My Mistake, So Predictable

Hailey’s POV

Alex sighs and holds one finger up as if to tell me to wait a second and then my eyes follow him as he exits the bathroom and then I hear his footsteps down the stairs and into the entry way where his front door is. Low murmuring drifts up to where I’m still sitting on the bathroom sink but I don’t try to overhear to see who’s here because quite frankly I’m still a little dizzy and I’m still working on what he was going to say before he got interrupted?

He likes me?

Could that be it? It’s hard to even think about because it seems like I don’t even know him. Sure, apparently I had trusted him before my accident but now I’m not so sure.

Suddenly the door is pushed open wide before I can think about it more and someone flings their small body at me with all of their force. Without being able to stop it, my butt lodges itself into the sink and I shriek in surprise when the person leans back and grins at me with a toothy smile.

“Hello to you too, Tabitha.” I chuckle as the short girl pulls me tightly to her tiny frame again.

Another face peeks around the corner of the open bathroom door and smiles at me when I wave. “Hi, Max.” I say happily, motioning to him so he can enter the room with us.

“So how do you feel, Hailey?” Tabitha asks after Max settles himself on top of the closed toilet lid and she had helped me to unlodge my butt from the sink. She pulls herself up next to me on the sink and they both turn to me for my answer.

I think back to a few minutes before and decide to spare them the gruesome details.

“Better, I think,” I reply finally, “A little bit of nausea, but the doctor said that it’s perfectly normal.” I grin at the end hoping that they can’t see that I’m bending the truth slightly.

“Your nose twitched.” Max says bluntly, his elbows resting on his knees so he’s leaning in close enough to be staring at my face.

I shake my head, “No, it didn’t.” I say but Tabitha nods energetically from beside me and pats my shoulder almost sympathetically.

“It just did it again!” She laughs and I smack my hand over my face- wincing when I accidently poke myself in the eye. Damnit that hurt.

“What’s it supposed to mean?” I ask them, my voice muffled by my fingers.
They both smirk but its Max who finally answers, “It means you’re lying. You can’t help it. We tried to cure you one summer by taping your nose down and making you say you hate macaroni and cheese repeatedly but it didn’t work.”

I sigh, “I’m guessing that I love macaroni and cheese?” I hate that I can’t remember these little details about myself. It’s like I’m learning things about someone else’s life.

Tabitha nods, “In seventh grade you ate mac and cheese every meal for two months.”

I gag at the thought of that and Max chuckles, “That’s exactly what made you stop after two months. You were going for a year but you got sick of it.”

I shudder, “That sounds positively disgusting.”

“It was, but it got me ten bucks!” Max says cheerfully while he unravels the toilet paper on its cardboard roll. I swear the boy has the attention span and playability of a kitten.

“You guys bet on me?” I say, turning to Tabitha since Max was currently to, excuse the pun, wrapped up with the toilet paper to answer. No seriously, he had wrapped it completely around his head until only his eyes were peeking out.

She groans, “He won against me. He said shorter and I said longer on how long you would last.” Her lip pushes out into a pout and she crosses her arms, “That was my ice cream money for the week too!”

“You needed ten dollars for ice cream for one week?” I ask chuckling.

“Hey!” Tabitha says defensively, “I was a chubby kid and I enjoyed ice cream a lot!”

Me and Max both chuckle at her and I earn a light smack on my arm which I whine over for a few minutes until I remember what I wanted to ask them.

“So what are you guys doing here anyway?” I scratch my head, thinking, “If I remember correctly, which I may not because hello concussion, you guys had a band meeting you were supposed to go to this morning.”

After I finish speaking they both drop their eyes and look away and Max clears his throat uncomfortably to fill the awkward silence. Okay, this is weird.

“Um yeah,” Max finally forces out after I look between the two of them a few times, “We had a meeting with a guy who wants to book us for a show.”

“A show?” I grin. “That’s great! When will it be?”

“Hailey, we feel absolutely terrible for asking you to do this but this gig would be huge for us as a band.” Tabitha cuts in. “But we don’t want to make you do anything you’re not ready for and we would totally understand if you aren’t up for performing just yet.” Tabby rambles without stopping for a few moments while I try to wrap my mind around the words Max had just spoken.

I freeze, “When would this show be?”

“A week from now.” Tabitha replies solemnly and my eyes widen.

Without realizing what’s happening, my body tenses up harshly. I feel my hands shake and my eyes shut, blocking out the bright lights of the room. Pounding music suddenly fills my ears and I can see something shooting quickly towards my head. I duck out of the way and squeeze my eyes shut harder with a small scream.

“Hailey!” Someone screams and I feel someone shaking my body roughly. My eyes open with a start and I blink from where Max is standing in front of my holding my wrists and to Tabitha who is frozen on the sink with her eyes wide and one hand held over her mouth.

“Hailey, love,” Max says soothingly trying to hide how scared he was, but I can tell it from the way his eyes dart from my eyes to my still shaking hands, “What did you see?”

“I-I dunno,” I stutter, “I think something was thrown at me…” I trail off and then say, “It felt like a dream.”

Max and Tabitha look at each other and then back at me with worried expressions, “I think you just remembered what happened at the concert, Hails.” Max says.

“That was horrible,” I say quietly and I can feel Tabitha’s arms go around me. Max moves his hands down so they’re holding mine and the comfort is so welcoming at the moment. I want to close my eyes so badly, but I’m afraid that whatever I saw will happen again.

“When do you need to give him a definite answer?” I say a moment later after a deep sigh and they both look at me shocked.

“Three days,” Max replies slowly, “Just think about it and sleep on it for the next two days. Let us know then.”

I nod, “Can you help me to bed?” I ask Max, “I feel exhausted all of the sudden.”

He nods and leans forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead gently. Tabitha hugs me for a moment and then hops off of the sink. “I’m going to go get Alex,” Tabitha says and then she walks out, leaving the door open.

Max helps me off of the sink, and then tucks me under his shoulder as he wraps his arm around me. The walk down the hallway to my room feels like it lasts hours but it probably really only takes a minute before Max leads me into the room and tucks me under my warm comforter.

“Night, Hailey.” He murmurs and then he tucks my hair behind my ear and I turn over as he leaves.

A few minutes later when I’m almost asleep, I feel something press gently across my forehead and I look up groggily to see Alex staring down at me, pushing the hair away from my face.

“It’s okay, Hails. Go to sleep.” He says with a small smile, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

I think I smile in thanks but I can’t be sure because my eyes close and I drift off before I can think about it too much.