My Mistake, So Predictable

Jack's POV

“Helloo beautiful!” I call out towards Hailey as I push my way into the guitar store. The first thing I notice is her auburn head down on the desk but I don’t realize that she’s on the phone until she lifts her head and scowls, placing a finger up to her lips to tell me to be quiet. I grin apologetically and mime locking my mouth and throwing away the key, making her laugh and then she quickly apologizes to an angry voice coming through her cell phone.

I browse through the colored picks on the counter until she eventually hangs up the phone and flashes me a weary look, her droopy eyes and limp hair only adding to her tired appearance. Shit, she looks um…

“You look great!” I tell her. Okay, so I lied. I couldn’t tell her she looked like she was dead on her feet, could I? I’m not an expert at woman feelings, but something tells me she would flip me over the counter if I told her what I really thought.

“Liar.” She says bluntly, running a hand through her hair to straighten it up, but she grins anyway and I can tell I’m forgiven for the fib.

“So how’s my favorite girl ever?” I beam, hopping around the large counter she’s sitting behind so I can squeeze her in a tight hug. She wraps her arms around my for a second, squeezes once, and then lets go; making me frown but I pull back from her and don’t show her my confusion. Usually, she gives me a big bear hug and doesn’t let go until I tickle her and yank her off of me.

“I bet you say that to every girl,” she teases, pushing her hair out of her face and sitting back so her back rests against the wall behind her.

There. That’s the Hailey I know and love. I was probably just being silly and making up reasons for her acting weird. She seems fine.

“Nah, you’re special.” I wink. “So how’s everything?” I then ask, pushing myself up on the counter so I’m facing her and can rest my feet on the top of her thighs.
She shrugs in response.

“How’s your boyfriend?” I pry, trying to get some kind of real answer out of her.
She pauses as if thinking about it, “Mad at me. That was him on the phone; apparently I forgot to make him breakfast before I left.” Her face freezes and then suddenly she looks at me, “Don’t tell him I said that, please.”

“Of course not,” I promise. I jump off the counter and head to the back of the store where a display of electric guitars is set up. I figure she could use a change of topic, judging by the terrified look on her face.

“So can you play these?” I call back to her over my shoulder as I pick up a small electric guitar and check the tuning. With a few small adjustments it sounds as close to perfect as I’m going to get it and so I play a simple finger exercise by using four of my fingers to play each fret on the high E string.

She scoffs as she walks over, taking the guitar from my hands before the last note finishes, “I work in a guitar store, Jack. Of course I can play.” She says in a ‘duh’ tone.
Huh, wait a second. Light bulb.

“So um, Hailey.” I say sneakily, “What kinds of songs can you play?”

Her fingers run absentmindedly over the strings as she thinks about her answer, “I can play mostly any kind of music, but I prefer alternative.” She says and then her eyes narrow suspiciously at me, “Why?”

My hands go up defensively as I try to make myself look as innocent as possible. Think angel like, Jack!

“Absolutely no reason at all.” I shake my head, and pretend to frown like I’m deep in thought, “Nope, not a reason comes to mind.”

“Mhm.” She replies dubiously but her eyes return to the guitar and I sigh mentally.
I let her get comfortable before I ask her another question, trying to seem like it doesn’t matter to me at all. “So can you play any of our songs?”

Her face snaps up to mine guiltily and her face blushes, “A-All Time Low?” she stutters.
I grin, gotcha. It’s as if she doesn’t want me to know she can play our songs. “No, Blink 182.” My hand reaches over and I knock gently on the side of her head, “Duh, All Time Low. Can you play any of our songs? Ya know, Lost in Stereo, Dear Maria, Poppin’ Champagne?”

“Yeah, not like a pro or anything, but I can play them in a basic kind of way.”

“Cool.” I say nonchalantly, grabbing another guitar from the side since she stole the other one from me. I start up the intro to Lost in Stereo and her fingers quickly follow and she hits all of the notes at the precise time. Not pro my butt.

After about an hour and several times of playing through the three songs and several others, we put the guitars back on their rack and head back to the front of the store where I flop on my back on the counter and she returns to her comfortable looking swivel chair that I still hadn’t gotten enough of yet. So sue me. The things are comfortable as well as entertaining.

“So why haven’t you been around lately?” I finally speak after a few moments of silence. I try to act all fascinated in the ceiling but I listen hard for her answer.

“I’ve been busy.” Comes the soft answer.

My fingers tab absentmindedly on the counter next to my stomach as I try to think about what to say next. I don’t want to make her feel guilty for not talking to us in awhile, but I do want to know why she had disappeared. “Too busy for your friends?”

“It’s not like that Jack,” she tries to convince me, “things have been crazy since Jason came back and he wants to spend as much time with me as possible before he goes back to school.”

“He misses you.” I say after a minute. “I miss you too, and I know the other guys do.”

“I miss you guys too.” She murmurs and I look at her just in time to see her pick up her hand and drag it across her eyes, it comes away wet and I look at her startled. I didn’t mean to make her cry.
“Why did you stop talking to us then?” I can’t help but ask, “I thought we were friends.”

Before I can react, she’s thrown herself into my arms and I just barely catch both of us before we flip over backwards. I pull her against my chest tightly and she burrows her face in my neck. “Of course we’re friends!” comes the muffled voice from her face being pressed into the fabric of my sweatshirt. “We’re best friends.”

“Best friends don’t leave without saying goodbye.” I say quietly, rocking her slowly back and forth; hoping that it will comfort her. I hate seeing her upset, but I need answers so I pull away from her and gently grab her wrists; but I don’t expect the hiss of pain.

My gaze drops down to where my fingers are and I look at her quizzically, “Are you okay?”

She quickly takes a step back from me and I let my hands drop as she tries to come up with an answer.

“I-it’s nothing.”

I quickly hop off the desk as she runs out of room to walk, her back hitting the wall so she’s trapped. Without a second thought I reach out for her and yank up the sleeves of her sweater so I can see her arms. “Holy shit.” I whisper to myself. Different shape bruises trail up from her wrists and to her forearms and they’re dark. Hell, they’re so dark; like the person doing it hadn’t let go for a while or was squeezing extremely hard on her skin.

“How?” I gulp, staring down at her painful looking arm, my fingers going limp around it.

She pulls away from me and I let my hands fall away from her, “I bumped into something.” She clearly lies.

“Bullshit.” I say and swiftly grab her again, wanting to see if there are bruises anywhere else. I gently pull up the hem of her sweater just so I can see her hips and I hiss angrily at what I see. “What the hell is this then?” I ask angrily, pointing at another spread of bruises.

“I fell,” She says, looking anywhere but me.

“Can floors leave finger shaped bruises?” I ask quietly as I gently tug her shirt back into place. “I’m not an idiot, Hailey. No matter how much you think I am, I’m not. Is it that jerk doing this to you?”

“Jason loves me.” Comes the quick answer. Too quick.

“Ale- we love you, Jason is abusing you.” I counter, leaning forward so I can gently move the hair from her eyes. But see sees my motion coming and she flinches away from my hand, tripping over her stool and landing hard on the floor.

“Do you see what he’s doing to you?” I ask, grabbing Hailey’s hand once more to help her get to her feet. “Hailey, he’s not good for you.”

“I can’t leave him.” she murmurs, sitting back heavily on the stool.

I sigh and push my hair back in a frustrated motion, “I don’t know what to do with you!” I admit. “I don’t think you should be around him and I’m afraid for you.”

“Don’t do anything, I’ll be fine!” she murmurs just as her phone vibrates. I say nothing as she checks the caller i.d..

“It’s him, right?” I say quietly and she nods in response.

“I’m picking up.” She announces and her finger presses the green button.

I push away from the counter angrily “I’m leaving; I have to get ready for band practice.” I tell her and she doesn’t try to stop me as I leave the store, defeated and worried about her.