left the loser alone. I warned you.”

I stood there perplexed. I didn’t understand. What went down?

“P, I’m out of here.”

“Hold on, I’m coming.” He ran to catch up to me. “Dude, what was all that about?” he asked.

“Carrie picks on that girl. It’s not right. The shit she does reflects on me.”

“I told you to leave her.”

“It’s not that easy. I have feelings for her. When it’s good between us… it’s good. She’s different with me.”

“That’s not true. I’ve seen you fight. Chase, dude, do you like Hailey?”

“What do you mean?” Why would he ask me this question?

“Like her? Want to date her? Why do you always protect her?”

“I don’t know. It’s instinct. Like her? I have a girlfriend. I don’t cheat.”

“I think you like her,” he teased.

I felt the need to protect her from my bitch girlfriend… that’s all.

“I think you’re lying to yourself,” he continued.

“I have a question.” I knew I was going to regret this. “Do you think Hailey’s fat?”

“I wouldn’t say fat, like, obese. She’s just not a stick model.”

“So why does Carrie torment her?’

“Maybe she sees what I see.”

“What’s that?” I was being defensive.

“That you like Hailey, and she may be threatened by her.”

“It’s more than that, but I’ll never know why. Hailey is beautiful on the inside and out,” I blurted out.

“How do you know that?”

“P, remember that day I followed Hailey out to the hallway during gym class?”

“Yes.”

“Well, she was crying. I wiped her tears from her eyes. I wanted to kiss her. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I wouldn’t, but that would be bad, not just for you but for Hailey, too. Carrie would go ballistic, and she would make her life a living hell. Dude, you are my best friend since birth. Don’t do this. Get over it. Leave Hailey alone to deal with her own issues. It’s obvious from the scene in the cafeteria that she doesn’t want your help. You have an image to protect, and as much as I hate Carrie, you need to just stay with her, because she will destroy you. You are at the top of your game for scouts right now.”

I was listening to what P was saying, and he was right. That could bring bad consequences. I had to make the best decisions for everyone involved.

“You’re right. Come on, let’s get back to class. We’ve been gone long enough.”

I never thought about Hailey again after that day… Well… I didn’t tell anyone about it…

***

Present Day

I place the plates on the dining room table. Hailey gets up to get me another beer from the fridge.

“Sit down. You’re my guest. But thank you.” I smile.

Dinner in the dining room is more relaxing. I sit across from Hailey and just stare at her. There is so much I want to say, but I can’t get it out. I don’t know where to start.

She takes me from my thoughts. “Do you always eat so healthy?” she asks, picking up her fork.

“Because I play sports, I have to eat right and exercise. I spend crazy amounts of hours at the gym. I also run the track a lot.”

“Wow, that’s impressive. I exercise, but it’s because I have to. I had no choice but to change my habits. I gain weight just looking at food.”

I feel so sorry for her. I can’t imagine how she feels. “Hailey, I’m so sorry…”

“Chase, don’t. It’s not your fault.”

“It is. I couldn’t stop it. There’s something I have to tell you.” She looks confused, but I need to tell her the truth if I am planning on moving forward with her.

CHAPTER 16

Hailey

CHASE LOOKS rather serious. What could he possibly have to tell me? If it is anything related to my past, I’m not sure I want to know about it. Although my secret crush has grown up, he still has that look that attracted me to him. I can’t help but stare at him. He is so adorable, but in a manly way.

“Chase, don’t. I don’t know if I can handle what you’re about to say. I want to forget about what happened so long ago.”

He pushes his chair back and gets up from the table. I swallow hard.

“I need to tell you this. I want you to know.”

I feel frightened, not physically but emotionally. “It can wait. Maybe I should go.” I need to avert this situation; I need to run.

I try to get away and he grabs my arm. “Hailey, stop. I need you to hear this. I promise you won’t be hurt. I wouldn’t hurt you, and you know this. I’ve proven myself to you.”

“That was ten years ago. I don’t know you.”

“Get to know me. Stop holding back.” He stands in front of me, blocking me. “Stop hiding from your feelings. I saw what you went through. I know how much pain you felt.”

“You have no idea. I try to put that in my past. I don’t want to relive it.”

“I need you to know what I felt back then,” he says.

I’m afraid to hear what he has to say. Is he going to say that he felt how the others felt? Is he going to say that I repulsed him with my fat self?

“I saw your face. When I saw you, I knew how Carrie affected you. I wanted to take your pain away. I would have beaten up everyone who’d hurt you if I could have, but they were girls.”

I smirk. “You couldn’t have protected me. Carrie was your girlfriend.”

“I think about it. I play it over and over in my head. I don’t know why she did what she did to you. The only thing I can come up with, based on my recollection and P’s theory, is that she tormented you for a reason. She thought you wanted me, and she also thought I wanted you.”

“She must have been on drugs back then, because that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Why is that stupid?”

I guess he’s forgotten what I looked like in high school. He could never have wanted anyone like me.

“Seriously, Chase, don’t go there.”

“Hailey.” He stares at me.

Tears begin to form. All this reminiscing is killing me.

“What?” I can’t look at him.

“Do you remember in high school when you were in the hallway crying and I came out to check on you?”

“Every day of my life. I was humiliated that day.”

“I wiped your tears away that day, and I really wanted to kiss you that day, too, but I couldn’t.” He lifts my chin up. Tears are flowing down my face and he wipes them away… again. “But I can now.”

He caresses my face with his hand and pulls me toward him. My brain tries to register what he’s just said to me. Filled with emotion, I allow him to invade my mouth. He glides his hand along my jaw as his tongue finds mine. I bite my lip as he breaks away.

“I want to touch you,” he confides.

“I’ve always dreamed of your touch, your hands on me,” I say, daydreaming after his sensual kiss.

“Your dreams are about to become reality.”

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“Is it working?”

“Maybe.”

CHAPTER 17

Chase

I DIDN’T THINK Hailey would believe me when I told her the truth. She still seems to have low self-esteem, even though she is absolutely beautiful. One minute we are about to ravish each other, and the next minute, she changes. I knew this might be too much, but she confuses the hell out of me.

“This is too fast for me,” she sighs.