Chapter 42
Their eyes met briefly in the hallway, and Haley quickly put away her compact, an anxious glance passing between them. Ellie stepped aside, allowing Haley into the room, then walked out without another word.
Haley’s quick makeup touch-up at the door before visiting Alex wasn’t lost on Ellie. It felt telling — how easily she had hidden the anxiety in her eyes, how carefully she had maintained her composure. It was hard to believe that Haley was just here for her parents and didn’t care about Alex. Maybe, just maybe, even Haley wasn’t entirely convinced by her own story.
“Ellie,” Haley called, her voice barely rising above a whisper as she caught up to Ellie in the hallway.
Ellie stopped but didn’t turn around. The air between them was thick with the strain of their friendship. They had become close when they were children, living across the street from each other for years. Ellie had easily become friends with Haley, who had come from a wealthy family and seemed to have everything figured out.
But that had all changed when Haley first started pursuing her brother, Aaron. Ellie had been wary at first, protective of Aaron, but Haley had promised, “No matter what happens with your brother, we’ll always be best friends.”
Then Haley had won Aaron’s heart, and with it, their friendship had shifted. It had never been the same after that.
Ellie stood with her back to Haley, the silence between them growing heavier. Haley’s eyes flickered nervously, her words hanging in the air as if she was trying to find the right way to break through the distance that had come between them.
Seeing Ellie’s reluctance to face her, Haley mustered what little courage she had left. “Ellie, we’ve been friends for so long. Are you really not going to talk to me anymore?”
Ellie hesitated, feeling the weight of everything pressing down on her. She wasn’t sure if her sadness was because of the strained friendship with Haley, the mess Aaron was caught up in, or the complicated feelings she had for Alex that she couldn’t quite put into words. Everything was a tangled mess inside her.
“Haley, I was desperate for you to give my brother a chance,” Ellie said, her voice quivering, the hurt rising in her chest. “If you’re really done with him, just tell him. He deserves some respect.”
Haley paused, her face softening before she replied. “I did give him a chance, but he was always distant. There’ve been rumors about Alex and me, but Aaron never checked if they were true. He’s the one who walked away, not me.”
Ellie’s eyes welled up, and she turned to face Haley, unable to hide her emotions any longer. “He’s the one who walked away? Aaron quit a job you didn’t like, saved up everything to propose to you, but on your birthday, you ignored his calls. How was he supposed to be more proactive?”
Haley winced, her gaze dropping to the floor, and Ellie’s frustration continued to boil over. “At your party, when you saw me with him, you were so panicked that he couldn’t even admit he was your boyfriend. How could he make a move then?”
Haley shook her head, a tear slipping down her cheek. “I had my reasons,” she said softly, looking away. “My parents wanted me to break up with Aaron. I know what I did was wrong, but I was trying to prove to you both. What if there was a fight? What was I supposed to do?”
“From the start, Aaron told you about our family’s struggles,” Ellie said, her voice shaking, every word cutting deeper. “He couldn’t provide everything, but he could stand by you. He asked if you wanted that, and you said yes, so firmly.”
Haley’s eyes filled with tears, her hands shaking as she wiped them away, avoiding Ellie’s gaze. The two of them, once so close, now stood on opposite sides of a divide that felt too wide to cross. The years of friendship, the shared memories, now seemed so distant. Ellie could see it in Haley’s face—the same realization that things had changed forever.
Their friendship, once so strong, was now broken, and neither of them could find a way to put the pieces back together.
