Tried to remain as close as possible to the characters' personalities plus remembering that it is a comedic show. I dont own Modern Family so all the more power to them. If you like this, please let me know and I'll keep writing more chapters :)
"Hey, that thing you said before about me deserving better," Andy says over the phone, "you just meant, like, in general, right? You weren't thinking of anyone in particular?"
"Yeah, no, I-I just meant you deserve to be happy," Haley stumbles to say, "and if it's this girl, great. If not, great. Um, sometimes the hardest part is just figuring out what you want." It was difficult even hearing her say it to herself. It would be obvious to anyone watching that she wasn't being completely honest.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." The sound of disappointment in Andy's voice tears Haley apart. She's the cause of the disappointment, she can't deny it. She doesn't want to hurt Andy but she doesn't know what to do. It's ironic that she tells Andy the hardest thing for a person to do is find out what they want and here she is, not knowing what she wants. The conflict inside her building, warring with each other.
"Well, enjoy the wedding," Andy continues, getting ready to hang the phone up. If Haley were going to say something now would be the time; he's getting ready to fly all the way to Utah to try and win back his nightmare of a girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend to be exact.
"Thanks," Haley says meekly. Really? "THANKS"? 'That's the best you can come up with'? she thinks to herself.
The opportunity is fading fast, if she's going to do something it has to be now. The crazed and neurotic wedding planner is on the fritz from the chaotic wedding today. If they pull it off it'll be a miracle. Almost as miraculous as Haley managing to bring herself to be vulnerable with Andy.
"Have a nice trip," she says.
Andy finishes, "Yeah. I'll see you".
Haley looks down at her phone, "CALL ENDED" flashes across the screen for a few seconds and she leans back against the wall, her head resting against the cool wood and she tries to process what just happened.
"Is that it then?" She thinks.
Just then Claire walks by Haley as she stands there against the wall. Claire, drenched and dripping in water, mascara smeared across her face and her hair looking like she just woke up after a hurricane, stops and looks at Haley for a long awkward moment.
Neither of them say anything to each other; Claire, because she is so distraught over what Phil did to her in the bathroom coupled with the fact that she now has to walk around in public like this all while her daughter stands around while the wedding falls apart around them.
Haley says nothing but stares in utter shock and horror that her mom would be seen by anyone looking like she does at this moment. Doesn't she know that by looking bad, she makes Haley look bad too?
They're both brought back to rest of the world from their staring match as Mitch announces that yet again, the wedding is a no go.
But Jay steps in, "You can't do this."
"Yeah, I'm way ahead of you, Dad," Mitch snaps, "and thank you for stopping by."
"What I mean is, you can't get married like this," Jay replies. "You two deserve the kind of wedding you've been talking about nonstop for the last nine months."
Mitch, more confused than anything unsteadily says, "What do you mean?" "
"You bring it up every chance that you get," Jay says matter-of-factly.
"I know what nonstop means!" Mitch yells.
"Trust me, okay?" Jay says with a grin.
"That was SUCH a beautiful wedding! Don't you think so girls?" Claire sloppily asks Haley and Alex at the reception later that night after she had thrown back a few glasses of wine.
"I mean," she continues as they stand there, "the monarch butterflies were probably a little too gay for me but when in Rome!" Haley and Alex snicker between themselves at the state their mom is in when Haley hears the now familiar *ding* of her phone from a text from Andy.
*wasnt able to make it to Utah. flight got canceled :-/ *
Haley glances quickly at the screen and puts her phone down. "What does this mean?" she thinks. Her heart starts pounding and she starts to get really warm as she's now both surprised and nervous.
"I could text him back right now and pretend to be sympathetic that he couldn't get to Utah, I could say something else to try to make him feel better and let him know I'm there for him, or I could just ignore it right now and text him back later," she thinks as she hastily runs the scenarios through her mind.
Just as Haley decides what to do, Claire roars with laughter from a horrible pun Phil just told her and spills a little bit of her Chardonnay onto Haley's dress.
"MOM!" Haley barks at her as she jumps away from Claire.
She storms off to the restroom to clean herself off. "At least this gives me an excuse for some privacy while I text him," she thinks.
As she walks to the restroom, she passes by a table with Luke and Manny; numerous empty chairs surround them, formerly occupied by people currently on the dance floor. As she storms by them, Luke wipes a bit of mustard off of Manny's cheek with a napkin.
"You do this all the time. This is why we can't go to nice places!" Luke scolds Manny.
"I'm sorry, but I don't control how much condiments the caterer puts on the sandwiches," Manny protests.
"Even Hellen Keller knew where her mouth was!" Luke shouts back.
"Wow, really? Resorting to Hellen Keller jokes now are we?" Manny says, surprised that Luke would say something so insensitive.
"Oh, don't give me that fake 'I'm shocked' look. She's been dead for hundreds of years, she won't care." Luke, now on the defensive, retorts.
Manny can't think of a response to Luke's new politically incorrect comment nor his wildly inaccurate statement. His mouth open, he just sits there as Luke wipes the last bit of mustard from his face for him. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he sees Alex taking another picture on her phone of him and Luke.
"Why does she keep taking pictures of us?" He thinks. "She's been doing that all day."
In the ladies restroom, Haley splashes water onto the spot on her dress where her mom spilled wine on it. "She is so insensitive," Haley thinks as she rubs water onto the spot to at least get the smell of wine off of her, "I looked amazing tonight but now I smell like my 8th grade math teacher, Mrs. Daniels."
Her phone dings again.
*hope the wedding went well. you looked really pretty today. its andy btw*
Of course she knew it was from Andy. There is a thing called caller ID she thinks as she looks down at her phone resting on the counter.
"Whatever, I'm just going to ease into this," Haley tells herself as she picks up her phone to reply to his text.
*aww :( sorry to hear your flight got canceled. The wedding was great and the reception is definitely getting crazy, you should see my mom. But if youd like we could get coffee tomorrow same place we went to earlier- Haley*
"There," she thought, "this gives us both room to breath and not be stressed out about dates or what any of that crap. It's just us talking and going from there. He might not even want to date right now anyways."
As she was getting ready to leave the restroom, her phone dings again from Andy.
*Gee willikers that'd be nice. I will say im relieved i wont be plummeting to my death in a fiery plane right now. But i dont want to put you out like that, i dont want to bother- andy*
Haley replies immediately to the cute, but obviously odd, text.
*Ur not a bother, pick me up at 1? I'll see you then!- Haley*
She puts her phone into her bag. Once again she feels herself getting nervous and warm. Is she leading him on or does she really have feelings for him?
Haley sighs as she thinks, "It's only coffee, it's not even a date." Even as she thinks that though, she knows she's getting her hopes up that it might be something more than coffee
"One day at a time," she tells herself, as she walks back into the reception to ask Gloria if she can borrow a pair of shoes for tomorrow.
