Chapter Text
High school is supposed to be the best time of your life. Or something like that. And It was, kind of.
You two were in the same grade, she was on the cheer team and you were on the basketball team. Both were equally good at their sport, but one night Alex threw a party. There were drugs and alcohol, typical for a party at a high school. You smoked and drank once you got to the party. You noticed the blonde cheerleader and she noticed you too. You walked closer to each other. It was almost as if you two were the only ones there.
As she made her way to you you took a big sip of your drink, you'd need the confidence from it.
" Didn't think I'd find you here.. " Haley said , checking you out subtly. Her eyes had a sense of hunger in them, as if she could've eaten you up, right then and there. In a way, you wished she would.
" What? Think I don't have the balls to go to a party? " You responded with a smirk, trying to hide your nervousness from Haley's gaze with that cocky response. It almost made you squirm. Her confidence was dangerously attractive, and she knew it.
" What? No, I just... Didn't know you talked to Alex. Or that you two were like- friends, If thats the word. I don't see you around him much. It's nice though, to finally see you at one of these. " Haley responded, her gaze lacking the intensity it once bore, it was softer now.
Everyone at school knew Alex and Haley were together, everyone thought they looked good together. They were the picture-perfect couple; A jock and a cheerleader. Yet, you could tell Haley didn't truthfully like— no, love him, as they loved to make it seem. It was a really good act, sure, but you saw right through it.
" What? Jealous? " You replied in a joking tone, nudging her with your elbow. Avoiding that last part, you didn't know how to respond to that, so you just didn't.
Haley chuckled, then replied, "Maybe I am. And maybe not of you" she admitted, winking. Her gaze becoming more intense by the minute, she wanted you bad and you knew it wasn't cause of the drinking, or smoking, or whatever she had done that night. She looked at you (although way less intensely) like that normally, but made an effort to actually be subtle with it. Now, however, she was shameless. There being nobody to look at you two and connect any dots.
A flush spread across your face, almost invisible in the darkness of the party.
...
You and Haley spoke a bit more until the music got too loud for you to hear each other. The blonde held onto your arm and led you to a room and locked the door. Was it Alex's room? You didn't know. What you did know, though, was that something was definitely going to go on in here.
You took another sip of your drink, which by now was almost empty.
" So that was your final plan, to get me all alone?" you joked.
"Maybe it was." The blonde responded. With the way she said it you weren't sure if she was joking or not anymore.
Haley sat next to you on the bed. It might've been the alcohol, but she looked majestic in the low lighting of the room. And her voice was just... You couldn't help but...
This began the start of a number of hookups. Over time you two realized you loved each other, yet you both knew that you couldn't get together. Haley just couldn't do that to Alex, though, it did seem like he was gay. The way he looked at his best friend was definitely not straight and neither was the way he talked about him. At least to you, but you kept quiet. But you had a feeling Haley knew too.
When you two were alone she was the sweetest girl ever, it almost felt like she was your girlfriend without the label. At school, you two were strictly friends. Eventually, though, rumors were spread about you two, causing your public relationship to just be acquaintances. For fear of what people would think. That didn't stop you two from hanging out though. Sometimes you'd smoke, sometimes you'd make out— scratch that, you'd almost always end up making out or doing something intimate. Whether that was in the back of a car or either one of your rooms. If you didn't do that, you'd talk about anything that came to your minds. Even though you often didn't do much other than that, it truly felt like you two were together when nobody was there. With her, you felt safe. The way she held you, your hand. The way her gaze always softened when she saw you, everything about her you loved, and she made you feel loved.
Hell, Alex didn't even seem to suspect anything.
Until he did. He began to realize the rumors may not have just been rumors after all. He asks you two first. Obviously, you don't tell him. But he goes ahead and tells Haley's parents about his suspicions. Her parents loved Alex like a son, sometimes even favoring him over their other two children. His word was gospel to them.
Haley had Christian and Homophobic parents. Upon hearing this they forbade Haley from seeing you again, threatening to send her to a conversion camp if she was to be seen with you. Which to her was a fate worse than death.
Senior year was hard. You couldn't tell your friends about what had happened out of fear that they'd go ahead and tell someone else so you began to focus on basketball. Earning a scholarship to a University in Zuzu City. Which you took, of course.
You and Haley didn't speak again after High school. Sure, there were some looks exchanged but you never spoke. You even dated some people but they couldn't even come close to her.
Basketball however, turned out really well for you, you could've even gone to the professional leagues had you not decided not to, due to your grandpa being sick and needing someone to take over his farm and you're the perfect person to do. While you were at University you studied agriculture, something that you enjoyed studying. And you knew would help you out for later. You even learned how to grow your own weed.. among other things, of course.
Since all good things must come to an end, you finished up your basketball career and headed to Stardew Valley.
By then you couldn't exactly remember what Haley looked like, but you never forgot her. But you had forgotten how she mentioned her folks lived in Stardew Valley but were planning to leave to explore the world soon.
At least that's what Haley told you back in high school.
Things change. People change.
You knew this. Yet you held onto hope of Haley's feelings for you not changing, that she was thinking of you, even through the 5 years of you not seeing her. Some nights you'd even reminisce about the nights you shared with her. You missed her dearly, and hopefully, she did too.
...