Pretend Love - Chapters 7 and 8

Chapter 7

Hailey woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating next to her. Who would call her this early in the morning?

"Hello."
"Hailey, it's me, did I wake you?"
"Hey sis! No I was up already. What's up?" She lied.
"Hailey, I'm in trouble."

"Emily what's wrong?!" Hailey sat up in her bed. Why was her sister in tears, what kind of trouble could she be in?

"Emily, talk to me, what's going on? I'm worried."

"I did something bad Hailey; I need your help." Hailey heard her father's voice in the background.

"I can't talk right now, please don't say anything about this to mom and dad. I'll call you tonight and explain. Bye."

"Emily, wait!" It was too late she already hung up. What could have happened to her sister? Why was she crying?

She couldn't concentrate in her classes, all she could think about was Emily, she had no idea what was going on and Emily didn't answer any of her calls so far. She needed to know what was happening. She couldn't stand her sister being in trouble and her not being there to help.

"Hailey! Hi." Luke ran up to her as she walked out of class.
Oh great, just what she needed.
"Hi." She replied in an annoyed tone.
"Someone's a little cranky today."
"I was fine until I saw you."

"Jeez, you really don't like me do you?" He wished he could tell her the feeling's mutual, but since he needed her for his plan, he should probably keep that comment to himself.

"I wonder why Luke? How could someone not like you? I mean you're so arrogant and selfish and full of it. What's not to like? There must be something wrong with me." She replied sarcastically.

"Ha, ha. You're too kind. Look I tried to apologize last night and even though it didn't go THAT well, I really meant it."

He was right, that was uncalled-for. She didn't like him, but he did try to apologize for how he acted and besides, since when was she so bitchy to people anyway? It wasn't like her. Usually if she didn't like someone she would still be nice to them. He just rubbed her the wrong way. That and she was annoyed about not knowing what was going on with her sister, but that didn't give her the right to talk to him like that, especially after he apologized.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I'm not usually like this. You just caught me at a bad time."

Wow, it seems as if he actually caught a break. He was expecting another snide comment, but she actually said sorry.

"It's okay, but there is a way that you can make up for it though."

"Oh really, how's that?"

"You can join me for lunch. I'm heading to the cafe now and I hate eating alone."

She didn't feel like having lunch with him at all, but it would help her to get her mind of her sister for a while until she calls.

"Fine, but only because I haven't ate yet." How could she eat after hearing her sister cry like that?

"You just won't give me a break will you?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

They laughed and started walking to his car, which was a little too fancy for a student, but hey if you can afford it, why not?

They stopped at her place around three o'clock; they ended up chatting at the cafe for almost three hours. He got out and walked her to her door.

He felt good about today, he really made progress with her she would have to help him soon enough.

They almost reached her door, when her phone rang.

"I have to get this, Thanks for lunch Luke."
"I'll wait till you're done."
"No it's okay, this is going to take long, you should go."
"It's fine. I'll wait."
She didn't have time to get him to go; she had to take the call.

"Emily, finally. I've been worried sick, what trouble are you in?" She whispered the last part so Luke wouldn't hear. Why couldn't he just leave?

"Emily I think I might be pregnant."

"What?!"

"I know. I Know! I shouldn't have done it. I thought that Erick and I had a real connection. I feel so stupid. Hailey I'm only seventeen, if dad finds out he is going to kill me."

"Oh Emily, what were you thinking?"

"I don't know, I just... I really need your help sis."

"Okay uh, First we need to find out if you actually are. Have you taken a test yet?"

"I can't just buy a pregnancy test, what if someone sees me and tells mom and dad! I need to go to a hospital where no one knows me! You can pick me up and take me to a hospital where you live."

"Emily it's in the middle of the week and I'm in another city! You have school and I can't come for you in the weekend, what are we going to tell dad?"

"I don't know! Hailey I'm scared."

Hearing her sister like that made her tear up.

"Okay, Emily calm down. I'm going to figure this out okay. I'll call you later. I love you and don't worry, I will think of something. Promise. "

She wiped the tears from her eyes as she ended the call. How was she going to help her sister to get out of this?

"Are you okay?" Luke asked coming closer. She had totally forgotten that he was still here.
"I'm fine. Thank you for lunch again. You can go now."

If this was another time he would have left as soon as he saw that first tears, but this could be another chance for him to get her to trust him.

"Hailey, I'm not going to leave you like this, tell me what's wrong?"

She burst into tears. He stood closer and held her close to him. "What's the matter Hailey?"

She spilled out another round of tears and held on to his shirt. Then she started telling him everything. It was a tough situation and he could see that it was really bad for her. Why did he have to ask? He didn't like Hailey, but he couldn't just stand by and watch. This was pretty serious.

He took her by her shoulders and made her look at him.

"Stop crying. I have an idea."

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Chapter 8

Luke finally gets a breakthrough!
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Hailey arrived back home at two in the morning. She was exhausted from the trip, but she was so happy about the turn of events. After she told Luke about her sister, he actually drove her back home. They waited outside her parents house until they went to bed. Then her sister sneaked out and Luke drove them back to the hospital near their university. Luke got a nurse to help Emily and she wasn't pregnant after all. It was such a relief. When they were done he drove them back home and helped her sister sneak back in.

After her class the next day, all Hailey wanted to do was sleep, but first she had to go to Luke's house to thank him for last night. She was so tired when they got back home she didn't even thank him properly, she just mumbled a thanks and went straight to bed. She didn't know how to thank him for what he did. She didn't expect something like that from him and now she felt terrible for the things she said to him before.

She arrived at his house and was greeted by the housekeeper. She let her wait in the living room while she went to call Luke. She was startled by a loud shout. It sounded like Luke. He was obviously in an argument. She walked closer to the stairs to hear what was going on.

"I didn't even have anything to do with it dad! Why can't you just trust me for once!"

"Why should I trust you after everything I've seen you do!"

"I've changed dad, haven't I proved that to you by now?"

"Just because you are home more often than usual doesn't mean you've changed! And look what you've done now? I hope for your sake that you didn't get that girl pregnant!"

"For God's sake dad, how many times should I tell you, I just helped that girl, it wasn't because of my doing that she ended up there. I don't even know her!"

"And I should believe that you just helped a strange girl with a pregnancy test because you felt sorry for her. Luke she's seventeen! What were you thinking?!"

"Yeah, why should you? You never do. I'm too much of a disappointment."

Luke stormed down the stairs and almost ran Hailey down in the process. What was she doing here?

"Hey, I'm sorry, I overheard that. Was that about my sister?"

"Yeah. Don't worry I didn't tell him who she was. You're safe." He shoved past her and grabbed his keys on the way out the door. She ran after him.

"Luke wait!"
''Hailey I don't have time for this. I need to get out of here.''
"Luke, I am so sorry that I got you into this... I."
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"I wanted to thank you for what you did. If I had known that you would get into trouble, I wouldn't have let you help me."
"Yeah well, it's too late now."

He got into his car and sped off, she felt horrible about it. She had to make things right.

Luke was so mad. He worked so hard the last few months to get his father to trust him and because of this one little mistake everything was ruined. He should never have helped Hailey, he didn't even like her, now he hated her even more.

It took him a while to cool down, then he decided to head back home. He probably had to prepare himself for yet another speech about how disappointing he was to his father.

The lights were still on when he got home, which meant his father was still awake. Brace yourself Luke.

He heard laughter as he opened the front door and saw Hailey and his father talking on the couch in the living room.

"Luke!" His father got up when he saw him. "I'm so sorry for yelling at you like that this afternoon. I was wrong. Hailey explained everything to me, that you helped her friend."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you."

"Well I know now. And why didn't you tell me that you and Hailey are dating?"

What? Now he was confused. He looked at Hailey who was still sitting on the couch. Why did his father think that they were dating?

"He wanted to wait for a better time to tell you." Hailey said getting up and making her way to Luke. Then hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Okay so that means she told his father they were in a relationship. This was great! She must have felt really bad about last night to do this, because she was really against it, but who cares. Now things were in place and things with his father were going to go much faster.

"Yeah, I wanted to wait till we were all together." He said and returned the peck on the cheek. He could feel her stiffen as he did so. Such a prude, she couldn't even handle a kiss on the cheek. This was going to be fun.