The Switch

Chapter 6: Will

"Hayley! Tell me what's going on," I say as I try stopping in the hallway of her floor as she pulls me along.

She's relentless. No matter what I say or do, she doesn't stop. I see that the door to her apartment is ajar. That's a little strange, but so is what she's doing. She pushes the door open further and points to the living room.

Courtney and Kyle are sitting on the couch together, looking slightly defeated. Why is Courtney here? She told me that she was going to the library with Hayley. "Courtney? What are you doing here?" I ask.

"W-Why don't you tell him, Courtney. I'd like to hear from you too, Kyle," Hayley demands, despite sounding like it's a struggle to speak.

Kyle starts speaking, "Listen, Hayley, it's really not what it looked like-"

"How can it not be what it looked like? You two making out? How can you explain that?" she yells at them, the tears streaming down her cheeks once again.

My mind processes her words. I want to spit them out. No, she can't be serious. "You did what?" I ask, needing to hear this from them.

Both Courtney and Kyle stay quiet, hanging their heads in defeat. That's just about all the confirmation I need. I look at Hayley and she's staring down at the floor. I feel worse for her than I do for myself.

"We're done," I growl at Courtney.

"What?" she asks, walking over to me now.

I scoff, "Did you think I was just going to let this slide? You cheated on me with my best friend."

Kyle gets up as well. I watch in near disgust as he tries to put his arms around Hayley. She shoves him away and finally looks up from the ground. "Don't touch me," she hisses.

Courtney shuffles past me and out the door that was left open in all the commotion. Bitch. Kyle takes a step back from Hayley. Good move, I think, ready to hit him if I need to.

Hayley tries to blink back a new wave of tears but they come anyway. "I'm breaking up with you. I'll move out by tomorrow," she says, moving her eyes back down to the floor.

Kyle doesn't speak as Hayley walks out of the apartment. His lack of care for her feelings infuriates me. I step toward him and throw a hard punch, hitting his jaw. He punches me back a couple times, one landing on my eye and the other around the left side of my mouth. "Fuck you," I snarl, pulling my arm back, getting ready to hit him again.

"Stop!" Hayley yells, pulling me back.

She pulls me out into the hallway and Kyle continues his binge on being a dick. He slams the door the second we're out of the way. That causes Hayley to break down into sobs. "Hey," I say, turning around to face her. "It's okay. We'll get through this."

Between sobs, she says, "I hope so."

"We will, I promise."

She nods and does her best to muster a small smile, but it fades quickly. "I need to get my things from in there." She points to the door.

I nod and knock on the door. Kyle opens it a painful two minutes later. When he sees that it's me at the door, he goes to close it. I stop the door before it can close and push it open. "Hayley needs her stuff."

He lets out a noise that sounds like "humph" and moves out of the doorway. When I try to enter the apartment, he stops me. "I'm only letting Hayley in."

Rolling my eyes, I back out of the doorway and let Hayley through. Once Hayley is inside, I lean on the wall beside the door. How could they do this to us? I wonder. Another question crosses my mind: how long has this been going on? It explains Kyle's recent mood swings, and why he's been acting so off.

His moodiness has been off and on for about three weeks now. Is that how long this has been happening? Shit, how could I have been so oblivious? All those times that Courtney said she was going to hang out with Hayley, was she actually with Kyle?

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I hear a crash from inside the apartment. Frantic, I knock on the door. Nobody opens it. I jiggle the doorknob, trying to see if it's unlocked but damn, it's not. Shit, what if Hayley got hurt?

"Hayley?" I call, pressing my ear to the door.

I can hear that they're yelling at each other now. I bang on the door, yelling, "Open the damn door!"

Who cares if someone else hears me, this is urgent. I pull my cheek off the door as it opens. Whoever is opening it does it with such force that it smacks me in the forehead. "Ow," I sputter, rubbing my forehead.

"Oh, Will! I'm so sorry," Hayley says as she pulls her bags out of the apartment.

"Don't worry about it, are you okay? I heard something crash in there."

She nods and pushes the door shut. "I threw a plate at Kyle. I missed, though."

I laugh, "That's too bad."

"I know, right?" she says with a smile.

Again, her smile fades shortly after that. "Well, I guess I'll get going now."

I tilt my head in confusion. "Where are you going? You just moved out of your apartment."

She shrugs, "I guess I'll go to a hotel for a few days. I'll look for apartments tonight."

Hayley starts to walk away but I grab her hand and pull her back. "You can stay with me for a few days, you know, until you get back on your feet."

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude or anything."

I nod and take one of her bags. "I'm sure, now come on."

We take the stairs down to my floor and are lucky enough that we don't run into Courtney. I open the door and let Hayley go in first. I follow close behind and set her bag on the floor. I run a hand down my face, the reality finally setting in. Feeling my knees buckle, I reach for the arm of the couch.

This isn't real. It's all just a bad dream. It is, I know it is. But if it is, why are Hayley's bags on my floor? Why is she standing in my apartment?

Her lips are moving but I can't hear anything she's saying. Everything is starting to spin. Hayley is reaching for me but for some reason, I fall out of her grasp. What's happening? I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head and everything goes black.