The Heart I Call Home

Chapter One: Payback Plan

Chapter One: Payback Plan:

Haylie’s head fell with disappointment. She had thought it was Noah. But it was his younger brother Luka. It stunned her how much the two looked alike. She felt stupid for even thinking that Noah would approach her again. Wishful thinking on her part, she knew what she was getting herself into when she decided to date him. She thought she’d be different, that she’d mean something to him. She had entertained the thought that he would fall for her like in the books she read, the movies she watched or the songs she listened to. It was apparent to her now just how naive she had been in her thinking. Life wasn’t a story, a movie or a song. Had she really thought that she could change Noah Davis? No she had not. She only fooled herself into believing she could. Now, as a result, she was left with a broken heart and the realization that all the moments they shared didn't mean to him what they meant to her. The whole relationship felt fake as the though of  him not feeling anything for her tormented her further. 

To Noah she was merely a challenge. When she didn't give him what he wanted and his patience had ran dry, he had told her he needed space. What a load of bull that was. qShe had walked in on him making out with some blonde.  That’s when the reality of her being not more than a game really hit. If she was being honest, that thought was always in the back of her mind. She had forced it into a tiny, dark box in the back of her mind as she fell for his charm. For his shinning green sea eyes, tight hugs and passionate kisses. She was trying to force herself to see that they weren’t real, all the things he did or said to her. But her feelings made them very real to her. Her heart ached at how fast he moved on when he hadn't gotten what he wanted.

She looked to the skies in frustration, as Luka took the empty swing besides her.  She was tormented by memories of Noah already; she didn’t need a walking replica to garnish further her opened wound. She saw that he was holding a brown paper bag with the top of bottle sticking out. She watched as he took a long sip out of whatever was in the brown bag, alcohol she presumed. He then held the bottle out to her. She shook her head, she was never really a drinker. In fact she hated that stuff. Her mum had been an alcoholic, so naturally she had stayed away from that stuff as much as she could as she had seen what it did to her mother’s life.

“Sorry about my brother, he’s a real jerk.” Like you’re any different. I’ve see the way you treat girls, your older brother has taught you well. She wanted to say, but she kept quiet and watched as he took another sip out of the brown paper bag.

“You know he’s not worth crying about?” Haylie reached for her face and to her horror it was wet with hot tears. She hadn’t even realised she had been crying. How pathetic was she being? Luka must be thinking the same, by the sympathetic look in his eyes. God she hated that look. She used to see it in the gossiping faces of the women at church when they found out about her mother’s alcohol problem and how it had pushed her dad to an edge, so much that they had filed for a divorce. Now she barely saw any of them. Her dad was always too busy working, which is why her mother began drinking in the first place or so Haylie thought, and her mother was rarely ever sober.

“I know, I’m not crying about that.” In a way it was true. She was crying about how her family shattered, how her life seemed to lose meaning and how the one thing that kept her together ended up being a lie.

Luka gave her a skeptical look. He had seen basically the whole incident with her seeing his brother making out with his whore of an ex. How low could you scoop? My brother really? He had felt such hate for his brother at that instant, not because he had loved or even cared about the girl in question, hell he didn’t even remember her name. Stacy? Macy was it? What infuriated him to no end was that out of all the willing girls his brother had waiting in the wings, Noah had gone for the girl Luka was seeing. He swore he’d get Noah back for that and he would. He had seen Haylie’s heart break in that instant. It was clear that she loved Noah for God knows what reason. But again, his brother could be charming when he wanted to. He could only guess that Noah had gotten what he wanted from her and left. His brother was all about a challenge and Haylie in her innocence had been a perfect one. He thought Macy or whatever only appealed to him because of that.