Hailey sat with Jay until he fell asleep. The nurses came in and out pretty regularly, so the conversation stayed lighthearted. She stayed for a few minutes, watching the rise and fall of his chest as he slept, just further confirmation that he was indeed alive. He was fine, it was just a concussion, no bleeding or decreased brain activity. In a few weeks he would be back to normal. That didn't stop her fidgeting though, her racing mind, the constant thought of what could've happened. She felt crazy.

At around seven, Hailey gathered her things (really just her phone and keys) and made her way out of the room, meeting a familiar face in the hallway. "Hey." He said letting out a sigh.

This is the part where Hailey would usually blush, or smile, or panic. She would quickly say hello and jump into whatever conversation she could have with him. "Adam." Was all she said. Today was different, today he hit Jay in the head with a literal baseball. Accident or not, Hailey felt nothing but rage.

"How's he doing?" He asked, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

Hailey stood up straighter, putting a fake smile on her face. "He'll be okay. Just a concussion."

"Good. Good." He looked disheveled. Adam had one of those laid back looks, untucked polo and khakis, hair slightly a mess. It was the kind of laid back that almost looked planned, like he purposely tousled his hair a bit too much. Today he actually looked like a mess. "Can I see him?"

"Not my choice," She said quickly, "He's asleep though."

Adam nodded, they stood in silence. Hailey kept her eyes fixed on the floor. She couldn't make eye contact with him right now. Not when she blamed him for this. "It was an accident, Hailey. I would, I would never do that. Especially not to him." Adam rambled.

Hailey looked up, meeting his eyes. He looked so intense, like he was desperate for her to believe him. She felt herself being sucked in again. Adam always rode the line of giving enough, but not too much. Hailey had always been consumed with trying to figure him out. "I know that Adam, but it still happened." She thought back to Jay, laying in a hospital bed. "No matter what your intention was, he's still hurt. And you have to know it looked bad, you shoved him right off the pitcher's mat." Hailey snapped, more aggressive than she ever liked to be.

Adam looked hurt, but for the first time ever, Hailey didn't care. It was liberating. "He-"

"He what Adam?"

"Nothing, it was nothing. I don't even know why I was so upset." He sighed, defeated. It was a strange look on him. He was usually so confident, which is what Hailey liked so much. But, standing in front of her with his shoulders hunched over and his face fallen, he was nothing like the man she had fallen for.

Hailey nodded, "If that is supposed to make me feel better, it doesn't." He shifted his eyes to the floor and Hailey let out a breath. "I'll see you later Adam."

She walked past him and down the hallway, but Adam called her back. "Hailey I- I just feel like I missed something." He said quickly, Hailey turned to look at him. "I thought that maybe, I don't know. I just -"

"What? Just say it." She was done with this conversation. There was nothing he could say that would make her happy right now. It was a bad coincidence that made Adam look pretty bad himself, but she knew he would never pitch at his head on purpose. Jay and Adam were best friends, everyone knew that he would never do something like that. Him rambling in front of her was helping nothing but her own anger.

"I thought you had feelings for me." He said.

Hailey froze.

Adam ran a hand through his hair, smiling a little bit. "I thought you were into me, and Jay-"

"And Jay, nothing, Adam." She was embarrassed, absolutely mortified, but also seething. "What does that have to do with anything?" And have you really known all this time?

"I don't know Hailes, I just thought you liked me and then all the sudden you and Jay are together?

It doesn't make any sense."

Hailey scoffed, "Do you hear yourself right now Adam? You are telling me you thought I liked you, but you dated other girls instead, brought them around and now you are confused why I'm with someone else. Are you really that self centered?"

"Hailes -"

"Do not call me that." She took one last look at him, "I'll see you around."

She hightailed down the hallway, skipping the elevator and heading straight for the stairs. By the time she was safely in her car, the tears had begun to fall. She felt so stupid. For years she had longed for his attention, she watched him from afar, she cared so much about what he thought of her. She waited for him for almost all of her college years, and he knew the whole time?

It felt like someone was sitting on her heart. She sat back in her seat, gripping the steering wheel as she sobbed. She cried for Jay, and for what she felt for Jay. She cried for Adam, and what she could no longer feel for Adam. It felt like a piece of herself had fallen apart, the piece of her that was all consumed by him. It was almost unbelievable. The way he strung her along for years without her even knowing.

Soom, her tears turned to anger once again. She was angry with herself for wasting so much time, she was angry with him for what she did. She was absolutely disgusted by him picking the fight in the hallway outside of Jay's hospital room, like there were not a million more important things going on. She didn't think she had ever been that angry before, she didn't even let him get a word in. She also never raised her voice, just showing that maybe Adam brought out the worst in her.

By the time she felt she could drive home, she was all out of tears and all out of anger. She was stoic, eyes only focused on the road, it was the only thing she could allow herself to focus on, the only thing that didn't hurt.

When she pulled in her driveway, she shot Jay a text.

hailey: hey, i'll be back in the morning with breakfast! class isn't til 10. you have me until then!

Jay. That was something she could focus on. Something that didn't hurt.

At eight thirty the next morning, Jay was awake and patiently waiting for his best friend to grace him with her presence. He had been up a few hours, already having gotten more sleep than he had since he was in high school. He spent the morning laying flat on his back with nothing to do but think. Concussions will do that to you.

He still wasn't exactly sure what had happened the day before, not literally, he didn't have any memory loss, but the whole thing was such a mess. He knew that Adam was pissed at him from the night before, but they were almost like brothers, and he couldn't believe what had happened.

He knew Adam didn't hit him on purpose, he knew he would never do that, but it still stung. Another slap to the face after the conversation they had.

Jay was pulled out of his thoughts by a nurse entering the small room, "Good morning," She said, not bothering to pull open the blinds or turn on the lights, concussions. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, a little fuzzy, but good." Jay said, sitting up. He would say anything he needed to, to get out of there, he hated being taken care of.

The nurse nodded, "Good to hear, I think they'll be letting you out of here soon. You got someone to come get you?"

Jay smiled, "Yeah."

The woman gave him a look as she read the monitors next to him, "Is it that pretty girl that was here all day yesterday?" Jay nodded his head, "Good, I was hoping you two were together."

"She's the best thing that ever happened to me." He said honestly.

"Based on the way she was looking at you last night, I'd say she feels the same way." Jay gave the woman a big smile as she headed for the door, "You know, this is probably none of my business, but she was leaving as I was helping clean the room next door. Some boy came in and caused a scene, she left pretty upset."

Jay's face fell, he knew exactly what she was talking about. "Thank you."

The nurse gave him a quick nod and exited the room, leaving Jay alone to his thoughts again. He had to know what Adam said to Hailey, it could have changed everything.

Almost like he summoned her, there was a knock on the door frame and Hailey appeared before him. She was there, so maybe Adam didn't tell her what happened. "Hey. You're up." She said as she waltzed into the room, holding a Doodles takeout bag. "Brought your favorite."

"I love you." Jay said quickly as he took the bag from her, choosing to ignore the possible repercussions of those words. It wasn't like they hadn't said it before, but now it felt different.

"Glad to know all I have to do is buy you beignets, it makes my life a lot easier." She joked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Jay opened the bag to find another bag of beignets and more breakfast potatoes than he had ever seen. "I'll venmo you, thank you."

Hailey shot him a look, "Don't even think about it."

"Well, I owe you."

"Jay, you know the whole point of this thing," she gestured between the two of them, "is to help each other out." Oh shit, maybe she did know. "Anyway, Matt was working. It was free."

"Ahh, so I owe him." Jay said, changing the subject.

Hailey shrugged, smiling at him. "So, when do you get to bust out of here?"

"Sometime today, any chance you can drive me home?" He asked.

"Of course, I only have statistics today."

Jay scoffed, "I still can't believe you put that off until this year."

"I hate math, sue me." She looked much more relaxed and carefree than she did yesterday, which means that maybe Adam didn't drop the bomb on her that he thought he did. But if he didn't, what was he doing here last night? "Jay, can we talk about something?" She asked him, pulling on her fingers.

This was it, it was over. "Yeah, always." He said, trying to not look like he was going to shit his pants. After what Adam said the other night, he should have known.

Hailey was off with the other girls, having a girls night off. Which meant that the boys obviously needed a boys night in. Leading to Adam, Jay, Kevin and Kelly all drinking on their porch. Adam was one to drink quite a bit, but Jay hadn't seen him this gone in a long time.

"Hey man, maybe cool it." Jay said as Adam went for his 8th or 9th beer. He had easily had double what the rest of them had.

"Don't tell me what to do Jay." Adam snapped, cracking it open and taking a long draw. Jay was taken aback, turning to Kevin who had the same look on his face.

Jay held up his hands and in surrender, "Alright sorry, just give us your keys."

Adam let out a short breath, "I'm not an idiot, I'm not gonna drive." He said, before slamming the back door behind him and leaving the rest of the boys on the porch.

"Damn, someone pissed in his cheerios," Kelly said, taking a sip of his own.

Kevin grimaced, taking a seat next to Kelly, "He's been off all week, I don't know what's going on."

"Maybe I should go check in." Jay said, glancing at the door.

"Your funeral," Kelly said, Kevin nudged his arm. "Kev, I just mean, he's been an ass for days, I wouldn't waste the breath for him to just ignore you."

"I'll be back." Jay said, walking in the back door. He wandered into the kitchen, where he found Adam pouring himself something stronger. "Adam, what's wrong? This isn't like you."

"I'm surprised you even noticed." Adam snapped.

Jay leaned forward on the counter, "What?"

"You've been so far up Hailey's ass, I'm surprised you can see the light of day." He took a sip of his drink, slamming it down on the counter.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jay asked, getting angry. He had no right to say anything about Hailey, he'd never seemed to care before.

"What is this thing with you two anyway? Did she finally notice you?" He teased.

Jay clenched his jaw, it cut way deeper than it should have, "I don't have to take this from you." He turned to leave the kitchen, knowing he was going to say something he would regret.

"Yeah, just walk away."

"What the hell Adam?" He spat, whipping back around. Adam kept his gaze fixed on the counter, knuckles white from gripping the edge. "Dude, come on, it's just me."

"Just fuck off Jay, go find your girlfriend or something."

Jay took a step around the counter, threatening to get in his face. "Is this about Hailey? Are you acting like a 12 year old 'cause you're jealous?" Jay asked.

"Yeah Jay. I'm fucking jealous!" Adam yelled, "You've got Hailey and you're fucking perfect and I'm so jealous I can't fucking see straight!"

Jay took a step back, staring at him. All these years, Hailey's watched him go from girl to girl, breaking herself apart for him, and he has the audacity to be jealous? "You better check yourself." He said in a low voice.

"Why? You'll run and tell Hailey? You think she'll just come running to me? Who's jealous now Jay?" Adam taunted him.

Jay swore there was steam coming from his ears, he threw one punch, but Kevin caught his arm before he could connect with his smug face. "Take a walk Adam, now." Kelly snapped, pushing him out of the way as Kevin pulled Jay back.

"I'm good." Jay said as he watched Adam go. He felt like he was gasping for air, the life literally being sucked out of him. He had no idea this plan was actually going to work, he never suspected that Adam actually had feelings for Hailey. Obviously he did, and now their fake relationship was pointless. He was going to have to let her go. "I'm good."

Jay pulled himself out of his trance, looking back at Hailey while he held his breath. He knew he should tell her (not about the fight, not about the yelling and the awfulness), but he knew that he should tell her that Adam had feelings for her. It was the whole purpose of their agreement: to get Camilla off his back and to get Adam onto Hailey's. The latter was already accomplished, and if he was being honest, he knew that it was never really about Camilla in the first place.

"I don't know if you've talked to Adam since everything happened, but I did." Hailey said slowly, almost like she knew she was egging him on. "But, he told me last night that he wanted to make sure I knew that it was an accident."

Jay audibly exhaled, "Of course I know that." Jay never thought for a second that Adam would do anything like that on purpose, even if he had rejected Jay's apology for almost punching him by shoving him in the middle of the game.

"I know, I just wanted to say it." She gave him a reassuring smile.

"Is that all?" He asked, praying silently in his head that was all Adam said.

Hailey nodded, "Yeah, he was pretty…shaken up." She finished.

Jay gave a quick nod in understanding, finally feeling a weight lift off his chest. Adam hadn't told her about his feelings, meaning Jay still had time to convince her that he was never right for her. It was a hard line to walk, they were his two best friends, which also meant that he knew them both better than anyone else. He knew they weren't compatible, Hailey deserved better than an angry, jealous drunk. By that standard, he knew she deserved better than him too, but the difference between him and Adam had always been that Jay could admit when he was wrong. Adam would lie until the gates of hell smacked his ass as they shut.

He wasn't sure how things would be now, for only the second time, he was lying to Hailey. The first time being about his own feelings, and the second being about Adam's. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to destroy something that hadn't even started yet.

He would do anything to prove to Hailey that she belonged with him, absolutely anything.

...

a/n: Hey guys! SO SO SO sorry for missing an update! Things have been hectic with finals, but I took my last exam today, so yay summer vaca! Thank you so much for reading!