AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mel laughed. “Sure. That was just something Gavin used to say. Vicki was so popular that people would assume she didn’t want to associate with the kids who were just trying to get through the day. It was like she’d say hi to you in the hallway and you’d look around for whoever she must’ve been talking to. But Nicky—peoplelovedNicky. He’d invite someone different to their lunch table every day, just because he liked making their day. I know that sounds like they were royalty or something, but you have to understand: Having lunch with those two was pretty much the highlight of high school. Nicky would listen to you, and he’d remember every conversation he’d ever had, and before long people would see Vicki was just as nice as he was. Everybody’d be laughing, and it wouldn’t matter that the quarterback was sitting across the table from the math geek.”
She could picture the scene, almost feel the warmth of Nick’s attention and see the glint of his blue eyes, and she suddenly missed somewhere she’d never been. “It must have been great to be a part of that.”
“My favorite part of senior year,” Mel said. “Gavin and I shared a lunch period with them, and sometimes I’d just sit back and watch him go back and forth with Nicky.”
Hayley grinned. “I’ve seen that.”
“Not like that, though. Nicky didn’t worry about a thing back then.” Mel glanced toward the front hall. “He broke a little without Vicki.”
“Oh.” Something shifted in her then. Hayley was seeing the pain in him again, the ache in his eyes when they’d met hers for the first time.
Mel turned back to her. “He still knows how to make people feel special, but I don’t think it’s the same thing anymore. Now he does it without letting anyone in. Like he’s put all of the work back into working a room.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You don’t know what to say. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” Hayley weighed her options. “I know what you’re talking about. It’s just that he’s barely mentioned Vicki, and I have to wonder how much he wants me to know.”
“He’d appreciate you saying so.” Mel let the silence settle, kindness in her eyes. Gently, she asked, “What’s been going on, Hayley?”
Hayley sat hunched over in the recliner, hands pressed together in front of her. “Kevin walked out yesterday,” she said.
“Oh, Hayley, I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t even know if I am.” She looked up. “I was so messed up I had to Uber to work, but I didn’t want to stay in an empty house, you know? And maybe I wanted to see Nick, even if he didn’t want to see me, because …” She sighed. “BecauseI know he likes me. And then he just …” She threw up her hands. “Did you see how he’s limping? You wouldn’t believe what he did.”
Mel smiled. “I think I might.”
“And this is the point where normal people would’ve walked away, right, because Kevin hadn’t been gone six hours, and suddenly I was looking down at this whip-smart rock star who didn’t hesitate to throw himselfon the groundjust because I was having a shitty day. I hadn’t talked to him in a week. I thought he was going to run the other way. But as soon as he saw me, all of our issues? Gone.” Hayley snapped her fingers. “Just like that. He didn’t even know we’d broken up.”
Mel was unfazed, so much so that Hayley wondered if the story was coming out accurately. “You were in trouble,” she said simply.
“AndI’mthe one driving this bus.” It felt good to get revved up. “He should’ve just dropped me off at my place, but I told him to go to his. And he listened, and there was chocolate …” Hayley shook her head, laughing in disbelief. “And then I was talking my way into his bed. I knew he wanted to sleep with me, I knew he felt shitty about it, and I decided to climb in and say, ‘Nah, we’re just gonna cuddle.’ Who does that?”
“Couldn’t’ve been a disaster,” Mel offered. “I mean, you’re both here.”
Hayley looked helplessly at her. “He was perfect. And then this morning …” She thought of dancing with him. “He tries so hard to be charming, but honest to God, all he has to do is be himself.”
Mel waited. “And the problem is …”
“Mel, the last thing I need is someone who’ll do anything for me. I’m just going to hurt him.”
Mel sat with this for a moment.
“You know, Nick and Rose really are best friends,” she said. “Rose loves her mom and she loves her dad, but I think she’sfearless because of her Uncle Nick. She knows he’d do anything for her.”
“I believe it.”
“I think he’d actually cut his arm off if it would keep her from hurting,” Mel said. “Just because he decided to.”
Hayley nodded, smiling. “He decided to be my friend too. Like, there was an actual conversation, with an agreement.”
“Uh-huh. Even though normal people don’t operate that way.”
“That’s what I told him.”
Mel laughed. She got up and busied herself with arranging Rose’s gifts.
