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“I’m not leaving, Hailee.”
She looked my way and frowned. “I think I need you to go, though, because I feel like I’m going to cry.”
“Which is why I need to stay.”
“You don’t need to see me cry, Aiden.”
“Why not? I’ve seen you cry a million times before. You’ve cried an unrealistic number of times before. Remember when we watchedBambifor the first time? Waterworks.”
“This is different. I’ve never cried like this before.”
“Like what?”
Her lips trembled as she stared down at her hands, which were linked together, and she began slightly shaking as she choked out her words. “Like everyone is laughing at me because of how I look. Because of my weight. And I just thought… I thought he was my friend, and I don’t know why he’d say those things just because someone mocked him about us being friends, and… and… and…” She began sobbing into the palms of her hands, and I was definitely going to murder that fucking asshole.
“Please, Aiden? Please just go? I want to be alone right now.”
“Swear?” I asked.
She nodded. “Swear.”
I sighed and stood from the bed, but before turning to leave, I wrapped my arms around her from the back and held her tight. “I know you’re sad, Hailee, and I know you’re hurting, but even though you want to be alone right now, you aren’t alone. I’m right next door. Okay? I’ll be right here, too, if you need me to be.”
I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. Instead of going home, I had another thing to tackle. So I headed to the living room, where Hailee’s parents were sitting on the couch, talking about what had happened to Hailee.
“Penny and Karl?” They looked up at me with concerned expressions, and I gave them a broken smile. “Do you think you can help me with something?”
10
Hailee
“Dad, what are you doing here?”I asked, confused as my father stood in front of my bedroom door in a tuxedo, looking as dapper as ever.
“I’m your chauffeur for the evening, my lady,” he said, holding his arm out toward me for me to loop around.
“My chauffeur?” I giggled, even though I was far from the mood to laugh. But I’d cried so much that I wasn’t certain I had any tears left in me. I’d already wiped all of my makeup off and tossed on my oversized sweats, ready to binge-watchTheVampireDiariesand eat Ben & Jerry’s like a good heartbroken girl. I arched an eyebrow at Dad. “You’re not wearing shoes. You’re going to drive with no shoes?”
He tipped his invisible hat and smirked. “Where we’re going, we don’t need any cars. Now come on, your date is waiting.”
I was too intrigued to ask more questions, so I looped my arm around Dad’s. He walked me through the house, and my alertness rose as I saw Mama standing at the front door with a goofy grin on her face.
“You look beautiful, Hailee,” Mama said, snapping pictures of me.
I glanced down at my gray sweats and cocked an eyebrow. “Where?”
Dad placed a kiss on my forehead. “Everywhere. You look beautiful everywhere.”
What in the world is going on?
Dad looked down at his invisible watch and then snapped his fingers. “Not to be rude, but we’ve got to get a move on, folks. We have a tight schedule to adhere to, so come on, Hailee. Let’s get going.”
“Get going where?” I urged, but they ignored me.
“Have a wonderful night, sweetheart,” Mama sang before giving both Dad and me kisses on the cheek.
Dad walked me outside into the chilled night air. We didn’t go far at all. Just right next door to Aiden’s house, where Dad walked me to their backyard. The minute we went through their gate, I gasped when I looked around.
White lights were dressed throughout the yard, twisting in the trees and bushes, lighting up the space like never before. To my left was a folding table set up with two chairs. On said table sat a huge bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, a plate of garlic bread, and a tossed salad.
