Naomi [Wattys 2017]

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I just look at Hayley as she takes a sip of her hot chocolate on my bed while I sit on the ottoman.

Poor Hayley. Whatever happened to her in the night of New Year's Eve must have been really terrible. I always saw Hayley as the I-have-it-all girl, but tonight was very different, worst of all New Years Eve.

Once I saw Hayley's face the moment she unwrapped herself earlier, I gasped. Without a waste of time I brought her to her feet and hugged her. We didn't talk much after and I told her to take a hot shower and borrow one of my pyjamas.

That was few hours ago. Right now it's 1:30 am on New Year's Day and I'm just sitting on the ottoman staring at her like a stranger.

Hayley turns to look at me as she takes another sip.

"Thank you so much Naomi." She said.

I just gave her a small smile. "Anything for you."

She drops her cup beside my bed and sighs.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

She looks at me with a very sad expression. Any minute from now she will start bursting out in tears.

"It's Luke." Her voice breaks.

"What did he do?"

She looks down and clears her throat as I was ready for her to make all her confession.

"Basically I went to New York for the Christmas like I told you before. I went to stay with Luke for the whole break before school starts."

I wait for her to say more.

"Well I went two days before Christmas and he was so sweet the very first day I went there. After that day he never had time for me." She starts crying. "He left me at home most of the time and he leaves early in the morning and come back late."

I stand up to sit beside her and I put my arms around her.

"Whenever he came back he didn't talk to me much neither did he acknowledge my presence. Earlier today I had to go to the hospital to see one of my cousins because my aunt knew I was coming to New York and I promised to spend a day in the hospital. When I came out of my cousin's ward, I saw Luke standing infront of the reception desk but he didn't see me. I thought his grand mum or someone close to him was dying until a girl from my old school was standing beside him. I looked down to see she had a quite big tummy...." She continued. "She was pregnant. I didn't think it had anything to do with Luke until one of the nurses said the word 'parents' and I knew what was going on."

She looked at me with her very sad eyes. "I called his name and when he saw me..." She closed her eyes. "He pretended like he did not know me."

I hugged her tighter. Luke was such an asshole.

"I tried talking to him but all he did was to ignore me and when the girl asked him who I was, he denied that he knew me." She cries harder this time.

"He's such a big dick." I whispered.

"I quickly went to his house and packed everything and took a cab to the airport without telling him. He should be smart enough to know I was definitely going to leave right away."

I take the box of tissue from my bed side and hand it to Hayley. She takes it and blows her nose.

"The moment I got back here, I called my mum and told her I was back but she didn't seem bothered about it. I was trying to explain what happened but she said she didn't have much time to talk on the phone and she was very busy with work today." She continued. "I called Jenna but she seemed less interested in hearing about my problem because she thinks I complain too much. I tried staying at home as well but I was too sad and lonely and I needed someone to talk to. Then it came to my mind when I knew there was nobody who cared about me except for you."