Chapter 14
LIVELY
Hailey didn't say anything else, and the rest of the walk to my car was a quiet, contemplative one. The drive to the hospital was even shorter, and soon, we were striding down the hallway of the children's wing, heading for Mallory's room.
I was the one who slid the door open, my grin already plastered all over my face. To be honest, I was genuinely happy to see Mal; and it wasn't just because I'd found out that she was Hailey's sister.
"Hey, Mal," I announced as Hailey trailed into the room behind me, "I'm back!"
"Whoa," Mallory looked up from her phone and watched us come in, wrapped in her pink blanket. "You really came together, huh?"
At that, Hailey arched a brow at her sister. "What the heck are you talking about? Didn't you say he has to come with me too?"
My brows flew high on my head at that statement.
Oh? Mallory had made my accompanying Hailey here a condition? Yeah, I definitely loved this kid.
"You’re supposed to be resting." Hailey forged on, as if trying to move past that statement.
"I am resting," Mallory countered, stretching dramatically under her blankets. "Look at me. So restful."
Hailey gave her a look so deadpan it was almost funny, but there was something undeniably fond in it. A softness that I’d never seen her look at me with. It was kind of attractive. Unfairly attractive.
I shook that thought right the hell off.
Focus, Summers .
"Why is it surprising to see us come in here together when you're the one who asked?" I steered the conversation back and, out of the corner of my eyes . I saw Hailey roll her eyes.
Mallory shrugged, "I mean, I didn't think she would agree, unless..." Now, she was looking from her sister to me and back again, "Oh my God, are you guys dating? Is that why there's this... weird energy around you guys?"
I nearly choked on air.
Hailey, on her own part, actually froze for a split second, like her brain had fully short-circuited. Then she recovered at lightning speed, leveling her sister with a glare so sharp it could’ve cut through solid ice.
"Absolutely not," she said, voice flat.
I couldn't say that her immediate rebuttal to that didn't hurt me. Because it did, but I wasn't a master at charm for nothing.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I cut in, holding a hand to my chest in mock (read: real ) offense. "You don’t have to sound so disgusted, Baleman."
She turned that glare on me. "Oh, trust me, I do." Then, she looked back at her sister. "Will you quit that." Definitely not a question.
Mallory giggled. "Well, how did you get her to bring you along then, Lively?" She turned to me, and my smile softened.
Didn't she know how much she had her sister wrapped around her finger?
But I said, "Well, we're partners—"
"Ah, shit." Hailey cursed under her breath and I cocked my head in confusion. What was that for?
I found out in the next second, though.
“Wait, this is your partner, Hailey?!” She gasped dramatically, clutching her blankets before slapping her hands over her mouth with visible excitement. “Oh my god!”
The way she said that made me realize that Hailey had definitely filled her sister in on the rink sharing and pairing arrangement going on, but she'd left out the part where I was the partner she'd referred to.
I turned to give Hailey a lazy look. “You didn’t tell her?”
Hailey exhaled through her nose, scowl forming as she sat herself down in the armchair beside her sister's bed. “I was going to.” She said, pointedly avoiding looking at me.
Aw, shit. She’s so cute, I could die .
“Oh?” I tilted my head. “So you do talk about me?”
“I—” She full-on scowled. “Not in a good way, you jerk.”
"Hm, what did we say about being... ‘cordial’, Hailstorm?"
Her expression iced. "And what did I say about you calling me that, fuckface?"
Mallory giggled, her eyes shifting between the two of us. “Oh, this is so much better than TV.”
Hailey shot her a glare, but Mallory was absolutely thriving off this. And, if I was being honest, I was, too.
So, I turned back to Mallory, grinning as I flopped into the other chair at the foot of her bed and tossing the bag of Sour Patch Kids I'd gotten her on the way over.
“So, what’s the verdict, Mal? Is she as scary at home as she is on the ice?”
Mallory groaned, rolling her eyes in that way that reminded me of her older sister, and tore into the candy. “She’s worse.”
“Oh?” I raised a brow, glancing at Hailey, who was now staring at her sister like she was considering flipping her entire hospital bed over. “Worse how?”
“She’s so bossy,” Mallory said through a mouthful of candy, waving her arms for emphasis. “Like, worse than Mom bossy.”
Hailey made a low sound of betrayal. “Excuse me?”
Mallory grinned, completely unrepentant.
“It’s true! You always want things done your way, and then you get that scary crease between your brows when things aren’t going your way—like now!
” She pointed at Hailey’s forehead, and sure enough, there it was: that same, barely-there crease I’d seen a hundred times on the ice whenever I did something that pissed her off.
Which, you know, was often.
I grinned wider. “Wow. So you’re always like this."
That was good to know; at least, it gave me hope that I wasn't the only one she iced out like this.
Hailey’s glare could’ve frozen over the entire wing. Before she could say anything else, however, the door slid open slightly and a nurse stuck her head in. Nurse Elisa, the youngest of the staff in the children's wing
"Ah, Ms. Baleman, you're here." She said, her expression relaxing with relief. "Please, could I have a moment?"
Elisa glanced at me, her eyes lighting up, but I quickly shook my head, lips pressed together. She blinked at me, but seemed to understand that I didn’t want her to say anything in front of Hailey or Mallory, and she just nodded once.
I glanced at Hailey, caught her icy gaze on me. Ah, shit. Was she going to demand to know what the hell that was?
But Hailey’s gaze glanced off me, and I huffed a small laugh. Right. She didn’t give a shit about me enough to want to know anything about me in the first place.
She stood to her feet at once, already heading for the door. I watched as she followed Elisa into the hallway, her expression still carefully neutral. The moment the door shut behind her, I let my mask drop.
God.
I sank back against the chair, rubbing a hand down my face. My chest felt tight, like someone had taken a slap shot straight to the sternum.
So that’s how it was, huh? And to think I'd been excited just a few minutes ago at the fact that she talked about me to her sister. Now I really had no choice but to believe that she really didn't talk about anything good where I was concerned—
"It’s her, isn’t it?"
Mallory’s voice cut through my downward spiral, light and full of smug amusement. I turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowing. "What?"
She grinned. "My sister. The crush you were crying about. It’s her, isn’t it?"
I went completely still. Ah. Sometime early in the year, I'd gone on this bent about my crush on Hailey Baleman after a particularly rough day, and Mallory had been the unfortunate soul to listen to all of that.
It'd been such a long time that I'd figured she would forget it but, it seemed like that was not the case.
My face caught fire, shooting my attempt at a composed facade straight to hell. "I—I don’t know what you’re—"
Fuck.
Mallory cackled, throwing her head back against the pillow. "Oh my God, it totally is! Look at you! You’re so red!"
Ugh . I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I'm fucked, aren't I?"
"No, you're not," she said cheerfully. "Don’t worry, Lively, your secret’s safe with me. Besides, I think you guys would make a great couple."
I peeked at her through my fingers, voice dry. "You really think so?"
Mallory gave me a thumbs up. "Oh, totally. You're just the right amount of bright and playful that she needs. Plus, I noticed the way you look at her, too."
This time, I dropped my hands. "Oh yeah?"
Mallory gave me shit-eating grin. "Yeah, you've got hearts in your eyes."
So, even Mallory could see it too. But not Hailey. Not the woman I wanted more than anybody in the world right now. Or...was there a possibility that she noticed but was pretending not to know?
"You got any tips for me, Mal?" I asked, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.
Mallory pretended to think about it. "Well, you’re already hot, so that helps," she started and I scoffed out a laugh.
What an adorable smartass.
"But then again, Hailey’s not the kind of girl who cares about that." She continued and I couldn't help the way my lips curved, because of course she wasn't the type to care about looks. I wasn't trying to sound vain or anything, but she'd have fallen for me by now if she was the type.
"She likes people who are real. Genuine. You've got to show her that you actually care. Not just about her, but about things that matter to her. And don’t—" she pointed a warning finger at me "—try to impress her with money. She hates that."
Well, that was a given. I'd grown past the age of thinking money could buy any kind of meaningful connection with people—I mean, it hadn't worked with me, so why would I try to do that to someone else?
"I think she hates me." I said, affecting a pout.
Mallory hums in her throat. "Well, I think you can only hate something if you care about it, even a little bit, right?"
I narrowed my eyes on her. What a smartass, seriously. Look at her not denying it, but instead trying to spin one on me. Not that I could say she was wrong, either. I guess I could work with that; any kind of interest from Hailey was good for me right now, anyway.
Mallory grinned, then shifted slightly under the blanket. "Man, I can’t wait to get out of here." She announced, her tone thick with relief.
I perked up. "Yeah? When’s that happening?"
"Tomorrow." She was beaming, popping another one of her Sour Patches into her mouth.
"Hey, that’s awesome." I leaned forward, grinning. "You’ll finally get to hang out with Hailey at home." The two sisters would be able to see more of each other outside the hospital now.
But my words had the exact opposite effect on her.
Mallory’s smile faltered, just slightly. "Uh… I mean, not really." She said.
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
She hesitated, then sighed. "Well, it's...Hailey doesn’t live with us."
I blinked, my brows flying high on my forehead. "She doesn’t?"
Mallory shook her head. "Nah. She got her own place as soon as I was adopted." She said and I almost choked on my own breath.
Something uneasy curled in my gut. "Uh, so... you guys don't have the same parents?"
I mean, that made sense. I'd had this thought before. Hailey's surname was Baleman, but Mallory's was Hartley.
She hesitated again, then gave a small shrug. "Oh no, they adopted both of us." She said and my head tilted to the side. "But Hailey… she was already 18 when it happened so... she doesn’t really think of them as her parents. Not the way I do."
I stared at her, stunned. What.
I knew Hailey was independent. Knew she kept her distance, and that she didn’t let people in easily. But I hadn’t realized it extended that far.
"She’s just… like that," Mallory continued, quieter now. "She doesn’t get close to people easily. And I don’t think she ever really let herself belong to them."
I swallowed, the weight of that settling over me.
Hailey, living alone. Hailey, keeping herself apart. Hailey, still not letting herself believe she had a family—parents who wanted to take care of her.
Mallory’s voice softened. "Please take care of her."
I looked at her then, at her small, earnest expression, and something in my chest clenched again—this time, with something warmer.
I nodded. "I will."
It was a promise I intended to keep.