Another day, another chapter. Oh and before I forget, the Tangled Web Awards have Reader's Choice Vote and my story is nominated for it. So if you guys get a chance, go over there and vote for me!! Please! Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. I appreciate every comment I get!
It was now Sunday. Two days had gone by without a word from either Nathan or Lucas, and Haley was actually thankful for it. As much as she wanted to talk to Nathan, she knew she couldn't bring herself to do it. She betrayed him-even if it wasn't on purpose.
And Lucas. Well, that was a whole different story in itself. Was he drunk too? Did he know what was going on? Was this all just a big plot to get her and Nathan to break up? The thought made her cringe. Lucas had changed so rapidly. And it definitely wasn't for the better.
"Snap out of it, zombie. You look like you're about to maim an innocent bystander."
Haley looked over her shoulder to see Maddie standing in the doorway. "Well then you better watch it. You look innocent enough."
"Ha. Ha." She said sarcastically, shuffling over to Haley's bed and setting down two bags full of groceries.
"What the hell is in there?"
"Comfort food." Maddie dumped the two bags out onto the bed and started sorting through the various foods. "We have cheese curls, nachos, doughnuts, chocolate cake, cheez wiz.."
"And tampons?" Haley asked, holding up a box.
"Do they look edible? I don't think so." She pulled the box out of Haley's hands and stuffed it in her purse. "Those were just something extra I picked up."
"Obviously."
"You know, a thank you would be nice. I didn't have to come over here and hang out with your grumpy ass all day."
Haley groaned and flopped back onto her pillow. "Thanks."
"Say it like you mean it, ho."
She opened her mouth to say something cocky but couldn't manage it. She wasn't in a happy enough mood. "No, now I'm not saying it after the verbal abuse I'm receiving."
Maddie rolled her eyes and started to open the can of cheez wiz. She eyed Haley reaching for a doughnut and slapped her hands. "What are you doing, freak?!"
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to eat a doughnut."
"No, you can't just EAT the doughnut. You have to eat one thing at a time and eat the least important thing first. That way when you really start to get depressed we call in the major reinforcements. That's when your damn doughnuts come in."
"I think that's the stupidest thing that's ever come out of your mouth before. And I've heard a lot of stupid things, but this one takes the cake."
"Speaking of cake.." She took the boxed cake from the middle of the bed and put it onto the floor. "We're saving that for later. When you pour your heart and soul out to me about your stupid guy troubles."
Haley sat up and shot Maddie an icy glare. "Aren't you supposed to be making me feel better? Because you're not doing too good of a job. In fact, you suck at it."
"Just shut up and eat some cheez wiz." She threw the can at Haley who looked at it like it was diseased.
"This stuff is disgusting." She said, throwing it back to her.
"It is NOT. I got asked out on my very first date standing next to a can of cheez wiz. I'd say it's a Godsend."
Maddie had to be the oddest person that Haley knew. And this further proved that she still held the title. "Maddie, it's cheese in a can."
"Well I plan to write a very personal letter to Mr. Kraft to let him know that his canned cheese product helped improve my love life."
"And I'm sure Mr. Kraft will write a letter to the insane asylum asking to admit you as soon as possible."
"You know, Haley." Maddie took some of the cheez wiz and squirted it into her mouth, causing Haley to make a choking noise. She wasn't one for processed cheese products. "One of these days when you get married, instead of throwing rice, I'm going to squirt cheez wiz at you."
"Yeah, and I'm sure the dress will look very becoming then."
"It will! I mean come on, all that white is going to make you look like a heffer. At least the orange will balance you out."
Why didn't she come with a remote control? Preferably one with a mute button. Or at least some duct tape. "Orange isn't my color." She replied glumly.
"Well you just suck." Maddie popped a cheese curl into her mouth and smiled.
"I hope all that processed cheese makes you vomit."
"Well aren't we a happy camper today." That was the wrong thing to say. Obviously she wasn't happy. And that thought was followed by a 'duh' look from Haley. "Ya know, you're one of the very few people I'd have in depth conversations about cheez wiz with."
"If you say the name of that product one more time, I'm going to push your head into that chocolate cake down there and refuse to let you rinse it off after."
"Real nice, buddy." Maddie swiftly pushed the chocolate cake underneath the bed so that it was further away from Haley's grasp.
"Besides, cheez wiz is a stupid name."
Maddie scrunched up her nose. "It reminds me of pee. Like, cheez pee. Why would you call something you eat, wiz? Would you like to wiz on my cheez?"
By this point, Haley had had enough of the cheese talk. "Oh my God, enough about the freaking cheese, alright? It's processed shit in a can. I don't think we should make a full fledged conversation out of it."
Taken back by the tone of her screaming, Maddie stopped for a second and looked at her fuming friend. She held the can out to her slowly. "You really should eat some of this. It'll calm you down."
"Ugh!" Haley pushed herself off of the bed and over to her drawer where she pulled out a bottle of rum.
"Where did you get that?" Maddie shrieked.
"My dad. He didn't drink it so I just figured I would."
"Yeah, um you know I love you." She said, walking over to Haley. "But that bottle of rum is bad. Because in case you haven't realized, stuff like that right there, is what got you into trouble in the first place." Haley lowered the bottle, realizing that her friend was right. "Now maybe you should just go chuck that out a window or something and go back to pigging out on all the crap I brought over. Besides, eating doughnuts is better than getting wasted on liquor. At least the doughnuts taste good."
"Sometimes I'm not so sure."
"About the doughnuts?"
Oh how she just wanted to slap some sense into her. "No, not the doughnuts, idiot. I mean, sometimes it just seems wiser to drink myself into oblivion. At least then I forget about whatever crap is going on in my life."
Haley knew it was horrible that she turned to alcohol to solve her problems. But what else did she have to help her? Maddie certainly didn't help. It wasn't like she could go to her mom with what she was going through. She had nothing.
Maddie sighed and pulled her into a hug. "Haley my love, you have to find other ways to solve your problems. And I think you know that, you just don't know how to go about doing it."
She scoffed, knowing that Maddie was right. Why was it that she always said the best things at the worst times? "Yeah, well thanks for the help." In little to no time, she was going to turn into a raging alcoholic...and most likely checking herself into Alcoholics Anonymous if she kept going at the rate she was.
"I'm trying to help. This isn't exactly easy for me." Maddie walked over and sat on the bed, putting her hands up in defeat. "I mean, I don't know how to make you feel better, Hales. I can try my best but that's never going to totally help you. You need to go talk to Nathan."
"No." Haley said adamantly. "I can't talk to Nathan. I can't even look at him right now."
"Well then I'll talk to him for you."
"You go near him and I'll rip out every hair on your little brown head. I'm not talking to him and neither are you."
"Jesus, Haley. You're acting like HE'S the one who almost fucked Lucas."
She stopped and bit her lip, knowing that she shouldn't have just said what she did. She always had a way of letting things slip out without thinking them through. Now she was going to get bitched out. Great.
Haley just looked at her and walked over to her window. "What I did was wrong, I know that. I'm just not ready to face him yet."
"More the reason to let me do it then."
She pondered the thought for a while, taking in the pros and cons. It wouldn't hurt if Maddie talked to Nathan for her. In fact, it might just clear a few things up. Even though Haley felt like a total wimp for not being able to go to him herself, she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. She'd probably curl up into a ball and die.
"Fine. But just wait a couple days, okay? Give him some time to cool off." It was a foolish thing to say, considering a couple days wasn't nearly enough time to let him cool off. In fact, a couple weeks didn't even seem like enough time. But Maddie was a relentless type of person. If Haley were to tell her no, she'd just go anyways.
"You got it boss."
Haley smiled, grateful that Maddie was there for her. She was the one person who would always stick by her through thick and thin. And at times like these, it was the best thing she could possibly have.
"So, I wonder if Trevor likes cheez wiz." Maddie said loudly, squirting some of the cheese onto her finger.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Trevor and Maddie practically hated each other. Or at least that's what they acted like. Haley remembered how they constantly bickered back and forth.
Maddie shrugged. "I don't know. I've just been thinking about him a lot lately. I kinda miss him I guess."
A soft chuckle filled the air. "I know you still like him. And I also know that he still likes you. Why don't you just ask him out?"
"Hello Major Oblivious, we've tried that already. Remember? We broke up."
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you couldn't try again." Maddie shook her head and waved off her suggestion. "Well then I guess you'll never know."
"Is that supposed to be like the 'How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop' commercial?"
Haley furrowed her brow in confusion. Such a weird child she was. "Um, no. But I did get to 250 one time before I lost count."
"Yeah but then you have to take into account whether they were licks or sucks. And if you suck, how long your intervals of sucking were. Oh, and also the amount of saliva you have in your mouth at the time of consumption. Then you realize that little owl in the commercial was full of sh it. Because I know from personal experience that it SO does not take three licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a God damn tootsie pop."
"You've really thought about this a lot.."
Haley decided to just push what happened to the back of her head and enjoy the time she had with Maddie. She hadn't seen much of her lately, and their lack of hang out time was adding to her depression. But she was here now, and she didn't want to waste it on moping about.
"Only when I have nothing better to do. Which is like...always. I swear I need a life."
Her comment swam around in Haley's mind for a few seconds before she quickly tried to push out the negative side effects it was giving her. "Be happy with the simplicity you have, Maddie. You'll miss it when it's gone."
And there it was again. The damn aftermath of what happened popped back up to the front of her mind. No matter how hard she tried to stash it in the back with all the useless junk, it always had a way of resurfacing when she didn't want it to. Basically, it was a useless attempt.
Maddie nodded, unsure of what to say. "So uh, ready for that cake?"