Nothing You Say Can Change Time

A week later you could find me and Heather at the mall. After unpacking and getting situated into our new home, we felt it was appropriate to have a nice relaxing day of shopping. Even though we had only been at the mall for a few hours, Heather had her hands full of bags from various clothing stores. I only had a bag with a stuffed Mickey Mouse from the Disney store.

"Heather, can we please go to the food court now? I can't walk on an empty stomach." I complained since I hadn't eaten breakfast.

"Alright you party pooper. Let's go and get some pizza!" Once she mentioned the word pizza I was awake and alert. Pizza had always been one of our favorite foods.

"How about you go and get pizza while I go and get us a burger and fries too."

"Sounds like a plan. Whoever gets done first can go a d find us a table." And with that said, we temporarily went our separate ways.

A little while later Heather and I were enjoying our lovely feast of fatty foods with some light conversation.

"Now that we're back in Huntington, do you think that you will run into Zack?" Heather questioned me.

I snapped my head up when she mentioned that name. "I have no desire to see that asshole ever again."

"Hayley, you can't be running from your problems for the rest of your life! Hell, does he even know why you left in the first place?"

"First off, I am not running from my problems," I said, making sure I grabbed a French fry before continuing. "Second, if that fucker still doesn't know why I left then he really is a dumbass. He was the one who did this to himself, not me." I gave Heather a look that clearly stated that I did not wish to continue this conversation.

We sat in an awkward silence since no one had anything else to say. That silence was soon interrupted by someone calling my name.

"Well if it isn't Hayley Starr. Still eating fatty foods I see?" A familiar female voice said. Where the hell had I heard that voice before? Not a second later did I figure out who owned the voice.

"Well if it isn't Michelle DiBenedetto, still being a bitch I see?" I smirked and turned around to face Michelle. She looked so different now, she wasn't the teenager that I remember. Gone was her short brown hair and in its place was long blond hair. She also dressed more mature I guess you could call it.

She too, seemed to be giving me a look around to see how much I had changed, which wasn't much. Before I knew it, we embraced each other in a giant hug. "Hayley I missed you so fucking much you have no idea! Don't you ever leave us like that again you hear me?" She tried to reprimand me.

"Sorry Michelle. I promise to never do that ever again.You have my word." I said, telling the absolute truth. Michelle was one of my best friends when I first moved to Huntington and now I feel terrible for leaving her behind all those years ago.

We fell into a comfortable silence, which caused me to notice that Heather was talking to Val, Michelle's twin sister. Back in high school, the four of us used to hang out all the time.

"Hayley, after you left," Michelle paused. It was like she was trying to think of a nice way to continue this conversation. "He was really messed up. He has no clue what he did wrong."

This was not the conversation that I wanted to be happening right now."Please don't bring this up right now Michelle. I really am not in the mood to be lectured at."

"Hayley, he has a right to know what happened! During the last ten or so years I have seen someone who I consider a brother have his heart continuously ripped out of his chest by girls that he was supposedly in love with."

"That sounds like his problem, not mine." I was trying my best to end this conversation.

"No need to be a bitch Hayley. Look, we're having a barbecue tomorrow afternoon at Matt and Val's. Everyone is going to be there, please come?"

"Fine. I do need to catch up with everybody anyways. Just as long as I don't have to talk to him."

Michelle and I said our goodbyes before going our separate ways. Heather and I decided that we should go back home because we still had a few things that needed to get done. As it turns out Val also told Heather about the little get together tomorrow and she was excited about going.

The next afternoon we were waiting for the twins to come pick us up because Heather and I had no clue where Matt and Val lived. I was fidgeting around nervously and Heather did not like it.

"Calm down Hayley. What is the worst that could possibly happen?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe a huge argument could start then it would ruin everyone's time. Hell, I don't even know why I agreed to go in the first place."

Before she could respond, there was a knock on the door which meant that the twins had finally arrived. There was no turning back now. I had to do this. I needed to see the people that I loved and cared about.

The ride to Matt and Val's was filled with us catching up with each other. Apparently Matt and Val had finally gotten engaged after what seemed like forever and I was going to be a bridesmaid. I didn't get to find out how Michelle was doing because we had arrived at a huge house that I assumed was where Val lived.

When we walked inside I was ambushed by Jimmy, who kept telling me how much he missed me and that I was never going to leave him ever again. You see, back when I first moved to Huntington, I met Jimmy and we instantly became friends. I felt guilty for leaving him so long ago. After reuniting with Matt, Brian, and Johnny all I wanted to do was just sit back and relax. Who knew that meeting up with old friends could be so exhausting?

My moment of relaxation was short lived however, when the one person that I did not want to see sat next to me.

"Long time no see," the male voice said. I turned to glare at him but I ended up gawking at him instead. He was no longer the teenage person I remembered. Instead, he had a vast amount of tattoos and he looked like he gained a little bit of weight but not too much. He also had some more piercings which included snakebites and a septum ring. One thing that remained the same were his beautiful green eyes. He seemed to notice how I was looking at him and I was met with his infamous smirk, "Like what you see Hayley?"

"Back off Baker, I don't even want to see you right now." I spat back. One thing I couldn't stand about him was his cockiness.

"Now Hayley," he faked being shocked, "that is no way to talk to your husband."