Chapter 5 New Years Eve 2029
when the party’s over by Billie Eilish
Hailey:
“So, are you just going to sit here and look at the door all night?” Emma, my middle sister, says.
She’s sitting with her hands over her giant belly instead of dancing, because she’s not trying to scramble the baby’s brain.
Those were her words, and I really just think it’s adorable.
She’s carrying my niece in there, and she’s taking really good care of her, even if she’s already a little overbearing.
She’s worried about me, or so she says, and I feel a certain way about it.
Everyone seems to be worrying about me lately, and I’m sick of it.
“What is the alternative, Emma?”
“Gee, I don’t know. Date. Go out. Stop living in this fairytale you’ve formed in your head.”
“Which one?”
“The one where you put your whole life on hold for a guy you get to see once a year at this gala. It’s not healthy, babe,” she replies.
I shake my head and look back to the door. He’s not here. He said he was coming. He said he was going to talk to me, but he didn’t even show.
Emma sighs. “It’s almost midnight, Hailey. He’s not coming,” she deadpans.
I fight back the tears, tears I know will never stop falling if I let them out. All the emotions from the past couple of years will just come pouring out, and I can’t risk it. Not here. Not now. If I’m going to break, it might as well be in private, where I can put myself back together again.
“I know,” I whisper.
She squeezes my shoulders and lets out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
My little empath of a sister, always so in tune with other people’s emotions, but right now, there’s nothing she can do to mend a heart she didn’t break.
“Yeah, me too.”
The countdown begins, and the shrimp drops while I stay with my hopes and dreams in this chair. My empty glass of wine balances in my hand as I look around and realize he not only stood me up, but he broke my heart in half too.