Author's Note: Whoa. I have to say, I was not expecting such a wonderful response from everyone. You guys are fantastic already! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. I had a hard time figuring out New York since I don't live there, but I think it worked out in the end. This story is already so much fun, and I can't wait to get started on all the ideas I have planned. I hope everyone enjoys and reviews!
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Change in the Weather
Chapter One: The Worst Day Since Yesterday
It was a morning pretty similar to most mornings. Haley James-Jagielski awoke to the sound of her husband's alarm clock at six AM sharp, and was ready to start her day.
He was showered, dressed, fed, and out the door all before seven-thirty, and she was just happy to have a few moments to herself, surprised that her sleeping child had not woken before her as she did on most days.
She thought for a moment about what she would do, twenty-six years old with just a few minutes to spare before the toddler woke up screaming, alone in her medium-sized home. She could think of nothing.
This was just sad. Had she really become that girl? The one that grew up to raise a family and could say she'd accomplished nothing else? It seemed that way to her. She had graduated from college engaged, and had married soon after. In less than a year, she was pregnant and shifting into mother-gear instead of career-gear. She knew of many mothers that could juggle children and a job, but it was harder to start a career when you were still breastfeeding.
So here she was, jobless, with her life completely and utterly dedicated to her family and nothing else. She hadn't expected this to be her life, but she'd long-since grown to accept the fact that it was. And honestly, it wasn't that terrible.
Her husband, Jake Jagielski was a decent man making a very decent income that supported their life-style. With short, dark, curly hair and a smile that almost always made her smile every time he used it. They had been together for nearly seven years now, and though the novelty of being in the fairy-tale stage of a relationship had long since worn off, they were still relatively happy, she supposed.
Well, they were married. It wasn't supposed to be exciting. Or so she thought. Wasn't like she'd ever been married before.
"Mommy!" She heard the little girl's voice from upstairs, and instantly sighed with relief at the fact that she would no longer be left with just her own thoughts. "Mo-mmy!"
As she neared the bedroom, Haley could hear the young child's attempts to reach the ground from her new "big girl" bed, and when she finally entered, she raised an eyebrow at the amusing sight. Ava was unsuccessfully trying to lower herself to the ground, clinging to the bed sheets as she went slowly. When she had finally stumbled into a standing position, Ava threw a frown at her mother.
"What you took so long?" With her hands on her hips, her ashy brown hair a mess around her shoulders, and her chocolate brown eyes that mirrored Haley's exactly, she looked surprisingly like a young version of herself.
The barely-three year old girl shakily walked towards her mother, instantly opening up her arms, expecting to be picked up. Haley complied, murmuring an apology for taking that whopping six seconds to reach her. Ava Jagielski had little patience, and she got it from her father.
As the duo made it down the stairs of their two level house, Ava began to babble incessantly about the dream she'd had the night before. Often, she would end her own sentences abruptly, the talking too much for her little mouth to handle, and then would begin again, starting the sentence over. This lasted through most of breakfast, and even though Ava's story made little to no sense, Haley still listened thoroughly.
Mostly, as she watched her daughter's lips move, she marveled at the fact that she had created this child. This was what she had accomplished. And she was so beautiful.
Ava had successfully finished eating most of her breakfast with no fuss, and had even semi-successfully managed to tell her dream story, and it was not even eight-thirty yet. Right on schedule.
"So, what do you want to do today, sweetie?"
"The park! The park!"
She'd known the answer before her daughter had spoken. After all, this was just an ordinary morning similar to most mornings on an ordinary day similar to most days.
---
She was hungover, again. While this was usually no surprise, the fact that Brooke Davis had been required to be at work this morning at ten - no excuses - had only made this experience twenty times worse than it already was. Normally, she would have called in sick, and this morning she had certainly been tempted to, but unfortunately, due to her lack of, well, responsibility, this was her last chance if she didn't want to be fired.
Of course, she'd been working at this café for almost three years now, and was quite friendly to both her co-workers and customers. It was just that she'd called in sick more than she'd actually come into work, and her boss was getting sick of it.
It wasn't like this job was some big catch anyway, she mused bitterly to herself as she hastily wiped a grimy table. Anyone could work here, and most of the clientele was so hungover themselves, they wouldn't notice if a bum was serving them.
"Brooke," the middle-aged manager, Sophie, called out in her direction, and Brooke mildly recognized the music playing in Vic's Café, but could not bring herself to remember the name of the song or band itself. "You're on bathroom duty."
Biting her lip, Brooke shook her head slowly. "Sorry, I don't understand.."
"You. Mop. Bathrooms. Now." Sophie tilted her head to the side, well aware of Brooke's current position job-wise. Brooke mentally cursed at her. Working the bathrooms at Vic's Café was the worst possible job on Earth. She'd nearly thrown up the few times she'd been forced to do it, and once she even had, a little.
As she made her way to the women's restroom, fake smile planted on her face, Brooke pulled her cell phone out from her apron pocket, dialing a number so familiar it may as well have been her own.
After a few rings, she heard Haley's familiar, "Hello?"
"Haley!" She managed to screech, eyes watering as the door neared. "I'm quitting. I'm quitting, I'm quitting, I'm quitting."
"Brooke, you can't quit," came the reasonable reply. "You know no one else will hire you. Plus, you need the money."
"Okay, if I wanted you to tell me what to do, I would have asked for advice." She snapped. Her best friend didn't seem to realize how disgusting these bathrooms were.
"Would you have called if you weren't expecting it anyway?"
She wanted to groan. Slam her head into a wall. Anything. "Whatever. It's too early for me to be up and at 'em."
"It's past eleven."
"Sorry that not all of us get up at the crack of dawn! I don't see why you do anyway, considering you have a husband."
"Right. And those things are only good for making money and watching the baby simultaneously." Brooke could practically hear Haley's eyes rolling.
She scoffed. "Not what I meant. Anyway, I'm too hungover. I might have to quit anyway. My head is throbbing and my body is totally aching."
"Do I want to know why your body is aching?"
"Chris and--"
"Nope!"
"Hales, you're such a prude. Why can't we ever talk about sex?" Brooke knew that Haley's experience was sort of.. limited compared to hers, but she was still certainly interested in knowing how that cute Jagielski boy of hers did in bed.
"I'm at the park right now, surrounded by tons of other mothers, not to mention I'm currently pushing my daughter on the swings right now, and she is definitely in ear-shot."
"I mean, ever."
"Because it's weird. I mean, ew - I don't know, just shut up." Just as clearly as she'd been able to tell that Haley had earlier been rolling her eyes, she could now clearly hear the blush creeping up on Haley's cheeks.
"Whatever. So, I'm quitting. Thought I'd call you and let you know before I did."
"Uh-huh," Her friend chuckled. "And how do you plan on paying the bills?"
Brooke snorted. "Please. Me and Chris haven't had electricity in months, but I'm sure he can foot the bill for the rent."
"Oh, yeah. I forgot that Chris was a struggling unemployed musician with bucket loads of cash." The sarcasm dripped from Haley's lips to Brooke's ears, and she sighed loudly.
"Haley, he's not unemployed."
"Selling dope doesn't count. Speaking of--"
"Please. Haven't done that stuff since college. Thanks for the vote of confidence though."
"Okay, sorry. Anyway, I have to go. I can't push Ava and talk to you at the same time."
"Alright. Go tend to your precious daughter. I'm quitting. Love you."
As she hung up, Brooke held the phone to her ear for another moment, as if the answers to her problem would suddenly come spilling out through the small device if she did. When nothing happened, she lowered the phone back into her apron pocket, staring at the women's restroom door, unsure of whether or not she would go in, knowing it would decide her future at the café.
She looked back and forth between the direction of her manager and the door, and realized with a deep frown that this was probably the most important decision she'd ever made in her life.
---
Haley caught herself smiling as she eyed the calendar that hung in the Jagielski kitchen. While it was mostly filled with kiddy birthday parties Ava would later attend, mixers for Jake's work, and the weekly dinner date she and Brooke had, her eyes were fixed on the day that tonight had landed on.
It was a Wednesday.
Wednesday nights meant one thing for Haley: sex.
Earlier in their marriage, sex had been more of a convenience than a responsibility, but these days, if they didn't plan for it to happen, it simply wouldn't. They were just too busy. So almost two years before, Haley and Jake had named Wednesday nights the night, and although it faltered occasionally, Haley was definitely in the mood to allow it to play out tonight.
A slight frown tugged at her features when she remembered her conversation with Brooke earlier that day.
The true reason why Haley didn't want to discuss sex with Brooke was because, well, there wasn't all that much to tell. Brooke had crazy, interesting, fun sex! Haley had boring, normal sex.
Plus, Jake was the only man she'd ever been with. Brooke was with a new guy pretty much each month! They were just too different to be able to appreciate a conversation on sex. Frankly, it would simply embarrass her too much! She probably wouldn't even understand half of what Brooke was saying.
Maybe they'd change that tonight. Maybe things would be more interesting. Maybe she'd make it more interesting.
Besides, they were due for a change.
---
Brooke had met Chris when he had performed during an open-mic night at the café. She'd had to admit that he had a pretty damn good voice, not to mention the fact that he was cute in an odd way. Almost instantly, they'd started dating. It had been almost a month and a half now, and though it was a pretty casual relationship, this was as serious as it had ever gotten for her.
When the door to their one-room apartment opened less than a half hour after she had plopped herself down on their bed, Brooke sat up, eyeing her boyfriend cautiously.
He'd clearly had a drink or two, which was obvious when he tripped over air and nearly toppled onto her. He was just buzzed though, sober enough to have this conversation with her at least.
"Babe, I think I may have gotten a record deal today." Hair standing on end, eyes red and bleary, he definitely didn't look like the type of person anyone would be signing.
"Okay," She decided just to blow past it. "I quit my job."
This seemed to startle him. "What?"
"Yeah. I couldn't work there anymore. Sucky hours, sucky pay.."
"Right, right, right."
She clicked her tongue. Okay, so he wasn't getting it. "Chris, how much money do you have right now? Because I can't be footing the bill anymore. I've got nothing. No money saved up, no nothing." As she said the words, she suddenly realized how stupid she sounded. How did she not have a savings account? Haley had been putting money into her own since before she could do math.
"Why not hit up your parents for cash?"
"Chris," She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, deciding, for the moment, to be a mature, rational adult. "My parents cut me off when I dropped out of college. You know that."
"Oh, yeah! I forgot. Okay, so, what do we do?"
"Well, do you have any money?"
Chris laughed. As if this were a joke. And then, as if this were not enough, he said, "I moved in with you because I got kicked out of my own place, remember? I obviously don't have enough to support us."
"So what do we do?" Brooke parroted his earlier words, eyes narrowed.
"Who cares?" He shrugged, laying back on the bed. "We'll figure it out when the bill comes."
The nagging voice in her head she liked to call Haley told her this was not a sufficient answer, so she swallowed her desire to simply forget about it and lay beside him, and stood strong.
"Chris, maybe you should get a job. I mean, your music isn't doing so well right now, so--"
"Hey!" He sat up straighter. "I told you about this thing today. I'm totally--"
"Yeah, and as promising as that sounds," This time she did not resist, pausing to roll her eyes as she spoke. "We need more than that. I need more than that."
He blinked.
She felt her patience begin to fail her. She deserved to at least be taken care of. Chris would not do this, she understood. "Look, maybe.. Maybe this isn't working out."
"Brookie, what are you talking about? Come lay down.. We'll be fine!"
Brooke shook her head. "Chris, I'm twenty-six years old. You're thirty-two! We should have this figured out already!" They were words she'd not only never spoken before, but had never even thought of before.
Up until this moment, her life had been about fun. She partied every night, she went from guy to guy happily, and she definitely didn't worry about anything ahead of time. She didn't understand this sudden need to grow up, but it was what had landed her into this argument - if it could be called that, what with Chris' lax demeanor - and out of a job in the first place.
"Okay, what's with you today?"
"Nothing! I want - I don't know what I want, but I don't want to be in this situation right now. Chris, I think this just isn't working out."
She wanted to tell him, you're great in bed, but you suck at everything else. Including life. Instead she waited calmly for his response.
"Babe, Chris Keller knows that you won't leave him."
"Chris Keller referring to himself in the third person is not going to help matters!" She scoffed, already beginning to pack her suitcase.
He watched in disbelief, and then sat up after a moment, realizing she was serious. He grabbed for her hands, and tugged on her pants, eyes beginning to water. "No, don't leave! Please, please. I'll do anything!"
"I'm already gone," She shook her head sadly.
"How will I even pay for this place?"
"Not my problem."
He smirked. "Where will you go, Brooke? You've got nowhere."
She smiled softly. "No, but I've got Haley."
---
As she heard the front door close, Haley scurried towards her and Jake's bed, hastily throwing the blankets off the bed, and situating herself in the middle, adjusting her lingerie as she did.
She was wearing a skimpy nightgown that left little to the imagination, cutting very low on top and very high on bottom. Her legs were left entirely exposed, and she ran a hand over the newly shaved skin, shimmering with the new lotion she'd purchased.
Jake's heavy footsteps walked up the stairs, and when he reached their doorway, he seemed to linger outside for a moment. She was growing impatient as she waited for him, but when he finally entered, she allowed her smile to grow seductive.
"Hey," She said in the most sultry voice she could conjure up. "It's Wednesday."
So it wasn't exactly the sexiest thing she could have said, but it wasn't like she had anything better.
He tugged at his tie, eyeing her only momentarily before looking down at the ground. "Yeah, uh, I'm not really in the mood tonight."
She sighed, throwing her legs off the side of the bed and making her way towards him. "Aw, come on. It'll be fun."
Haley wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pried them off, carefully choosing his next words before he spoke.
"Look, I think we need to talk…"
---
Brooke slung the large bag on her shoulder up higher as she walked, attempting to light a cigarette with a lighter that had basically no juice left in it. With an angry yell, she tossed both items into the New York City street.
It was just as well. Smoking caused cancer or whatever, and she'd only even taken Chris' cigarettes to be a bitch.
It was dark out and of course it was also freezing. Her clothes were no match for the weather. Especially her heels, which now suddenly felt too small for her usually size-six feet.
Fishing through one of her bags, she pulled out a tiny silver object she was sure was the only thing that could save her right now. As she began to dial her best friend's number, she saw the familiar digits pop up before her own eyes, and she frowned. Haley was calling her. But it was Wednesday. Strange.
"Hales," She answered breathlessly. "I'm having the worst night. You'll never believe what I did--"
"Jake left me."
What scared her most wasn't even the fact that Haley had uttered the words. It was how she'd uttered them. There was no emotion in her voice. As if she were some mental patient in a hospital repeating a useless "code" over and over and over again.
Haley's voice reminded her of death, or something awfully close to it.
