LIB

Chapter 5

            Rachel giggled. “Trust me, I know what that’s like.”

            “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” David asked with a pout.

            I laughed and sat back to watch them joke around. I was kind of glad that I’d made some friends here. I still missed some of my friends from back home, but I wasn’t planning on facing any of them anytime soon.

            That evening, Jared and I arrived at the movie theater twenty minutes before the movie was starting. I found Rachel and everyone else immediately, so I waved to them as Jared and I got out of the car.

            Jared came around to my side and put his arm around my shoulders. “I’m assuming that the one practically bouncing on her feet is Rachel?”

            I chuckled. “Yeah that’s her.” We reached my friends and I smiled at everyone. “Guys, this is Jared. Jared, this is Rachel, David, Chloe, Allie, Brad and Matt.”

            “Hey, nice to meet you all,” Jared said politely before turning to me. “Want me to get us some popcorn?”

            “Do you really have to ask?”

            He chuckled. “I suppose not. I’ll be right back,” he said. He pressed a kiss to my temple and then moved to stand in line for the concession.

            “He is so cute!” Rachel exclaimed. “How long have you been together?”

            I turned to examine Jared. I guess with his light brown hair and sparkling hazel eyes, he would be considered good looking. I just never saw him like that because he was like my brother. “We’ve been together for about six months now,” I replied.

            “But you’ve known him for longer, right?” David asked

            “Yeah, I’ve known him since I was little. I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know him.”

            “How’d you meet him?” Rachel inquired.

            I froze momentarily. Crap, what do I say to that? I didn’t want them knowing I had a brother. “Um, family friends, I guess.” That was close to the truth, anyways.

            They seemed to accept this, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Jared joined us again shortly and we all got our tickets and headed into the theater.

            The movie turned out to be pretty good and we had a lot of fun. It had been quite some time since I’d been able to just hang out with friends and I realized that I had missed it a lot. After the movie, we all said good-bye and parted ways. Jared and I were heading home while the other six were getting pizza. They had invited us to go as well, but I was getting tired, so we declined.

            As Jared was driving us home, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyways. “Hello?”

            “Hailey?”

            “Blake?”

            “Yeah. You said to call you later, so that’s what I’m doing.”

            “Gee, I’m so flattered,” I replied sarcastically.

            “Ooh, that’s Blake on the phone?” Jared asked. “Let me talk to him.”

            I gave him an odd look. “How about no?” I said.

            “Aww, come on Hales! Some one needs to look out for you, and I need to make sure he’s good enough for you.” Jared said, giving me a puppy dog look.

            I stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “What are you talking about? Since when do you have to talk to all of my friends?”

            “Hailey? You still there?” Blake asked.

            “Yeah sorry- Hey!” I screeched as Jared tried to steal my phone. I smacked his hand away and pointed out the windshield. “Watch the damn road you idiot!”

            “What the hell is going on? Who are you talking to?” Blake demanded.

            “A pain in my ass, that’s who,” I grumbled. “Sorry about that, I had to deal with a pest,” I said as I glared at Jared, who just gave me an innocent look.

            “Whatever. Look, I only called because we’re supposed to get together to start on that stupid project that you roped me into.”

            “Right. Well, tomorrow’s Saturday, but I don’t have any plans yet, so do you want to get together? Or do you have plans already?”

            “No, that’ll work. I’ll text you directions later. You must not live far from me because we both walked to that park the other day.”

            “Sounds like a plan. Okay if I bring Tonto with? He can play with Abby.”

            “Yeah, bring him if you want. He’s not as annoying as you are anyways.”

            “You’ll warm up to me eventually,” I promised.

            He snorted. “Whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

            The line went dead before I could say anything else and I huffed out a breath. “That guy is so damn rude sometimes,” I complained.

            “Stick it out, Hales. You never know, he might surprise you one day.” Jared said.

            I rolled my eyes at him. “You suck at being all wise, you know that? And what the hell was that all about, trying to steal my phone?”

            “Well, since Jake isn’t around, I figure it’s my job to check out any potential boys from now on.”

            I sighed. “I guess. But you know I’m not interested in guys for anything more then friends right now. Not after what happened with the accident.”

            He reached over to rub my knee soothingly. “I know. But still, I’m going to play the part of the overprotective big brother when needed.”

            I gave him a small smile. “Thanks Jared. You’re a pain in the ass, but I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

            “Right back at you, kid.” 

*

Hey guys, sorry that this is a little short and possibly not up to my usual standards. This illness is kicking my butt, but I think I'm finally starting to get better, so hopefully I can start updating regularly again soon.

Anyways, I'm glad everyone is liking this story so far! I wanted to do a happy dance when I saw that it was on the main page of 抖阴社区 yesterday, but that required too much energy in my weakened state lol.

I know a lot of you are wondering what Sophie meant by asking Blake why he didn't just "see" for himself, but it will be explained eventually. Next chapter will hopefully be up in a few days. Don't forget to leave comments for me, I loooove reading them!