26. morgan

The next morning, I basically had to pull myself off of the couch. It was a pretty comfortable sleep, however I did not want to be here today.

I head into the kitchen and search the fridge for something, anything.

"I see you haven't left yet." Hailey's voice startles me. I close the fridge to see the same look she's given me all day yesterday.

"Yeah, my mom is coming to get me tomorrow." I reply, trying to laugh it off but I receive a blank stare in return.

Someone knocks on the door and I see Hailey freaking out, probably cause she was still in her pyjamas.

"Can you get that? Tell Alexis I'll be out soon." She says, walking away before I can respond.

I walk to the door, and open it. Alexis is wearing a baby pink tube top and jean shorts. I can't even compliment her outfit because of what she did.

"Oh, Morgan. Hi." She says, stunned to see me.

"Hello." I say.

"Look, Morgan." She begins to speak, but I interrupt her.

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm a real person with real feelings? You ruined my friendship Alexis. Does that even matter to you?"

"I'm sorry okay. I was jealous and a bitch I know." She breaks down.

"Jealous?"

"I've had a crush on Matthew and I guess my feelings hadn't fully gone away yet, so when Hailey was telling me about how she saw you two at the party, I told her what I knew out of jealousy."

"So you did all this just because you didn't get the boy?"

"Guess so." She looks apologetically.

In a normal situation, I would forgive Alexis. But Hailey is my best friend and she is barely speaking to me. She even asked me to go home.

"You're probably really pissed off. I get it. This girl swooped in and ruined things for you. I've just had such a shitty year I thought, maybe, I could win Matthew over or something. It's dumb."

My heart softens.

What am I doing I'm mad at her? I look up at Alexis with sadness and empathy. This reminds me of when Matthew and I got into a fight a few years ago, but it was only because he was having a hard time, stressed out about his dad.

"What do you mean you've had a bad year?" I ask quietly.

She tells me everything. I feel so bad for her.

"Alexis, I'm so sorry to hear."

"It's okay. It's no excuse for what I've done."

"Look. What you did was wrong, but you're going through so much and you just wanted to have a good summer. I get it."

"You get it?"

"Yeah."

She hugs me and asks if there's any way she could help with Hailey. I thank her but say I think I could handle it.

I think.

Just at that moment, Hailey walks up to us. She completely ignores my presence and looks excited to see Alexis.

"Hey!" Hailey says.

"Hi! You ready?" She asks.

"Yup."

They start to head for the car when Alexis turns around.

"Morgan, do you want to come?" She asks.

"She has to pack." Hailey interrupts.

"Pack for what?"

"To go home." She says and then gets into the car.

"I'm already packed, by the way!" I shout, not expecting them to hear me.

"Great then get in." Alexis yells back.

I notice Hailey roll her eyes, but this might be perfect for us to talk.

I put on my shoes and get into the car. I sit in the back like Hailey and Alexis are my parents and I was a kid who just got into some serious trouble. It was a pretty quiet drive, which I liked. I was not quite sure where we were going but I did not think it would be just the three of us.

When we get there, I see the rest of our friend group. I get out of the car last, and I felt many eyes on me. I find an open seat next to Luka and I sit down.

"Hey." He says.

"Hi."

"How's Matthew?"

"He's good. Why aren't you guys hanging out with him?"

"I don't know. I've known Hailey longer and she told me what happened. I mean it was predictable, but it was weird."

"Ah." I say, looking back at the place we're at. It's pretty nice. There's a great view of the lake from here.

"I'm happy for you guys." He adds.

"Thanks."

The rest of the day was just a repeat of that conversation with different people. Everyone but Hailey, who acted like I wasn't there.

Alexis offered to drive me home, and it was another quiet drive back. I got to admire the trees without being interrupted. When Alexis dropped us off, Hailey got out of the car as fast as possible. I stayed back and thanked her, and also told her I was there to talk whenever she needed.

I got out of the car, and still Hailey would not even look in the direction of it. She's already up the steps standing on the porch.

"Come on Hails." I finally say.

"You don't get to call me that anymore." She responds.

"We're best friends. This is a fight about a boy." I shout.

"The boy who happens to be my brother! You didn't even tell me."

"Cause I knew I'd get this reaction from you!" The tears come back. I didn't even use them all up yesterday.

"You lied to me. A big lie. I trusted you."

"I know and I'm sorry. It really wasn't fair to you."

I hear her sniffling. She still won't face me.

"I love you, Hailey. More than anyone. More than any boyfriend I'll ever have. I never want to lose you." I say.

She turns around.

"You mean it?"

"You know I do."

I see her start to cry and I run over to hug her. We both cry quietly into each others arms before going inside.

"I see you two made up?" Ms. Graham says.

"Can't separate the Hailey and Morgan duo." Hailey says with tears sitting on her cheeks, laughing.

I see Matthew walk downstairs.

"You staying for more than one more night then?" He asks.

I look at Hailey.

"Maybe she can." She giggles.

I sit down next to Hailey and we have a great dinner. There was a long conversation about which singer is better which was mostly us against Matthew. We all watched a movie together, Mamma Mia, of course. When Dancing Queen came on, we teased Matthew and eventually got him to sing it with us.

After the movie, I went up and Hailey helped me unpack my stuff. We did some face masks together, and I got Matthew to join.

"Hey did we run out of the lip mask?" I ask.

"Yeah, sorry. I used the last of it." Hailey says.

"I have some on." Matthew says, leaning in to kiss me. Hailey pretends to gag.

"That's gonna take some getting used to." She says, grossed out.

We get into bed and I give Matthew a kiss on the cheek good night as he goes to his room.

"Have you guys, you know." Hailey asks.

"No, no." I shut her down quickly.

"Well, were you guys going to when I saw?"

"I don't know. Probably. Are you okay with that?" I ask.

"I guess. Just don't tell me until like six months after." She says and I laugh.

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- Author's note

Total bittersweet moment cause the book is almost done..

No but seriously. This has been an amazing experience. I enjoyed writing it so much and I have loved every bit of support I received while making it.

Thank you all for keeping me motivated to write it all! I can't even express how grateful I am.