Chapter 14

I've been trying my hardest not to worry my parents, but it seems I haven't been doing a good job at all. I hurriedly packed my bag so I could go over to Hope's.

Once I pulled into Hope's driveway I went ahead and just let myself into her house. As I walk in I see Hope's parents just staring at me.

"Hi Hayley. Hi paul. I'm just going to go up see Hope now." All I hear is a distant uh huh from her mother. I burst into Hope's room and she just jumped off her bed landing on the floor.

"What the hell? Why would you just burst in here with those crazy eyes? Dear Gandhi." She said in a high pitched voice. I completely ignored her and hopped on her bed making myself at home.

"Well, the therapy appointment wasn't horrible, I guess. I don't think I'll go back though. I truly am not ready. Plus I'm perfectly fine. When I got home my mom opened up to me and cried. It was a whole big moment and now I'm here." She just looked at me wide-eyed.

"What?" I question her as I prop myself up.

"You barge into my room, act like you didn't scare the hell out of me, just make yourself comfortable. Get your shoes off my bed by the way." I took off my shoes and put them on the floor.

"Thank you, anyways you also just dropped all that information on me. Okay, now I'm glad you had a breakthrough with your mom. You both needed that. I'm glad you gave therapy a try and if you aren't ready to go back then that's fine, but just think about it. Also are you trying to convince me that you're okay or yourself?" I popped up at that moment to have wide eyes now, myself.

"My therapist asked me that same question!" I shouted out. Hope just covered her ears.

"Sorry, but yeah she asked me that same question." She just hummed in response.

"Makes sense that she would ask you the same thing, to be honest. It's a valid question. You can't convince me you're fine and honestly, I don't think you're doing a very good job convincing yourself either." I just rolled my eyes at this.

"Whatever. So, What do you want to do today on your list?" You could tell she was thinking hard then all of a sudden a light bulb went off.

"Let's go ice skating!" I smiled at this.

"Sounds good to me. I love ice skating. Make sure to bring something warm to wear." She nodded her head and grabbed her sweater. This should be interesting.

"Okay, here we are." I look over at her and find her beaming with excitement. I shook my head and chuckled. I got out of the car and waited for her to catch up to me before I locked my car. She grabbed my arm and squeezed tight.

"I'm excited too. I haven't been ice skating in so long. I love it." She beamed up at me. Her excitement was contagious for sure. Once we got inside we went and got our skates and made our way out to the ice. Well more like I did. I'm still trying to convince Hope to grab my hand to come out on the ice.

"Come on, Hope I've got you, okay?" She looked at me in disbelief.

"Come on, I promise. I won't let you fall, well without me that is." She laughed at this and cautiously gave me her hand. I led her as I skated backwards slowly pulling her along with me. This went on for a while till I was sure she could do it on her own.

"Okay, Hope. I think you're ready." She immediately became a little frantic almost making us fall. I had to pull her closer to me to avoid us falling.

"NO! Please don't let go." I smiled at her and sighed.

"I'll be right beside you the whole time. At any moment it seems like you're going to fall, I'll catch you okay?" She nodded her head.

"Okay, I trust you." I skated right beside her and gently let her hand go once I felt she was good to go.

"Oh my god! Look I'm doing it. I'm doing it all by myself." I chuckled at how loud she got, making some people stare at us.

"I told you that you could do it, Hope. You're doing amazing!" I was so caught up in her smile I didn't see the other person. I had to spin out of their way, crashing myself into Hope. I felt her try and catch me, but it was no use. At last minute I made sure to spin us around so I would be the one to hit the ice. I landed right one my back, fuck did it hurt.

"Shit, are you okay?" I looked up at her and gave a forced smile.

"I think I broke my ass." I gritted out through my teeth, while slightly smiling. She shook her head while chuckling a bit.

"Here, let me help you up." I let her grab my hands and she slowly helped me up to make sure we both didn't fall again.

"Alright, how about we go get something to eat?" I suggested. She got excited again.

"Yes! I'm so hungry! Thank you so much for going on these adventures with me. It means so much to me, you have no idea." She hooked her arm around mine and hugged it close.

"I'm lucky to be having these adventures with you, so thank you too." I love how her eyes light up with happiness. We got some food, then she ended up dragging me into the arcade connected to the ice skating rink. We stopped in front of my least favorite game ever. I immediately turned to Hope.

"Nope. Nope. No, absolutely not Hope. I'm not doing that." She then locked eyes with me and gave me that adorable pout and puppy dog eyes. Fuck.

"Don't give me that look, Hope. That's not fair." Her eyes started to become glassy. Oh no, please don't cry.

"Okay, fine Hope, fine." She immediately got a huge smile and cheered.

"Okay, what song do you want to dance to?" I shrugged.

"I don't care, Hope, you pick." She went through the songs then finally found one she liked. It started off easy then it just got so difficult.

"Dear lord. Hope. Could you have picked a more difficult song?" I said each word choppy in between huffs of breaths. I just heard her laughing.

"It's not even that hard, Ms. Athletic." I rolled my eyes. I looked over to her and she was killing it. She was so happy and honestly I would suffer through this stupid dancing game a million times over as long as I get to see that smile and glow again.

Once the game was over I was sweating so much. It's completely safe to say she kicked my ass.

"Good job Hope. Have you ever played this game before?" She smiled and shook her head no.

"Well, kind of, I guess. I've only played dancing games on my console at home." I hummed.

"Well, for someone who hasn't played this particular game, you're amazing at it. Come on, Hope, I'll take you to get a victory milkshake from our place." Her eyes lit up as always when it pertains to food, especially milkshakes.

"I love Miller's Diner. That place is so good!" I nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it is. Now hurry up and get in. The faster you get in the faster we get our milkshakes." She excitedly gasped and rushed inside my car.

"Thank you again, so much." I looked over at her only for a second to see her looking at me and smiling.

"It's no problem, thank you too." Another adventure down, and however many more to go.