Status: Chapter 17|Updated 03.03.2020

Hold on Tight

[Sixteen] I Did Too

Haley smiled at herself in the mirror, her toothbrush buzzing in her mouth as she took care of the last step of her morning routine. She didn’t remember the last time she looked as happy as she did. It had most definitely been years since she’s seen her eyes without the dark purple circles underneath them from long days filled with a heavyweight that seemed to surround her for years.

Her phone buzzed on the bathroom counter in front of her. Looking down, she could feel her face break out into an even bigger smile than the one she had on before.

I can’t wait for tonight

It was finally Sunday. She was going to see Tyler again, and though most of her was nervous that they would drift into topics about how they were before and that he would try to get her to talk about what they could be in the future, she couldn’t deny that she was insanely excited to finally see him again after she agreed to give him some sort of chance. She hoped that they would be able to hang out with one another without any feeling of dread hanging over them - hoped that they could make some sort of move forward.

She didn’t know how she felt about the excitement that coarse through her. She knew that she wanted to take it slow. She had dove headfirst into their first relationship, trusting that he would be there no matter what. She never hesitated. She just… fell. Without a second thought or worry, and it had come back to bite her in the ass in a way she never could have imagined.

She was a different Haley than the one he knew.

She didn’t trust as easy as she did back then. She thought things through a little more than she used too. She didn’t lean on people as much, having been burned so many times that she knew she could only fully trust herself. She didn’t ask for help and rarely ever accepted it when it was offered. And she liked who she was now.

She just didn’t know if he would like it.

The Haley that he knew - that Haley would do anything for him. She would cancel whatever plans she had the moment she got a text from him. She prevented herself from becoming close with people in her classes because of who he was and the limited time she was able to spend with him. She didn’t go to college parties or flirt with frat guys or have girl nights in. She gave up a lot for him. For them.

But that wouldn’t happen this time, because as much as she understands that hockey comes first to him, she finally had things that came first to her - and until there was a ring on her finger and a baby that needed her, that wouldn’t change.

She felt confident in herself to not make him the center of her universe, and she only hoped that he didn’t ask it of her again.
Tyler

Tyler grinned down at his phone, still not quite believe that it was Haley that was texting him. He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that she was finally giving him another chance, no matter how tentative that chance seemed to be. It was something, and he was going to get it right this time.

“What’s got you grinning like a girl?”

He rolled his eyes at his captain, wishing he never agreed to meet him at their favorite Dallas bar before he had to head over and pick Haley up for their dinner date. He only showed after he had received the invitation from the forward who was drinking after a fight with his girlfriend because he couldn’t shake the nerves that seemed to have his stomach in knots. So much was riding on this night - it seemed like his whole future was on the line.

“Haley. I’m going to pick her up at Brayden’s in an hour, so she was just sending me the address.”

There was a sloppy smile on Jamie’s face, the five beers that he had before Tyler showed up obviously hitting him. “Awwww, you liiiiikkkeee her.”

Tyler glared at him. “Obviously. Now shut up, I don’t need you yelling it out to the whole bar.”

“Why? Don’t want anyone to know that you’re taken?”

“What?” Tyler looked at him incredulously. “No, I just don’t want it getting out and make her overwhelmed. She never liked the media aspect of our relationship before, and I would really not like to scare her off before I have a chance to make her mine again.”

Jamie seemed to giggle to himself. “If you even make it that far.”

Before Tyler had a chance to react, Jamie leaned across him with an excited smile. “Oo! Look, shots. Take one.”

“I’m not going to take a shot, Jamie. I have to drive later and I have a date.”

“Come on, asshole, it’s just one shot. You’ll be fine.”

“One shot always turns into two. Especially a shot of that.” He eyes the clear liquid warily, knowing that the last thing Jamie needed was another shot when he already seemed shit-faced.

His friend didn’t say anything to him, just threw his head back with the shot glass pressed against his bottom lip. When the liquid in the glass was gone, Tyler saw him smile before held out the second shot. “Here.”

“Jamie-“

“No. I’ve had a shit day, and I just want to drink, okay? So please, take the fucking shot.”

Tyler shook his head as he grabbed the bottom of the glass. He looked down at it before he met Jamie’s eyes, seeing a sadness in them that made him feel bad for leaving him alone tonight. It wasn’t normal for Jamie and Avery to fight. In the time he knew them, he could count the number of times he heard them fighting, on one hand, so he knew it must have been something to land his best friend in a bar trying to drink his sorrows away.

Tyler sighed. One wouldn’t hurt.
Haley

Haley rubbed her palms on her jeans as she waited on Brayden’s front porch, resisting the urge to check her watch once again. She had thought that when he had come to find her he was serious about trying to make something work between them. He had fought for her to say yes, had set up rules between them before she could find the voice too, and promised that he wouldn’t push.

Yet here she was, staring at the end of the driveway, watching for the headlights of his car, an hour after he said he would pick her up. No call, no text, nothing to tell her that he wouldn’t show up.

She sighed and grabbed her phone from her jean jacket pocket. Pressing on the name of the only guy she felt that she count on anymore, she bit her lip to stop the tears from coming. Guess she wasn’t as over him as she thought.

“Bray?” She whispered, the tears breaking her barrier and falling from her eyes.

There was a pause on the other side, before an angry curse she had never heard him say before. “He didn’t show.”

It wasn’t a question.

Haley looked up at the star-filled sky above her, not being able to believe that she was here again, crying over him because he disappointed her. Again.

“I’m such a fool, Bray. Guess some things never change.”

Bray sighed. “He’s the fool, beautiful. And an idiot, and a douche, and every other word that means he’s an ass that doesn’t deserve your time. Are you still at home?”

She let out a depressed laugh. “Sitting on your porch. It’s like a freaking flashback. Do you know how many times I stayed up waiting for him to show? Only to find out the next day that he had gone out with his teammates instead, never giving a second thought to the fact he had a girl who was hopelessly in love with him waiting out in the cold for a date that he asked me on.” Haley pulled at a loose thread on her sweater. “He can still hurt me, even after all these years and all the walls I thought I put up.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever have walls against him, love. He was the first guy you ever saw or wanted, a future with. Time doesn’t change that.” There was a sound of an engine starting, then Bray came back on the phone, “I’m on my way back, now. Just go in the house, grab your ice cream out of the freezer, and put on A Walk to Remember – it’s still in the DVD player. I’ll be there in, like, ten minutes.”
“You don’t have to come back, Bray.” She frowned, feeling like absolute shit that she had ruined his night too. “I’m not twenty-one anymore, I can handle myself. I just wanted to let you know that I was gonna go home. Eric, Jake, and Noah finally have a free night for a guy’s night, you never get that anymore.”

She heard him laugh. “Jake got called home not even twenty minutes after we got there, something about his mom coming to pick up James for the night and how it was the perfect time to work on baby number two. Eric, hearing this, decided that sex was more appealing than getting drunk and watching me flirt with everything that walked past our table. He left almost immediately have Jake rushed out of there. By the time you called, Noah and I were talking about the Golden Knights and how they were probably going to do this season, with Eakin, Neal, and Fleury, and if we’re going to switch teams – which, after tonight, you can bet your ass we are.”

“Bray-“

“No, Haley. We’re Dallas boys, whatever, but I can’t like a team where I personally know one of the star players is a major asshole. Besides, Neal is your favorite player, and I love Las Vegas, so it’s not a huge sacrifice. Besides, Las Vegas has already knocked Dallas on their ass, so…”

Haley was blinded when headlights pulled into the driveway.

“Didn’t I tell you to go inside?”

She didn’t say anything as she hung up the phone and raced to the drivers' side of the black SUV. She got them just as he stepped out and threw herself into his waiting arms, holding him tight as she finally let the tears fall from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Hal,” Brayden whispered as he started to maneuver their bodies towards his front door. “I honestly thought-“

Haley sighed against him. “It’s not your fault, Bray. I did too.”
♠ ♠ ♠
I really hope Mibba gets the site fixed soon. In the meantime, I am just hoping this story is reaching those already subscribed.

Image

Comment!