Second Heartbeat

“HALEY MARIA SANDERS YOU SCARED THE BEJEEZUS OUT OF ME!” Mollie screeched at me as soon as I was in the door.

I tried to dodge her but she was just too tall and I’m just too freaking short. She ran towards me at warp-speed and quickly encircled her long arms around my tiny frame. Normally I would have shrugged out of the hug but today it seemed that not only did I currently deserve have the life squeezed out of me but I also somewhat needed the hug at the moment. That’s all I wanted that could be made possible. Someone to show me some form of affection.

“Oh, Haley. There’s someone here to see you but before we go see him yhou have to promise me one thing.”
“Mollie you’re scaring me… who’s in there?”
“Just promise you won’t bolt out the door the minute you see him. Please.”

I looked at her for a minute before slowly nodding. Whoever it was I guess I could at least give them a minute or two of my time. Mollie smiled and took my hand, leading me into our living room. Sitting there on the couch, looking as relaxed as if it was his own house was the man that had lit the spark that fueled the flames not but hours ago in the lecture hall.

“Haley. My God you’ve changed so much.”
“Hi Papa Gates. Thanks I think. You haven’t changed a bit…”

I opened my mouth to say something else to him but he raised his hand and shook his head.

“Haley sweetheart, I’m not angry about what happened between you and my son. In my eyes he made a big mistake and couldn’t be bothered enough to fix it himself. To me you will always be one of the guys’ best friends so hear me out when I say that we go have a coffee and catch up on what’s been going on.”

I paused, took a deep breath and nodded.

“That sounds like a good idea.”
“Okay then. You know New York better than I do. Lead the way Haley.”

We said goodbye to a very happy Mollie about to watch some TV and we walked down the street to my favorite Starbucks.

“What would you like?”
“Oh Haley, you don’t need to buy my coffee.”
“Well, I want to.”
“Well, you’re a student. I’m buying yours. Caramel frappucino, extra whipped cream still?”

I wavered for a second, trying to decide how to react before putting my card back in my purse and nodding.

“I’ll go grab a table.”
“Okay.”

I waited while a couple dawdled in leaving the coffee shop and then I grabbed their table. While I was waiting for Papa Gates to get back with our coffees my knee jiggled up and down in anticipation. I DID want to know how the guys were doing and I DEFINITELY had some questions about Brian but I still wasn’t sure if I should be asking them.

“Haley, you can relax. It’s just me. Just Papa Gates. You’ve known me for years…”
“Okay I get it. I can chill out a bit… So… how are the guys doing?”
“Well, Johnny’s in space. The Rev’s in jail, there’s no new guy to the group, your brother is knocking down walls for no reason and Zacky cured cancer but then forgot how he did it.”

I just stared at him for a couple of seconds before laughing my little ass off. That sounded like my boys.

“Who told you to say that?”
“Zacky. Who else?”
“Who else indeed?”

We laughed for a while and caught up on how the guys were doing, I told him about my plans to crack into the music industry one way or another without the help of my brother but then I decided it was the right time to bring up the elephant in the room.

“So… how’s Brian doing?”