Okay I'm back, with a new penname as well. Here's to another chapter. My New Year's Resoulution: complete this story! Hope you like it.
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When the music stopped, so did Hailey. She looked around at the small audience she had acquired. Sitting in the corner by the door were Morgan, her brother and sister, and Derek. She gave a week smile to the four of them as she headed over to where they were seated.
"That was sooooo cool," Jake said.
"Thanks,"
"I heard about your mom and Matt," Laura said. "I wanted to make sure you were okay and everything."
"Thanks, I'm a little better now. My mother is a genius when it comes to finding ways to calm me down. Although, I now need a shower more than I had before we left the hospital." Hailey laughed at her last comment and Morgan's expression.
"Well then I suppose we should allow you ladies the chance to attend to your needs then huh?" Derek said.
"That would be the smart thing to do," Morgan smiled as she gathered up the few things they brought into the room.
The five of them walked out of the dance studio and into the hallway. Derek, Laura and Jake turned toward the exit, but before they left, Laura spun back around. "Hey," she yelled toward the figures of Hailey and Morgan. "Maybe we should get some food or something when you guys are done cleaning up."
"I kind of wanted to get back to the hospital as soon as possible." Hailey stated.
"Oh," Laura turned around defeated.
"I have an idea. How about Jake and I go get dinner and bring it to the hospital. I'm pretty sure your mom is not going to even attempt to eat the hospital dinner, and Matt, like you probably hasn't eaten much today either." Derek suggested.
"What about me?" Laura asked noticing that she had been left out of going to pick up food.
"Well I figured you might want to hand out with Morgan and Hailey for a while."
"You can stay Laura, but I mean as soon as we're done here we're going to the hospital. It's not like we'll be doing anything fun." Hailey explained.
Laura looked from her dad to Hailey and then back at her dad. "I think I'll hang with Hailey and Morgan."Derek smiled, "I thought that's what you'd say. Come on Jake, lets go get food."
"Why does Laura get to stay and I don't?" Jake whined as they made their way out of the building.
"Because Laura is a girl, and she's older."
"But daddy I'm a big boy!" Jake exclaimed climbing into the back seat of the car.
"Yes, you are Jake but sometimes girls need to have their time together, and Laura asked to see Hailey after I told her what happened to her mom." Derek closed Jake's door.
"I want to stay too!" Jake dragged out the "o" in an attempt to get his point across.
"I'm sorry Jake." Derek said as slammed his own door shut. He drove in silence for a while. Every now and then, he looked at Jake in the rear view mirror. The six year old had his arms crossed, his eyebrows furrowed and his lip poked out. "You know Jake we are on a very important mission." Derek said.
"What kind of mission." Jake was doubtful that his father's mission was anything important at all.
"Well, we have to figure out what kind of food to take to the hospital. It is a hard task you know. We had Chinese last night and pizza the night before that. What other food can we bring?"
"Spaghetti!" Jake suggested.
"I don't know Jake."
"Umm Lasagna!"
"I'm sensing a pattern here. You want Italian don't you?" Derek asked.
"Yup."
"Well how about we go to Laura's favorite Italian restaurant and see if they'll be able to handle our order." Derek suggested.
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The car ride to the hospital was quite. Morgan focused on driving in the Seattle rain and Hailey was in her own world, while Laura just didn't know what to say. She looked out the window and watched the raindrops slide down, each one leaving its own trail that would sometimes merge into others while other drops avoided each other completely. In a way, she saw an initial path of a raindrop as her life. The other raindrops were the people in it. She considered the raindrops that merged early on her parents, the ones that avoided it her biological parents. The particular droplet that most recently merged into her little life was on the verge of bolting. It had yet to decide whether or not it would remain. Laura wondered if the raindrop was Hailey and if it was predicting what her new found sister would do. She hoped not. At that moment Laura was terrified that she was about to loose the one person she felt understood her most. She didn't know where these feelings came from, or whether or not there was an ounce of evidence to base these feelings on.
When they got to the hospital, the three girls got out of the car. Morgan started walking to the entrance, not noticing that her best friend and god sister were lagging behind. Hailey had noticed Laura's silence a few minuets before they had arrived at the hospital, and as much as she wanted to see her mother, she knew that she needed to have a conversation with her little sister. She looked at her sister as they stood facing each other outside of the car. It was obvious that Laura was not happy. There was a trail of dried tears that streaked her face.
"Laura are you okay?" Hailey asked concerned.
"Umm, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking, and… well nevermind." Laura hugged herself as she began her trek to the entrance. Her whole body bent against the now heavy rain that came down.
Hailey looked up and saw Morgan standing in the window watching the two sisters. Before Laura reached the doors Hailey called out to her. "Laura wait up." She jogged and stopped next to her sister. "Well, the day is almost over and I know Morgan hasn't had any cake. Do you think you could call your dad and ask him to bring one? So we can kind of celebrate, it is her birthday."
Laura realized then why she was afraid her sister would leave and never come back. She had felt the tension between her dad and Hailey at the studio but wrote it off to Hailey being under a lot of stress, but now she didn't know. Did Hailey even want her dad in her life? Did she want any of them in her life? "He's your dad too Hailey." Laura stated as she started walking again, leaving a confused Hailey in her wake.
Hailey closed her eyes and shook her head, No he's not, at least not yet. She thought to herself and followed Laura.
Laura turned around after they had both made it safely into the hospital doors and out of the rain. "Yeah , I'll tell him." Laura said. She then left Hailey and Morgan to look for her mother. She needed a shoulder to cry on.
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Okay so another chapter complete and another chapter closer to the end.