Hailey turned on her heel back down the hallway toward the front door. She could hear Gage shouting something at her but she didn’t listen. The slamming of his front door cut off his voice.
When she got in her car and started driving away, she took a deep breath. It felt like the first breath she took in a long time. She reached into her bag on the passenger seat, blindly grabbing for her chapstick to ground her, whooping in victory when her hand closed around it.
When she got to the end of the residential street, she paused at the stop sign and took out her phone after applying and putting away her chapstick. There was onlyone person she wanted to talk to and she didn’t have the energy to think about why.
HAILEY:About that drink…
18
AFTER REALIZING SHE DIDN'T quite feel good enough for alcohol yet, and eating a lot of the pint of ice cream on the ride over, Hailey met Avery at their local sports complex. Kicking the shit out of a ball might make her feel better. Good thing she already had her soccer stuff in the car. She lucked out that he happened to be having a light afternoon and moved a meeting for her. He was so damn reliable.
Avery was somehow already across the field, aiming at the wide goal, hitting it every time. After one goal, she shouted, “Show-off!” and Avery turned to see her with a beaming smile. Despite her rough day, Hailey couldn’t help but grin back.
The complex was huge and featured three adult-size soccer fields along with one for little kids. Then there was a softball and baseball field on the other side of thebig concession stand, the only structure as far as the eye could see thanks to being surrounded by trees.
There was a nice breeze, enough to warrant her hoodie until she warmed up enough. The sun was dropping in the sky and casting a golden glow over the fields.
He passed her a ball and they started kicking it back and forth to warm up, maintaining a companionable silence. Hailey had a feeling he was waiting for her to fill the silence once she was ready to talk. Once they worked up a good sweat, which didn’t take her long at all thanks to still feeling pretty weak, they paused to stretch. Hailey missed the days where she could get away with skipping stretching andnotfeeling sore as hell the next day.
Once they got to quad stretches, Hailey lifting her right leg and pulling it toward her ass, Hailey took a deep breath and exhaled, “So something kinda fucked up happened and I don’t know how much I should tell you.”
“I’ll hear as little or as much as you want me to.”
She sighed, dropped her leg back to the ground and looked up into Avery’s eyes. He was a few feet away, but she could still see the setting sun making the blue in Avery’s eyes even brighter and she felt more warmth from those eyes than she did from the sun on her back. It gave her the courage to let out her frustration. He was so easy to talk to.
“I went to that work party the other night. I got therelate and everyone was pretty much already drunk, and my closest friend at work ended up not going. I figured I’d grab one drink, do some people-watching, and then say my goodbyes.”
Avery was listening with rapt attention, his eyes focused solely on Hailey.
“Well, someone else made me a drink while I wasn’t paying much attention and … um. I guess it wasn’t just liquor and lemonade when I got it.”
“Holy shit. Hailey, did you get…?”
He couldn’t say the word and Hailey couldn’t bring herself to either. She just nodded with tears starting to pool in her eyes, trying to blink them away.
Avery’s face showed so many different emotions. He went from scared to angry to concerned. He took a tentative step toward Hailey with his hand reached out but stopped himself and let it drop by his side.
“I’m sorry. I was going to give you a hug, but I figured you might not want any guys…,” he seemed to take a deep breath and steel himself. “...touching you right now.”
“Avery, you know you’re not just any guy, you’re one of my best friends,” she said with the ghost of a smile playing on her lips, a tear trailing down her cheek.
He was crestfallen as he stepped up to Hailey and wrapped her in his arms, giving her a hug she didn’t realize she desperately needed.
His hand reached up to cup the back of her head, pulling her even closer, while his other rubbed circles around her back. Close enough to feel his heart beat, Hailey allowed herself to let its rhythm soothe her and help her get through the tears she could no longer hold back.
It was unclear how long they stood there as time seemed to slow down in Avery’s embrace. After a while, he tentatively broke the silence. “I’m so sorry, Hailey. Is there anything I can do?”
Hailey kept her head braced against his chest, ducking a little so she could tuck her head under his chin. “You’re already doing it.”
She felt him give her just a little bit of a tighter squeeze for a moment, making her heart flutter. And she couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t think she was the only one sniffling.
When she pulled away, Avery’s eyes were glassy and he let his hand come back from around her neck to rub away her tears with his thumb.
“Sorry, I probably look awful right now,” said Hailey.
As a social worker, Avery had experience in dealing with these kinds of situations. Sure, he didn’t give hugs to teenagers telling the same stories. But, he somehow still managed to be there for them, console them, show them there was someone in their corner. The way helooked at her made her feel like he pulled up a chair in that corner and he wasn’t planning on leaving.
She explained to him that she was physically okay for now, but she was going to get tested to be sure. The mental wounds would probably stay with her forever, but she felt at least a little bit lucky that she couldn’t remember everything. And how fucked up was that?
