The Switch

Chapter 3: Hayley

It's finally nighttime, and this day has probably been one of the weirdest I've had. I'm not into Will, but I can't help but admire him. He's being mature about this, and we've only acted like friends besides holding hands. Right?

One thing, though, is the sleeping situation. We decided that I'd stay in Will's apartment and Courtney would stay in mine with Kyle. I'm worried because we won't be able to see what they're doing, but I trust them. Will and I agreed that we'll sleep separately. I don't think sleeping in the same bed is such a good idea.

I'm hoping and praying that Courtney and Kyle make the same decision but there's no way to tell. While practically biting my nails, I sit on the couch in Will's apartment. He brings me a blanket and a pillow and I make myself comfortable. I try to hide my worry by facing away from Will when I lie down, but he sees it anyway.

His eyebrows are drawn together with worry now, but he doesn't comment. "Goodnight, Hayley," he says dismissively.

He's not dismissing anything while simultaneously ignoring the elephant in the room. "Goodnight," I say back as he walks toward his bedroom.

With one last glance at me, he enters his room and shuts the door behind him. My eyes linger on the door for a bit longer and then I let my head hit the pillow. Not a second later, I'm asleep.

***

When I wake up, I'm struck with sunlight from the window a few feet away. I blink a few times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light. Where am I? I think as I look around. Oh, right. Will's apartment. The switch. I prop myself up on my arm and glance over at Will's door. It's still closed.

With a plop, I fall back onto the couch once again. While I wait for Will to get up, I think about what we could all do today. We could do basically the same things we did yesterday, but those seemed a little problematic. The more I think about the switch, the worse it seems. Maybe we shouldn't have done this. I try to keep my mind on things to do today, but it keeps wandering off to what Courtney and Kyle might be doing.

Eventually, Will's bedroom door opens and he walks over to where I am. He sits down in the chair adjacent to the couch and runs a hand through his hair. "Did you sleep well?" he asks me as I sit up.

I'm facing him now, yawning. "Yeah, did you?"

He nods and opens his mouth to say something, but a knock at the door cuts him off. "I can get it," I tell him before pushing the blanket off my legs and getting up. Once I reach the door, I peer through the peephole. It's Kyle and Courtney. I open the door and smile at them. "Hey guys," I say, moving away from the door.

They walk inside and sit on the couch together. Hm, slightly inconsiderate. It was kind of obvious that I was sitting there and unfortunately, that couch was the only other place to sit. I stand awkwardly off to the side and watch Will's expression change from calm to slightly concerned.

As much as I hate to admit it to myself, I think I'm agreeing with that concern. With that, I check the time–eleven A.M. Only nineteen hours left. We can get through this, and if anything seems suspicious, I'll confront Kyle about it. I'm sure Will is going to do the same with Courtney if anything goes awry.

Everyone is staring at me now. What did I do? Shit, this is what I get for getting lost in thought. "Sorry, what?" I ask.

"We're thinking of going to the movies. You good with that?" Courtney asks.

"Yeah, that sounds good. What are we going to see?" I inquire.

Courtney responds, "How about a chick-flick?"

Will and Kyle look at each other, making faces of disgust. "Can we not and say we didn't?" Kyle asks with a twinge of annoyance.

Courtney rolls her eyes and playfully shoves his shoulder. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"No, it really won't," Kyle replies.

I laugh a little. "Yeah, it will. Let's go see a chick-flick."

Kyle looks up at me, "You're not helping my case."

"I know," I say before heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" Courtney questions.

Without looking back, I tell her, "To change my clothes. I'll meet you outside the complex."

I head to the elevator and wait for it to reach this floor. Once it does, I step on and take the short trip up two floors. When I'm back on my floor, I walk to my apartment and pull out my key. Upon opening it, I check to see if anything is out of the ordinary. I'm probably just being paranoid but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Everything seems to be the way we left it. After a quick check over everything in the living room and kitchen, I head to my room for a change of clothes. I pull a pair of shorts and a shirt out of my dresser and change into them. Nothing in my room or the bathroom seems to be different either.

Huh, I guess I really am just paranoid. On that note, I leave my apartment and take the stairs instead of the elevator. That thing is too damn slow. The heat from the sun hits my skin when I get outside. It feels great to be out here. Maybe I can convince the gang to go back to the beach today.

Figuring it might be a few minutes until they get out here, I sit down on a nearby bench. A few cars pass as well as some people. For a Sunday, I'm surprised there aren't more people out here. My friends and I haven't found jobs and are just enjoying the summer after we had just graduated college in June.

We had smaller jobs while in college but none of us have looked for more substantial jobs yet. That's fine, we'll eventually find some. I sigh, hoping nothing is going to be weird between me and Kyle after this. What would be even better is that nothing will be weird between any of our friends.

Shit, if I'm second-guessing this so much, why did I even agree with Courtney to do this? No time to think about it now–Kyle, Courtney, and Will exit the building and walk over to me. "Hey," Will says, offering a hand to me.

I take his hand and he pulls me up. "Hey," I say as we all begin walking.

Kyle speeds up and walks ahead of us, Courtney not far behind. As Kyle passes us, his eyes cut to mine. I could've sworn that I saw a hint of jealousy behind them. My thoughts are neither confirmed nor denied when he grabs Courtney's hand. Damn, why are we doing this?

Our behavior has been too sporadic to tell whether or not any of us is jealous or rather, if we have feelings for someone else. My heart is still with Kyle, and I trust him to stay loyal. This whole thing has just been way too confusing.

We walk around for a bit before going to the movie theater. When we get there, I pay for mine and Will's tickets to pay him back for the coffee yesterday. We don't even wait for Courtney and Kyle and walk to the cinema room where the movie we chose is being played.