It was the game’s end and Haley sat, her head posed on her rested hands. She leaned over the chain-link fence, stretching and looked back to see the people crowding through exits. She shoved her hands into her hooded sweater, which bore her school logo, and headed away from the crowds. After walking through the field she glanced back, thinking that she had seen something, but in all reality she had seen nothing. There were people forcing themselves through gates far too small, and people shouting to others for attention. After heaving a sigh Haley turned her head and headed towards her car.
“Haley! Haley! Where have you been?” The voice was familiar, familiar enough for her to recognize, but she hadn’t expected him to talk to her. A body rushed up beside her, winded but not out of breath it spoke, “where were you for the game?” Haley kept walking, she wasn’t very happy and it was kind of cold, the guy who walked next to her shoved his hands in his pockets, he was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and his breath could be seen in the air. “I was there,” she answered him. He dug into his pockets and there was a jingling of keys, “huh, I didn’t see you at all.” She looked down at her feet as the pace increased to keep warm, “I haven’t had a great day today so I didn’t play, but I did cheer.” She looked over at his baby blue eyes and could see he was cold, he looked back and smiled.
When they got off of the field they headed toward her car, she didn’t know why, but he was still there. She got to her door, unlocked it, almost opened it, but instead turned around and leaned back on the door, looking up. He looked up to spy whatever it was she was looking at. Looking back at the ground she spoke, softly, but audibly, “so, Nathan, how are you getting home?” Nathan moved his eyes from whatever had interested him in the sky, “it’s only a little walk, I thought it’d be nice to get some fresh air.” Haley turned back around and opened her door, as she placed her first foot in, and he began to walk away she smiled and said, “hey, Nathan, I’ll give ya a ride, come on.” By the time he was in the car she had it on and it was warming up.
“Here we are,” Haley spoke as she took the car out of gear and turned it off. She wasn’t sure why she had done it, she just did. Nathan moved his hand for the door and as he touched the handle he paused, “Hale, you said you had a bad day, why?” Haley rubber her nose that was now red, “nothing, so I heard you and Vicky are, “ Haley paused to cough, “should I say together?” Nathan glanced at his shoes, “yeah I guess you could say together. Although she was at the game today and she wasn’t very nice I told her if she kept that kind of attitude I’d have to rethink our relationship.” Haley wanted to smile but she didn’t, “I’m sorry, I hope things work out betwee-“ Nathan leaned over and kissed her, Haley was taken back, what just happened she thought? She saw a figure walking to the door and she managed to utter, “Nathan…father…quick out!” He opened the door and casually stuck his head down to speak, Haley saw his father stop, “hey Haley, thanks for the ride it would have been cold.” “No problem,” she responded as he closed the door. He turned his back and acted surprised to see his father. Haley began to drive off but just her luck line of cars came up, after what seemed like an eternity she finally went, not speeding but as soon as she got out of sight her mind couldn’t stop racing. She got home a little bit later and the message maching was blinking, twice. The first message was her mom, the usual, she would have to stay an extra day. Things hadn’t gone as ‘planned’. Did they ever? It didn’t matter because they never ever would. She explained that once again she was sorry she would miss Haley’s concert, but Haley knew it wasn’t that big of a deal. The second message was what scared her. That blinking red light, almost insistent, listen to me!, it screamed. The pause in between the two messages lasted ages but finally it began. “Haley,” she knew who it was, “don’t worry my dad wasn’t angry he just wondered who you were, I explained and he was all good, but we need to talk, everything that I thought in my head never came out my mouth I just proved somehting to myself then I acted. I’m sorry if I did something wrong but we really need to talk.” Haley laughed at first, where else beside your head would you think? Then she remembered what had happened, “he’s a year younger though…” her voice trailed off as she walked, water in hand, to her office.
[To be continued…]