Jay didn't get pulled over. He went straight home, and he and Hailey have an emotional conversation about their future.
(I’m bad at summaries, inspired by @ilithiyarys edit featuring Giants by Jackson Guthy.)
(Edit: I originally posted this on Nov. 17, 2021. It was the first fic I posted. I read it again and and realized it was HORRIBLE, so I pretty much rewrote the whole thing. I'm kind of embarrassed I posted the first version, but it was my first attempt *shrugs*
I'm not claiming it's perfect, by any means, but it's certainly better. Hope you enjoy!)
“Can you come home to me now, please?”
Jay smiled, “That’s all I want.”
“Look, we’re gonna be okay. I love you,” Jay continued.
“I love you, too.”
With that, Hailey took her phone and glass to the couch. Plopping down, she turned the TV on and pulled her hair out of its ponytail. Finding nothing interesting, she turned to an old Spotify playlist and started scrolling through her phone. She was reading something about organization methods when a song finally caught her attention.
Stay with me
I'm waking up late
Drinking all my fears away
I could wait with you
If we come down
I'll carry all the weight
While we try to fix this
We'll build something new
Her heart clenched and her hands started to shake, her fingertips going cold. It felt so… intentional? Like the universe needed her to hear it. She didn’t even remember adding the song to the playlist. Despite everything, Jay still wanted to start that better chapter with her. She sat up, and when the song ended, she scrambled to find the remote to play it again, tears escaping her eyes.
Hailey heard the door open and keys hit the bowl on the foyer table. She wiped her hand across her cheeks, attempting to rid her face of the fallen tears.
She stood up, whiskey long forgotten on the coffee table, to see Jay shrugging off his soaked jacket. She padded toward him, a stricken smile on her face.
Jay raised an eyebrow when he saw her expression and the remnants of tears. She wrapped her arms around his neck, “We’re gonna be okay.” She said it like she finally believed it.
Jay nodded contently before leaning down to kiss her. His hands slipped under her hoodie, planting a firm grip on her hips – maybe to steady her, maybe just to touch any bit of her he could reach. Their lips moved against each other. There were sighs of contentment and roaming hands. Hailey having put it on repeat, Jay finally noticed the song coming from the TV. He pulled away from the kiss and pressed his forehead against Hailey’s, their eyes still closed. He smiled listening to the lyrics.
But you ripped my walls down
Faster than I knew how
To build them up again
The song fit them. Jay still wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, him and Hailey. But he did know she was willing to stick up for him when she barely knew him, she’d seen him in some of his worst days, she’d saved his life, and somehow, along the way, he fell in love with her. And now, he gets to marry her. She saved him, and it was his turn to do the same for her.
“We’re gonna be okay,” Hailey repeats, seeming to have heard Jay’s thoughts.
She felt him smile before he pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. She pulled him back in. The kiss was soft, sweet, in love.
But even giants
Need someone to land on
When they fall
…
And even giants
Need someone to land on
When they fall
We're trying to stand tall
They were both more than aware that they had a lot ahead of them, but neither of them cared in that moment. They were each other’s endgame. Hailey finally, truly believed that. Jay wasn’t leaving, and she knew they would come out of it stronger.
Jay's hands fell down Hailey’s thighs as he bent his knees slightly. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he picked her up. He stepped forward until he felt the island. He placed Hailey on top of it, her legs still locked around him. His hands made their way back under Hailey’s hoodie. She had a hand on his chest, the other on the back of his neck. Jay wove his fingers through Hailey’s curls to pull her impossibly closer to him, making her moan into the kiss. His hands slid further up, bunching her hoodie to pull it over her head leaving her in a sports bra.
“Jay…” Hailey groaned, displeased at her inability to reach the hem of his shirt.
It was Jay’s turn to hear her thoughts. He stepped back enough to let her hop off the island, his hands still squeezing her hips. Unable to help himself, he watched her, admired her.
Deciding she’d rather continue their activities elsewhere, Hailey’s hand reached for one of Jay’s. She tried pulling him toward their bedroom, but he remained still. His eyes raked over her body. The woman he loved was standing in front of him, wearing nothing but leggings and a sports bra, messy hair and no makeup. The sweltering yet tender look in his eyes was something Hailey had only ever seen from Jay. She still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that someone could look at her with such want but adoration too.
Their fingers were laced together, arms extended in Hailey’s attempt to pull Jay with her and his lack of movement. She turned around enough to look at him again.
Her eyes sparkled as she raised an eyebrow at him.
“I love you. You said you were better with me as your partner, but it goes both ways. I’m so much better with you by my side. You make me whole. You saved my life and pointed me in the right direction more times than I can count. Let me do the same for you. I’m never going anywhere. I need you to know that.”
“I do, Jay. I didn’t, couldn’t, but I do now.”
Jay closed the gap between them, hoisting Hailey into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist once against. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and inhaling the scent that was simply Jay before she returned her lips to his. Essentially blind, Jay’s feet carried them toward their bedroom, bumping into the doorframe. Hailey giggled into the kiss, causing Jay to smile into her.
