One More Chance (Chance, Part 2) Read online

  “Hey, I’m sorry about earlier,” Liam says apologetically.

  “For what?” I ask playing dumb.

  “You should have heard it from me, not in a group setting like that.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “No it’s not. I should have told you and I apologize.”

  “Liam you didn’t do anything wrong. There’s no need to apologize. You moved on with your life, don’t apologize for that,” I say feeling frustrated. He looks at me, I know he wants to say something, but he’s not sure what to say. “I’m glad for you. I’m glad Nina makes you happy because you deserve it,” I say truthfully.

  “Thanks Hails.”

  “Do you guys have a date set?” I ask, sounding more secure than I feel.

  “She’s thinking either August or September of this year.”

  “Oh wow, that’s soon.”

  “Yeah, it’s going to possibly be right before the season starts, so maybe July, I’m not sure yet.”

  “How’s that going to work?” I ask confused.

  “Well, we won’t take a honeymoon or anything because it will be during the season, but the ceremony we can fit in before the season gets underway.”

  “Is she pregnant?” Quinn asks from behind me. I don’t even know when she snuck up on us.

  “No, she’s not pregnant,” he says sounding annoyed.

  “I take it you get that question a lot?” I ask.

  “More than I care to admit. She’s not though, I love kids, but I don’t want them yet,” he states.

  “You have time,” I say.

  “Yeah, definitely have time. Alright, well I just wanted to apologize, so I’ll let you get back to your friends,” he says before heading off.

  “Apology?” Quinn asks with a look.

  “About me finding out he’s engaged.”

  “Yeah, that was a shocker.”

  “I think I’m going to head home.”

  “Tired?” she asks calling me out.

  “I am and stressed.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, you stay and have fun with Brody, talk to him.”

  “Hey, what’s going on?” Kenzie asks.

  “I’m tired, so I’m going to head home.”

  “I’ll come with you. I’m beat from the drive.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say to Quinn as I give her a hug, “Tell the guys we left and they are more than welcome to use the couch and the other guest room.”

  “Will do,” she says as she heads in the direction of Brody.

  “He likes her,” Kenz says as we walk outside.

  “Who?” I ask confused.

  “Brody, he likes Quinn.”

  “What?” I ask, shocked that she would make that comment.

  “I can see it in the way he looks at her. It looks like she likes him too, am I wrong?”

  “No, she has a crush on him.”

  “Does she know that he likes her?”

  “No.”

  “Well, hopefully tonight they can figure it out,” she says with a smile.

  “You don’t care?”

  “No, Brody deserves to be happy. So do you Hails. What’s going on with you?”

  “Things aren’t how I thought they would be,” I answer honestly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I figured Liam and I would have worked things out and be living life together and we aren’t. We never will and he’s only going to hate me more when I tell him.”

  “Tell him what?” she asks confused.

  “Shit.”

  “What’s going on Hails,” she asks as she stops me in the middle of the sidewalk, and she’s turned facing me, “What happened?”

  “Hopefully nothing, I’m not even one hundred percent sure.”

  “I won’t tell. I know I was a bitch before, but whatever it is, we can deal with it.”

  “I might be pregnant.”

  “What?” she shouts causing a few people passing to stop and look our way. “What do you mean you might be pregnant?”

  “Exactly that, I don’t know, I’m going to take a test tomorrow.”

  “And Liam’s the dad or not the dad? I’m confused.”

  “He could be the dad.”

  “What do you mean could be? When did you last sleep with him?”

  “That’s the thing; I don’t really remember us sleeping together. I mean like I do, but I don’t. I thought it was a dream, but I woke up and I was naked and so was he.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “The night I drove back to college to move out.”

  “I knew he came after you, him and Brody were both pissed that I let you leave, but how did sex come into play?”

  “I’m not sure how it even started. I know we were both sleep deprived, but he passed out, so did I. I remember having sex, but I swear it was a dream.”

  “But it may have been real, if you’re pregnant.”

  “Yeah and Liam asked me why he was naked the next morning and I said I didn’t know, because I’m not sure if he even remembered. God, I’m so stupid.”

  “No you aren’t. It’s not your fault,” she says as she comforts me as we walk home.

  “That means he would have cheated on Nina and they are engaged to get married. Oh my gosh, what have I done? I can’t tell him, he will hate me if I am,” I say panicking again.

  “We’re going to find out tonight, you need to know,” she says as she turns us down a sidewalk where a Quik-Mart is. She runs inside and purchases a test.

  “I can’t believe you just bought one.”

  “It’s not like I never took one before,” she says, like it’s no big deal.

  “Wait what?” I ask surprised.

  “Brody and I had a few scares.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because it was when we weren’t really talking and the other was because I was afraid. I lucked out though and they were both negative. Now, let’s just hope yours is negative too,” she says as we make our way home.

  I head into my master bathroom and lock the door. I don’t need anyone busting in on me with this sitting here.

  “Let me in,” Kenzie complains as she pounds on the door.

  “Sorry,” I say as I let her in and lock the door quickly.

  “You do realize no one is here right?”

  “I know, but I’m paranoid. What do I do if it comes out positive?”

  “Then we will figure it out.”

  I pee on the test and then put the end on and lay it on the counter as I wash my hands. “This is the longest three minutes of my life,” I complain.

  “No matter what, we will figure it out.”

  “I can’t tell him if I am. He’ll think I did it to trick him.”

  “Then don’t tell him. It will be okay. Do you want me to look?” she asks.

  “Sure,” I say as I feel sick to my stomach. I watch her walk over and pick the test up and read it. “What’s it say?”

  “I’m gonna be an aunt,” she says with a smile. It makes me drop to the floor with tears pouring out. “Shit, Hails it’s going to be okay,” she says as she rushes over to me. “We don’t have to tell Liam it’s his,” she says out of nowhere.

  “What?” I ask through the fountain of tears.

  “We can say you had a one night stand and got pregnant. He doesn’t even remember sleeping with you, so it’s not like he would know.”

  “Do you think that could work?”

  “It’s that or tell him you’re pregnant with his baby.”

  “No, I can’t. I heard him tonight. I can’t do that to him. He’s moving on and he’s happy. I won’t ruin that for him.”

  “Plus, you don’t have to tell anyone, you’re about to go to London and by the time you come back we will figure it out. You have room in your house. We can talk to the school about your classes. It’s your senior year, you are going to graduate and you are going to have a baby. It’s all going to work out, you�
��ll see,” she says as she hugs me, comforting me.

  After crying for a solid thirty minutes, I get myself up and change and crawl into bed. “Do you want me to stay with you?” she asks.

  “Yeah, the bed’s plenty big, crawl in,” I say as more tears come.

  “I’m going to change, I’ll be right back,” she says as she goes to grab her bag.

  I can’t help but continue to cry, as I’ve just changed the life of me and Liam and he doesn’t even know. What the hell am I going to do?

  “What’s wrong, why are you crying?” Liam asks as he stops at my door on the way to the spare bedroom.

  “Nothing,” I lie as I try to wipe the tears away.

  “Hails, you’re crying. Why are you crying?” he asks as he enters my room.

  “I just have some things going on.”

  “Like what?” he asks as he comes and sits beside me on the bed.

  “I….”

  “Hey I’m back, OH, Hi Liam,” Kenz says as she comes into my bedroom.

  “Hey,” he says to Kenzie, “What’s going on?” Liam asks while looking directly at me.

  “I’m okay, I’m just overthinking things.”

  “What are you overthinking?” he asks me intently. Kenzie stands there staring at me not knowing what to say or do. I don’t know what to say or do either.

  “Just life I guess. Things don’t always go as planned,” I say making up a silly explanation.

  “Kenz, can you give us a few minutes please?” Liam asks.

  “Umm…sure,” she says hesitantly before walking out of the bedroom.

  “You’re not telling me something, what’s going on?” he says.

  “I just have a lot going on right now, that’s all.”

  “Haley I know you, what are you not saying?”

  “Probably a lot, but things aren’t like they used to be. I can’t just open up to you anymore, we aren’t that couple anymore Liam.”

  “Babe, you can always talk to me.”

  “No I can’t,” I say as fresh tears fall. Before I know it, Liam leans down and pulls me towards him hugging me.

  “Yes Hails, you can. We’ve known each other our entire lives; you can always talk to me, no matter what.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “What’s not?”

  “Liam, I’m happy that you found someone who can make you happy and give you the world, you deserve that. I won’t be a person who holds you back or that ruins anything for you, I won’t be that girl,” I say as I pull away.

  “Holds me back or ruins anything, what are you talking about?”

  “You need to move on with your life like you have and forget about me, forget ever knowing me,” I say as more tears fall.

  “Hails, I’ll never forget you, why would you even think that?”

  “Because for this to work, you need to.”

  “For what to work?” he asks confused.

  “Please Liam, please do this for me,” I say as I try to hold back the tears, “I love you and you will always hold a special part of me, but I need you to do this for me,” I plead.

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s better for everyone.”

  “I don’t understand,” he says looking lost.

  “I know and you won’t, but I’m asking you to forget about ever meeting me. Live your life like you were supposed to without me in it. You’re happy and you deserve that.”

  “Hey Liam, Spence is asking for you,” Kenzie interrupts.

  “Shit, okay,” he says as he gets up from the bed, “This conversation is not over Haley,” he says before leaving my bedroom.

  “What happened?” Kenzie asks as she rushes over to me.

  “I asked him to forget about me, to move on and be happy,” I say as fresh tears fall.

  “Oh Hails,” she says as she comforts me, “Maybe you should tell him.”

  “I can’t, he’ll think I did it on purpose or that I tricked him. I can’t, he deserves better than that.”

  “We are going to get you through this,” she says as she crawls in bed with me. She hits the off switch on the nightstand light, “We are going to get through this together.”

  “I need to get to London, I need May to get here before I start showing.”

  Everyone’s gone by the time I wake up, which I couldn’t be happier about. I know Liam is going to continue asking questions until he knows what’s wrong, but I can’t tell him; he deserves better than my screw-ups. Kenzie left me a note saying she had to run some errands and will be back later. So it’s just me and an empty house.

  Chapter Five

  “Holy shit, when did you two happen?” I ask as Quinn and Brody enter the house holding hands.

  “Last night,” Quinn says excitedly.

  “I’m happy for you,” I say as I give her a hug, “Took you long enough,” I say looking directly at Brody.

  “What?” he asks looking innocent.

  “You two have been going in circles for months,” I say laughing.

  “I know, but it doesn’t matter now,” Quinn says.

  “I think you two are perfect for each other.”

  I couldn’t think of two better people to be together than these two. They are opposites on a lot of things, but they actually have a lot more in common than they both realized.

  “Thanks,” Brody says.

  “So, I want details,” I say as I sit on the chair. They both take a seat on the couch.

  “Good, because I’ve been dying to tell you,” Quinn squeals.

  “She wanted to wake you up last night to tell you,” Brody says laughing.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Because it was late and I figured you would probably be sleeping.”

  “You could have woken me up.”

  “Nah, it’s okay.”

  “Well, I will let you ladies talk, I’ll be back in a little while,” he says before leaning down and kissing Quinn.

  “See ya,” I say with a smile, “You’re blushing,” I tell Quinn when Brody’s out of earshot.

  “I’m so freaking happy right now it’s pathetic,” she says as her head falls back onto the couch cushion.

  “I can see that, so tell me what happened.”

  “So last night at the party we started talking after you left. I was a little tipsy, but so was he. He came right out and told me he had a crush on me.”

  “Oh yeah, well that’s good,” I say excited for my best friend.

  “I had just taken a drink and he caught me so off guard, it came flying out of my mouth, luckily he wasn’t standing in front of me, but it was a good laugh.”

  “Only you,” I say shaking my head.

  “I know right, I was just thankful I didn’t give him a mouthful of beer in his face, how horrible and embarrassing would that have been?”

  I can’t help but laugh, “Okay continue,” I say, wanting to hear more.

  “Basically, I told him I liked him too. So we danced, talked, and hung out for a little while longer before deciding to come back here.”

  “Did you get a good night kiss?”

  “More like a make out session in bed,” she says all excitedly.

  “Brody slept here last night?” I ask, confused because I didn’t see him.

  “Sure did.”

  “You hussie,” I joke.

  “We didn’t have sex, though I wasn’t opposed to it.”

  “Why not then?”

  “He said the first time we have sex, we are not going to have alcohol in our systems.”

  “Oh damn, he wants you to remember every second of it,” I say laughing.

  “I know right, so tonight no drinking,” she says completely serious.

  “Tonight?” I ask laughing.

  “Yes, I want sex and I like him and I know him, and yes, just yes,” she says blushing again.

  “By all means, you do what you gotta do,” I say laughing hard, “So are you guys together, together then?”

  “Y
ep. He asked me last night when we were in bed if I would be his girlfriend,” she says excitedly.

  “I’m really happy for you. I think you guys look cute together,” I say honestly.

  “Thanks. So tell me about the guy you were talking to,” she says with piqued interest.

  “His name is Jason and he’s nice.”

  “And hot,” she points out.

  “Yes, definitely hot,” I say laughing.

  “You guys spent a long time talking.”

  “We did, it was nice. He seems like a really good guy.”

  “And?”

  “I’m definitely going to hang out with him again,” I say happily.

  “Good, who knows maybe he’s your next boyfriend,” she says with excitement.

  “No,” I say shaking my head, “Once I tell him I’m pregnant, I’m sure he’ll be running for the hills.”

  “Maybe not, you don’t know yet.”

  “I do know. I took a test last night,” I say nervously.

  “Seriously?” she asks, looking shocked.

  “Yeah, Kenzie got one for me last night on the way home.”

  “Holy shit, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “This is the first I’ve seen you since I took the stupid test,” I say with a look.

  “You should have called me; I would have been here for you.”

  “It’s fine. Kenzie was here and talked to me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Hopefully hide it until I get to London.”

  “What about Jason?” she asks, looking confused.

  I give her a stern look, “Why would Jason stick around? A majority of guys aren’t going to want to get to know a girl who’s pregnant.”

  “That’s not always true.”

  “Okay, let me rephrase that, guys don’t want to date a girl who’s pregnant.”

  “Some do,” she says trying to be optimistic.

  “It’s fine. I’m going to hang out with him and I’ll tell him, hopefully we can be friends.”

  “When are you seeing him again?”

  “Tomorrow night, we are going for dinner.”

  Before I know it, Monday night is here and I meet Jason at the tattoo shop he works at before we leave to head to Molly’s Irish Pub.

  He’s looking pretty freaking hot today. He has on a v-neck tee shirt that shows the tattoos down his arms, snug jeans, and black boots. If I thought he looked slightly preppy the other night, he definitely doesn’t anymore. His blonde hair is a messy mop on the top of his head and the way his green eyes sparkle is sexy.