Parting Chances (Fighting Chance #1) Page 3

  Kyler was giggling hysterically when she slid behind the wheel. “Once we get home, you’re spilling.” She pulled the car out into the street and drove us to the apartment.

  The whole ride my mind was on the semi-geeky, utterly gorgeous boy who had unknowingly made me forget my home issues for the night.

  ***

  “Okay, woman. I want details.” Kyler said as she dug into one of my boxes.

  We had been home for forty-five minutes, working hard to get my stuff put away. I thought she had forgotten about Eli, but of course she hadn’t.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged as I hung my clothes in the closet.

  “Like hell you don’t.” Kyler threw a book at my head. Thankfully, her aim was horrible and it clunked the wall a good three feet to the right of me.

  “Yeah, cause that’ll get me talking.”

  “Hales!” Kyler whined, jutting her lower lip out into a pout.

  I dropped to the floor in front of my bed with a huff. I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this discussion. Kyler was way too persistent.

  “I knew it! You like him!” Kyler squealed and ran over to the bed, dropping down next to me.

  “I am the worst.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I find him incredibly attractive right now and yeah, probably have a crush on him. But two years ago, I wouldn’t look twice at him. I’m a horrible person.” I shut my eyes and leaned my head back against my bed.

  “No, you’re not,” Kyler said, nudging her shoulder into mine.

  “No? What would you call it then?”

  “Honey, I’m not blind. I’ve noticed how much he’s changed these last two years. But you’ve changed too. Hell we all have. Plus, you may not have been attracted to his looks back then, but was there anything about him you did like?” Kyler asked.

  “Well, he was funny, he always had me in stitches. He was caring, I didn’t realize until tonight that he always dished me up first when we were eating together. He was super smart. I secretly loved that he was dorky, it made me feel like I didn’t have to try too hard around him.” I trailed off, feeling so stupid for letting outward appearances distract me from who he really was.

  “Want to know something?” Kyler asked and continued without my acknowledgment. “That’s still who he is. Just because he grew into his outside, doesn’t mean who he was isn’t still there. I’ve hung out with him enough these past few months to realize that nothing has changed.”

  “Except he probably has every girl falling all over him now,” I muttered.

  “If you weren’t so hung up on what’s-his-face freshmen year, you would have realized Eli had girls falling all over him then, too.”

  “What?” My lips tugged up at the corners as Kyler avoided mentioning Drew by name.

  “Girl, he’s always been hot. Sure his hair was longer and he was a little scrawnier, but that was it. He still had those piercing blue eyes, still had that kissable mouth, still had that chiseled face. Why do you think I kept badgering you to give him a chance?” Kyler stood and resumed unpacking.

  “I figured you just wanted me to date Noah’s roommate so we could go on double dates.”

  Kyler laughed and folded up a now empty box. “Well, sure, that was part of it. But I honestly thought you two would click. What’s stopping you now?”

  My mind wandered to my mom. The idea that she probably wasn’t even going to be around for another year made my heart hurt. “I’m not sure I can deal with the possibility of getting my heart broken.” I caught Kyler’s eyes as mine started filling with tears.

  “Oh Hales…” Kyler knelt next to me and pulled me into a hug. “I know your heart is hurting right now for your mom, but it’s okay to let other people in.” She rubbed small circles on my back, trying to soothe away the pain.

  “I just don’t think I can,” I choked out. “I can’t risk it. And I really need to just focus on school and my mom. Everything else would be a distraction.” Making excuses was what I was good at when I didn’t want put myself into a difficult situation. Kyler knew me better than that though and opened her mouth to say something.

  “Can we not talk about this anymore?” I held up my hand to stop her. “I’m not going to do anything about this. I just want to be his friend right now.”

  Kyler stared at me for a second longer before nodding and grabbing another box to unpack.

  I stood and opened a new box. We worked in silence until the boxes were empty, flattened, and piled by the door. After saying good night, Kyler escaped to her room. I fell exhaustedly into my bed. My brain was unable to shut down and started giving me flashbacks of the night. I had lied to Kyler earlier. Of course I wanted to focus on my mom and school. Distractions really weren’t needed.

  But I also was still recovering from Drew. To say he and I ended our relationship on a bad note would put it mildly. He didn’t even have the balls to actually call me and tell me we were over. No, I found out on Facebook, after he changed his relationship status from in a relationship with me to in a relationship with some random bimbo he had met while in California visiting his family for Christmas. I immediately unfriended him, blocked him and hadn’t talked to him since.

  My friends and family were thrilled when that happened. None of them liked the guy. Clearly for good reason. If I had listened to them all from the beginning, maybe I wouldn’t have wasted two years of my life. Maybe I wouldn’t have trust issues right now. And maybe I would have been able to open my eyes and realized Eli was always right there.

  Dating a nice guy and not a jerk…that’d be new to me.

  Before I fell asleep, I called my mom to check in. I avoided telling her about Eli. She would be overjoyed to hear about a decent guy and would probably pester me until I drove over to the guy’s house and asked him out. And she’d be pissed to hear my excuses for not dating right now. Yeah, not telling her was the smart choice.

  Kyler and I had been living together for two weeks. I was able to get my job back at Chapman Buzz, the coffee shop I worked at since freshmen year, so that took up much of the last weeks of freedom I had. And almost every night I would go with Kyler over to Noah and Eli’s. We’d all sit around the living room and either watch movies, or Kyler and I would watch the guys play video games.

  Now with my final weekend of freedom, I headed back to my parents’ house for Labor Day weekend. Caleb was bringing his new girlfriend home, and according to my parents, he had some exciting news to tell us.

  My mind still couldn’t wrap around the idea that he had become serious with someone in a month and a half. Don’t you need more time to get to know someone? More time to tell them all about your life and such? More time to get them used to the idea of meeting your parents? You just don’t spring that on them, along with the “oh, also, my mom is dying,” do you?

  Needless to say, I was curious. Caleb wasn’t a big fan of using Facebook to update the world on his life, so I didn’t even have a picture of her to go off of. All I knew was that they went to school together.

  I sang loudly to the radio as I drove the two hours home. I didn’t want to let my mind wander to anything else other than the here and now. Otherwise, I would be thinking of my mom or Eli. And I’d already made it clear to myself that I wasn’t going to jump into a relationship this year, so the fact that Eli was on my mind pretty much pissed me off.

  My parents’ house came into view, and my heart caught in my throat. Two weeks had passed since I’d seen my mom. It was the first time since she told us the horrible news that I was even away from her. I wasn’t sure how I should brace myself. Was she going to still be healthy? Or in the two weeks did she get a lot sicker? I just wasn’t sure I was completely prepared to see them yet, but before I could continue driving down the road, I saw Caleb race out of the house and wave me down.

  With a sigh, I eased the car next to the curb and switched off the ignition. Caleb rounded the car and threw open the door before I could even grab
my purse. He pulled me out and wrapped me up in a bear hug.

  “Whoa! What’s up with you?” I mean, I was happy to see him too, but this was really out of the norm for him.

  He buried his face in my neck and hugged me tighter. “Mom and Dad are on the warpath right now.”

  Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting to hear.

  “What do you mean they are on the warpath? And where is your girlfriend? Did you leave her in there all by herself?” I pushed back so I could finally see his face. He kept glancing up at the house and gulping down air like he couldn’t breathe. “Caleb. What the hell is going on?”

  He opened and closed his mouth a few times, glancing everywhere but at me. I was about to kick him in the shin, when I heard the front door open. I spun around and saw Mom standing on the front porch, hand propped on her hip, looking as beautiful as ever.

  “Caleb, don’t keep Haley out here all to yourself. Bring her in. Introduce her to your fiancée.” Mom held up air quotes as she said it, gave me a smile, and then turned back into the house.

  “Wait. What?” I spun to face Caleb and grabbed his arm. “Your fiancée?”

  Caleb nodded.

  A nod. I got a nod in response. He really did want to get throat punched.

  “Caleb! Are you insane? You’ve known the girl for all of what, a month and a half? And you proposed?” Caleb tucked his hands in his front pocket and just lifted his shoulders. Another non-verbal response. That was it; I kicked him hard in the shin. He yelped and rubbed his leg while I walked around the car to get my bag. I would have throat punched him, but he had some explaining to do, and I didn’t want that to be his excuse to continue not talking.

  With a huff, I snatched my bag and ran up the front porch into the house. It was exactly as I left it, except Dad was pacing the hallway muttering to himself about his “ridiculous son,” and Mom was in the kitchen with the blonde-haired stranger.

  My heart clenched in my chest. We were being rude. This poor girl didn’t deserve to come all the way here just to get shunned by the family. It wasn’t her fault Caleb had lost his mind. Although, she did agree, so I was beginning to wonder what was in the water in Boston. I set my bag down in the entryway and moved into the kitchen with a fake smile plastered on my face.

  “Hi there! You must be Caleb’s fiancée.”

  She spun around in her seat looking startled. Her soft blue eyes wide open and her mouth in the form of an O. I guess she hadn’t heard me come in.

  She collected herself quickly and reached out a hand to me. “I’m Emma. It’s so nice to meet you, Haley. Caleb has told me so much about you.”

  “Oh really? Well, that’s nice.” I released my hand from hers. “I wish he told us more about you,” I mumbled as I walked past her to give my mom a hug.

  “You look good, sweetie.” Mom hugged me hard.

  “So do you.” I was relieved to find her just the same as when I left her two weeks ago.

  “Still kicking.” Mom laughed at her joke, but the rest of the room remained silent. “Oh, come on, we have to at least be able to joke about it.”

  My glare didn’t seem to faze her as she smacked a towel against my butt with a grin.

  “I think my whole family has lost their ever-loving minds!” This was apparently a funny thing to say, as Emma broke into a laugh, my mom following quickly after.

  Well, I guess if I could ease the tension in the house, I didn’t mind that they were laughing at me. Caleb came inside and paused just outside the kitchen, taking in the scene of the three of us laughing together. His lips twitched up into a smile, and he came up behind Emma, wrapping his arms around her.

  “I knew Haley would make things better.” He buried his face into Emma’s hair.

  “Oh, don’t think this is over you two. You have a lot of explaining to do still.” Dad came in from the hallway and glared at the two of them. Emma shrunk back into Caleb’s arms, and Caleb huffed out a sigh.

  “Dad, come on—”

  “No, I will not. You two are adults, yes. But we need to understand this whole thing better. So, I hope you’re up for talking.” Dad pulled out a chair at the table and plopped down, pointing for the rest of us to join him. We all saw the no-nonsense look on his face and scurried to the table. Mom brought out some lemonade and a fruit platter before taking the seat next to Dad.

  “So, you two are engaged. Care to tell us when you’re planning on getting married?” Dad’s gruff voice spoke first, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Well, we were thinking around Christmas. That’s the next free time we both have, and we’d like for Emma’s family to be here too.” Caleb smiled happily at Emma.

  Maybe these two really were in love. Was that possible? To fall in love in less than two months?

  “Why so fast? You two just met. Why not wait a little longer?” Mom. Always the logical one.

  Caleb looked down at his hands. Emma placed one of hers on his and smiled at my parents. “Caleb told me about what you’re going through, Mrs. Cavanaugh.”

  Mom waved a hand at her. “Julia. Call me Julia.”

  “Okay. Well, first you should know, Caleb and I have known each other for a while. We had a few classes together during the summer program last year. When we got to MIT this year, it was nice seeing a familiar face, but he was also really depressed about what was going on at home and was tempted to quit school to come back here.”

  Mom opened her mouth to say something, but Caleb interrupted. “You should know Emma was the one who kept me focused and helped me through everything. We hung out all the time, started going on dates and talked. You know I’m not the guy who would settle down right away. But with her, it’s there. We connect. This is who I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  My mouth dropped open at Caleb’s confession. I guess maybe someone could find love in a short amount of time. And what would it be like to have someone to lean on completely during this whole ordeal with Mom?

  Caleb glanced at Mom. “We want you to be here for the wedding.”

  Tears rolled down Mom’s cheeks, and she reached across the table to grasp Caleb and Emma’s hands. “I appreciate that you want to do that for me. But I want you two to be one hundred percent sure you are ready before you do anything.”

  Emma sniffed and squeezed Mom’s hand. “We are. We wouldn’t have said anything if we weren’t. Believe me, we’ve discussed this to exhaustion. It’s what we want.”

  “So, a winter wedding?” Mom sighed, blowing her chestnut hair from her forehead. She was going to cave. Hell, she was probably already thinking of the best way to decorate the house. My mind was still getting used to the idea that my big brother was engaged, but after that speech, I was ready to give them my own blessing. Mom leaned into Dad, and he gave her a look like this is batshit crazy, but he too was folding.

  “Yes, sometime during winter break. It’ll just be a small one. You guys and my family. We don’t need anything big. Plus, we’re in grad school. We don’t need the added stress of planning a wedding on us.”

  “That sounds wonderful.” Mom smiled at Emma putting her at ease for probably the first time since she got here. “Okay, so who wants dinner?” Mom stood and made her way around the island to open the fridge. “I was thinking stir-fry tonight.” She peeked her head back out to us and got a chorus of nods in response.

  Dad pushed from the table and gestured for Caleb to follow him outside. Probably to lecture him some more before congratulating him. I smiled over at Emma, and we both stood to help Mom with dinner.

  Mom was the talkative one as she asked Emma all sorts of things about her life. They fell into a nice exchange making dinner together. All I could think about was how much longer our family was going to be this way. And at what point it was all going to come crashing down around us when Mom was too sick to do anything anymore?

  The first day of classes was on the Tuesday after Labor Day. I dreaded every moment while getting ready that morning. The only good t
hing about the classes was after comparing my schedule with Eli’s, we found out we had two together: Motion Graphic Animation and Chemistry. And since the classes alternated days, it looked like we’d be seeing each other daily.

  Pretty sure I’m never going to make it through the semester without fumbling all over myself.

  Even though I knew I’d know someone in the Animation class, I was still nervous when I walked to the building. First day of classes are always the worst.

  “Let me get that for you.” A muscular arm appeared at my side and opened the door before me.

  I turned to say thank you, only to stare up into the crystal blue eyes I knew all too well. “Eli.” That came out way more breathy than I expected. “Thanks.” I stepped in the building, with him following close behind.

  Yeah, there was no way I was going to be able to focus through these classes. No freaking way.

  “First day of class jitters?” he asked.

  “Am I that obvious?”

  He let out a low chuckle that instantly had my stomach in knots. “Well yeah, and the fact that you’ve been stressing for a week now.”

  A laugh escaped my mouth before I could stop it, and I lightly punched his shoulder as he held the door to the classroom open for me. I immediately headed for the back. I hated people sitting behind me, a small strange quirk. I only hoped Eli had no issues sitting in the back either. That’s assuming he was actually going to sit with me.

  I slid into a seat and pulled my laptop out before I tossed my backpack under the chair. Eli settled into the desk next to me, much to my relief.

  “Ever have this professor before?” he asked, pulling out his own laptop.

  “Yeah, last year for Web Design. He’s pretty entertaining. Keeps us focused on the studies but manages to do it in an interesting way. And he’s really fair with assignments and tests.” I watched Eli’s face relax a little. “Don’t like tough teachers?” I teased.

  “It’s not that. It’s just that I have a really hard time concentrating on things. So if the professor was boring, this class would be hell for me to pass.” His neck turned a slight pink at his admission.