Never Make A Promise

Never Make A Promise 37

"He...he what?" Seth asked. I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to tackle Jordan to the ground. I loved that kid to death, but there were times where he just....pissed me off. This was one of those times.

"He's just kidding," Aliyah lied, punching Jordan's arm. Jordan scoffed.

"Yeah, okay. I'm just kidding, Seth. Don't believe me even though it's the truth."

"You really need to shut up now," Aliyah said. "It's not even your business to tell."

"What do you want me to do? Stand around and let Hayley lie to Seth too? Let HIM lie to Seth? That's not going to happen, Aliyah, I'm sorry!"

"I'm so lost."

"Seth, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Alone."

"Yeah," he said, looking over at Aliyah and Jordan who were still arguing. "That's a good idea."

"Come on," I said, taking Damon's hand and leading them into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Well...." I trailed off. "You can't get mad at him because it's not his fault and you can't get mad at me because the only reason I didn't tell you was because I wanted to protect you and keep you out of it."

"Okay....you're making it sound like you guys killed someone or something," he said slowly. Damon looked down and frowned.

"That's not very far off," he mumbled in guilt. I looked at him with shock and a little annoyance. Did he not understand that it was NOT his fault? Did he not understand that he did it in self defense and that's SO different than just killing the guy for the hell of it?

"Wh....what did you say?" Seth said.

"I..." Damon sighed. "A long time ago-"

"He got into some bad stuff a while ago and he killed a guy in self defense," I said quickly, not even letting Damon finish his explaination. There was no way that I was going to let him make himself more guilty than he actually was and have Seth hate him as much as Jordan did. That just wasn't going to work for me to have two of my best friends in the whole world hate my boyfriend. I was extrememly thankful that Aliyah was more understanding than Jordan about this whole thing.

"Psh, yeah right. You're kidding, aren't you? That's a funny joke Hayley!"

"Yeah, except it wasn't a joke," I laughed without humor. His eyes widened and his smile dropped as he looked from me to Damon.

"She's not kidding," Damon confirmed. Seth gripped the counter quickly to keep himself from falling backwards. I thought he was going to faint.

"Seth," I said cautiously. "Are you okay?"

"You actually...actually...ki-killed someone?" he asked Damon. I looked over warily at Damon to see his reaction. He was still looking down at the floor.

"Yeah," he said casually. "I did."

"Who? When? Where? Why? How?" he blurted out all at once.

"That's the other thing," I said softly.

"What's the other thing?"

"Well...you see....Damon-" I said, putting one hand on his shoulder and another on his chest. "-Was apart of this gang a long while ago and they're kind of after him because he killed the leader of the gang's brother in self defense because the guy was pretty much trying to kill him for doing business behind their backs," I said quickly.

"What kind of business?" he asked, eyes going hard. I stepped slightly in front of Damon. He wouldn't tackle him to the ground if I was standing in the way.

"Drug business," Damon answered before I could even open my mouth an inch.

"What he said," I confirmed.

"You sold drugs? And you were apart of a gang?"

"I was. A while ago when I was stupid," Damon admitted sadly. Seth blew some air out from his cheeks and looked at the ground. He started drumming his fingers against the counter top.

"Hey! Where did they go?!" I heard Jordan exclaim from the other room. I rolled my eyes and backed Damon and myself away from the kitchen door, knowing that Jordan was about to burst through at any given second. Just as I thought, the door swung open and he burst in with Aliyah right behind him.

"Way to ditch us guys," he said sarcastically.

"You guys were so into your arguement you didn't even notice us leave," I said.

"Did you lie to him again? Or did you actually tell him?" Jordan asked me while glaring hard at Damon.

"They told me," Seth answered. "And I don't exactly think it's Damon's fault." My head snapped into Seth's direction so fast, it hurt a little bit. Damon gave him an odd look too.

"You don't?" Jordan asked with disbelief.

"I don't," Seth said. "It would have been nice if he hadn't been stupid enough to join the gang, but everyone makes mistakes," he said.

"I really wish you would stop watching Hannah Montana," Aliyah said in attempt to lighten the mood.

"Hey!" Seth said. "I DO NOT watch her. My little sister does."

"Sure, Seth," I said. "Whatever you say."

"Just hush," he said. "As I was saying-"

"How could you NOT think that this is his fault?" Jordan asked, outraged.

"Because it's not like he intentionally dragged her into this whole thing. If he had done that, then I don't think these two would be a couple right now. And besides, it's Hayley we're talking about here."

"That's EXACTLY why this is a problem. She's Hayley. We're talking about the girl who tripped over flat surfaces from sixth grade to just last year when she finally gained her balance after she sprained her ankle!"

"All's I'm saying is that Hayley is pretty dang stubborn and she...well I don't want to say that she got herself into this situation, but she must have done SOMETHING. Both of them must have done something."

"If Damon had left Hayley alone like she wanted him to in the first place."

"Look at Hayley, Jordan," Seth said. "Just look at her. Did you not listen to her earlier today? Did you not listen to her thing with promises or how she's getting over them now? It's because of him, Jordan. I never would have been able to help Hayley through that and I never have been able to. Have you?" Jordan looked like he was deep in thought and I just stared at Seth in shock along with Aliyah. Seth wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box either. I was kind of surprised at the little debate arguement he just shoved in Jordan's face. I hadn't even realized the point he made. If Damon had left me alone like I intended for him to in the first place, then the chances of me keeping everything bottled up inside me were higher. The chances of me getting over my fear of promises would have been way slimmer. As for contacting my dad, I didn't know about that. I would never have known he came to see me in the first place if I didn't go see Uncle Ed, I never would have gone to see Uncle Ed if I hadn't seen Cheryl and Bob at the hotel, and I wouldn't have seen those two if I wasn't stuck there in the first place with Damon. He had made a huge impact on my life and I liked it. He was helping to make it better and he was doing a good job with helping. I wanted him to keep helping. I wanted him to be there when I first called my dad or when I first saw my dad in...twelve years. I wanted him there for all of that. I loved him. Jordan finally sighed to signal he was done thinking.

"Good point," he said to Seth. Seth nodded and watched Jordan warily. Jordan's gaze fell on me and Damon. "He's right," he said to me.

"I know he is," I said. Jordan looked at Damon and his expression turned into a slight glare.

"Just because I agree with Seth doesn't mean that I trust you," he warned. Damon nodded.

"I understand," he said.

"So now that everything is...somewhat better, what exactly were we planning on doing about this whole gang situation?" Aliyah asked.

"I say we call the cops," Seth said. "That seems like the most logical thing to me."

"But we can't," Jordan said.

"Why not?" Seth asked.

"Because the gang would have a record and that record would show Damon too," Jordan replied. "The cops would probably just end up arresting him too."

"Oh," Seth said, rubbing his chin. "Yeah...that's not going to work."

"Do you think so?" Aliyah asked sarcastically.

"I don't need your attitude," he said, putting his hand in her face. She slapped away and scrunched up her nose.

"Why does your hand smell like that?" she asked.

"Why does my hand smell like what?"

"You know what! Like something died and you picked it up with one bare hand!" Seth sniffed his hand.

"It does not smell like that!" he argued.

"Uh, yeah sure. Whatever."

"I- oh whatever. Back to this whole gang thing, what do we do then if we can't call the cops?"

"Call the cops," Aliyah answered simply. "We'll just hide Damon until they go to jail."

"Cause that always works," Joran scoffed.

"Hey!" Aliyah snapped. "It's a better idea than what you had. Which was what? Nothing?"

"It could work," I said. "Except what are we going to say? The cops are going to find out that Damon has something to do with it all or not."

"They could just think that those guys are a bunch of liars. They are, after all, apart of a gang."

"Gee, thanks," Damon said sarcastically.

"Um...I sort of implied that gangsters are liars. I didn't say anything about ex-gangsters."

"That's true," Damon said, looking at Jordan quickly. I glanced over at Jordan and saw that his features were a lot more calm now than they were a coupel seconds ago.

"Are you all better now, Jordan?" I asked. He looked at me and nodded a little.

"I'm still....I'm still a little hesitant on him, but if he makes you happy....that's just all I want for you Hayley. For you to be happy," I smiled weakly and walked over to him to hug him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and embraced him.

"I am happy," I said softly to him.

"Fine, I won't kill him then," he sighed, hugging me back. "Yet."

"Jordan."

"Okay, I won't ever kill him. Unless it's in self defense."

"I very much doubt you'll ever have to kill him in self defense, but whatever floats your boat is fine."

"I'm not going to fight you ever," Damon said to Jordan. I pulled away out of Jordan's arms and looked at Damon gratefully. Jordan made a face and groaned a little bit.

"Can't you at least shove me a little so I have an excuse to fight you?"

"No," I said. "There will be no physical fighting."

"Psh, fine," Jordan scoffed. Damon agreed with him. I leaned against the counter and folded my arms.

"So...what ARE we going to do?" Jordan asked.

"I don't know," I sighed.

"Me netiher," Aliyah shrugged.

"Same here," Seth said.

"Damon?"

"There's only one way I can think of and I don't really like it."

"What way?" I asked him, a little on edge. I knew what he was thinking. At least I thought I did.

"Well...two ways actually. Maybe three," he said thoughtfully.

"Damon!"

"Okay, okay. One, we give them what they want. Me dead, and that's it. I'm not handing you over, Hayley. Two, we kill them. Three, we call the cops."

"What would we tell the cops? Oh, this random CALIFORNIA gang decided to start chasing us around for no reason?"

"They've been known to do things in California without reason."

"Well, I still think calling the cops is a bad idea. At least it is right now."

"Does that mean you're going to change your mind later?"

"It means that if we can't find a good idea by the end of the day, then we'er going to do call them."

"So we're pretty much on our own here?" Aliyah said. The boys and I exchanged glances and then we all looked back at her.

"Pretty much," we answered in unison.

"Great," she said sarcastically. "Just what I wanted. To feel like I was starting high school all over again. And I'm in my senior year! That's not how I'm supposed to be feeling!"

"Suck it up!" Jordan said.

"You shut your mouth or I will eat your first born child!" Aliyah threatened. Jordan fake shook.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," he said. I rolled my eyes. Ding dong! The sound of the bell echoed throughout the house. I looked at the door warily. Who on the face of this earth could that be?! I know it wasn't Joyce, she had a key. If it were Mattie looking for Jordan, then she would have rang the dang bell five times in a row. If it were Aliyah's boyfriend....well I could barely remember the kids name, so he probably wouldn't be coming here. Besides, I don't even think he knew where I lived. It took Aliyah three freaking years to finally get it into her damn head.

"Are you planning on getting that?" Aliyah asked me. I stared at the kitchen door, pretending like I had x-ray vision and was in fact staring at the front door. I wanted to know who it was, but at the same time I was kind of scared to see. What if it was Chris? Or Larry? Or even worse, Jake?

"Do you want me to get it?" Seth asked. I shook my head.

"No," I said with force. "I'll- I'll do it."

"I'll come with you," Damon said, taking my hand once again. I smiled at him and crossed my fingers, hoping that the person I thought was at the door, wasn't there at all and that it was someone with rainbow cookies and selling unicorns.