A single lifetime lays behind her

As she tries to find her breath

Just behind the door he'll find her

Taking her hand, he softly says

For the first time you can open your eyes

And see the world without your sorrow

And no one knows the pain you left behind

All the peace you can never find

Just waiting there to hold you keep you

Welcome to the first day of your life

Just open up your eyes

Hailey shifted the laundry basket on her hip and pushed the door open with her foot, a small smile tugging on her lips when she see's Justin.

"Hey." She greeted him dropping her basket to the floor.

He turned. "Hey. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, I've been really busy with work and .....stuff." She shrugged it off. He watched her shake her head, as if to clear her thoughts.

There was nothing more he wanted than to ask her what that mysterious tone meant and what she was hiding but the look on her face, the distracted and sad look is what kept him from asking.

"So....you going home for Christmas?" He shifted to lean against the washer machine. "Where is home exactly?"

She could hear the softer tone of the second question and knew he was trying dig a little deeper into her past but she wasn't sure how much she was ready to share with him. What happened back in Georgia isn't something she's ready to talk about yet.

She lifted the lid to the washer machine and dumped her clothes inside. She shut the lid and turned to him, "Georgia. Roswell, actually."

He grinned at her. "Roswell? You got alien sightings there?"

"No." She laughed and threw a box of dyer sheets at him. He caught it easily and placed them beside him. "It's just this small podunk town outside of Atlanta."

He nodded. "Ok, so no aliens. Got it. Family?" She nodded and he could see how uncomfortable she was getting but he pressed on. "Friends?"

"No."

He watched her eyes dart around the room, looking anywhere but him. It was painfully clear to him that she was doing her best to avoid talking about this more but he just couldn't let it go. One of his character flaws.

"Hailey, relax." He chuckled. "I'm not asking if you committed murder, I'm just trying to get to know you. You know, be friends and all that jazz."

She rolled her eyes and smirked at him a little. "It just.....I don't like to talk about it. I left for a reason and it was a good enough reason for me. Can we just leave it at that?"

Her eyes were locked with his and his throat tightened a little. It was almost as if he was seeing her for the first time and he couldn't help but be struck at how pretty she was. Not one of those in your face pretty girls but more like a girl next door pretty.

"Can you please just leave it alone?" She asked him.

He could see the determination and maybe a little fear in her eyes. She really didn't want to talk about it and it only intrigued him more. But it was the fear that made him drop it

"Plans for Christmas?" He asked again as she jumped up on the washer machine.

"Nah, thought about going home but I'm just not ready for all of that." She sighed and he bit his tongue to keep questioning her. "So I'll be here. Alone. How pathetic am I?"

"You could always come to my parents." He suggested. "They have a big party every Christmas eve and everyone under the sun is invited. You should come."

"No, I don't want to impose." She shook her head.

"You won't. Trace'll be there. A few other people. You can't sit in your apartment alone on Christmas Eve. I'll even spike your eggnog."

She laughed, the idea sounding a little more appealing to her than her empty apartment on a night where she should be with loved ones. "You've said the magic words. Spiked eggnog. I'm in."

"Good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She stood at the front of her car, nervously clutching the bottle of red wine she brought as a thank you present. The lights from inside the house casting shadows through the window. She could hear laughter from where she was standing at the end of the driveway and suddenly felt very out of place.

"Hailey!" She looked up to see Trace walking towards her, a flash of headlights behind him as he locked his car. "I didn't think you'd actually make it."

She shot him a grin. "Better than being alone tonight."

He returned the grin before looking down at the bottle in her hands. "Well damn, now you've gone brought something. I'm gonna look like the bad guy walking in with you." She started to reply but he cut her off with laughter in his eyes. "Actually Lynn already knows I'm the bad guy. That night senior year with the slip'n'slide, light bulbs and the mannequin...."

He trailed off when she raised an eyebrow at him. "Never mind. That's another story for another night. One involving lots and lots of liquor."

She laughed as they walked up the paved driveway. She took a breath to steady her nerves as he opened the door and walked in.

Half an hour later, she wondered why she was ever nervous. Justin's family was open and inviting. She felt very comfortable around them, his mom especially. She possessed a very warm demeanor and it was reminded her of her own mother very much.

"Hailey, I want you to meet someone."

She turned to see Justin standing behind her, a glass of wine in her hand. It was a little surprising to see him drinking wine. It caught her off guard as she had grown accustom to seeing a beer in place of it but she found it to be adorable all the same.

"I'm ready to meet. So show me the way." She smiled at him.

He returned the smile before walking across the room and she stopped when she say a tall, very tall man with a shaggy blonde hair standing in front of her. A flash of memories hit her hard and she sucked in a breath.

Needles.

Liquor bottles.

Loud music.

A smell of sweat and sex and weed.

Before she could do anything, Justin reached out and clasped the man on the shoulder causing him to turn around.

The man turned around and her heart jumped to her throat, along with her hand. A small gasp escaped her lips.

Justin regarded her, his head tilted to the side at the look of pure terror on Hailey's face. He took a step towards her, scared of what might be wrong.

Hailey looked the man over, and closed her eyes when she noticed his eyes were a dark blue instead of a green that she had become so familiar with in a past life.  It wasn't him and she heaved a sigh of relief, her own body uncoiling the tension that had formed in a matter of seconds.

"You ok?" Justin reached out and ran a hand down her arm, noticing she was lightly shaking.

She nodded and swallowed before meeting his gaze. "Yeah, sorry. Spaced out for a second."

He narrowed his eyes and licked his lips, not believing her for a second. But when he saw her eyes dart to the man standing next to him he continued, "Alright. I just wanted you to meet my cousin Zach. He's sorta on the market looking for a new place and thought you could help him out."

He watched her force a smile on her face before she nodded at Zach. "Of course." She turned to Zach and started chatting with him about what he was looking for.

Justin stepped back and watched their interaction. He could tell that she wasn't comfortable with this. There was something off with her and he couldn't figure it out. She seemed very fidgety and unable to stop moving. Her hands wringing together, eyes bouncing off everyone in the room, feet shuffling back and forth.

Something was wrong and he was determined to find out. Soon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He stood against the doorframe to the kitchen, eyes looking around the room. Trace talking to both their dads, his hands moving wildly about in gesture. Ella talking to his mother on couch, both of them looking a little uncomfortable and he cringes inwardly. Maybe he could have given his mom some warning about the status of his relationship with Ella. But he had no idea she was going to call him her boyfriend. He didn't even feel like that's what he was. They were dating. No label.

His eyes started roaming again but stopped when he spotted Hailey through the backdoor window, on the back patio alone. He made his way to the door without drawing attention to himself and slipped out the door.

"Hey." He closed the door behind him. "The party's inside, you know that right?"

Her head snapped around and she jumped at the voice behind her. She smiled softly at Justin as he rubbed his hands up and down his arms, without a jacket the cold air giving him a chill.

"I just wanted to get some fresh air." She said. "Your parents are great."

"They're alright." He moved to the side of the door and leaned against the house.

She knew he wanted to ask her something, she could see it in his eyes when he stepped outside and she wasn't sure if she would have the ability to tell him ‘no' again. Especially after what had happened earlier.

They stood in the darkness for the longest time, neither speaking. Finally she turned to him.

"Ok, here's the thing-"

He shook his head. "You know, I don't really care anymore. You've got a past. Everyone does." He shrugged and watched her face. "Whatever happened, happened. And you have every right to not want to talk about it. And you moved out here to get away from it and start over. So start over. Just let it go."

She stood there listening to him and felt oddly comforted by his words. He didn't know anything about her past and what had happened to her. But she knew it bothered him for some reason. She can't blame him, if the roles were reversed, she'd probably feel the same way. But this was his truce. He was going to drop it and stop asking.

There was a tap on the door and they both turned to see Lynn standing there with a pleading look on her face as she mouthed ‘Ella'.

Justin laughed and pushed off the wall. "I better get back in there before my mom hurts her."

Then, without thinking, she blurted out, "What's your deal with her?"

He stopped moving, hand mid reach for the door handle. He licked his lips and turned to meet her eyes. "Um, we're dating. I guess. I mean, she's more into than I am, I think. But....yeah, it's just a casual dating thing."

The tightness in her chest that she hadn't noticed before disappeared when he winked at her before walking back into the house.