There's no two ways about it, Wes was miserable. He missed Hailey, it was colder than crap out, and things just seemed to be going downhill since he got home. On the way home, Wes' flight had been delayed overnight due to weather, so he'd got stuck in Chicago. When he got home, he found out that not only had his pilot light gone out on his furnace, but his pipes had frozen too because it'd been so cold. Thankfully they hadn't burst. Because of all that, he'd been staying at a hotel. His landlord told him that with the weather warming up next week, it should fix the issue, but there was no guarantee. The icing on the whole craptastic cake, Hailey had been distant, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Even Cali had been standoffish sensing his foul mood.A knock at his office door had him barking out a, "What?""Geeze boss, I thought you'd have come home in a better mood," Cici said as she wondered in. "One of us was alone with a member of the opposite sex, and th
Wes: You're ignoring me. Stop it.Hailey looked at the text the next morning and realized that she needed to call Wes. Picking up her phone, she dialed his number. It didn't even ring twice before he picked up."Glad you decided to call. I was giving it until tomorrow, and then I was looking at plane tickets.""Wes, get serious. And here I was worried I'd be waking you up.""Oh, I've been up for a while. I haven't been able to sleep right since I got back. And I am serious. Cici has been all over my ass since I came back to work. She said the only people who can stand me are the animals. Most of them can't stand being around me either. Thankfully Cali doesn't seem to mind my mood.""She must be a good dog." "She is.""You didn't tell me much about her. When did you get a dog?" she asked."A few months ago. I went to Kentucky for Sexy Kenny's bachelor trip. We went away hoping to be doing nothing but drinking and relaxing in the woods and ended up rescuing a mom and her p
Wes waited around like a kid waiting for his crush to call. He wanted to pick up his phone the second he knew Hailey got off work, but he didn't want to overwhelm her. So, he'd held off and was waiting for her to call. Only he was losing it because it had been hours since she should have gotten off work, but he hadn't heard anything at all, not even a text.When it came time for him to crawl in bed, he took Cali out, looked at his phone one more time, and finally gave up on the idea that he'd be hearing from Hailey. He hated that he still felt like she didn't include him in her life, but that would come, he hoped.Just as he was about to fall asleep, his phone rang. Grabbing it from his nightstand, he looked at the screen and was surprised to see Hailey's name there. She was a total night owl, but with her having an hour on him, he figured she'd have been in bed a long time ago."Hey," he answered."You're mad." It wasn't a question."Not mad. I'm more hurt."He heard Hailey le
"You did what?"This conversation wasn't going like she planned. She had envisioned telling Wes she'd turned down the amazing opportunity, and he'd say how much he loved her and appreciated that, and they'd ride off into the sunset together. Instead, it sounded like he was... mad? How was that possible?"I thought you'd be happy.""You gave up a great opportunity on a whim? Yeah, that's something to be excited about.""I don't get you, Wes!" She yelled into the phone. "First, I don't move in with you after college, and you break up with me. Now I give up my job, and you're mad. What's a girl supposed to do?""That's just it. You didn't even bother to ask. You just made the decision on your own. It's the same as last time.""But... but I gave everything up for you."Hailey heard Wes sigh over the phone, "I don't want you to give it all up. I want us to be a team. Isn't that what you want?""I just thought that I was doing this for us.""Maybe if we'd have talked about it, we
NINE MONTHS LATERWes looked up at Hailey in awe. She had overcome her fears and had rocked the shit out of her time on the stand. When she had decided to stay in DC, it was to support her friend who was pressing charges against the two guys sitting not far from Wes, guys he'd like to take outside and punch a few times. They both thought the process would be over somewhat soon, but the whole thing seemed to take time, a lot of time.During that time, they'd grown closer. They'd spent many nights talking on FaceTime and the phone. They'd only been able to see each other in person one other time, and that was in April. Wes had flown to DC to see Hailey again. He'd brought Cali with him that time, and he'd spent a week with her. While he was with her, she took him to see some of the sites. They were down at the National Mall, and as they walked by the Tidal Basin with the trees full of Cherry Blossoms, he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. They'd gone home, and sh
VOLUME ONE: PLAYING BY THE RULES"Come on, come on," Payton chanted to herself, looking for her homework in her bag. She'd known it was due today, at least she'd remembered after she sat down for class to start. She remembered putting it in the folder, and she could have sworn she put it in... "Yes!" she exclaimed as she gripped it in her backpack.What's happening to me?! Payton thought as she sat in her 3:00 writing class. She rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the throbbing pressure that was building. Things had always seemed to come so easy, but now for the first time in three years, things weren't so easy. Payton pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes tight. "If only I could make my head stop hurting... just for one freakin' second," she thought. "Payton?"Payton snapped out of her internal musings, "Huh? What?"Some of the people around the table snickered, and she swore she heard someone call her a spaz. Just what she needed. More dumb blonde comments."I was wonde
Payton's grip tightened on the slip of paper she'd gotten from the dean. She felt it crumple in her hand and she wasn't sure if she should worry that she couldn't make out the information on it if she didn't watch it, or if she should be happy it'd be destroyed. The dean had known the basics of what was going on, but as Payton got into some specifics, the look on her face changed. At first Payton thought she pitied her, but when Dean Barnett had actually told her how strong she thought she was, Payton broke down. Payton didn't feel strong. After that, Payton opened up about some of the medical issues she was having, and the dean had given her the name of her own neurologist. Come to find out, the dean suffered from intense headaches most of her life and knew a doctor that she loved.It had been almost two months since her accident, and Payton still hadn't gotten rid of her lingering headaches. In the beginning, she thought that the slight memory issues were because of the pain. Who wou
Payton glanced up from her computer and peeked at the time. She had worked a lot later than she had intended or thought. Her eyes burned from staring at the screen for so long, it was time for the contacts to come out. On the way to the bathroom, she stopped by the entertainment center to flip on the radio so she could hear Hailey's show. After removing the tiny bits of film that seemed to cause more issues than they were worth, she went searching for her glasses. It took her a few tries to remember where she'd left them, but eventually she found them on the table by her bed.Payton reached in the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. After a couple of gulps, she plopped down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Now that her mind wasn't occupied with her homework, it was focusing on the craptastic day she'd had."And this next song goes out to my best friend and roommate, Payton. Love ya, girl!" Hailey's bubbly voice over the radio broke her from her pity party. A small smil