chapter 5

Hailey

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late. Sorry! I'm late-" I kept apologizing as I made my way -fast way- down the mall towards the street. People glared at me as I passed them, but I couldn't help it, I was LATE.

Well, you may think I could have helped it by not being late, right? It isn't that easy. This morning I got a call from Sophia, the owner of the ice-cream shop where I work three afternoons per week and one day of the weekend. Apparently her daughter got appendicitis over the night and needed someone on the shop at noon until her sister made it here and I could leave. The joke? She was late, so now I was late. And considering how rude I was to Nate yesterday me being late would be unforgivable and might cost me the whole interview.

Gawking I halted the moment I reached the front doors, glaring hard at the aggressive rain pouring mercilessly. Damn! When did a sunny day turned into this? I didn't even have an umbrella with me! For no having, I hadn't even picked up my jacket due to the beautiful summer day we were having earlier.

The bell tower not so far from the mall began gonging. It was already 4 pm.

Forgetting about the rain, I jumped in the street, determined to reach Barner's in time. And I did.

The bar was just a couple of minutes from there and running like I was I made it even quicker. But not everything was good, no. I'd caught every freaking single drop. Each one of them. Attached to my attire, hair... I entered Barner's panting like a mad woman and looking like one.

Some people glanced at me weirdly at my arrival and to my mortification they were some Roosevelt's student. Just great.

Struggling to keep my blush down I looked around for Nate, but instead my eyes met with some known blue ones. My heart immediately raced at his sight and in return he frowned, clearly confused with my appearance and excused from his friends making his way here.

Here!

Nooo! Why do I always have to make a fool out of myself?!

Pretending I hadn't seen him, I neared the closest stool and pulled my drenched bag on it. Luckily it was waterproof so my belonging were safe, but I couldn't say the same about the rest of me. From the corner of my eye I kept seeing him getting closer and closer and I inwardly threw a tantrum. Why me?

"Hailey?"

Fighting against my urge to keep panting, I pretended to have a normal breathing pace, turning baffled -as if I just saw him there. "Justin! Hey."

He sent me a brief smile, but his eyes slid down my form as he took in how was I dripping, leaving a small pool at my feet. I could almost sense the manager's glare on me. My cheeks burned. "Is... Is everything okay?"

So cute.

But it only made me blush harder. "Yeah, sure, why would you say that?" my voice too high to pretend nonchalance but still I tried. Freaking idiot.

"Well..." he bit his lip nervously and pointed at me and only then I dared to follow his gesture... regretting it immediately, of course.

My clothes were all soaked and attached to my body, the bra quite evident through the light shirt. Horrified and utterly embarrassed, very aware of how exposed I was right now -especially in front of Justin- , I tried to peel the cloth from my skin.

"Um, I... just-" my face burned and I covered myself as well as I could. At least Justin had the decency to look away, but I still feel every other pair of eyes on me and a faint giggle poorly muffled.

I'm sure Karen would never have found herself in such a humiliating situation.

"Here you go." the new voice came along with the sudden warm of a thick cloth over my shoulder, startling me; but effectively cutting part of my cold inside and the suffocating feeling of vulnerability. To my utter surprise, it was Nate that stood there, a hundred watt grin spread on his lips. Several drops where tangled in his dark mane, but not even close to how drenched mine was. "Got caught up in the rain as well?"

Such a nice gesture took me completely out of guard.

Him?

Being nice?

To me?

It felt too weird to be true after everything and my pride was yelling at me to pry that cloth off my body and throw it at him.

If it wasn't so cold, or if my clothes only weren't transparent by now; I would have. But the thing is that... they were. And he'd been the only person who decided to hand me his jacket when I once again made a fool out of myself.

So hesitantly I slid properly on the garment, absorbing the lovely heat coming from it and wrapping myself in it since it was large. Even larger than Matt's since the current quarterback was a couple inches taller. But comfortable and comforting.

I immediately felt better and sighed. "Thank you."

His eyes examined me and one of the corners of his mouth curved. "Now is when I tell you that how sexy you look?"

I blushed to the tip of my ears and made a face. Ladies and gentleman, Nate Herond. "I'd rather you say nothing."

Justin cleared his throat, mortifying me further since I'd almost forgotten he was there as well. "So... wanna hang out with a us a bit?"

I didn't need to look to know the glare Karen was for sure giving me, and I knew from past expirience that Justin being this sweet would only lead me to more pain, but my heart couldn't help but fluttered at the proposition. I shook my head, motioning towards the quarterback and myself. "We got work to do."

"Work?"

"Work." Nate responded before I could and to my utter infuriation took my wrist, my bag with his other hand, and pulled me towards one of the free booths. "If you excuse us."

He let go as soon as we reached it and I glared down at him as the guy sat carelessly, leaning backwards like he owned the place and didn't have a worry in the world. Which was probably right.

"That was extremely rude." I complained, sitting as well; but my eyes diverted towards where Justin's form was retrieving to his table and sighed, pulling my hair up to tie it with the elastic in my wrist. "Not like I expected anything else."

His relaxed facade fell for a second, jaw clenching. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know." I shrugged one shoulder, taking out my stuff as sarcasm drifted from my tone.

"I apologized." he snarled in disbelief, like I was the deranged one for not getting over it.

True, he did apologize. One hangover text the morning after saying, literally, 'Im srry'. Sue me for not taking it seriously. I did what every rational person would have done in my situation: I blocked him from all my accounts.

I couldn't say he was very touched by this since that was the one and only time he did try to contact me. So no, I didn't buy his shit. Instead I felt my teeth gritting with rage and forced my arms crossed so hey won't see the white knuckles from forcefully fisting my hands. "Okay."

I opened the notebook over the coffee table as the waitress came to take our orders, ignoring the glare he was giving me. I mean, after everything, if someone had the right to be mad at someone that for sure wasn't him.

"Look, I've thought about this interview. Usually Logan would direct it towards your matches, but since Mrs Glennson handed it to me, I was thinking of doing it under a different angle." I bit my lip, letting him take in what I was saying.

He frowned unsure. "Like what?"

"Well... I would like to focus it more on what you like about football and what it means to you."

"Wouldn't it be too personal?"

I cleared my throat, tapping the notebook with the end of my pencil, nervously. "Isn't that the whole point in the interview? I mean, everyone knows you're good at it and how many wins you've achieved, but what is unknown is what motives you."

"Motives?" he tasted the word like he was unsure how to feel about it. "I didn't know I was supposed to have motives..."

"Well," I lifted one unstable shoulder, keeping my unease at bay. "You're not supposed to, but there's always a reason why you started, right?"

"I don't know..." his lips pursed and I had to remind myself I don't find him attractive. "What are your brother's?" he suddenly asked, snapping me out my stupidity.

"Matt's?" he nodded and I shrugged. "Uh, I guess in his case it was like a second nature, you know? He practically was born attached to a ball. I guess playing let him be who he really was."

I shook my head, talking about him made me nostalgic; but Nate still looked unsure so I needed to convince him. I couldn't show any skills in an interview asking how many matches he'd nailed.

No, I had to dig deeper. And I need Nate to be on my side.

"Everyone knows football was like breathing for him and they respected that." I proceed easily.

Nate hummed, looking oddly interested as his fingers tapped the table cloth. A distracted smile played on his lips. "You really miss him, uh?"

Miss? I missed him so damn much ever since he left for college that it felt almost like a lost.

Yet there was no way I was telling him that, so instead I cleared my throat, shifting in my spot and redirecting the topic:

"Yeah, so, you see. If they know you a little closer too, they could relate as well. It would made you look more deep, and focused, and if it has a great reception you can even used it for your applications and-"

"What?" his eyes lighted, sparkling with interest. "It could help me with the application?"